SPHAGNUM. ' 75 



grow in water or marshy ground, and are easily known by 

 their pale colour, in some cases almost white. A foreign 

 Moss, OctoUepharujn, and Dicranum glaucum, found also 

 in boggy grounds, are of the same pearly-white hue, and 

 may be apt to mislead beginners. The leaves are nerveless, 

 and are beautifully striated both longitudinally and trans- 

 versely. The cells of which they are composed have often 

 spiral fibres enclosed in them, which render them beautiful 

 objects for microscopic observation. We have already 

 spoken of the importance of this genus in the economy of 

 nature, affording much of the material of which peat-fuel is 

 composed. In Lapland and other Northern regions, as we 

 learn from Linnseus and other botanical travellers, its use 

 in domestic economy is not small. Our young readers have 

 all gazed with admiration and delight on the wondrous 

 skill and labour bestowed by the feathered tribes in prepar- 

 ing a secure and comfortable nest of moss and lichen for 

 their tender progeny, but comparatively few, we believe, are 

 aware that many of their little brothers and sisters in the 

 cold countries of the North are cradled and protected in 

 their babyhood by similar materials. To such, we trust, this 

 portion of the history of the common Bog Moss, from Lin- 

 nseus^s ' Flora of Lapland,' will prove interesting : — 



