The Morel tribe includes those Fungi which have their sporules in the stipe, and it is in two divisions; the first of which includes those which, like the Morel (Morchella esculenta), have a pileus, or cap, like a mitre; and the second, those which have the pileus curving upwards, like a cup, as in Peziza. A third tribe includes those which, like Tremella, are of a jelly-like substance; and in a similar manner all the numerous genera are arranged. Among these the most remarkable are the Truffle (Tuber cibarium), which is found buried in the earth, and the curious Fungi called Blight and Mildew, which belong to several different genera, and which appear on the leaves and fruit of other plants.

ORDER CCXX.—ALGÆ.

The Sea-weeds are placed on the extreme verge of the vegetable kingdom; and indeed some of them seem almost to partake of the nature of zoophytes. They can live only where there is abundance of moisture, and many of them, such as the different kinds of Fucus, inhabit the sea; by the waves of which they are torn up from their native beds, and washed on shore by the tides. Others are found in the form of Confervæ, or green slime, on the surface of stagnant ponds, or on damp stone or gravel-walks; and others appear to form one of the connecting links between vegetable and animal life, as the joints in which they are produced possess the power of separating from each other, and in their divided state so closely resemble animals, as to puzzle naturalists to know where to place them. The Algæ are divided by botanists into three classes; viz., the jointless, the jointed, and the disjointed. The jointless Algæ are by far the most numerous; and they comprehend all those broad flat jelly-like substances which are called by the popular names of tangle and dulse on the coast, and which are frequently eaten. To this division belong the kinds of sea-weed that are used for making kelp; those from which iodine is procured; those forming the celebrated Chinese birds’ nests; those sold in the oil-shops under the name of laver; and those used by farmers as manure. The jointed Algæ are very inferior in the scale of creation to the first division; but the Confervæ (see f in fig. 149) are well known, from the rapidity with which they form a thick green slime, by adhering together on the surface of ditches and cisterns, and in short, wherever there is stagnant water exposed to the open air. The disjointed Algæ are generally found among the Confervæ; but they are so small, and insignificant in appearance, as, in most cases, entirely to escape notice.

INDEX.

THE END.