CHAPTER VI 



THE POSITION OF HEPATICS AND MOSSES IN THE 

 PLANT KINGDOM AS SHOWN BY A COMPARISON 

 OF HOMOLOGOUS PARTS 



" Quorsum, inquient multi, tantum laboris in rebus adeo tenuibus 

 insumtum ? cui bono haec omnia ? Primo ; ut cognoscamus sapientiam 

 creatoris, quas in minimis non minus elucet, quam in magnis plantis." 



Dillenius in prczfatione ad Hist. Muse. 



" Wherefore, many ask, is so much labour spent on such small things? 

 for what good are all these things ? Primarily ; that we may know the 

 wisdom of the Creator, which shows itself not less in the smallest plants 

 than in the great ones. 



Dillenius, in the preface to The History of Mosses. 



" If by the microscopic glass 

 Survey 'd, you'll see how far surpass 

 The works of nature, in design, 

 And texture delicately fine, 

 And perfectness of every part, 

 Each effort of mimetic art ; 

 And as the gardener's watchful care, 

 The ground, of native clothing bare, 

 Indues with vegetable soil ; 

 And with the waste's collected spoil 

 The tender plants exposed defends ; 

 So the Great Gardener, mindful, sends 

 The mossy tribes wherewith to shun 

 The pinching frost, the scorching sun." 



AFTER one has become familiar with the conspicuous parts of 

 a thalloid and leafy hepatic, and a leafy moss, it is interesting to 

 study the homologies or origin of the parts, and to determine the 

 position of the plants in the plant kingdom. 



To quote Dr. L. M. Underwood : * 



"The group known since the time of Adanson as the 

 Hepaticce stands in a unique position on the boundary line of 



*L. M. Underwood, Bot. Gazette Vol. xix, 1894, p. 347. 



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