298 



TIERRA DEL FUEGO. JunC, 1834. 



peds is rendered very simple ; and with regard to the con- 

 ditions of their former existence^ the principal difficulties 

 have^ I think, already been removed. 



Having concluded this long discussion on the analo- 

 gies which may be drawn from the existing climate of the 

 southern parts of America, together with its productions, we 

 will return to the description of Tierra del Fuego. 



There is one vegetable production in this country which is 

 worthy of mention, as it affords a staple article of food to the 

 aborigines. It is a globular fungus of a bright yellow colour, 

 and of about the size of a small apple, which adheres in vast 

 numbers to the bark of the beech-trees. It probably forms 

 a new genus, allied to the morell. In the young state it 

 is elastic and turgid, from being charged with moisture. The 

 external skin is smooth, yet slightly marked with small cir- 

 cular pits, like those from the smallpox. When cut in two, 

 the inside is seen to consist of a white fleshy substance, 

 which viewed under a high power resembles, from the nu- 

 merous thread-like cylinders, vermicelli. Close beneath the 

 surface, cup-shaped balls, about one-twelfth of an inch in 

 diameter, are arranged at regular intervals. These cups are 

 filled with a slightly adhesive, yet elastic, colourless, quite 

 transparent matter; and from the latter character they at 

 first appeared empty. These little gelatinous balls could be 

 easily detached from the surrounding mass, except at the 

 upper extremity, where the edge divided itself into threads, 

 which mingled with the rest of the vermicelli-like mass. 

 The external skin directly above each of the balls is pitted, 

 and as the fungus grows old, it is ruptured, and the gelatinous 

 mass, which no doubt contains the sporules, is disseminated. 



the bottom, and that the flakes of ice when they rise to the surface, often 

 " bring with them large stones." All that seems to be required in pro- 

 ducing ground-ice, is, that there should be sufficient movement in the 

 fluid, so that the wliole is cooled down to the freezing point, and then the 

 water crystallizes^ wherever there is a point of attachment. 



