l8 MOSSES WITH A HAND-LENS 



has not gone so far as to enable the plants to dispense with 

 chlorophyll. 



The Common Georgia has two characteristics that will 

 serve to make its identification easy. Its peristome consists of 

 four long teeth that are readily distinguishable under the lens. 

 It is the only common moss with this number of teeth in the 

 peristome. The other character is the possession of slender 

 branches bearing cup-like clusters of leaves. In this cluster 

 of leaves are minute green bodies, gemmae, which fall off and 

 give rise to new plants in the same way that the bulblets of 

 Cystopteris give rise to that fern. 



It fruits very abundantly and the capsules persist for a 

 year or two, so that there is no difficulty in finding or identifying 

 it. The capsules are in the best condition late in autumn. 



G. BROWNII (Dicks.) C. M. (Tetrodontium Brownianum 

 Schwaegr.) is a very rare species found in less than half a 

 dozen places in North America. It is a very small plant with 

 a very few minute leaves at base ; entire plant, including sporo- 

 phyte, less than 1-3 inch in height; capsule oval, teeth very broadly 

 triangular, almost equilateral. This species has been found in 

 the mountains of Maine and New Hampshire and in Newfound- 

 land. It often grows inverted on overhanging rocks. 



FAMILY 4 POLYTRICHACEAE. The Hair-Cap 



Family* 



HE plants of this family are usually of a large size, 

 the simple or slightly branched stems growing from 

 a creeping underground stem (except Pogonatum 

 brevicaule and P. brachyphyllum) . Leaves usually 

 narrow, with the base sheathing or at least with 

 the basal part of the leaf hyaline with larger cells; the 

 costa bears on its upper surface, except at the hyaline 

 base, longitudinal strips of tissue (lamellae) one cell 

 thick' and attached to the upper surface of the costa by 

 one edge, making the costa appear very wide and dense. The 

 upper leaf cells are usually hexagonal. The plants are usually 

 dioicous with the antheridia borne in conspicuous terminal 

 rosettes. The capsule is on a long smooth seta, large, cylindrical, 

 "or prismatic with 4-6 angles. The. calyptra is cucullate, covered 

 with a dense felt of hairs, or at least roughened at apex with 



