556 



falls ; others brave the tempests of lofty mountain summits, or seek 

 shelter among their shelving rocks ; many court the shade of the 

 forest, or nestle about the roots of the hedge-rows ; whilst various 

 species seek the open fields or the sunny wall-tops, or have their 

 homes in the deep morass, or dwell on the sandy shores of the mighty 

 ocean." — p. 5. 



"The Structure of Mosses. — A moss, like plants of a larger growth, 

 is furnished with a root, stem and leaves, and, in place of a flower, 

 has a little vessel usually supported on a stalk, and containing the 

 seeds. The stems vary from the twentieth part of an inch to a foot 

 in height, but not many of them exceed three or four inches. The 

 leaves are in some kinds nearly round ; in others ovate, or egg-shap- 

 ed ; oJ/ow^, or longer than broad ; /awceo/a^e, or lance-shaped ; subu- 

 late, or awl-shaped ; setaceous, or bristle-shaped, and of various other 

 forms. Some of them are beautifully reticulated or netted, which is 

 best seen under a microscope. They are often furnished with a nerve 

 or midrib, which varies in length, — in some shorter than the leaf, in 

 others longer. In colour, they are found from the palest tint of green 

 to the darkest, and even brown, purple, or nearly black. Their edges 

 are frequently denticulated, or toothed, or serrated, or notched like a 

 saw, and their direction straight or curved. 



" The little vessel containing the seeds is called the capsule, or 

 fruit, and the stalk which supports it the seta, or fruit- stalk. The 

 capsule is covered by a hood, called the calyptra, or veil ; and when 

 this is pulled off, or falls off, we see an operculum, or lid covering the 

 the mouth of the capsule. When the lid is removed, we find the 

 mouth of the capsule either surrounded with a number of little teeth, 

 or naked. The teeth are named the peristome, or fringe, and are in 

 number 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64. They are variable in length and form in 

 the different kinds of mosses, and either in a single or double row. 

 Their use is to protect the seeds in moist weather, which you will see 

 by merely breathing upon a capsule, when its fringe is expanded in 

 the sunshine, — the slight moisture of your breath making the little 

 teeth instantly close over its mouth. The seeds are very small and 

 simple, having no lobes nor germ like the pea and bean. In dry, 

 sunny weather, the fringe opens, and the ripe seeds are scattered 

 abroad by the gentle winds, and wafted to places fitted for their abode, 

 where in time they put forth their delicate stems and leaves. These 

 mosses, when fully grown, produce, like their parents, little capsules 

 filled with seeds, and these seeds again in due season spring up into 

 other mosses of the same kind, and thus continue to perpetuate their 

 species and adorn their chosen homes." — p. 7. 



