152 JBotatiK? 



sional botanist recognizes is, however, not a flower- 

 ing plant, but a lichen, one of the most interesting 

 of its class. We have all noticed clinging to damp 

 stones, to decayed logs near a spring, or to the north 

 side of rocks, something like a dark green, moist, flat 

 leaf, curled up at the edges. In September these odd 

 patches are in their glory, and in September, if we 

 can find a rock from which wells a spring, we shall 

 be sure of finding liverworts in abundance. Our 

 first experience will be of the difficulty of removing 

 them from the rocks to which the}'' adhere, closely 

 a2:>plied b}^ all their under surface except the full, 

 ruffled edges. As even when a flat, wide knife-blade 

 is used they are not likely to come off unharmed, let 

 us sit down by them, lens in hand, and study their 

 beauties and the wonders of their structure. First 

 we perceive, when we violently tear one or two speci- 

 mens from their hold, that the under surface is pro- 

 vided with hairs like spun glass, which lay hold of 

 the minute interstices and irregularities of the stone 

 and hold the plants down closer and more firmly 

 than any cement could do. 



Next, turning our attention to the upper surface 

 of this leaf-like expansion, we find it covered with 

 dark-green lines, so disposed as to divide the epi- 

 dermis into a diamond-shaped pattern, which is yet 

 further beautified by a dot in the centre of each 



