IX.] 



ABOUT MOSSES AND LICHENS. 



FIG. 114. 



With the exception of Diatomaccce, lichens can 

 endure a greater amount of cold than any other 

 plants. Claydonia rangiferina or 

 Rein-deer Moss, so common on 

 some of our highest heaths, is ex- 

 ceedingly abundant at the Poles, 

 and forms the staple food of the 

 animal from which it gets its 

 name. The well-known Iceland 

 Moss (Cetraria islandicd) is a 

 lichen and edible. A few species 

 are used in medicine ; more are of 

 importance for dyeing purposes. 

 With these few exceptions they 

 have little economical value. 



We cannot better conclude this 

 Chapter than by giving a quotation from Ruskin : 



" Meek creatures ! the first mercy of the earth, 

 veiling with hushed softness its dintless rocks ; crea- 

 tures full of pity, covering with strange and tender 

 honour the scarred disgrace of ruin laying quiet 

 finger on the trembling stones to teach them rest. 

 No words, that I know of, will say what these mosses 

 are. None are delicate enough, none perfect enough, 

 none rich enough. How is one to tell of the rounded 

 bosses of furred and beaming green the starred 

 divisions of rubied bloom, fine filmed, as if the Rock 

 Spirits could spin porphyry as we do glass the 

 traceries of intricate silver, and fringes of amber, 

 lustrous, arborescent, burnished through every fibre 

 into fitful brightness and glossy traceries of silken 

 change, yet all subdued and pensive, and framed for 



