Objects for the Microscope. 35 



plants. In the most desolate regions, in the coldest 

 climate, the little moss is found. This very Dicranum, at 

 least its species Dicranum bryoides, was once the friend of 

 the great traveller, Mungo Park. He was bewildered in 

 a desert, and, over-weary even unto death, had laid 

 himself down despairingly to die. As he did so, a little 

 Dicranum caught his eye ; the sight of its beauty touched 

 him, the thought of God's care for it awakened the better 

 thought of " If God so cares for the grass of the field, 

 which to-day is and to-morrow is not, does He not much 

 more care for me ? " He rose up, tried once more to find 

 his way, and was saved. 



Mosses abound everywhere; they fill even the rank bogs, 

 and form rich mould for the aristocrats of creation ; they 

 cluster round the wild flowers, and protect them in their 

 earliest state from cold and injury. Servants of creation, 

 servants of God, they fill their appointed place, and do 

 their Maker's will, beautiful in their lowliness as the state- 

 liest oak of the forest. 



THE DICRANUM 



is found from November to April, in hedges or clay banks. 



FUNARIA HTGROMETRICA 



is to be viewed as an opaque object. The crimson peri- 

 stome of twisted teeth and the white cilia gathered into a 

 silvery knob in the centre is one of the loveliest objects we 

 can look at. They are best gathered fresh, and all the 

 winter long we find them on walls and in hedges, or waste 

 places, especially wherever wood has been burnt, or near 

 railway stations. 



The leaves of mosses are made up of cellular tissue, and 

 in a young leaf of Fun aria we see the chlorophyll-grains 

 very distinctly. They want no preparation beyond placing 

 under thin glass with a drop of water. 



The capsules of Dicranum and Weissia are better 

 mounted in balsam ; and Funaria is best seen when simply 

 gummed on a circle of black paper, and protected by a 

 cell of cardboard and thin glass. 



