164 THE FOREST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 



lines, the smallest diameter of which measures only the 

 five-thousandth part of an inch. When perfect, the plant, 

 as Dr Macmillan observes, bears a resemblance to a red- 

 currant berry ; as it decays, the red colouring matter fades 

 into deep orange, which is finally resolved into a brownish 

 hue. The thickness of the wall of the cell is estimated at 

 the twenty-thousandth part of an inch, and three hundred 

 to four hundred of these cells might be grouped together 

 in a smaller space than a shilling would cover. Yet each 

 cell is a distinct individual plant j perfectly independent 

 of others with which it may be massed : fully capable of 

 performing for and by itself all the functions of growth and 

 reproduction; possessing "a containing membrane which 

 absorbs liquids and gases from the surrounding matrix or 

 elements, a contained fluid of peculiar character formed 

 out of these materials, and a number of excessively minute 

 granules equivalent to spores, or, as some would say, to 

 cellular buds, which are to become the germs of new 

 plants/' Dr Macmillan adds : " That one and the same 

 primitive cell should thus minister equally to absorption, 

 nutrition, and reproduction, is an extraordinary illustration 

 of the fact that the smallest and simplest organised object 

 is in itself, and, for the part it was created to perform in 

 the operations of nature, as admirably adapted as the 

 largest and most complicated." 



' The first vegetable forms to make their appearance at 

 the limits of the snow-line, whether in high latitudes or 

 on mountain-summits, are lichens ; which flourish on rocks, 

 or stones, or trees, or wherever they can obtain sufficient 

 moisture to support existence. Upwards of two thousand 

 four hundred species are known. The same kinds prevail 

 throughout the Arctic regions, and the species common 

 to both the Eastern and Western hemispheres are very 

 numerous. They lend the beauty of colour to many an 

 Arctic scene which would otherwise be inexpressibly 

 dreary ; the most rugged rock acquiring a certain air of 

 picturesqueness through their luxuriant display. Their 



