Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/529

 Rh thing. The genus Fucus has received more botanical attention than the rest of this tribe, and the works of Gmelin, Esper, Stackhouse and Velley have ascertained many species, which the labours of Dr. Goodenough, Mr. Woodward and Mr. Turner have reduced to systematic order. Still a more perfect combination of the skill of the painter and the botanist is to be desired, relative to the genus in question, and this is about to be supplied by the Historia Facorum of the writer last mentioned, and his friend Mr. W. J. Hooker.

5. Fungi. Mushrooms. These cannot properly be said to have any herbage. Their substance is fleshy, generally of quick growth and short duration, differing in firmness, from a watery pulp to a leathery or even woody texture. By some naturalists they have been thought of an animal nature, chiefly because of their fœtid scent in decay, and because little white bodies like eggs are found in them at that period. But these are truly the eggs of flies, laid there by the parent