_b._ BY DEVELOPMENT OF VEINS OR NERVES. Certain ground lichens belonging to the Peltigeraceae have a wide spreading thallus often with very large lobes. The upper cortex is a many-layered plectenchyma, but the under surface is covered only by a loose felt of hyphae which branch out into a more or less dense tomentum. As the firm upper cortex continues to increase by intercalary growth from the branching upwards of hyphae from the meristematic gonidial zone, there occurs an extension of the upper thallus with which the lower cannot keep pace[372]. A little way back from the edge, the result of the stretching is seen in the splitting asunder of the felted hyphae of the under surface, and in the consequent formation of a reticulate series of ridges known as the veins or nerves; they represent the original tomentose covering, and are white, black or brown, according to the colour of the tomentum itself. The naked ellipsoid interstices show the white medulla, and, if the veins are wide, the colourless areas are correspondingly small. Rhizinae are formed on the nerves in several of the species, and anchor the thallus to the support. In _Peltigera canina_, the under surface is almost wholly colourless, the veins are very prominent (Fig. 55), and are further strengthened by the growth and branching of the parallel hyphae of which they are composed. They serve to strengthen the large and flabby thallus and form a rigid base for the long rhizinae by which the lichen clings to the grass or moss over which it grows. The most perfect development of strengthening nerves is to be found in _Hydrothyria venosa_[373], a rather rare water lichen that occurs in the streams of North America. It consists of fan-like lobes of thin structure, the cortex being only about one cell thick. The fronds are about 3 cm. wide and they are contracted below into a stalk which serves to attach the plant to the substratum. Several fronds may grow together in a dense tuft, the expanded upper portion floating freely in the water. Frequently the plants form a dense growth over the rocky beds of the stream. At the point where the stalk expands into the free erect frond, there arise a series of stout veins which spread upwards and outwards. They are definitely formed structures and not adaptations of pre-existing tissues: certain hyphae arise from the medulla at the contracted base of the frond, take a radial direction and, by increase, become developed into firm strands. The individual hyphae also increase in size, and the swelling of the nerve gives rise to a ridge prominent on both surfaces. They seldom anastomose at first but towards the tips they become smaller and spread out in delicate ramifications which unite at various points. There is no doubt, as Bitter[372] points out, that the nerves function as strengthening tissues and preserve the frond from the strain of the water currents which would, otherwise, tear apart the delicate texture. III. RADIATE THALLUS