338 



THE FLORAL WOULD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



vasculums, as experience has taught me to avoid, when engaged 

 in collectujg, whatever is weighty or cumbersome ; and if once the 



species get mixed, the loose 

 dirt spoils their beauty, and 

 they can never be examined 

 with that comfort, or preserved 

 with that delicacy and beauty 

 which are so characte- 

 ristic of this order. In 

 fact, as a rule, vascu- 

 lums are well calcu- 

 lated to damage, not 

 preserve, our most deli- 

 cate plants. 



7tli. A pair of sur- 

 geon's dissecting forceps 

 (Fig. 7) for examining 

 minute specimens, and 

 removing them from fo- 

 reign objects, or the 

 water in which they 

 are immersed before dry- 

 ing. 



The best books on 

 mosses are those by the 

 Fig c-The Apron. Rev, M. J. Berkeley and fiq. 7. 



Mr. E. M. Stark, both 

 of which are published by Messrs. Reeve and Co., of London. 



HOW TO COLLECT THEM. 



2\ final preparation before starting is to be well protected about 

 the feet and legs, for to get mosses you must not mind au occasional 

 plunge into a bog. Choose a damp day, or, better, a clear day soon 

 after a heavy rain, for it must be remembered that in dry weather 

 many mosses, as Polytrichurn unduhituin, Pfcerogonium Sinithii, and 

 many of the 13ryums, shrivel and become unsightly and much 

 altered in appearance ; but dry weather should not be considered as 

 altoi^ether unlit for collecting ; for such as Pterogonium Smithii I 

 consider improved by its curly appearance. In exploring for mosses, 

 you will find Ilypnum riparium abundant on the wooden gates of 

 docks mill-dams, hatches, etc. ; Pontinalis antipiretica, growing in 

 waving or feathery plumes from the bottom and sides of tolerably 

 deep streams ; the Polytrichums, abundant on heaths and sandy 

 banks • the Orthotrichums, on stones and trunks of trees ; the 

 Phascums, forming patches of reddish-brown, or green, with yellow 

 dots like seed, on the surface of the earth ; Weissia calcarea, 

 formiu"- a blackish-brown stain on the surface of chalk in pits 

 and railway-cuttings, and so minute as to compel the collector 

 to chip oft"" the surface of the chalk to get the specimens. The 

 Dicranums and Hypnutna may be found everywhere, from the 



