76 HISTORY OF BllITISH MOSSES. 



" The Lapland matrons are well acquainted with this 

 Moss. They dry and lay it in their children's cradles^ to 

 supply the place of bed, bolster, and every covering ; and 

 being changed night and morning, it keeps the infant re- 

 markably clean, dry, and warm. It is sufficiently soft of 

 itseK, but the tender mother, not satisfied with this, fre- 

 quently covers the moss with the downy hairs of the rein- 

 deer, and by that means makes a most delicate nest for the 

 new-born babe." 



Generic Character. — Eeceptacle of fruit resembling and per- 

 forming the office of a fruitstalk (see also character of Atidrecea). 

 Capsule sessile on the receptacle, its lid deciduous ; mouth naked. 

 Calyptra irregularly torn and very fugacious. 



1. Sphagnum obtusifolium, Ehrh. {Bhmt-leaved Bog 

 Moss.) Branches tumid; leaves ovate, obtuse. — I!7ig. FL 

 S. cymbifolium, Mull. 8yii.pt. l.p. 91. 



Everywhere abundant in bogs and still pools, especially 

 near heaths and in moorland districts. 



Linnseus and early writers on Mosses included all our 

 British or European Sphagnums under one species, S. pa- 

 lustre^ subsequently to which some German authors subdi- 

 vided it into as many as nine and fourteen. We are of 

 opinion that Hooker and Taylor judiciously " steered a mid- 



