52 FERN ALLIES. 



habit of the plant is creeping, it bears clusters of awl- 

 shaped leaves, and covers the surface of mud under 

 shallow water. We have not succeeded in rinding it. 



The second great family of Fern Allies, the Club- 

 mosses (Lycopodium) are much more generally interest- 

 ing than the Horse-tails. Here the seed-cases are 

 borne amid leaf-like scales, either mingled with the leaves 

 or forming a cone. We were making a charming excur- 

 sion in Swaledale when we first found the Common Club- 

 moss (L. clavatum,^. 4.) We had crossed the Butter- 

 tub Pass, and were proceeding along Stag-fell, when the 

 trailing stems and uplifted cones of that king of mosses 

 first caught our eye. We gathered long branches, and 

 did not wonder at the fancy of Wordsworth's shepherds 

 for coiling it round their hats. Mr. Baird tells us that 

 "the seeds of this plant are used in Germany for produc- 

 ing artificial lightning on the stage, for when dispersed 

 in the air they may be ignited in the same manner as 

 powdered rosin." He also informs us that "woollen 

 cloth boiled with this plant acquires the property of 

 becoming blue when passed through a bath of Brazil 

 wood." 



This species is common in all our mountainous districts. 



The Interrupted Club-moss (L. annotinum) grows in 

 Wales, and on the highest of the Scotch mountains, but 

 we have found no specimens except in Switzerland. In 

 this species the branches grow upright, while the main 

 stem creeps, and the cones are thicker and shorter, and 

 placed singly in the stems, not in twos and threes as in 

 the common species. 



For abundant specimens of the Savin-leaved Club-moss 



