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Show 74 The Hijlory ift P t A N T S. '1 --- ·------ M s-·-s E Clqft · tb~ ~Fit:JI. ~'tfb as conftftonly of fentk,.~ jiexilf'P,aments, ·· I I' ··fl.enus tbe -Firjl. · -! B Y rS S U S. ' ' \ B y s s u_ s is a genus of Moifes, co;~~ing _of pla.in, fi_mple, capill~ry fibres. No par~ of. frut.l:ificatioo- ~as yet been d~o{hng~I{hed. m th1s Mofs. It s . filaments are uniform, and are often ro fine as to be fdarce dlfcer lble fingly' though, ll1 the clufter, they make a Jdnd of fine down. . There has been a long difpute among the botanill:s, whether the Byifus were pr~perly a Mofs or a Fungus. Linnreus is of the latter opinion, moft of the other botamfts of the Iormer. - Dl11enms t inTs 1t · is o a mi001e'"'1Tirnlre--lretwet:rr· both. - :Authors have been ufed to include two very different things un~er the name of Byifus ; the one, the filamentofe bodies we include_under.this nafl1~ ;_ the otbe~, the dufiy matter found on putrified vegetables. Dillen ius-has defcribed many o~· th~fe_ with. the others, and Linnxus, who takes in the afpergillus and bt>hytes ?f M1c_heh mto his genus ~f the Byffi1s, d'o"e-s- mrlmne:--'ffris;-lrowever, "s--eortftmfl~ifl-g thmgs; and f,r.om thts, prob:biy, arofc the difficulty of afcertaining to what clafs of plant~ the Byifus belongeJ. fhe filamentofe bodies, called by ~uthors Byili, are truely Mofles, of the na~ure of the confervre, and other filamentofe plants of this clafs; but the pulverulent kmds, or fuch ~s confifi: of globules, .whether with or without pedicles, are all true and proper fungi, and have b'een defcribed by us as fuch in their propet place. ~ne would W?n~er what lhould induce botanifts of fuch etbinence as thefe tb arnmge thmgs fo very different under the fame genus. Dillenius, indeed, rejet.l:s the botryt~ and afpergilli of Micheli from among the :Byffi, though he retains fome others there which evidently_ ~elong to the fame family. His obfervation, however, that there would be no end of defcnbmg them, becaufe they are of different forms, according to the nature of the putrifying matter they arife from, has but little of the botanilt, or of the. philofopher, in it. The great diltinB:ion betweeh the Byffi and confervre is, that the former do not grow in the water, as the latter all do, and that they · confifi of finer, fhorter, and more tender filaments. The Byifus, upon the whole, is a genus of plants that carries the leaft appearance of a vegetable nature in it of any known one. Dillenius, the mofi accurate of all writers on the Moifes, has defcribed fifteen fpecies of Byifus, properly fo called. His whole number of plants under this name is twenty, but the firfi five of thefe are of the number of the fungus's, of the genus of the afpergilli. We have met wi.h two other fpeties of true Byffi, befide thofe defcribed by Dillenius, which makes the whole number of Byffi known at this time feventeen. We !hall defcri be three of the more fin gular fpecies of thefe at large ; after which, the names will be fufficient ro diltinguifh the reft. I. By.J!us Jimplex tenuis, areolar-is. The fine, Jimple, areolar By.J!us. · This elegant little Mofs grows in little clullers, or areolre, ufually of a circular figure. Thefe feldom exceed a fixth of an inch in diameter, but there u[ually grow a conlid erable number of them near one another, fo that it is eafily diflingui!hed at a diHance. Thefe ~lufters are compofed of multitudes of extremely fine filaments, perfeCl:ly fimple and umform in their ftrut.l:ure, fcarce a twentieth part of an inch in length, but all perfeCtly eret.l:, and of the fame thicknefs from the bafe to the point. Thefe filaments arc of a pale-amethyfi:ine colour, or of a mixture of white and purple. After the plant has paffed a certain time in this form, the filaments all fall down., and, intangli~g "":'ith one another, they form a kind of membrane, covering the little fpot upon whtch 1t firft ftood erect, with a thin cruft. This becomes in a li ttle time, ' of The Hiflory of P L A N T S. 75 of a deeper purple, and, in fine, of a violet colour, and is even blacki£h, before it drops off. It grows on the barks of trees, and, fometimes, on the fialks of the larger