300 PLUMBAGO LARPENT#, 
species of Sphagnum, found in boggy places, and generally called 
White Moss, must be kept very moist; if kept under water, however, 
it soon dies. Mosses do not require potting so long as their drainage 
remains good, which is a point of great importance in their cultivation. 
I am decidedly of opinion, that this division of Cryptogamic plants 
might be grown in pots to produce perfect capsules, at least such as do 
so in awild state. Bryum ligulatum and some other varieties, although 
plentiful, are rarely seen in fruit; the former is scorched up in summer, 
et as soon as the autumn rains fall upon it, it springs again. It isa 
well-known fact, that Tortula muralis fruits in winter, and that its 
spores are all dispersed in spring. Now, when bricks are taken out of 
the kiln in summer, after being red-hot, and Jaid down in a damp 
place where Tortula muralis had never been seen before, this plant 
may be seen in the following winter peeping out of the crevices, as if 
the germ had withstood the power of the devouring element. Where 
did the seeds of these come from, or how were they preserved ? 
Dr. Lindley, in his profound work, ‘The Vegetable Kingdom,’ p. 66, 
makes the following remark, which bears on the subject :—‘ The first 
green crust upon the cinders of Ascension consist of minute Mosses, 
they form more than a quarter of the whole Flora of Melville Island ; 
and the black and lifeless soil of New South Shetland is covered with 
specks of Mosses struggling for existence. How they find their way to 
such places, and under what laws they are created, are mysteries that 
human ingenuity has not yet succeeded in unveiling.’ From this it 
would appear that Mosses were the first inhabitants of our globe, at 
least on dry land, and that they first began to pave the way for the 
existence of man. 
“‘ With regard to the propagation of this group of plants, no proper 
directions at present can be given: one thing is certain, they must be 
produced from spores in the first instance ; and where perfect capsules 
are found young plants may be relied upon. There are some species, 
such as Hypnum proliferum, which, if the branches are divided, will 
root like a Lycopodium. To secure an ordinary collection, plenty will 
be found propagated by the hand of nature within twenty miles of 
London. 
‘¢ Lichens which can be cultivated are those found on the ground,— 
Beomyces, Peltidea, Scyphophorus, and some species of Citraria. Those 
upon trees and stones are more difficult, especially the former; the 
latter, when removed on the stones to which they are attached, will 
live only for one season. I have kept Scyphophorus paxidatus and 
S. cocciferus in pots for two years, potted in lime rubbish, scraped off 
an old wall, where they were found. This wal! was shaded in summer 
by fruit trees, and after the fall of the leaf it was exposed to the sun; 
here the plants remained, without receiving so muchas a drop of water, 
excepting what they obtained from the clouds.” 
PLUMBAGO LARPENT. 
Witt you allow a few remarks on this calumniated plant? Every 
“person conversant with decorative gardening is but too well aware how 
