216 HISTOEY OF BRITISH MOSSES. 



tricts. Fr. Winter. Miiller well describes this as " one of 

 the most beautiful of European Mosses." In dry weather 

 its leaves are closely imbricated or overlapping each other 

 on the branches, which then have a polished yellow lustre, 

 while the slightest application of moisture causes the foliage 

 to expand and spread out almost horizontally, so that in 

 this condition, to the uninitiated eye, it cannot be recognized 

 as the same plant. Those who have noticed the evening 

 " sleep " of the leaflets of the Acacia, and the contrast then 

 presented with their mid-day vigour, will be able to form 

 some idea of the change that is effected in this plant. AVe 

 must remind our readers, however, that these similar effects 

 are the results of very different laws, and those at present 

 under notice are easily explained by the hjgrometric property 

 of the foliage. Dillenius, and after him Weber and ]\Iohr, 

 applied the specific name ornithopodioides, " bird-foot hke," 

 to this species ; and certainly, if we except the clustered pod 

 of our little favourite Ornithopus, there are few objects in 

 the vegetable world which more resemble the foot of the 

 smaller members of the feathered tribes, than the branches 

 of this Moss when in a dry state. 



3. Pterogonium filiforme, Schwsegr. {Filiform Ptero- 

 f/onium.) Stems irregularly branched, curved; leaves ovate. 



