CRYPTobAMlA. 
175 
N° Genera 
■ , N 5 of ' 
Growth, species. Native of 
Species in 
Britain. 
55 Fucus 
56 Tremellf# 
57 Ulva 
h 58 Eiirppe, Italy 
h 11 Europe ’ 
h 15 Eurppe 
Brit. 58 
Brit. 8 
Brit. 13 
ORDER IV. FUNOI.f 
(fungusses.) 
Linnaeus tells us he rather chose to make his divisions in this order according to 
Ildlenius, than from Michelius; because the first is plain to every one, hut the 
latter requires too nice an inspection; yet Michelius hath thrown great light on 
this tribe of vegetables, as also on mosses and flags. The generic character is there¬ 
fore only taken frqm their external forms,. They are generally erect. 
l$t'i Hatted , 
53 AgaricusJ 
h 39 Europe 
Brit. 28 
much resembling the balls of hair found in the stomachs of cows; it hath no ad¬ 
herence to any thing, but rolls from one part of the lake to another. The conferva 
- pagabunda dwells on the European seas, travelling along in theinidst of the waves; 
these mav not improperly be called itinerant vegetables.—In a similar manner the 
fucus natans strikes no roots into the earth, but floats on the sea in very extensive 
‘masses, and may be said to be a plant of passage, as it is wafted about by the 
winds .—(Botanic Garden, 4 to. edit. p. 170 ). M. Vaucker, of Geneva, hath lately 
published an history of the fresh-water confervas, relating to its fructification, and 
hath found out no less than six different modes of generation. 
* That substance that hangs down from the beams in wine vaults, is a species 
of tremella, which, being dried, be,copies a tough membranous matter of a fungus 
smell; i t seems to be of a middle nature between mushroom and star jelly, another 
species of te^e/te.-^Though Linnaeus makes star jelly (tremella nostoc) a fungus, 
vet others suppose it to be voided by herons after having eaten frogs; and limbs of 
frogs are said sometimes to be found amongst it. But in Bewick’s history of British 
birds, vol. ii, printed ip 1804, it is said to be believed to be the remains of half 
digested worms, slugs, &c. which the gulls have discharged from their overloaded 
stomachs; and it is said these birds, when shot, have been found when dying to 
disgorge a substance of the li|;e kind.—It is called star jelly, or star shot, being 
supposed by the vulgar to be dropped by the meteor, called & falling star. 
f Those circles or curves we often see on the ground, called fairy-rings, seem 
yery imperfectly understood: they have long been supposed to be caused by light¬ 
ning; but npw are conjectured to be caused by that species of fungi that grows 
upon them ; which either by some means radiating from a centre, or growing in 
-circles and curves, as directed by nature, produce the above phenomenon. 
* M. Willemet (a member of the academy of Dijon in France) considers the 
agaric on trees as the superabundance of a vegetable juice that exists in the tree, 
or as a morbid matter which is in a state of depuration; consequently excludes if 
ns a fungus. See note to mushroom, in the Index. 
