419 
and Chaodineae, where it is perhaps impossible to decide W'hether some of 
the species are not actually animalcides. 
It is not easy to settle the limits of the orders of this part of vegetation. 
Linnaeus and Jussieu had but two divisions, viz.. Algae, including Lichens and 
Fungi ; and they have been followed by some modern botanists, particularly 
Fries and Wahlenberg. Others have been satisfied wfith separating the Lichens 
from Algae, which, indeed, was virtually done by most of those who acknow- 
ledged but two divisions ; and with admitting three equally distinct groups. 
Some, on the contrary, have sought to multiply the orders, as De CandoUe and 
others, by introducing a tribe called Hjqioxyla ; GreviUe by adopting the latter, 
Gastromyci, Byssoideae, and Epiphytae, and proposing a new group under the 
name of Chaetophoroideae ; and finally, Adolphe Brongniart, who carries the 
number of groups in this division of Acotyledones as far as 12, viz. Lichens, 
Hypoxyla, Fungi, Lycoperdaceae, Mucedineae, Uredineae, Fucaceae, Ulvaceae, 
Ceramiaceae, Conferv’ae, Chaodineae, and Arthrodieae ; part of which have ori- 
ginated with himself, and others with Bory de St. Vincent. I think, how- 
ever, in the present state of our knowledge, it will be more prudent to admit 
only the three principal groups adopted by Agardh and Hooker ; and even 
these are distinguishable by their general habit rather than by any very positive 
character of structure. Thus, Lichens are aerial plants, -with distinct spaces 
upon their surface, in "which their sporules are contained ; Fungi differ from 
Lichens only in their fugacity and want of external receptacles of sporules ; 
while Algae are aU aquatic. 
The structure of these plants is among the most important subjects of con » 
templation for those who wish to become acquainted with the exact laws of 
vegetation. They represent the organised matter, of which all other plants 
are composed, both in its simplest state and -when it begins to enter into a 
state of high composition. In short, it is here that the physical properties 
of elementary vegetable matter can be most usefully studied. 
Order CCLXXXIX. FUNGI, ] 
or IThe Mushroom Tribe. 
FUNGACE^.J 
Fungi, Juss. Gen. 3. (1789) ; DC. FI. Fr. 2. 65. (1815) ; Nees das System der Pilze und 
Sckwnmme, (1817) ; Fries Syst. Mycolog. (1821) ; Syst. Orb. Veg. (1825) ; Flench. 
Fung. (1828) ; Adolphe Brongn. in Diet. Class. 5. 155. (1824j ; Grev. Scott. Crypt. 
FI. 6. (1828) ; Hooker British Flora, 457. (1830) ; Id. vol. 2. pt. 2. (1835).— Epi- 
PHYTJE, Link ; Grev. FI. Edin. xxv. (1824). — Gasteromyci, Grev. FI. Edin.xxW. 
(1824). — Mycetes, Spreng. Syst. 4. 376. (1827). — Uredine.®, Mucedine^, and 
LYCoPERDACEiE, Ad. Brongn. in Diet. Class. 1. c. (1824). 
Essential Character. — Plants consisting of a congeries of cellules, among which 
filaments are occasionally intermixed, increasing in size by addition to their inside, their 
outside undergoing no change after its first formation, chiefly growing upon decayed sub- 
stances, frequently ephemeral, and variously coloured. Sporules lying either loose among 
the tissue, or enclosed in membranous cases called sporidia. 
Affinities. These are only distinguished from Lichens by their more 
fugitive nature, their more succulent texture, their want of a thallus or expan- 
sion independent of the part that bears the reproductive matter, and by the 
latter being contained within their substance and not in hard distinct nuclei 
originating in the centre and breaking through a cortical layer. From Algae 
there is no absolute character of division, except their never growing in water ; 
