26 Mr. Drummond on the Germination of Mosses. 



and attached to them in the same way that we see the serrated 

 leaves and capsules produced in Phascum serration. 



That the articulated filaments, supposed by Hedwig to be the 

 cotyledons of mosses, are essentially different from the seed- 

 leaves of phamogamous plants, will appear from the following 

 experiment : — I removed a portion of the surface from the pots 

 in which I had mosses growing from seeds, and I found (pro- 

 vided I did not go deeper than the conferva-like substance had 

 penetrated) that the green part of the conferva, and ultimately 

 the moss itself, was reproduced. And I have since found, that the 

 small creeping roots of Folytrichum commune and other mosses, 

 when the soil in which they grow is exposed to the air, throw 

 out green articulated filaments, and produce young plants in a 

 much shorter time than what it takes to produce them from 

 seed. I find the time which mosses remain in the conferva 

 state, before they produce their true leaves, to vary considerably 

 in different species, and even in the same species under different 

 circumstances. When regularly supplied with moisture, Funaria 

 hygrometrica, Gymnostomum pyriforme, Didymodon purpureum, 

 Bryum hornum % and some others produce their true leaves in 

 about three weeks from the time of sowing; Folytrichum undula- 

 tum requires two months ; and Folytrichum aloides sometimes 

 continues four months in the conferva state ; the last mentioned 

 in that state is the well-known Byssus vehttina, an excellent draw- 

 ing of which is given in Dillwyn's British Cojifervce, Plate 77. 



The duration of the green part of the conferva-like filaments 

 on the surface, after the mosses produce their true leaves, 

 depends much upon the soil and situation in which they grow ; 

 in Phascum serratum and Folytrichum aloides they are almost 

 always present; and in some mosses, supposed to be annual, I 

 have found them remain and throw up plants in succession 

 for several years. 



In 



