CRYPTOGAMIA MUSCI. ;oi 



The firfl kind, when it grows long enough for 

 the purpofe, is fometimes uTed in England and 

 Holland to make brooms or brufhes. 

 Of the f'^male fort the Laplanders, when oblig'd 

 to deep in defert places, frequently make a 

 fpeedy and convenient bed. Their manner of 

 doing it is curious : Where this mofs grows 

 thick together they mark our, wi:h a knife, a 

 piece of ground, about two yards fquare, or of 

 the fize of a common blanket •, then beginning 

 at one corner, they gently fever the turf from 

 the ground, and as the roots of the mofs ar« 

 clofely interwoven and matted together, they by 

 drgrees llrip off the whole circumfcribed turf in 

 one entire piece j afcerwards they mark and 

 draw up another piece, exactly correfponding 

 with the firfl: ; then, fliaking them both with 

 their hands, they lay one upon the ground, 

 with the mofs uppermoft, inftead of a mattrefs, 

 and the other over it, with the mofs downwards, 

 inflead of a rug; and between them both take 

 a comfortable nap, free from fleas and bu^^s, 

 and without fear of contagious diflempers. 

 It is probable they might take the hint of making 

 fuch a bed from the bear, a cohabitant of their 

 country, which prepares his Winter quarters 

 with a large collection of this fame mofs. 



namm i, POLYTRICHUM caule fimplici, anthera ereda 

 cylindrica. (j^eis Crypt, p, 173. MNIUM poly- 



trkhoides. 



