62 MOSSES. 



clusters of little branches are always more slender and 

 inclined to droop than those of the others we have here. 

 The Spreading Bog-moss (S. squarrosum) is a very large 

 species, firm, robust, and branched ; its leaves spreading, 

 turned back, and pointed. We have not found a specimen. 



The group wliich immediately succeeds that of the 

 Bog-moss is the Earth-moss group (Pascae). What 

 the Bog-mosses are to marshy places, such are the earth- 

 mosses to clay banks, covering them with a green crust 

 at first, which develops into tiny plants ; these attain ma- 

 turity very rapidly, sow thier seed, and die away in a 

 very short time, thus scattering over the tenaceous soil 

 a deposit of organic matter, which prepares it to nourish 

 plants of a less minute organization. In the Earth-moss 

 family the capsules have little or no stalks, the leaves are 

 generally in eight rows, and the whole plant is wonder- 

 fully small. The urn is roundish, with a pointed veil 

 splitting up one side, and no proper lid. We were too 

 late in the year to find the Pointed, the Tall, or the Awl- 

 leaved Earth-moss, and the other species do not attain 

 maturity till autumn or winter. 



The Straight-necked Earth-moss (Phascum rectum) 

 we have from near Southport ; it is exceedingly minute, 

 with chestnut-coloured urns, and tiny crowded leaves. 

 By far the most frequent member of this family is the 

 Awl-leaved Earth-moss (P. sublatum, Plate V., Jig. 1). 

 It has a tiny stem, its leaves are lance-shaped and con- 

 cave, and its urns pale brown. Great numbers of plants 

 grow crowded together in dense patches, their foliage of 

 a yellowish hue and the sharp points of their abundant 

 leaves giving a hairy aspect to the plot. It grows on 



