MOSSES AND LIVERWORTS. 26 1 



reach their best development and are in fruit in early 

 spring, generally in the months of February, March, 

 and April in Scotland. 



There is an excellent reason for their fruiting at 

 this early season. The dead autumn leaves have 

 been exposed to rain, frost, and the attacks of 

 fungi during the winter, though the fungi seem to 

 attack chiefly the leaves of the previous year, and 

 what remains of those of former seasons. This 

 " autumn falll' which consists chiefly of leaf-stalks, 

 mosses and lichens from the branches, broken-off 

 twigs and bark, and fallen branches, is thus ready 

 for the attack of the mosses, which grow very rapidly 

 covering it with a feathery moss carpet. The 

 mosses can thus get in their " flowering " period and 

 distribute their spores before the ground is covered by 

 the leaves and branches of the Hyacinths, Primroses, and 

 other wood plants. The stalk of a moss capsule is so 

 short that the spores could not travel any distance, if 

 they were distributed when the wood is occupied by 

 other plants. Many of these woodland mosses such as 

 Hypnuni splendens and Tlmidium taviariscinum^ are 

 exceedingly beautiful. The frond is generally concave 

 below in every direction, and sometimes resembles a 

 fern frond, sometimes an ostrich feather, and occasion- 

 ally, the branching of a cypress or cedar. The leaves 

 are small and numerous, and show considerable variety 

 under the microscope, but they seem generally intended 

 to retain any moisture which falls upon them. 



Under the conditions in which they live they may be 

 covered over by drifting leaves ; but in such a case 

 branches from the moss grow up towards the light 

 and then curve out in the usual manner. This is 

 the reason of the very peculiar growth of Thui- 



