LESSONS IN BOTANY. 



Que je (UM aim6. m. 



Que tu fujUMM oiiutJ or aiuieo, 



gu'il tat iiime. 



' 



Que nou* fusions ainit's or aimtas, 

 Que VOUH fuMioi uim4s or aimdes, 

 (jn'ils fussent iiimdii, m. 

 Qu'elles fussout aim5es, /. 



that I might be low*. 



N...I (/...a mightt.t bt lottd. 

 t/mt /< nu.j:i: I. l<ird. 

 (Adt /> mi.; /it fc lorrj. 

 that one might bt lord. 

 t/wit u might b loi'fd. 

 that you might be loved. 

 th.it tiny might It loved. 

 that thty might bt loeed. 



Que j'aie M aim<5, m. ahiu<e, /. 

 Que tu ales <StiS aimtf or oiuito, 

 Qu'il ait tSW aime. 

 Qu'eUe ait iJW aimee, 

 Qu'ou ait <<t<i aiau<, 



out ajous <<t<J aimds 



PAST. 



that I may hare bn lotted, 

 thai thou mnyttt havt bttn lovtd, 

 that he may havt bttn lovtd. 

 that the may havt bttn lovtd. 

 that one may havt been lovtd. 

 or that u- may hart bttn lovtd. 



Que voua ayez eid aiuit's or aiaitos, 

 Qu'ils aient ftt aim<5s, m. 

 gu Yllus aient 6U aimers, /. 



that you, may have been loved. 

 that they may hare been lottd, 

 that they may have been loved. 



Quo j'eusse 6t6 tdmt, m. aimto, /. 



Que tu euases i'W oimtf or aimeo, 



Qu'il out <<to aiml. 



Qu'elle cut <*t<$ aimfe, 



Qu'ou eut ot($ iiiuu*, 



Que nous ensaious 6tA oimds or 



aimlea, 

 Que vous eussiez i ! t<5 ainu's or 



uimt'es, 



Qu'ils eussent ftf uiraiSa, m. 

 Qu'elles eussent 5W aimoes, /. 



PLUPERFECT. 



f/iut / might hate bttn loved, 

 that thou mightvtt havt been tared, 

 that he might havt bttn lovtd. 

 that the might have bttn lovtd. 

 that one might havt bttn lovtd. 

 that u- might have bttn lovtd. 



that you mi<jht havt been lovtd. 



that they might have bten loved, 

 that they might have been loved. 



LESSONS IN BOTANY. XLI. 



SECTION CXXI. MOSSES (concluded). 



THE Liverworts, of which we have next to give some account, 

 come lower in the scale of organisation ; they are much varied 

 in size, appearance, and structure, and some of them are of 

 exceeding beauty. They muster under their banner some genera 

 which closely resemble true mosses, others which are nearer the 

 structure of lichens, and again others which link them with the 

 Algae. Jungermannice, Marchantice, Targionice, and a few other 

 less noticeable genera, are all of this tribe ; but they differ so 

 widely from each other, that we shall scarcely from their appear- 

 ance be led to place them in tho same order. The similarity of 

 their organs of fructification shows, however, that they must 

 all be considered as belonging 1 to the order Hepaticce, and wo 

 proceed to give a brief notice of a few of the most interesting 

 genera. 



The Jungermannice, or scale-mosses, BO named from Louis 

 Jungermann, a German botanist, are of a very peculiar and 

 exquisitely delicate structure. The whole substance of the 

 plant is loosely cellular, so much so that, although most of the 

 species are exceedingly minute, the beautiful reticulation of the 

 leaves may often bo detected by the naked eye. The herbage 

 consists of a variously dilated frond, often naked, but more 

 frequently covered with small leaf-like appendages. These are 

 often divided, but never truly nerved, and might more properly 

 be considered as dilatations of tho frond. 



The scale-mosses may be considered as divided into two 

 classes : the foliaceons, or those which have the appearance of 

 possessing separate leaves ; and the frondose, or those which 

 consist of lobed fronds or thalli. 



The former of these divisions is composed of minute plants, 

 which by an unaccustomed eye might be taken for true mossee, 

 amongst which, in many instances, they are found growing. 

 These are widely spread over tho ground on banks and trunks 

 of trees, or other positions in shady woods ; some are found on 

 moist Alpine moors, frequenting the beds of torrents, or grow- 

 ing in boggy places, along tho edges of springs or rivulets ; 

 whilst we find some species spread out on clay and exposed 

 heaths, exhibiting their pretty purple or bronze foliage where 

 nothing else will grow. 



