YoL. XXV. No. 3.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
89 
dry and membranaceous is transversely ruptured 
at its base, and forms the clyptra — a cover which, 
pushed upwards, is either split on one side and 
thrown up obliquely (cuculliform) , or is gradually 
expanded, and sits upright upon tlie capsule like a 
conical hat (mitreform), either entire or lacerate 
at its base. In rare cases it remains attached to 
the base of the capsule, which then passes through 
by a longitudinal slit of its side. It is also some- 
times dimidiate, or split on one side in its whole 
length. The capsule itself, formed of a somewhat 
hard, solid membrane, composed of two or more 
series of cells, is variable in size, shape, and color 
L in the different species of mosses. It is generally 
I more or less perforated by stomates towards its 
base. In most species the capsule is gradually 
' narrowed downward to ii neck, collum, or an 
^apophysis. The collum is merely the obconical 
upper part of the pedicle ; while the apophyses is 
• a more or less long prolongation of the inflated 
base of the capsule, from which it generally dif- 
. fers by consistence and color. In some species it 
is as long as the spor'ange, or even longer, being 
an intermediate part between it and the pedicle. 
The pedicle, or basilar support of the capsule, is 
sometimes short, or scarcely discernible, though 
Epresent in all mosses. It is generally filiform, 
icylindrical, of equal thickness in its whole length, 
iexcept under the base of the capsule. It is more 
[or less rigid, elastic, generally smooth on its sur- 
Cface; sometimes rough, scabrous, or verrucose. 
IThe lid, or operculum, also in all mouses except 
[the Cleistocarpi, the Holocarpi, and the Schisto- 
carpi, is the apex of the capsule, which becomes 
circumscissile, and is at length detached as a kind 
^of cover. It is variable in shape, length, color, 
and affords very valuable characters for the diag- 
nosis. The annulus is a narrow fringe composed 
of one, two, or three series of hyaline cellules at 
the orifice of the capsule. l"he cellules, contracted 
by dryness when the capsule is ripe, and abruptly 
dilated by humidity, force the disruption of the 
lid. These cellules are detached from the orifice 
in fragments, or else they remain adherent to the 
lid, or fall altogether from the mouth of the cap- 
sule as a spirally-twisted narrow fringe. The 
spores or sporidia enclosed in the capsules, de- 
formed by compression when young, become glo- 
bose in ripening ; they are sometimes angular, but 
generally smooth or rugulose. They are greatly 
variable in size — from 1-5 to 1-100 m. m. in di- 
ameter. They also vary in number; species of 
Archidium have no more than fifteen or twenty 
spores in each capsule ; in the Hypnacex the spores 
are very small, and, indeed, innumerable. 
The Peristome. — When the lid is removed, the 
orifice of the capsule, in most of the genera of 
mosses, is seen to be adorned by a simple or 
^double — very rarely triple or quadruple — row of 
small teeth and cilia, called the peristome. When 
simple, the peristome is composed of eight, six- 
teen, thirty-two, or sixty-four teeth, attached to 
the orifice of the capsule or a little lower inside 
of it ; sometimes tubulose, or prolonged above the 
orifice into a cylindrical tube. The teeth are sim- 
ple or compound — that is, in this last case they 
are formed of two or four similar parts adhering 
or united by the borders, and thus geminate or 
bigeminate. These parts often separate' with age, 
doubling or quadrupling the number of the teeth. 
A colored line marks the union of tlie teeth or the 
line of division. 'Hie teeth are very variable in 
size, form, and color, affording important charac- 
ters for the diagnosis. WJien the peristome is 
double, the inner is generally composed of a pel- 
lucid, yellowish membrane, processus, of various 
leneths ; it is rarely entire, sometimes irregularly 
lacerate, generally cut into segments and cilia. 
The segments are usually plicate-carinate length- 
wise, more distantly and less distinctly articulate 
than the teeth. The cilia are generally narrow, 
filiform, distantly articulate; sometimes barred 
(appendiculate) at the articulations. They are 
also derived from the inner membrane, and are 
alternate with the segments. 
The columella is a cellular cylinder, or axis, 
which occupies the center of the cajjsule, from 
its base to the top of the lid. It is generally 
fugacious, and soon breaks up or decays. In a 
few mosses, however, it persists and remains at- 
tached to the lid, supporting it above the mouth 
of the capsule when this becomes dry and effete. 
Mosses live everywhere and on various kinds of 
material. On criks or on coarse sandstone, to 
which they are attached by short radicles pene- 
trating tlie porous matter, are species of Desmato- 
don and Barhula; on coarse gravel along roads, 
Trichostomeum ; on the sand and naked earth of 
the plains, the Cleistocarpi, the Pottoidem, and the 
Weisiei^; on clay banks, Fissidens and Dicranella; 
on the wood of living trees, the Orthotricheoe es- 
pecially; on that of decayed trunks or branches, 
the Dicranece, the Hypnece; on the dung of ani- 
mals, the Splachneoe, etc. Their especial province 
in nature is to absorb and concentrate atmospheric 
humidity, and to retain it in their texture, either 
to hasten the decay of the dead woody matter to 
which they are attached, or to retard it when life 
still remains in the plants. UTicy cover and pro- 
tect the roots of trees and their base against at- 
mospheric influences, cold or heat ; they over- 
spread waste fields, swamps, and bogs, and by 
their gradual decay produce peat or humus. They 
are thus modestly pursuing everywhere a constant 
work of usefulness, always bearing a pleasant as- 
pect, giving the appearance of life, and hiding the 
hand of death wherever its decomposition is at 
work. 
