The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1901-12-28
SHOWERS OF MAMMA.
JUST WHY AND HOW SUCH PHe-
NOMENA ARE POSSIBLE.
This Food of the People of 1srnel In
the Wilderness Is an Edible Lichen
That Is Still Found In Parts of
Asia and Africa.

the Wilderness Is an Edible Lichen
That Is Still Found In Parts of
Asia and Africa.
at is mamma exclaimed the people
of Israel as they gathered the food
which seemed so miraeulouSly 10 ap-
pear at their very feet in answer to
their cry for sustenance. but though
they ate and We're 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
end again that they twist not what it
was that thus fed the ISraelites in
their need. though numbcrless conjec.
lures have been made and discussions
held on the matter.
The chief opinion which had sway
-or 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
mama was without doubt certain
lichen Uecanora esculenta).
This is borne out by the fact that
we'll authenticated rains of mamma. alb
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 mamma be examined
under the microscope, its peculiar com
pound structure can be clearly seen.
| There is delicate network of intcrlac-
| ing fungal threads glistcning in the
light, while Enclosed in their meshes
are Il 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 mama
lichens arise, seeing that it is difficult
to imagine a frequent coincident meet
| ing Of Il particular fungus and 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 Il yellow
ish 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 few of the
white tilaments and few of the green
cells wrapped up together. so that
wherever this dust may fall each grain
can become new mama lichen.
There Is, moreover, a second method
of reproduction in which the fungus
alone takes part and sends out tiny off.
spring 10 take their chance in the wide
world of finding suitable host, as theil
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 fol
it is grayish yellow in color and grow,
on gray limestone rocks and fragments
of rock in the form of a wrinkled crus
which seems to the casual observer
part of the very rock itself, and needs
care to distinguish it.
Cut through, it is white like corr
within. dry and powdery. 1t is. more
over, extremely light in weight. 1t i.
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 thu
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 it
own.
By degrees, as it grows older it be
comes looSened or even detached from
the rocks. and then. when the suddel
whirlwinds and violent storms whicl
affect many of these regions blow. thu
featherweight pieces of lichen crust ar,
torn up and blown into the air at thu
mercy of the wind and carried. it ma.
be, for immense distances.
The rains, too. that descend Will
such sudden vehcmence sweep it ava!
into water channels, where it is born'
along Oh the stream and deposited il
hollows and left there in heaps wheI
the water subsidies.
At times. too. Il Waterspout vii
gather it up carry it along and ulti
mately deposit it in a place where hith
I erto it had been practically unknowE.-
4 Sunday Magazine.
Impert inent,