38 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



plants. In the most desolate regions, in the coldest climate, 

 the little moss is found. This very Dicranum, at least its 

 species Dicranum Iryoides, was once the friend of the great 

 traveller, Mungo Park. He was bewildered in a desert, 

 and, over-weary even unto death, had laid himself down 

 despairingly to die. As he did so, a little Dicranum 

 caught his eye; the sight of its beauty touched him, the 

 thought of God's care for it awakened the better thought 

 of " If God so cares for the grass of the field, which to- 

 day is and to-morrow is not, does He not much more care 

 for me ?" He rose up, tried once more to find his way, 

 and was saved. 



Mosses abound everywhere ; they fill even the rank bogs, 

 and form rich mould for the aristocrats of creation ; they 

 cluster round the wild flowers, and protect them in their 

 earliest state from cold and injury. Servants of creation, 

 servants of God, they fill their appointed place, and do 

 their Maker's will, beautiful in their lowliness as the state- 

 liest oak of the forest. 



THE DICRANUM 



is found from November to April, in hedges or clay banks. 



PUNARIA HYGROMETRICA 



is to be viewed as an opaque object. The crimson peristome 

 of twisted teeth and the white cilia gathered into a silvery 

 knob in the centre is one of the loveliest objects we can 

 look at. They are best gathered fresh, and all the winter 

 long we find them on walls and in hedges, or waste places, 

 especially wherever wood has been burnt, or near railway 

 stations. 



The leaves of mosses are made up of cellular tissue, and 

 in a young leaf of Funaria we see the chlorophyll-grains 

 very distinctly. They want no preparation beyond placing 

 under thin glass with a drop of water. 



The capsules of Dicranum and Weissia are better mounted 

 in balsam ; and Funaria is best seen when simply gummed 

 on a circle of black paper, and protected by a cell of card- 

 board and thin glass. 



