130 THE MICROSCOPE AND ITS LESSONS. 



burst, and its contents are scattered in all directions. 

 How was this effected? What secret spring was em- 

 ployed for this purpose? 



Look at this preparation of one of these spore-cases 

 from a small frond of Adiantum. The fleshy parts of the 

 envelope which contains the spore-case have been care- 

 fully removed, and the empty cases, in their true colour, 

 are seen ; and there, concealed in the centre, are the 

 mechanical springs twenty we count in one case, not the 

 twentieth of an inch in diameter, each spring containing 

 upwards of twenty coils of exquisitely contrived material ; 

 and it is the sudden yielding of this, which is held to- 

 gether by glutinous matter, that, releasing the spring, 

 sends the beautifully shaped spores in any direction the 

 wind may take them. 



The two beautiful families of ferns and mosses, you 

 must know, are not to be included in the lowest orders of 

 plant life. Ah, no ! they are of a much higher order, but 

 are mentioned here as giving you a practical illustration 

 of the admirable contrivance in such plants as have no 

 woody tissue, and which therefore require some special 

 arrangement for the dispersion of their seeds. The 

 motions in plants afford to the student of nature one of 

 the most interesting of all the chapters in the study of 

 botany ; and we cannot have it better illustrated than in 

 ferns and mosses ; and while we are so doing let us show 

 you how this operation is performed. 



Here now is the spore-case of one of the commonest of 

 our field-mosses, Funaria liygrometrica ("a measurer of 

 moisture"). The spore capsules of this species are closed 

 at their summits by what are called Opercula (from the 

 Latin operio, " I cover over ") ; and a more beautiful 

 object for the microscope, or a better illustration of 

 design in so humble a thing, it is difficult to conceive. 



