MOSSES AND LIVERWORTS. 259 



the stone, it will be found that there is a thick pad of 

 earth upon which the stems are growing. This may be 

 an inch and a half in thickness. It consists of soil, 

 fragments of leaves, etc., held closely together by a 

 densely branched network of reddish-brown hairs, the 

 rhizoids or absorbing part of the moss. 



Many small insects and other creatures find shelter 

 in the little moss-tufts, and their bodies also occur in the 

 earth. All this accumulation is due to the work of 

 the moss. Every season's dead leaves, and any dust 

 particles blown upon the tuft or brought to it by rain 

 water, are retained for the nourishment of the plants. 

 Even as regards strength, the manner in which these 

 rhizoids can hold together and attach to the wall the 

 weight of an inch and a half of earth, is remarkable. 

 In fact, the rhizoid . network is a much more efficient 

 arrangement for manufacturing leaf-mould from its own 

 leaves, than the arrangement of the Stagshorn Fern so 

 often described in text-books. But it is so common an 

 object that it seems to have escaped notice. The 

 leaves vary according to the species. In one common 

 type each leaf ends in a white transparent hair which 

 will intercept a rain-drop and guide it down to the base 

 of the leaf The water then trickles in between the 

 leaves, or rather what is left of it does so ; for the most 

 of it is absorbed by the broad spoon-shaped leaf, as it 

 passes inwards. In other upright-stemmed moss-tufts, 

 the leaf itself narrows into a fine point. But further 

 information as to the shapes of the leaves must be 

 looked for in such works as Dixon's Handbook of British 

 Mosses or Hobkirk's Synopsis. 



Upon such a moss-tuft, a flowering plant, the Sand- 

 wort, Sagina proamibens^ is very often to be found. It 

 has small whorled leaves and a system of horizontal 



