piece of bread used to get the Mucor after that mould has run its course, 

 other moulds will follow. Some of these are of bright colors — orange, 

 yellow, green. These all bear spores on some kind of minute stalks. 

 Being much smaller than Mucor, these may not be seen except with the 

 microscope. The children may bring moulds from many other sources. 



Lichens. 



In these we have still another very common group of plants. They 

 are the plants which often form drab or grey-colored patches on the 

 bark of trees or on the surface of stones. There are many forms — some 

 make fringes and fuzzy coverings on fence boards or on trunks and 

 limbs of trees. One strange form is the so-called "hanging moss," 

 which grows so abundantly in California, hanging in long festoons from 

 the oaks. The lichens are a group of the fungi. They reproduce by 

 means of spores, borne oftentimes in colored cup-shaped surfaces. The 

 spore surfaces are sometimes carried up on stalks, thus being elevated 

 above the plant body. In some forms small portions of the plant-body 

 become detached. These will grow into a new plant. 



Their method of attachment to bark or stone, method of growth, and 

 method of bearing the spores may be seen. For older classes, with the 

 use of the microscope, the wonderful bit of natural history shown in the 

 relation between the lichens and the bit of green algae on which they 

 are parasites may be made out. 



flosses. 



Mosses are more common than ferns and little understood, except 

 by botanists. They may be the subjects of many interesting lessons. 

 Many of the facts about them which are of a great interest from a 

 scientific point of view are difl&cult to make out and would better not 

 be attempted in this course. Teachers who wish to learn of them are 

 referred to the works on Botany especially in regard to the reproductive 

 parts. The following account is only meant to bring out parts which 

 can easily be observed. 



There are a great number of forms which would be puzzling to those 

 who are not botanists. Common forms may be found growing in moist 

 places on the ground or on the sides or limbs of trees. These plants 

 consist of small stems clothed with minute green leaves. The stems are 

 fastened to the ground by means of a thick felt of hair-like threads. 

 The whole plant is a beautiful and interesting object seen under the 

 simple microscope. A simple leaf under higher powers shows a thin 

 plate consisting of a single layer of plant cells. The green grains in the 

 cells are chlorophyll bodies. These are the same in all green leaves. 



Those pupils who are ready for it may be taught that it is by means of 

 these bodies that the plant is able to make such substances as starch out 

 pf carbonic &cid and water, the two great food substances of the plant, 



