236 HEPAT'IC^E. AL'G^E. LI'CHENS. 



" ferings of creatures formed after his own image ? 

 " Reflections like these would not allow me to 

 " despair : I started up, and, disregarding both 

 " hunger and fatigue, travelled forwards, assured 

 " that relief was at hand ; and I was not disap- 

 " pointed." 



EDWARD. 



And did he ever come home ? 



MOTHER. 



He did, my dear ; but he went out again to 

 Africa to make new discoveries, and was killed by 

 some of the natives. 



The HEPAT'IC^ or Liverworts, form the next 

 order of Cryptogamic plants ; they are a tribe of 

 small herbaceous plants resembling the mosses ; 

 the name is derived from a Greek word signifying 

 the liver, perhaps because some of them were for- 

 merly employed to cure diseases of the liver, or 

 from their supposed resemblance to the lobes or 

 divisions of the liver. 



The AL/GJS consist of plants, some of which are 

 tormed of a mere crust, others of a leathery or 

 jelly-like substance ; and there are two principal 

 divisions, the Lichens, and the Aquatic, or 

 Submersed Al'gse, some of which occur in fresh 

 water, others in the sea., The latter are commonly 



