OCTOBER. 189 



flecaj-, improve the poor soils of rocks and 

 hills. The trees are defended by them from 

 the -winter cold. The whole texture of mosses 

 consists of cells, iu \vhich the summer shower, 

 or the morning, or evening dew lingers, and 

 renders the plant always moist ; and thus the 

 little moss preserves from drought the giant 

 tree of the wood. Thousands of insects live 

 on these plants, and hide beneath their shelter ; 

 and the bird, whose song gladdens the summer 

 wood, gathers the moss for his nest. The 

 bog and morass are gradually filled up, and in 

 some instances become firm land by the growth 

 and decomposition of mosses. They and the 

 lichens are the first vegetation which spring up 

 on the thin soil of rocks or islands, from which 

 the sea has withdrawn ; and the farthest and 

 dreariest spot of earth which the foot of man 

 has traversed was found decked with some of 

 the moss plants. When mosses have ceased, 

 vegetation is at an end, and the snows dwell 

 perpetually on the high mountains, or northern- 

 most point of land. About eight hundred 

 kinds of moss have been discovered, and small 

 as they are, each species has distinct characters, 

 by which all the plants composing it may be 

 recognised. No confusion exists in natine, and 

 when the marks of one moss are clearly defined, 

 the botanist may discover them in every plant 

 of the species, whether he find it on a rock of 

 England, or on some hill distant from our 

 country by thousands of miles. We must look 

 at them through a microscope, to sec their full 



