256 



MOSSES 



Diousea Muscipulu. 



ESTHER. 



I read, the other day, that the sun dew has the same appel- 

 lation in French, rosee du soleil; and also in Latin, ros solis; 

 the plant deriving this designation from the glandulous hairs 

 which glitter upon its surface, and give the appearance of 

 being covered with dew. 



I am glad, Esther, that you take interest in the study of 

 the mosses; for though among the smallest of vegetables, yet 

 their structure is so curious and so complicated, as to form a 

 fertile subject of interesting investigation. The variety of 

 soil and climate in the different parts of the British islands 

 gives us a larger number of species than, perhaps, is to be 

 seen upon a like extent of country, in any part of Europe. 

 The latest works enumerate about 290 British species. They 

 chiefly delight in damp and shady situations; but they are by 

 no means exclusively confined to these places of growth. 

 Moss is found upon the stem of the cocoa nut, and others 

 have been even gathered on the burning sands of the deserts, 

 in the interior of Africa. In the Alps and Pyrenees, they are 

 found at an elevation of 7000 to 8000 feet; on the northern 

 border of Siberia, the entire soil is covered for a great extent 

 with mosses; and the rocks of Spitzbergen and Greenland, and 



