310 



THE MICROSCOrE. 



in mouth of capsule 

 in situ. The fringes 



;'CCZ3RJ 



§S--^N^ 



upon a foot stalk ; and this at length tears across the 

 walls of the flask-shaped body, carrying the higher 

 part upwards as a calyptra or hood upon its summit, 

 while the lower part remains to form a kind of collar 

 round the base. These spore-capsules are closed on their 

 summit by opejxula or lids, and their mouths when 

 laid open are surrounded by a beautiful toothed fringe, 

 termed the jjeristome. This fringe is shown in fig, 164- 



of Funaria, with its peristome 

 of teeth are variously constructed, 

 and are of great service in discrinii- 

 uating the genera. In Nediera anti- 

 pyretica. fig 165, the peristome is 

 double, the inner being composed of 

 teeth united bv cross bars, forminsc 

 a very pretty trellis. The seed spores 

 are contained in the upper part of 

 tiie capsule, where they are clus- 

 tered round a central pillar, which 

 Fig. m:,.— Double Peristome oj is termed thc Columella ; and at the 

 i\ ecke> a Antipji c ,ca. ^.^^^^ ^^ maturity, the Ulterior of the 

 capsule is almost entirely occupied by spores. 



It mav here be mentioned, that all mosses and lichens 

 are more easily detached from the rocks and w^alls on 

 which they grow in frosty weather than at any other 



season, and consequently 

 thev are best studied in 

 winter. One of the com- 

 monest, Scale-moSvS, fig. 

 166 (Jungermannia biden- 

 lata), grows in patches, 

 in moist, shady situa- 

 tions, near the roots of 

 trees: see Plate II. ^nTos. 

 35 and 36. The seed- 

 which if gathered when 

 w|irm room, burst 

 moment a drop of 



-Scale-Moss. 



Fig. 166 



vessels are little oval bodies, 



unexpanded, and brought into a 



under the eye with violence the 



water is applied to them, the valves of the vessel taking 



the shape of a cross, and the seeds distending in a cloud 



of brown dust. If this dust be examined with tie 



