FIRST DIVISION OF PLANTS. 



191 



tangle; in Orkney it is known as red ware, and 

 is the stat-mhara, or sea weed of the Scotch 

 liighlanders. Bishop Gunner mentions, that the 

 fronds and stems of young plants are boiled and 

 given to the cattle in Nordland. On many parts 

 of the British coast it is collected and thrown 

 in heaps, and in a putrescent state, extensively 

 used as a manure. The dried stalks serve the 

 inhabitants of the Orkney islands and the coast 

 of Brittany for fuel. In Scotland, says Dr Neil, 

 the stems are sometimes put to rather an unex- 

 pected use, the making of knife handles. A 

 pretty thick stem is selected and cut into pieces 

 about fom- inches long; into these, while fresh, 

 are stuck blades of knives, such as gardeners use 

 for pruning and grafting. As the stem dries it 

 contracts and hardens, closely and firmly em- 

 bracing the hilt of the blade. In the course of 

 some months the handles become quite firm, and 

 very hard and shrivelled, so that when tipt with 

 metal, they are hardly to be distinguished fi:om 

 hart's horn. 



The laminaria esculenta is the badderlock or 

 hen-ware of Scotland, and the honey-ware of 

 Orkney. The stem is about the thickness of a 

 goose quill, from four to eight inches long; from 

 this stem proceeds the frond, extending from 

 three to twenty feet in length; a continuation of 

 the stem forms the midrib, and on each side is 

 a thin membrane from two to four inches in 

 width. The midrib of the stem is eaten in the 

 same way as the sea tangle ; and this species is 

 also employed as a manure. 



Padina pavonia. Many of the algse are of a 



79. 



very beautiful structure, few, perhaps, more so 

 than this plant. The whole is beautifully marked 

 with concentric zones, and when growing in the 

 water, it decomposes the sun's rays, so as to as- 

 sume an iridescent appearance. 



The species represented in the Plate of Algse 

 are : 



n f Fucus vesiculosus 



8. Fucus digitatus 



4. Laminaria esculenta 



5. debilis 



6. Himanthalia lorea 



7. Halidrya siliquosa 



8. Lioliinia corfinis 



9. Licliinia pygxuga 



10. Sargassum 



1 1 . Halyseris polypodioides 

 1'2. Halymenia ligulata 



13. Enteromorplia compreHsa 



14. Odonthalia deiitata 



15. Phyllophcra rubens 



16. Padina pavonia 



17. Desmarestia ligulata 



18. Dictyota 



19. Dictyota dichotoma 



20. Pustellaria 



21. Clioudrus crispus 



Fungi are extremely variable in their form, 

 consistence, and colour. They are fleshy or corky 

 bodies, having sometimes a form which may be 

 compared to that of an umbrella ; in other words, 

 composed of a pileus or head, wliich is generally 

 convex, and is furnished beneath with perpen- 

 dicular la/mince or giUs, a central or lateral stalk, 

 at the top of which is a circular membrane or 

 annulus, which stretches along the circumfer- 

 ence of the pileus. The whole mushroom is 

 sometimes covered, previous to its development, 

 by a kind of membranous bag, complete or in- 

 complete, which is named the volva; at other 

 times they are globular, ovoidal, or elongated 

 masses, cup-shaped bodies, simple or articulated 

 filaments, coraUiform tmnks, or bodies irregu- 

 larly branched in the manner of coral, and of 

 extremely variable colours, sometimes presenting 

 the most lively tints ; but their internal tissue, 

 which consists of irregular cells,- is never green. 

 The sporules, or reproductive parts, are some- 

 times naked, sometimes inclosed in a kind of 

 small capsules named thecal. They are either 

 scattered at the surface of the fungus, or enve- 

 loped in aperidium or receptacle, which is fleshy, 

 membranous, or hard and woody. They are in 

 general parasitical plants, which grow either on 

 other vegetables stiU living, or in organic sub- 

 stances in a state of putridity, at the surface, or 

 in the interior of the ground. They are, for the 

 most part, of extremely quick growth, and their 

 duration is often as fugitive ; but some, as the 

 boletus, vegetate slowly, and for several succes- 

 sive years. A very small number of species grow 

 in water. 



The fungi form several natural groups, which 

 some authors consider as distinct families. These 

 groups are the following : 



1. Fungi or mushrooms properly so called: 

 fleshy, corky, or woody plants, having the spo- 

 rales placed in capsules, which form collectively 

 a membrane, variously folded, and covering the 

 surface of the fungus in whole or in part, as 

 agaricus, boletus, merulius, morchella, clavaria. 



2. The LYCoPEEDACRdS are formed of a fleshy 

 or membranous peridium, at first closed, but af- 

 terwards opening and containing naked sporules, 

 without capsules, and escaping from the peri- 

 dium or receptacle under the form of powder, 



