12 MOSSES AND LIVERWORTS 



almost seem to be a more appropriate designation 

 for them, seeing that their general appearance 

 more frequently reminds one of a fern than of a 

 feather. These Feather-mosses usually grow close 

 to the ground in moist and shady places, and 

 hence it is that in the shelter of the woods we 

 may come across many of them literally running 

 wild, and clothing the soil with their beautiful 

 pale green fronds. The Dotted Thyme Thread- 

 moss (Mhium punctatum, Plate II. fig. 2) is also 

 a familiar inhabitant of the woods, and its large, 

 oval, filmy green leaves easily catch the eye amid 

 the tangle of growth on the bank of path or stream ; 

 it belongs to a specially large-leaved family, some 

 thirteen members of which inhabit these islands. 

 In this particular species, the leaves, when examined 

 with the glass, will be seen to be bordered by a 

 number of long, narrow cells, quite different in 

 form from those which compose the blade of 

 the leaf, which latter are large, and somewhat 

 hexagonal in shape. A magnified drawing of one 

 of these leaves is given at Plate VII. fig. 22. 



Among the many other wood-dwellers mention 

 can only be made of two or three. The Wavy- 

 leaved Hair-moss (Catharinea undulata] is a 

 somewhat large plant for a moss, with dark green 

 leaves, and is often to be met with in great 

 abundance in woods, or on shady banks by the 

 roadside. Its leaves form very interesting objects 

 for microscopical study, as not only is the cell- 



