24 
Which blights their proud rivals, again they renew 
Their mysterious growth, which so little men heed, 
And again, in a way of their own, bloom and seed. 
What tree or what herb, be it ever so fair, 
Can in exquisite grace with the mosses compare ? 
The feathery Hypnums rich tapestries spread 
And many-hued mats, soft as down to the tread. 
Wide o’er cold bogs spreads the pallid peat moss ; 
Fontinalis’ green tresses the mountain-streams toss; 
The emerald Bryum on moist, shady banks 
Unfolds its rosettes, and here, too, in close ranks, 
‘The troops of Dicranum are tilting their lances, 
And the Liliput fruit of Bartramia dances 
I each passing breeze: all these tiny green spheres 
Are caskets of moss-seed—mere dust it appears, 
But all vital with life—but as yet it is hid 
By a cunningly-fitted, and bossed little lid ; 
While above this a veil, too transparent to hide, 
Rests lightly, as over the head of'a bride. 
But in quaintness of structure, the lichens outvie 
All else that in nature rejoices the eye— 
All sober in color, but varied in foim, 
From the Graphis, whose tracings the tree-trunks adorn, 
As with Arabic writing or outlines of maps, — 
To the ugly rock-tripe that cn yonder cliff flaps. 
From old branches the pendent gray Usnea sways, 
While upon them the graceful Parmelia displays ; 
Its parterres with curved paths, which the pixies might tread, 
And gay little seed-beds, brown, orange, and red. 
And here, on this knoll, which the wind has swept clean, 
The Cladonia’s whimsical structures are seen. 
One resembles a balconied minaret tall, 
Or a ruined old castle just ready to fall; 
And another seems most, with its flame-colored tip, 
Like a beacon-fire such as the old Normans lit. 
And those that like delicate corals appear 
Are the favorite food of the Arctic reindeer, 
But the daylight is fading, the sunbeams slant low, 
And fainter and fainter the long shadows grow. 
Beneath the horizon the sun sinks from view, 
And let us, with him, to the scene bid adieu, 
And leave buried in shade through the sombre night hours 
The murmuring forest and all it embowers. : 
AuLen H. Curtiss. : 
Liberty, Bedford County, Va. 
Terms—One Dollar per annum beginning with the Janur ber, 12 cents post 
For the Botanicat Directory 30 cents. Supplement to fst che secans 10 Boivin pp othe Woe? 
H. Leccerr, 224, E. Tenth Street, New York, Money Orders on Station D., P. O., N.Y. 
of te nas hand, at one dollar each, All subscriptions or orders filled only on receipt 
The Club meets regularly the last Tuesday of the month in the Herbarium Columbia Coll 
atts P.M. Botanists are invited to D: ‘ “Cl 
tg Piper gta attend. Dn, TauRBeR, the President of the Club, 
