550 WILD FLOWERS OF DECEMBER. 



wastes." Nor is the pursuit of these vegetables 

 confined to the summer season alone, as is the case 

 with most other departments of botany. The Mus- 

 cologist needs not to wait for the heralds of Spring to 

 announce to him the time when he may set out, with 

 a prospect of success, upon his excursions. With 

 the Moss it is a continual spring ; a very great num- 

 ber of them are in the highest state of perfection in 

 the middle of winter, and there is no season but will 

 afford some or other of them in a state for examina- 

 tion and study. A great advantage in the study of 

 Mosses is that they are more easily preserved, always 

 continue green and beautiful, and may be at any time 

 revived on the application of water. Thus they 

 appear to the eye as beautiful images of the past, yet 

 like an unappropriated thought, standing ever ready to 

 be developed into the active and sensible present. 

 They are, in fact, what the Amaranth was only fabled 

 to be imperishable ! 



