growing together and resemble each other more or less. For a 

 knowledge enabling one to distinguish these plants one of the 

 popular books on mosses and their allies will be found helpful 

 and interesting. 



Mosses are among the simplest of plants in their development 

 and mode of reproduction. They are spore-bearing plants like 

 the ferns and club mosses, lower in rank then these but higher 

 than the hepatics. The spores have the appearance of green 

 or brownish green powder and they, too, form an interesting 

 study under the microscope. Falling into a favorable environ- 

 ment, the spores germinate, producing what the microscope 

 reveals as a branching thread-like mass, but to the naked eye 

 presents the appearance of the green scum on a stagnant pond. 



From this protonema (meaning first thread), there are de- 

 veloped little buds which become the gametophyte or sexual plant 

 after the fertilization 6f the sporophyte or spore-bearing plant. 

 The gametophyte is usually terminated at the apex by a rosette 

 of leaves. The sporophyte consists of the seta or stalk and the 

 capsule containing the spores. The capsule often has a lid or 

 operculum and opens when the spores are matured to permit their 

 escape. Just under the operculum and surrounding the top 

 of the capsule is very often found the peristome, a ring of teeth 

 of different forms in the various species, which by their con- 

 traction and expansion and lifting and lowering, according to 

 the temperature and humidity and the maturity of the spores, 

 favor or retard their escape, ^ — an example of nature's extreme 

 care in fostering the propagation of her creatures. The capsule, 

 too, is usually completely covered or topped by a cap or calyptra 

 which frequently falls off at the time of maturity. The common 

 haircap moss has a most conspicuous hairy cap and its peristome, 

 because of its size and beauty, will furnish the beginner a fine 

 specimen for admiration and study. Mosses have no true roots 

 but many possess hair-like processes which resemble roots and 

 are called rhizoids. 



Figure i shows a spore (A) and a germinating spore (B), 

 protonema (C) and a bud (D). All are much magnified. Figure 

 2 shows a sporophyte (E) a capsule with lid closed (F) another 



