the peristome of the common haircap moss. The teeth are 

 sixty-four in number and short, with the tips attached to a 

 membrane which covers the top of the capsule. In wet weather 

 or before maturity, the teeth fit in closely together preventing 

 the escape of the spores; in dry weather they shrink as does also 

 the membrane, by which process the shrunken teeth are drawn 

 downward and inward thus producing apertures through which 

 the spores are shaken by the winds or passing insects or birds. 

 No verbal description can do justice to the delicate ornamentation 

 of the minute teeth. 



As mosses are generally so small their study and differentiation 

 into species has been left to the bryologist, the man of science; 

 and therefore few of them, except the larger or more beautiful 

 species have common or local names; and this and the necessity 

 for a lens has not tended to make their study popular. 



However, when nature finds it wise to send downpours of rain 

 during one's vacation in the Catskill Mountains, when golf and 

 tennis and motoring are out of the question, a pair of overshoes, 

 a rain coat and an umbrella, a sound body and a hopeful spirit, 

 and just the little knowledge given above will take one forth 

 where the mosses are luxuriating. Just step outside the door 

 and close by the path is a great cluster of feathery green with 

 numberless little wheat grains, apparently, stuck up on hair-like 

 stalks. Pluck two or three stalks and immediately you will 

 recognize the haircap, Polytrichum commune. It is erect and one 

 of the largest of the native mosses and common everywhere, in 

 Asia, Europe and North America, and its large hairy cap easily 

 leads to its identity. Like most mosses its appearance changes 

 greatly with the moisture or dryness of the air. The leaves being 

 long, their folding and unfolding effects a marked change in the 

 plants. If you grasp a handful of the feathery stems in moist 

 weather you will not wonder at the information that these mosses 

 have been put to use for stuffing pillows and beds in Lapland, and 

 again, if you pluck some of the dry tough stems during a drought, 

 it will seem quite credible that this same moss is used for making 

 brooms in some countries. Another species is Polytrichum 

 strictum which has very long leaves and is sometimes five or six 

 inches in height. 



