Waterbury Democrat., 1901-06-28
M N A..

"It is mannar' exclaimed the people of Israel as they gathered the food which seemed so mraculously to ap- pear at their very feet in answer to their cry for sustenance, but though they ate and were satisfied, yet, as We are told, they twist not what it was" And during the ages that have passed since it's first appearance on that mem orable dewy morning in the Wilder ness of Sin men have declared again and again that they twist not what it was'' that thus fed the Israelites in their need, though numberless conjec- lures have been made and discussions held on the matter The chief opinion which had sway for long time was that mamma was the sap of the tama- risk; but now authorities, seeing ln the light of widening scientific knowledge, declare that mama was without doubt q certain lichen (Lecanora escuienta). This is borne out by the fact that well authenticated rains of mama, abso- lutely believed by the inhabitants to be showers from heaven, have been re- ported at least six times during the present century by reliable travellers in the east, and the descriptions of the deposit given in precise present day language leave no doubt upon the point. x If piece of mama be examined under the microscope it's peculiar compound structure can be clearly seen; there is q delicate net work of interlacing fungal- threads gllstening in the light, while inclosed in their meshes are a number of round bright green cells, each q tiny algal plant. Thus fungus and alga live to- gether in most intimate connection, the fungus being in the mama liehen the leading spirit, though this is not the case in every lichen, for in some of these organisms the development of the green plant is the factor determin- ing the form which will be taken.
 It may be asked how fresh mamma Hchens arise, seeing that 1t is difficult to imagine frequent coincident meet ing of q particular fungus and a par ticular green plant. But, granted the meeting has once taken place, the rapid reproduction is easy to under stand. At certain times in the year yellowish dust appears in little green cups growing on the surface of the plant, and each of the grains of dust is a minute bundle containing a few of the white filaments and a few ot the green cells wrapped up together, so that wherever this dust may fall each grain can become a new mama lichen. There is. moreover, a second method of reproduction in which the fungus alone takes part, and sends out tiny offspring to take their chance in the wide world of finding a suitable host as their parent has done; but the details are complicated and at present involved in some obscurity.
 Thus the Lecanora esculenta-man- na- is in it's very nature one of the most remarkable phenomena in the vegetable world. It is found over great tracts of southwest Asia near Constantinople, in the Crimea, the deserts of Arabia, in the Sahara and the deserts of Algeria It is easy to pass it by unnoticed, for it is grayish yellow in color and grows on gray limestone rocks and fragments of rock in the form of a wrinkled crust, which seems to casual observer part of the very rock itself, and needs special care to distinguish 1t. Cut through it is white like corn within, dry and pow dery; it is, moreover, extremely light in weight. It is obvious that there is ont much nourishment to be obtained from the bare face of the limeston rock, hence all the sustenance of the two plants must be obtained from the atmosphere and the rain by the little green plant, which must thus work doubly hard to be able to pass on suf- lASlChl iOou lOl It's sIlflUR III addition to providing it's own By de- grees, as 1t grows older, it becomes loosened or even detached from the rocks, and then when the sudden whirlwinds and violent storms which affect manyeof these regions blow the featherweight pieces of lichen-crust are torn up and blown into the air at the mercy of the wind and carried hither and thither, 1t may be for ims mense distances. The rains, too, that descend with such sudden vehemence sweep it away into water channels, where it is borne along on the stream and deposited in hollows, and left there in heaps when the water subsidies. At times, too, waterspout will gather it up, carry it along, and ultimately de- posit it in a place where hitherto it had been practically unknown. .-G. 1 Clarke Nuttall in the Sunday Maga- zine.