agaragar, agalagal

[Ceylonese local name.] The name of a sea-weed-the Gracilaria lichenoides, or Ceylon mo . largely used in the East for soups and jellies. It is IMG:content-0262.png:[blocks in formation] "There are two excrescences which grow upon trees, both of them in the nature of mushrooms: the one the Romans call boletus , which groweth upon the roots of oaks, and was one of the dainties of their table; the other is medicinal, and is called agarick, hich groweth upon the tops of oaks, oaks, though it be affirmed by some that it groweth also at the roots." Bacon . III. Min . Agaric Mineral: So called from its resemblance in colour and texture to the Agaric us genus of Fungi. A sub-variety of calcite, an extensive mineral species, or rather genus, of which the 23rd variety or series of sub-varieties described by Dana includes those "deposited from calcareous springs, streams, or in caverns." Under this heading five subvarieties are enumerated, of which the Agaric Mineral, called also Rock - milk , is the fourth, the others being Stalactites , Stalagmite , Calcsinter, and Rock -meal. Agaric mineral is either yellowish or greyish-white. It is soft in texture, dull in lustre, and so light that it floats for a short time on water. It is almost entirely composed of carbonate of lime. It is found in Durham, Oxfords hire, . In Switzerland it is used to whiten houses.