moifes. It appears in it's perfet.l: or filamentofe fl:ate in November and December; after which, it remains till the end of February in it's fecond form. Dillenius has defcribed this under the name of Byffus lanuginofa, violacea, lignis adnafcens, both in his Hillery of Moifes, and in his edition of Ray's Synopfis of the Briti!h Plants. Micheli has defcribcd it twice, under two different names; firit, under that of Byifus pnrpurea_, elegantiilima, arborum caudicibus adnafcens brcviffimis ac tenuiilimis filamentis; and again, under that of Byifus minima, crerulea, non ramofa, mufco innafcens. I have obferved it both on the fiumps of trees and on the damp fialks of the great hypnum in Hornfey-wood, and have found it fi·om the palcfi purple to the deepefl: blue on both. It's different appearance alfo, in it's fccond ftate, has mificd fome into the taking it for a kind of agaric. Doody has defcribed it under the name of Fungus violaceus, herpetis modo lignis irrepens; and Mr Ray, under that name, both in his Synopfis and his Hifiory. 2. Byjfus fummitatibus barbatis. The bearded, topped By.J!us. This is a confiderably larger and more robuft plant than the former. It grows in irregular clufiers, an inch or two in breadth, fometimes confiderably more, and confifis of filaments of the thicknefs of a human hair, and of near two inches in length. Thefe fiand ereCt, their number rendering them a fupport to one another. They are of an equal thicknefs throughout, and of a fimple, uniform firucture; but, at their tops, they divide each into a great number of very delicate and ilender filaments, twenty, thirty, or more, in number to each, which form a little brufh, or beard, at the top of every filament, of about an eighth of an inch in length, and nearly as much in breadth. The fuperficies of the whole clufier is, by this means, rendered beautifully tomentofe, or, as it were, downy. The firfi appearance this little plant makes is very different from this of it's perfect: fiate. It confifis, while young, of a number of firait, 01ort, uniform fibres, arranged fo clofely and uniformly together, that their furface refembles the nap of a piece of velvet. The plant is, at this time, of a pale orange colour. When full grown, it is of a deep orange colour, with more red in it, and is flexile and tough, and the feveral filaments have fometimes a kind of annular marks, in two or three places, which feem to denote three or four different periods of growth. It has no remarkable fmell, but a fubaftringent talle. It grows on the rotten !lumps of trees, and fometimes on old boards. I h-ave met with it very perfet.l: and fine in January, in tbe woods about Harrow. Micheli feems to have meant this fpecies by the name of Byifus major, fpeluncis et cellis vinariis innafcens, latiilima, primum alba, dein aurea, pofiea fulva, filamentis crailioribus et longioribus fiffilibus, in his Nova Genera Plantarum: but, if fo, he was not acquainted with it in it's mo£1: perfet.l: fiate. Some have ft1ppofed it to be the Fungus Virginianus, barbatus, fcecidus, Banifieri of Plukenet ; but the want of fmell alone is enough to difiingui! h it from that plant, which feems rather to be the fungus barbatus, quercinus, teterrimi odoris of Breynius, Eph. Germ. Dec. I. Mr Doody evidently meant it, by the inartificial name of Pfeudofpongia fungoides, fulva, lignis adnafcens, in the Appendix to the fecond edition of Ray's Synopfis of Engli01 Plants; and Dillenius, in the third edition of that work, and fince, in his Hilloria Mufcorum, has defcribed it under the name of By!fus arborea, barbata, fulvi coloris. . 3· By.J!us ranufa extremitatibus capillaceis. The branched By.J!us, with capillaceous extremities. This is by much the mofi: elegant of all the fpecies of this genus. There arife from the fame bafe fix, eight, or ten ftalks, which are of a flexile and fomewhat tough texture, and of a whiti01 yellowilh, or du:fky colour. They are fomewhat flattilh in form, and of the compofite kind, dividing, as they grow jg length, into a multitude of other fmall branches, and thefe all fend out !horter and fmaller !hoots on each fide, at iinall di!lances. The whole plant grows to three or four inches in 'length, in the larger |