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Show f . ... -..... - ..... 264 ROT IN VEGETABLES, h asses of land ant-animals that will_ prey on t f care e none that place mals when _deposited th~re, t ler~ ar urpose of being their eggs m those bodies for ~ ~a~ren sand, where hatched. In deserts of hot an . rood for any . d'nary occasiOns, 1 ' there lS not, up~n or I h recent animal re-of the insect tnbes, _an~"! de~e such remains are mains are very spee~Ily ~lC .Pges . and the same found wit~out any mse~c{~~! int~nsely cold .. So may be sald of place\';~ those that are calle~ mfefar, therefore, fr_om e d d out of inorgamc matrior animals, bemg pr~ uc~ out of the remains of ter, they_ are not tro ~f;er circumstances besid~~ other ammals, un ess . ns be favourable to thClr the presence of those remal . prod~ction. 'th vegetables. The fungi and It lS the _same Wl 1 on these in their decay do moulds whJ.och ~orne t p lly under all circumstances. not come upon t lem equ~la distruens), which comes The common dot b~S~?stens, the destructi~n o~ the upon, and no ou onl in damp situatwns, timber of houses, c~mes ls J the timber that are and then only 0118~ ~l:~1~he dry 1.0 t, or o~k-leather near the wall~. ) which chastises ship-owners (Xylostrorna gtgant~ur;- ~ak before it is properly rnaso severely, for usme> d d . ed after being cut down~ tured in the tree,. an th~tr vess~ls damp and foul, and a~so for ke~-r~-g never makes its appearat~ce, and w1thout v~n ~ a H?r'the air play around that ttmeven on bad tu!l er,f I d m The fungi, and other ber with sufficient r~e o o~le u on timber, and a)parasitical plants ~h~~h cwhen i~ a state of decay, most all land v~ge a es, . e enerally speakand hasten theu destr_u~tlo~, ;~t 'af the same time, ing, encouraged by mots ulrle '· th'e water. and thus, none ofth em gro w .n atura Y m decay und' er wat er, however rapidly tnnber.t~~~re Various aquatic fungi never appea~ on 1 face of submerged ti~?er, plants adhere to t fe sur bsistence but for stabthty , but ~hey do so, not or su ' IN DAlUP AIR ONLY. 265 and though the course of a ship through the water may be impeded by the seaweed on its bottom, that weed does not tend in any way to injure the timber. As there are no sea animals which breed maggots in the dead bodies of land animals that find their way to the sea, so there are not in the sea any parasitical plants which hasten the decay of land plants there. There is another proof in the peat bogs: when trees fall through decay, in damp and rainy situations, and it is only in such situations that they decay at the surface of the ground, there are gen erally, if not always, successions of fungi arol.lnd the root of the tree for several years before it becomes so weakened as to yield to any thing but a flood or a tempest. When the tree does fall, it is usually covered with fungi on those parts against which the water forms a damp, but not where it forms a pool. In that case, the fungi will be at the surface of the water; and if the trunk is altogether under water there will be none. But even where the fungi do appear, they are not of long continuance. Their soft glutinous substance, which is soon gone in the ordinary seasonal crop, unites with the mud which the rains of autumn, after the season of the fungi is over, collect, and the two form a water-tight paste by which the slope towards the tree is converted into a little dam. There are abundance of the germes of the fungi, in the matter of these dams, although, in that stage, even those of the larger species ~1rc not visible until they have arrived at that period of their underground growth in which those of the esculent mushrooms are known by the name of spawn. Yet though they are there, they never germinate, if the water continues, nor would they do so if the place were to become quite dry. But the water brings another tribe, the mosses, the germes of many _of which are as invisible when alone (and when w1th the plants their existence may be said to be inferred rather than seen) as those of the z |