SEAWEEDS. 



197 



hng of houses, stopping crevices in walls, packing brittle wares, and 

 the roots of plants, for distant conveyance. 



" To which may be added, that all in general contribute entertain- 

 ment and agreeable instruction to the contemplative mind of the 

 naturalist, at a season when lew other plants offer themselves to his 

 view. 



" The Fungi have been suspected by some to be, like sponges and 

 corals, the habitations of some unknown living beings, and being al- 

 kaline, have been classed in the animal kingdom ; but they are known 

 to produce seeds, from which perfect plants have been raised ; and 

 the celebrated Hedwig, by great dexterity of dissection, and by using 

 microscopes of very "highly magnifying powers, assures us that he 

 has discovered both stamens and pistils, not only in this order of 

 plants, but in the other orders of the Cryptogamous family."* 



Order Hepaticce, or Liverworts. 



The 3d Order contains the Liverworts, which are more succulent 

 or juicy than the mosses ; they have four-valved thecae, which cir- 

 cumstance, and that of their not opening with a lid, distinguish them 

 from the mosses. Their name, Hepatica;, signities liver; but it is 

 not yet known whether they received that name on account of some 

 supposed virtue in curing diseases of the liver, or whether it was 

 because they were thought to resemble the lobes or divisions of that 

 organ. One of the most common genera of this order is the Junger 

 mannia ; you may here see (Fig. 154) a species of this, the compla 

 nata, with its parts, as represented under a magnifier. 



a, is a plant of 



Fig. 154. ^ 



natural size, m 

 fruit, b, the fruit 

 magnified, show- 

 ing the sheath, the 

 peduncle rising 

 from it, and the 

 theca at top, not 

 yet burst, c, the 

 open capsule 

 splitting and dis- 

 rf, the theca empty, showing its four valves. 



Order Alga, or Sea- Weeds. 



The Ml Order includes the sea-weeds and frog-spittle ; these have 

 leathery fronds, with fine dust-like seed, enclosed in inflated portions 

 of the frond. They are almost always aquatics ; generally green or 

 reddish. One genus of this family is the Fricus. The Fucus 7iaians, 

 sometimes called the gulf-weed, is very abundant in the Gulf of Flo- 

 rida, and is found m various parts of the ocean, forming masses or 

 floating fields, many miles in extent. The plant seems to possess 

 no distinct root, though it perhaps originally vegetated on some sea- 

 beaten shore, from whence it was by accident thrown upnn the 

 ocean's wave. 



The FucDs giganteus is said to have a frond of immense length • 

 from whence its specific name, signifying gigantic. You are here 



* Notwithstanding the weight which Thornton, author of the above quotation, 

 pves to the opinion of Hedwig and others, it is, at present, much doubted by natural 

 ists, whether the Fungi have organs analogous to stamens and pistils. 



charging the seeds. 



Describe Fig. 154— Liverworts— Derivation of the name— Sea-weeds— Fuci— Gulf- 

 weed. 



17* 



