IX. ] ABOUT MOSSES AND LICHENS. 151 
With the exception of Diatomacea@, \ichens can 
endure a greater amount of cold than any other 
plants. Cladonia rangiferina or 
Rein-deer Moss, so common on 
some of our highest heaths, is ex- 
ceedingly abundant at the Poles, 
and forms the staple food of the 
animal from which it gets its 
name. The well-known Iceland 
Moss (Cetraria tslandica) is a 
lichen and edible. A few species 
are used in medicine; more are of 
importance for dyeing purposes. 
With these few exceptions they ==\ 
have little economical value. 
We cannot better conclude this 
Chapter than by giving a quotation from Ruskin :— 
“Meek creatures! the first mercy of the earth, 
veiling with hushed softness its dintless rocks; crea- 
tures full of pity, covering with strange and tender 
honour the scarred disgrace of ruin—laying quiet 
finger on the trembling stones to teach them rest. 
No words, that I know of, will say what these mosses 
are. None are delicate enough, none perfect enough, 
none rich enough. Howis one to tell of the rounded 
bosses of furred and beaming green—the starred 
divisions of rubied bloom, fine filmed, as if the: Rock 
Spirits could spin porphyry as we do glass—the 
traceries of intricate silver, and fringes of amber, 
lustrous, arborescent, burnished through every fibre 
into fitful brightness and glossy traceries of silken 
change, yet all subdued and pensive, and framed for 
