CHAPTER IX. 



ABOUT MOSSES AND LICHENS. 



UNDER the general term Mosses, are included a great 

 number of plants belonging to three separate orders. 

 These are the Club-mosses (Lycopodiacece], the true 

 Mosses (Musci), and the Scale -mosses (Hepaticce), 

 with which are associated the Crystalworts and Liver- 

 worts. 



Like ferns, all these plants are flowerless, and mul- 

 tiply by producing spores. The Club-mosses (Lycopo- 

 diuni] are clothed with leaves throughout their entire 

 length, such leaves being arranged in what is known 

 as an imbricate manner, that is, like the tiling on a 

 roof. The spores are produced in the axils of the 

 leaves, and are contained in kidney-shaped capsules 

 or spore-cases. These spores are many-sided granu- 

 lar bodies, and are called AntJieridia. The genus 

 Selaginella produces in addition another kind of 

 spore-case, which contains, instead of the many pow- 

 dery spores, three or four large round spores known 

 as oopJwridia. The details of germination in the 

 species producing antheridia only have not been 

 observed ; and it is at present a matter of conjecture 

 whether the prothallus resulting from the germination 

 of an antheridium gives rise to distinct organs as in 



