48 



other respects placing them as. much as possible in the natural con- 

 ditions of their growth, seems best to warrant the expectation of a 

 favourable result. These considerations at once suggest that it is 

 improper to have a case entirely closed. For nowliere in nature do 

 we find mosses growing in a confined atmosphere. They do indeed 

 prefer situations where the air is charged with moisture, and its 

 circulation is much retarded. In these conditions, then, we must 

 imitate Nature by providing a large moist evaporating surface, and by 

 having a single moderately sized aperture in the case where mosses 

 are growing. 



The writer has had practical proof of the importance of attending to 

 these conditions. On one occasion when both doors of the case in his 

 possession were, by mistake, left closed for a considerable time, the 

 mosses were many of them found in a mouldy state. At another, 

 when both the doors had been left open during a high wind, the plants 

 presented somewhat the appearance of dried tea leaves. In the former 

 instance, an admission of fresh air soon dispersed the mould ; in the 

 latter, a shower from the syringe quickly restored the plants to their 

 original verdure. 



The scientific value of the cultivation of mosses, in a general point 

 of view, corresponds with the importance of enlarged facilities for 

 studying the habits of the species at all times. A few instances, 

 however, may be given by way of illustration.^^ 



Many of the dioecous species are rarely found in fruit, owing pro-' 

 bably to the male and female inflorescence rarely occurring in the 

 some patch. Bryum roseum, one of the most beautiful of all the 

 mosses, is an instance of this : the writer had a fine tuft of this moss 

 growing with abundant archegonia. Mr. Wilson forwarded to him a 

 number of plants of this same species with antheridia ; they are now 

 growing in contiguity, and it will be interesting to observe the 

 result. 



Mr. Wilson, during his late journey to Scotland, gathered on Ben 

 Lawers, a moss which he thought migTit be Hrjpnwn Starkii, hitherto 

 not known as a British species. The fruit, however, was not found, 

 and without it a satisfactory identification was impossible. The moss 

 is now growing in the writer's Bryai'ium ; should it fruit, and the fruit 

 correspond with that of H. Starkii. a new. species will be added 

 to British botany. Several other mosses are also in cultivation in the 

 Bryarium under circumstances similarly interesting. 



Cultivation seems to develop, in some mosses, properties rarely or 

 never seen in nature. Hijpnum elegans, a species having simple 

 fronds, becomes clothed with dense tufts of fibres, termed flagellfe, 



