28 MOSSES AND LIVERWORTS 



perfect form, is full of interest and wonder, 

 even when such a story is briefly told on paper ; 

 but the interest and wonder are increased a 

 hundredfold, if the various steps in this life- 

 history are followed out through an actual ac- 

 quaintance with the plants themselves, as may, 

 to no inconsiderable extent, be done with the 

 help of a comparatively inexpensive microscope, 

 or even by means of a good hand magnifying- 

 glass. I hope, therefore, that the following 

 sketch of the development of a moss from infancy, 

 through youth and maturity to old age, may 

 serve to induce some of my readers to see for 

 themselves what I now propose to try to explain. 

 Let us begin our story with what will form a 

 very convenient starting-point, namely, 



The Spore, a tiny speck of vegetable life from 

 which our future moss-plant, with all its won- 

 derful mechanism, will take its rise. These moss- 

 spores vary somewhat in the different species, 

 both as to size (often an important factor in the 

 diagnosis of a specimen), and form, though they 

 are usually round. In every case, however, a 

 single one is so minute as to be practically in- 

 visible to the naked eye, and it is therefore only 

 when present in large numbers that the spores 

 can be seen without the aid of a glass ; and even 

 then they only appear as a delicate film of 

 coloured dust, or, should they happen to be just 

 making their escape from the spore-vessel, as a 



