LINNjEAN ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM. 163 



anthers, but which are really the capsules that contain 

 the seed. These capsules are hollow, of various figures, 

 and in general furnished with a peculiar appendage 

 (F. 58, a) called a veil or calyptra, and when this is re- 

 moved, the mouth of the capsule itself, is found to be 

 surrounded with one or two rows of fringe, of great de- 

 licacy, and of surprising regularity in the number of 

 teeth that compose it. (F. 58.) 



The different kinds of bog-moss, are distinguished by having their 

 capsule without any fringe. Earth-moss is known by its ovate cap- 

 sule without any separate lid and its very small veil, which soon 

 falls off. The gland-moss, has a cylindrical capsule placed on a 

 fleshy receptacle, and a single fringe of sixteen teeth standing in 

 pairs. Fork-moss is distinguished by an oblong capsule, and a fringe 

 of sixteen flat and cloven teeth somewhat bent inwards. The other 

 kinds of mosses have their peculiar characters, and some of them are 

 extremely beautiful. 



170. Hepaticce or Liverworts: The productions of 

 this order, are a tribe of small plants resembling mosses, 

 in which the herbage, generally speaking, is leafy, and 

 the fructification originates from what is at the same 

 time, both leaf and stem. The capsules have no lid or 

 operculum, as in the mosses. 



The principal genera are jungermannia and marchantia. Of the 

 former, the distinguishing characteristic is, that the barren flowers 

 are sessile or setting; the capsule has four valves, and is situated on 

 a stalk which rises from a sheath, and the seeds are attached to elas- 

 tic filaments. In the latter, the barren flowers have a salver-shaped 

 calyx, with numerous anthers embedded in its disk ; the calyx of the 

 fertile flower is shield-shaped, and open beneath, the capsules burst 

 at their summit, and the seeds are attached to elastic fibres. 



171. Alga; or Flags: The fourth order, is consti- 



