

PREFACE 



MOSSES are individually so small and inconspicuous that the 

 effect which they have as a mass in creating and enhanc- 

 ing the beauty of natural scenery is often overlooked. 

 Yet if one recalls the desolate and uninviting appearance of a 

 wood in which the mosses have been destroyed by fire, or observes 

 carefully the part which mosses play in completing the attractions 

 of mountain scenery, he will feel like saying a hearty amen to 

 Ruskin's enthusiastic words in the closing paragraphs of his essay 

 on " Leaves Motionless." 



The freshness which a summer shower brings to the landscape 

 is largely due to the unfolding of the mosses on tree and fence and 

 boulder from patches of lifeless brown into soft cushions of living 

 green. 



Many lovers of nature have observed the beauty of mosses 

 and have collected them for their beauty alone. Many more 

 would have collected and studied them had not the difficulties 

 been so numerous and hard to overcome. Until very recently 

 there has been no literature in the English language that was 

 suited to the needs of the beginner. Owing to the small size of 

 most mosses, the characters which separate species and even 

 genera are so largely microscopic that a compound microscope 

 has been considered an absolute necessity for their study. 



Many years of study of mosses in the field and in herbaria 

 have convinced the author that any person of average intelligence 

 can easily learn to recognize seventy five to one hundred common 

 mosses with the aid of an ordinary hand-lens of ten to fifteen 

 diameters magnifying power. 



The purpose of this work is to give, by drawings and descrip- 

 tions, the information necessary to enable any one interested to 

 become acquainted with the more common mosses with the least 

 possible outlay of time, patience, and money. The drawings were 

 made without the aid of the compound microscope in order that 

 nothing might be represented that is not readily distinguished 

 with the simple microscope. 



Finally it must be borne in mind by the student that the 

 present work is limited and incomplete in its treatment, and is 

 but a stepping stone to the larger and more complete works, and 

 to the broader and fuller study of bryology. 



A. J. GROUT, 



Boys' Hr;ii School, 

 August, iqoo. Brooklyn, N. Y. 



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