Mosses are found in every station, under every 
kind of climate, and bear an uninterrupted life. 
They have their seasons for fructification, but 
even when dry and discolored under the influence 
of heat, they take life again and continue to vege- 
tate as soon and as often as they receive a sufti- 
cient amount of humidity. Hence the botanist is 
never disappointed in his searcli for mosses. At 
every season some species bear their fructifica- 
tion, and are therefore determinable. They need 
no care for their preservation ; heaped in bundles 
or dried they may be left aside for years, and, 
when needed for comparison and determination, 
immersion in water revives them, and at once 
they open their leaves and become as fresh and 
green as if they had just been gathered. 
SELECTED REPORTS FROM CHAPTERS OF 
THE TENTH CENTURY. 
902, Nancy, France, [A]. — Although our Chap- 
ter is not very old yet, I will tell you what we 
have done during this year. We have nine mem- 
bers : 
President— Mdlle. C. de Metz Noblat. 
Secretary — Mr. Frederic de Metz Noblat. 
Treasurer— Mdlle. Louise de Metz Noblat. 
Active Members — Mdlle. Marie de Faultrier, Mdlle. 
Jeanne de Metz Noblat. 
Corresponding Member— Mr. Alexander de Metz Noblat. 
Honorary Members — Mme. A. de Metz Noblat, Mme. 
de Carey, Mme. Lejeune. 
One member has an herl)arium of the plants 
growing in this country. To this are added the 
plants we receive from the United States by ex- 
changes. We are making all together a geological 
collection; and two very young members have 
begun a collection of Lepidoptera. We have held 
eight meetings. 
January, 1890. — -As the season was not favor- 
able for looking about ft)r specimens, three mem- 
bers had studied a subject to speak of. Mr. Fred- 
eric de Metz spoke of the hippopotamus, Mdlle. 
L. de Metz on ants, and Mdlle. C. de Metz on the 
classification of insects. 
February. — One member was in Nice. TTie Sec- 
retary read a letter from her, and showed a plant 
she had sent — the 'Orchis militaris. 
May. — Mr. F. de Metz explained all characters 
of the plant Cytisus laburnum. Mdlle. J^. de Metz 
spoke of different interesting things she had seen 
in Nice. She brought a marine plant (Gorgonia 
oerucosa) and some shells of the island of Ste. 
Marguerite (Isles de Lerins). Mdlle. M. de Faul- 
trier spoke of an old camp of the Gaulois which is 
in the forest of Haye near Nancy. It looks like a 
great wall of heaped stones, about two meters 
high and four or five meters long; it has the 
form of half a circle. The inner part looks as if 
it had been burnt ; the stones are calcined and the 
earth is red like bricks. It is very curious. 
July. — Mdlle. Ij. de Metz showed some fossils 
she had found near Nancy. They are like shells 
in the stone. Mdlle. C. de Metz made a descrip- 
tion of the family Synantherm. 
August. — Mr. F. de Metz made a description of 
the plant Erythrea centaurea. He remarked that 
many flowers of this plant — which has generally 
five petals and five stamens — had four or six petals 
and four or six stamens ; this peculiarity is not 
mentioned in the flora. Mdlle. C. de Metz had 
been in the Vosges, and showed many rare plants 
she had found there, — Arnica montana, Comarum 
palustre, Adenostyles alhifrons, Sonchus nlpinus ; — ■ 
also dift'erent specimens of granite and amphibo- 
lite. She had also a bi-anch of fir-tree with a sort 
of disease called by the peasants " balai de la sor- 
ciere," because it looks like a l)room of branches 
which grow quite near each other. A gentleman 
who had been in Gallicia brought l)ack some 
ozokherite, found there in quantity, but very rare 
in other lands. It looks a little like wax, is 
brown, and smells like petroleum. It is found 
in the earth. 
September. — Mr. A. xle Metz showed us a collec- 
tion of common insects found in the neighbor- 
hood. He explained to us the configuration and 
habits of bees. 
October. — Two meml)er8 had been in Switzer- 
land. They brought back a few plants. 
November. — Mr. E. de Metz read about the 
wildcat, and showed tlie skin of such an animal 
that was killed in the neighborhood. 'ITie Secre- 
tary read the annual report, and proposed to the 
members to study during the winter the plants 
growing in the garden. 
Wishing the A. A. much prosperity, I remain 
Yours truly, 
F. DE Metz Noblat. 
909, Brooklyn, N. Y., [P]._We organized last 
November with five members. Since then our 
membership has increased to seven. We have 
held twenty-six meetings, and have sent delegates 
to the New York and New Jersey Assemblies. 
The field-meetings were three to Flatbush, two to 
Central Park, and one to Bay Ridge. We have a 
class in zoology, and have lectures about once in 
every two meetings. We have held several de- 
bates, among which were "Are Woodpeckers In- 
jurious to Vegetation?" and "Should the Increase 
of the English Sparrow Be Stopped?" We gave a 
prize for the best note-book, which was won by 
our Presiaent. One Qi our mpini^^rs took ?rvt«s- 
