Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-09-21
SHOWERS OF MAMA.
JUST WHY AND HOW SUCH PHE-
NOMENA ARE POSSIBLE.

This Food of the People of Israel In
the Wilderness Is m Edible Lichen
That Is still Found In Parts of
Asia and Africa.
'Tt is mammal" exclaimed the people
of Israel as they gathered the food
which seemed so miraculously to ap-
pear at their very feet in answer to
their cry for sustenance, but though
they ate and were satisfied, we are
told they twist not what it was"
And during the ages that have pass
ed since its first appearance on that
memorable dewy morning in the will
derness 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 a long time was that mamma was
the sap of the tamarisk, but now au-
thorities. seeing in the light of WIDEN
ing scientific knowledge, declare that
mamma was without doubt a certain
lichen 0ecanora eseulenta).
This is borne out by the fact that
well authenticated rains of mama, abb
solutely believed by the inhabitants to
be showers from heaven. have been re-
ported at least six times during the
past 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.
If a piece of mama be examined
under the microscope, its peculiar COM
pound structure can be clearly seen.
There is a delicate network of interlac-
ing fungal threads glistening in the
light, while inclosed in their meshes
are number of round, bright green
cells, each a tiny algal plant. Thus
fungus and alga live together in most
intimate connection.
1t may be asked how fresh mamma
lichens arise, seeing that it is difficult
to- imagine frequent coincident meet
ing of a particular fungus and a par
ticular green plant. But granted the
meeting has once taken place, the rapid
reproduction is easy to understand.
At certain times in the year n yellow
ish dust appears in little green cups
growing ON the surface of the plant,
and each of the grains of dust is n
minute bundle containing few of the
white filaments and a few of the green
cells wrapped up together, so that
wherever this dust may fall each grain
can become n new mamma lichen.
There is, moreover, n second method
of reproduction in which the fungus
alone takes part and sends out tiny OFF,
spring to take their chance in the wide
world of finding n suitable host. as their
parent has done, but the details are
complicated and at present involved in
some obscurity.
Thus, then. Lecanora esculenta -
mammals in it's very nature one of the
most remarkable phenomena in the
vegetable world. 1t is found over great
tracts of southwest Asia, near COnstan-
tinople, in the Crimea, the deserts of
Arabia. in the Sahara and the deserts
of Algeria.
1t 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 n wrinkled crust
which seems TO the casual observer
part of the very rock itself. and needs
care to distinguish it.
Cut through. It is white like corn
over. extremely light in weight. 1t is
obvious that there is not much nourish-
ment to be obtained from the bare face
of the limestone rock, hence all the sus-
tenance of the two plants must be OBJ
tanned from the atmosphere and the
rain by the little green plant, which
must thus work doubly hard to be able
to pass on sufficient food for its part
ner's living in addition to providing its
own.
By degrees, as it grows older, it be-
comes loosened or even detached from
the rocks, and then, when the sudden
whirlwinds and violent storms which
affect many of 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, it may
be. for immense 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, n waterspout will
gather it up. carry 1t along and ulti-
mateIy deposit it in place where hith-
erto it had been practically unknown
Sunday Magazine.