CHAPTER XII. 



" And close behind this aged thorn, 



There is a fresh and lovely sight, 

 A beauteous heap, a hill of moss 



Just half a foot in height. 

 All lovely colours there you see, 



All colours that were ever seen ; 

 And mossy network too is there, 

 As if by hand of lady fair 



The Avork had woven been." 



Wordsworth. 



E had now worked our way to the second great 

 section of the moss group, the Side-fruited 

 mosses. In this section the fruit-stalk springs 

 from the side of the stem. Some small mosses, resem- 

 bling the Beardless mosses, and characterized by the 

 wide-mouthed urn, stand first in the Side-fruited group. 

 The Compact Beardless moss (Anaectangiuni compactum), 

 with its lance-shaped leaves and oval urns, is an Alpine 

 species. Its brother, Hornsthubs Beardless moss, prefers 

 Ireland as its native land. 



Their allies, the Leucodons, grow on rocks or the bark 

 of trees ; the branches are incurved, and the leaves 

 closely lapped over one another. The Squirrel-tail 

 Leucodon (L. sciuroide, Plate VII., Jig. 2) is often to be 

 met with, but I have never found it in fruit. The English 



