314 HALF-HOURS IN THE GREEN LANES. 



books as Cooke's ' Microscopic Fungi ' will assist 

 the student, not only in finding the objects, but by 

 the numerous figures, in enabling him to identify 

 them. And all naturalists are now agreed, that it 

 is only by a more intimate acquaintance with the 

 simpler forms of life that we can hope to rise to a 

 thorough understanding of the complex structures 

 of higher organisms. A not unfrequent object met 

 with in our walks is a greenish gelatinous substance, 

 once supposed to be the residue of a shooting-star ! 

 It is in reality one of those curious organisms called 

 Nostoc, or Tremella (Fig. 253), belonging to the Algx 

 family. We have several species of them in this 

 country, whose internal structure is very much alike 

 in all (Fig. 254), consisting of bead-like threads 

 immersed in gelatine. Here and there, when seen 

 under the microscope, one bead or sphere appears 

 larger than the rest, and these are believed to be 

 concerned in the reproduction of the species. The 

 Nostoc is especially abundant after rainy weather, 

 sometimes so as to become a nuisance on our garden 

 walks and lawns. 



We conclude our necessary hasty notices of the 

 objects to be seen during a country stroll by a 

 reference to the larger fungi. You cannot fail to 

 observe them, for they grow almost everywhere, 

 An old tree, however, is a splendid habitat, and 

 here you may expect to find more than one kind. 

 Out of other trees you see these fungi growing 

 like a series of tongues overlapping each other. If 



