Fig. 213 



218 CRYPTOGAMIA. 



bark of trees, and on the posts and rails of fences. The 

 Mosses are found where there is but little circulation of air, 

 while the Lichens grow in airy places. 



The Mosses are found every where in the damp woods and 

 among rocks, and many of them may be known by their thecae 

 or capsules, surrounded by their operculi, or lids. These 

 parts are elevated above the green beds of moss by their pe- 

 dicels or foot stalks, and many of them have a nodding po- 

 sition, as in Fig. 212. 



Fig. 212. 



The thecae, or capsule, with its lid, or oper- 

 culum, on the top, may be distinguished in the 

 enlarged Fig. at the right hand. 



Before the sori or seeds are ripe, both the cap- 

 sule and lid are surrounded by the calyptra, Fig. 

 213, which, as these parts enlarge, splits open on 

 one side, and is finally thrown off. Some plants 

 of this tribe are very beautiful, but many of them 

 are so small as to require a magnifying glass to 

 distinguish their finest parts. 



Of this order botanists have enumerated and 

 figured many hundred species. 



ORDER V. HEPATIC^E. Liverworts. 



This order is distinguished from the Algae, or Flags, in not 

 growing under water, and from the Mosses in not generally 

 having a lid, or operculum. Some of the genera, however, 

 as the very extensive one called Jungermannia, are furnished 

 with an operculum like the Mosses, but this bursts at the top, 

 and forms four valves, instead of opening as it does in the 

 Mosses. 



Many of these plants are so minute as to require a magni 



How are the liverworts distinguished from the flags and mosses ? In 

 the algrc or flags, where are the seeds situated ? Where are the plants 

 found which this order chiefly embraces ? 



