152 KANSA8 ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



KANSAS MOSSES. 



By Miss MINNIE REED. 



The special study of Musci, as well as other Cryptogams, is of compara- 

 tively recent date, as scarcely anything was known of their anatomy, repro- 

 ductive organs, or life history, until near the end of the last century. 



This, the nineteenth, century is an age of specialists, who, during the last 

 25 years have made wonderful discoveries by their careful and thorough in- 

 vestigations. As a result of this specialization, all the sciences have made 

 marvelous progress. 



One man no longer tries to master the whole of natural history, nor even 

 the whole of botany; but taking a single order or group, he devotes most of 

 his time to it, until he understands its entire life history, with all its varia- 

 tions and affinities; and he becomes an authority upon that subject. Thus we 

 have bryologists, or moss specialists; mycologists, or fungi specialists, etc. 



The ancients scarcely noticed mosses, while none were distinguished indi- 

 vidually from the general group Muscinae, except one about which there 

 was a popular superstition. This moss was known as Muscus crani humani, 

 or moss of the human skull; and was supposed by the old herbalists to be a 

 certain cure for any disease of the head. 



At this time plants of all kinds were only studied for their medicinal vir- 

 tues, all other considerations being deemed unimportant. 



For a long time mosses were confused with lichens and algae; even after 

 they had been studied specially. Such forms as the ordinary brown sea 

 weed (Fucoidae) and the so-called Irish moss (another alga), with many 

 of the lichens that resemble mosses, were for a long time classed with Mus- 

 cineae. 



Before the sexual organs of mosses were discovered, many quaint ideas 

 about their reproduction were held, even by the leading botanists. 



Linnaeus had an entirely erroneous idea of these organs, and reversed the 

 sexes; supposing the capsule containing the spores contained instead, the 

 the pollen for fertilization; and that the antheridia, or real male organs, bore 

 the seeds. 



The first work written about mosses alone, was published in 1741, and 

 called "Muscorum Dillenius." It contained many excellent engravings, 

 though there were some lichens and algae included, because of their external 

 resemblance. 



Some writers credit Micheli with being the first to understand the structure 

 of mosses, and make the drawings of their reproductive organs. These were 

 made in 1729, over 50 years before Johannes Hedwig, the father of bryology, 

 published his great book on Musci. There is reason to believe that Hedwig 

 was really the first to fully understand the sexual organs, and distinguish 

 the two kinds; and it is certain that his was the first great book on Musci. 

 His work was very carefully done, and his identifications of both species 

 and genera were very correct; so that many mosses still bear his name. 



Bridel came soon after Hedwig, with his "Bryologia Universalis", and 

 other books on Musci. He, too, was an authority, a keen observer, and discov- 

 ered and described several new species. 



Unger observed the spermatozoids as early as 1837; and Hofmeister in 



