FLOOR.] 
FIRST BOTANICAL ROOM. 
59 
the one further illustrating the groups in that to which they 
are opposite. 
Fungi. — This class of cellular cryptogams is illustrated in Cases 
1 to 4 by a series of models principally prepared by James Sowerby 
while engaged in the publication of his " Figures of English Fungi," 
and representing for the most part the identical subjects depicted in 
that work. They are arranged and named according to Cooke's 
" Handbook of British Fungi." The first two Cases contain the gill- 
hearing forms' (Agaricini), to which the common mushroom belongs; 
the third Case is chiefly filled with the Foiypnrei, the fruiting surface 
of which is composed of pores or tubes ; among these may be noted 
the edible Boletus edulis, and the dry-rot, Merulius lacrymans ; the 
shelves of the lower division contain Clavarias and gelatinous Tre- 
mellas ; on the upper shelves of the fourth Case are placed specimens 
of the stinking Phalloldei, star-shaped Geasters, and puff-balls or 
Lycoperdons ; some of the smaller sporidiiferous fungi are placed on 
the other shelves of this Case, among which the Truffles (Tuber) may 
be noted. 
Alg,e. — The most remarkable sea-weed exhibited in Case 5 is 
the large tree-like Lessonia, which forms extensive submarine forests 
in the Patagonian seas. The stem increases in thickness by the addi- 
tion of external concentric layers, giving it to the eye the appearance 
of exogenous wood. The Durvillea, placed near it, is an inhabitant of 
the same seas; it has rope-like sterns from 500 to 1,500 feet long, 
and its fronds are composed of enormous honeycomb-like cells. From 
the Cape of Good Hope come the inflated stems of the huge Ecklonia 
buccinalis. Some large stony coralline sea-weeds are placed on the 
shelves. 
Lichens. — On the shelves are placed specimens of Cladonia rangi- 
ferina, the reindeer moss, Rccella tinctoria, the Orchella-weed, from 
which important dyes are obtained, Gyrophora umbilicaria, the Tripe- 
de-roche of Arctic voyagers, and other interesting forms. 
Mosses. — Some of the larger forms of this class are exhibited on 
the shelves; but the small size of the Mosses and Lichens are better 
fitted for the closer inspection obtained in the Table Cases, where a 
larger series is exhibited. 
The Vascular Cryptogams are placed in Case 5. The Club- 
mosses (LycopodiacEjE) are represented by some of the larger forms, 
and the Horse tails (Equisetace^e) by fine specimens of the under- 
ground rhizomes and stems of Equisetum maximum, the largest 
of the British species. The Ferns (Filices) are the most important 
of the vascular cryptogams. The back of the Case contains speci- 
mens of the fronds of Ahophila pinnata from Chili, and of Thyrsop- 
tei is elegaris, the fertile portions of which are so constricted as to bear 
the globose fructification on the midrib. The longitudinal and 
transverse sections of fern stems placed here and in the Table Cases 
f3 and 4) opposite show that the stem is composed of a central cellu- 
