On another rock consisting mainly of muscovite and quartz he[857] found that crystals of garnet embedded in the rock were reduced to a powder by the action of the lichen. He concludes that the destroying action of the hyphae is accelerated by the presence of carbon dioxide given off by the lichen, and dissolved in the surrounding moisture. Lang[858] and Stahlecker[859] have both come to the conclusion that even the quartz grains are corroded by the lichen hyphae. Stahlecker finds that they change the quartz into amorphous silicic acid, and thus bring it into the cycle of organic life. Chalk and magnesia are extracted from the silicates where no other plant could procure them. Lichens are generally rare on pure quartz rocks, chiefly, however, for the mechanical reason that the structure is of too close a grain to afford a foothold. D. SUPPLY OF ORGANIC FOOD _a._ FROM THE SUBSTRATUM. The Ascomycetous fungi, from which so many of the lichens are descended, are mainly saprophytes, obtaining their carbohydrates from dead plant material, and lichen hyphae have in some instances undoubtedly retained their saprophytic capacity. It has been proved that lichen hyphae, which naturally could not exist without the algal symbiont, may be artificially cultivated on nutrient media without the presence of gonidia, though the chief and often the only source of carbon supply is normally through the alga with which the hyphae are associated in symbiotic union. A large number of crustaceous lichens grow on the bark of trees, and their hyphae burrow among the dead cells of the outer bark using up the material with which they come in contact. Others live on dead wood, palings, etc. where the supply of disintegrated organic substance is even greater; or they spread over withered mosses and soil rich in humus. _b._ FROM OTHER LICHENS. Bitter[860] has recorded several instances observed by him of lichens growing over other lichens and using up their substance as food material. Some lichens are naturally more vigorous than others, and the weaker or more slow growing succumb when an encounter takes place. _Pertusaria globulifera_ is one of these marauding species; its habitat is among mosses on the bark of trees, and, being a quick grower, it easily overspreads its more sluggish neighbours. It can scarcely be considered a parasite, as the thallus of the victim is first killed, probably by the action of an enzyme.