ORDER HEPATIC^. 271 



% 



most in winter, and at that time cover the ground with a beau- 

 tiful green carpet, in many places which would otherwise be 

 naked, and when little verdure is elsewhere to be seen ; so at 

 the same time they shelter and preserve the seeds, roots, germs, 

 and embryo plants of many vegetables, which would otherwise 

 perish. They furnish materials for birds to build their nests 

 with, they afford a warm winter's retreat for some quadrupeds, 

 such as bears, dormice and the like, and for numberless insects 

 which are the food of birds and fishes, and these again the food 

 or delight of men. Many of them grow on rocks and barren 

 places, and by rotting away, afford the first principles of vege- 

 tation to other plants, which never else could have taken root 

 there. Others grow in bogs and marshes, and by continual 

 increase and decay, fill up and convert them into fertile pas- 

 tures or into peat bogs, the source of inexhaustible fuel |to the 

 polar regions. 



" They are applicable also to many domestic purposes. The 

 Lycopodiums are some of them used in the dyeing of yarn, and 

 in medicine ; the Sphagnum (peat moss), and Polytriclium fur- 

 nish convenient beds for the Laplanders, and the Hypnums 

 are used in the tiling of houses, stopping crevices in walls, 

 packing brittle wares, and the roots of plants for distant con- 

 veyance. 



" To which may be added, that all in general contribute 

 entertainment and agreeable instruction to the contemplative 

 mind of the naturalist, at a season when few other plants offer 

 themselves to his view. 



" The Fungi have been suspected by some to be, like spon- 

 ges and corals, the habitations of some unknown living beings^ 

 and being alkaline, have been classed in the animal kingdom ; 

 but they are known to produce seeds, from which perfect plants 

 have been raised ; and the celebrated Hedwig, by great dex- 

 terity of dissection, and by using microscopes of very highly 

 magnifying powers, assures us that he has discovered both 

 stamens and pistils, not only in this order of plants, but in the 

 other orders of the Cryptogamous family."* 



Hepaticce, or LIVERWORTS. 



The 3d order contains the Liverworts, which are more suc- 

 culent or juicy than the mosses ; they have^four valved cap- 

 sules, which circumstance, and that of tbe capsule not opening 

 with a lid, distinguish them from the mosses. Their name, 

 Hepaticse, signifies liver ; but it is not yet known whether 

 * Thornton's Botany. 



Various uses of the mosses Fungi LiverwortsDerivation of the name 



