MOSSES AND LIVERWORTS 



INTRODUCTION 



T WOULD venture to address what I have to 

 say in the following pages which attempt 

 to give a short and simple sketch of the life- 

 history of some of the smaller members of the 

 great plant world to those who, in the words 

 of Longfellow, 



love the haunts of nature, 

 Love the sunshine of the meadow, 

 Love the shadow of the forest, 

 Love the wind among the branches, 

 And the rain-shower, and the snow-storm, 

 And the rushing of great rivers, 



for I am anxious to deal with my subject from 

 the point of view of a simple lover of Nature, 

 and, by avoiding technicalities, as far as may 

 be, to introduce to my readers in a more attractive 

 form than is possible in a purely scientific work, 

 a branch of natural-history study which, is full 

 of wonder and charm. To those who have country 

 tastes and longings, and to whom the fields and 



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