MOSSES 13 



formation very distinct, and the small grains of 

 the green colouring matter, or chlorophyll, easily 

 seen, but the blade of the leaf is bordered by two 

 or three rows of narrow cells, and the margin 

 bristles with sets of double spines or teeth, a few 

 of which also grow from the back of the blade 

 itself. The beautiful Tamarisk Feather-moss 

 (Thuidium tamariscinum) is perhaps the most 

 fern-like of all the Feather-mosses. Its tiny 

 leaves when seen in profile under the microscope 

 will be found to have a roughened surface, or, in 

 botanical phraseology, to be papillose, a feature 

 which characterises many mosses, and to which 

 I shall have occasion to refer again hereafter. 

 One of the leaves of this moss is drawn at 

 Plate VII. fig. 24, but the scale of magnification 

 is not sufficiently large to show the minute 

 roughness just alluded to. The Broom Pork-moss 

 (Dicranum scoparium) is a frequent denizen of 

 similar localities ; it is a robust-looking moss, 

 with bright green leaves, which are all turned 

 in the same direction (secund, as this form of 

 growth is called), and are curved, or sickle- 

 shaped. The Wood Feather-moss (Plagiothecium 

 sylvaticum) and the Sharp Flat-leaved Feather- 

 moss (Plagiothecium denticulatum) are wood- 

 lovers too, and are common enough in the country ; 

 they both have a peculiarly flat growth, a very 

 distinctive feature which is easily recognised again 

 when once observed. The two plants so closely 



