GIANTS. 369 



long ; as well might we attempt to ascertain the 

 length of hemp fibre by unlaying a cable. In Ker- 

 guelen's Land the length of some pieces which grew 

 in the middle of Christmas Harbour was estimated 

 at more than three hundred feet. 1 " He afterwards 

 ■alludes to what he considered the largest specimens 

 seen, in what is believed to be forty fathoms water, 

 and streaming along the surface, to a probable total 

 length of about 700 feet. The report that this sea- 

 weed sometimes attains a length of fifteen hundred 

 feet is probably exaggerated, although it may be 

 true that "it grows up from a depth of forty-five 

 fathoms to the surface, at a very oblique angle, and 

 ■even when of no great breadth, make excellent 

 natural floating breakwaters." 



None of the remaining cryptogamia attain to any 

 extraordinary size. Neither floating mosses nor 

 dendritic forms exceed two or three feet ; and lichens 

 only extend to about the same dimensions in the 

 most exaggerated examples. Fungi have not yet 

 produced a Titanic species, for the largest agaric 

 yet known is inferior in expanse to a lady's parasol > 

 and the great puff ball (Lycoperdon giganteum) 

 has not yet attained the dimensions of a som- 

 nolent sheep. Amongst the lower cryptogamia we 



1 " Cryptogamia Antarctica," p. 158. 

 2 B 



