NOVEMBER. 375 
are only discovered by careful examination. They are 
found remarkably varied in form and structure. The surface 
is smooth, not hairy. Some do not possess nerves like other 
leaves ; but generally there is a single strong one running 
through the whole length, or two parallel to each other. 
The flowers, or parts of fructification, either spring from 
the extremity of the stem, as in those Mosses which grow 
upright, or from the sides of the creeping kinds. These 
seed-vessels, as they may be called, are of most extraordinary 
formation; the organs seem to be of two different kinds ; 
one produces a number of minute granules, which are con- 
sidered as real seeds, and therefore called the capsule; 
the other is termed the anther, and produces a fertilizing 
substance. The former is generally in the form of a cup or 
box, and when mature becomes the fruit ; it is open at the 
top, but covered till fully ripe by a lid called operculum, 
which is of various form, and at last falls off. Over this, in 
the young state, is what is termed the calyptra, shaped 
like an extinguisher, and covering the whole while growing ; 
it is often split on one side, as if to facilitate the fall when 
the time arrives that its services are over. The mouth of 
the cup, or capsule, is, In some genera, quite plain and 
naked ; in others furnished with a most beautiful and curious 