The second or frondoso division of this tribe is chiefly con- 

 fined to semi-aquatic positions. They are larger, their leafy 

 parts, or fronds, are thicker, broader, and of a different texture 

 from the foliaceous kinds, and some of them are slimy to the 

 touch ; but there are one or two of this division namely, the 



forked and the down/ 



trunks of troen, and on shady limertone rook*. 



Tho fruit of this genus is a tbeca or capsule, which rises from 

 a tubular leaf or cluster of leave* called the perirlnmUum, and 

 is usually borne on a set* or f rnit-*talk. The tbeca lie* involved 

 in this protecting sheath until it is mature enough to make it* 

 appearance in the world ; the perichsjtinm then open* at the 

 top, and the little thoca unlike the modest little mnsees which 

 never lift their young heads to the light without the covering of 

 their oalyptra or veil suddenly tart* up, leaving that organ 

 attached to the point at which it originally grew, and displays 

 itself unveiled to the eye which may be sharp enough to detect 

 its diminutive beauties. This theea is fonr-valred, in shape 

 much like those of mosses, but it has no lid, and no central 

 column round which the spores assemble ; instead of this, it is 

 furnished with some very curious spiral filament* with which 

 tho spores are associated (Fig. 288). It is in the possession of 

 these spring-like organs alone that the different families which are 

 classed under the general name of Hepatica resemble each other ; 

 but these are common to the Jungermannia, the Marehantios, 

 and all the rest of the genera which the order comprise*. 

 These organs consist of double spiral threads, somewhat like 

 the trachea) or spiral air-vessels in plants, only more elastic. 

 They are contained in tho same case with the spores, and curled 

 up among them, and when tho capsule is mature, spring up with 

 a sudden jerk like a Jack-in-a-box, and scatter the spores which 

 are around them in all directions. So sensitive are these 

 elaters, that even breathing on them will set them in motion 

 after the spores have escaped. The scale-mosses chiefly differ 

 from true mosses in the permanent attachment of the calyptra 

 of which we spoke above, and in having no lid or operculum, 

 and no columella. The tubular form of the sheath and the 

 presence of the spiral filaments, just described, constitute the 

 other distinguishing features of the order. Besides the normal 

 fructification, the Jungermannice possess a second kind of repro- 

 ductive organ, by means of which the species are often propa- 

 gated ; these are called gemmae, and consist of minute roundish 

 or oblong bodies, variously situated, sometimes in the axil of 

 the leaf, at others on its margin, and clustered together in the 

 form of little bells. 



The colour of the scale-mosses varies through all the shade* 

 of green into brown, yellowish, dusky purple, and bronze. The 

 theca is usually black, or deep purple, or dark brown, although 

 occasionally it is nearly transparent. 



The seta or fruit-stalk is in most cases semi-transparent, and 

 as delicately reticulated as the other parts of the plant. Our 

 example, the pear-shaped scale-moss (Jungermannia turbinata, 

 Fig. 289), shows this very beautifully. This species is one 

 which is frequent in moist shady spots in limestone districts, 

 and we have selected it as illustrative of the highly cellular 

 structure of plants of this tribe. Jungermannia pusilla (Fig. 

 290), tho dwarf scale-moss, is given for the purpose of exhibit- 

 ing the beautiful form of its folded sheath or perichaetinm. The 

 plant is of a tender green, the capsule brown, and the edge* of 

 the bell-shaped sheath of a delicate pink. This is given, as are 

 all the other scale-mosses of which we present drawings, a* 

 they appear when magnified to about six times their natural 

 size. 



Sowerby says, in speaking of mosses, that which may with 

 equal truth be said of the tribes which at present engage oar 

 attention: "It is chiefly in the economy of Nature that we must 

 look for the utility of these little plants, that she has fashioned 

 with so much care, and for the reproduction and dissemination 

 of which she has invented so beautiful and complicated an 

 apparatus as that described above, though they are destined for 

 the most part to flourish where no human eye beholds that 

 beauty, no intelligence, save her own, can calculate the necessity 

 and advantage of their existence. Their ministry is punned in 

 concert with other families lower in the scale of vegetable 

 being; the smaller species assisting in the production of soil 

 upon newly-formed lands, clothing with verdure the most barren 

 spots, and gradually fitting them for the support of the higher 

 order of plants ; while the larger are occupied in no small 

 degree in the production of land itself, especially the aquatic 

 kinds, which fix themselves upon the surface of lakes and stag- 

 nant waters, already interlaced with the slender stems of the 

 Charce, Con/mxB, and plants of similar habit, gradually convert- 

 ing the liquid plain into a partially solid one, on which evcntu- 



