286 HISTORY OF BllITISIl MOSSES. 



is a dark, polished, ovate-sliapcd body, and, when these are 

 numerous, may be compared to ckisters of little black 

 beads. By degrees it gets hardened from absorption ; the 

 divisions or sutures of which it is composed may be observed, 

 and these at length split into four, or the other divisions 

 characteristic of the species, discharging the spores which 

 they contain. Mixed up with these spores we find, with 

 few exceptions, numerous curious bodies, found also among 

 EquUetacea, named elateres, which are spiral filaments, con- 

 sisting of one or more threads, curiously twisted, and whose 

 office seems to be the dispersion of these spores. This may 

 be a provision of nature to make up for the want of a colu- 

 mella and more permanent capsule, which Mosses possess. 



The Spores are very various as to form, size, surface, and 

 colour. They arc, in the majority of cases, spherical, and 

 their size does not depend on that of the plant, some 

 small species having large spores, and vice versa. Hedwig 

 and Necker made some interesting experiments, illustrating 

 the germination of these spores, which are recorded in their 

 works. 



There are, in addition to these organs of fructification we 

 have noticed, two sets of bodies found in several genera and 

 species, to which, in closing, we would direct the attention 



