184 MAINE STATE COLLEGE. 



Examination of Mosses. 

 L. II. Merrill and F. L. Harvey. 



The following letter was received at the Experiment Station 

 last fall. 



Charlotte, Me., Nov. 30, 1891. 

 Messrs. of the Experiment Station. 



Dear Sirs : — As the U. S. Agr'l. Repts. and Bentley's Botany, 

 state that some mosses are rich in nutriment, and as our school 

 text books skip these cryptogams, I send j^ou three specimens for 

 examination, which I hope you will report upon to me as soon as 

 convenient. 



No. 1 is found in large quantities covering mossy low bogs 

 with a soft cushion from six to eighteen inches thick. If scalded 

 and mixed with a very little corn meed it is eaten with apparent 

 relish by swine. 



No. 2 grows on a little higher ground around the edge of bogs. 



No. 3 grows in sanely places on high ground. Have any of 

 them any nutritive value as foods for animals? 



Yours truly, 



HENRY A. SPRAGUE. 



The specimens referee! to above were submitted to the Botanist 

 of the station for botanical determination and to the Chemist of 

 the station for analysis, with the following results. 



Botanist's Report. 



No. 1. Sphagnum cymbifolium, Ehrb. Bog Moss. 



No. 2. Polytrichum Juniperinrin,"Willd. Bear's Bed, or Robin's 

 Rye. 



No. 3. Hypnum splendens, Hedw. — H. proliferum, L. 



No. 4. Hypnum Schreberi, "Willd. 



No. 5. Cladonia rangiferina. Reindeer Moss — a lichen. 



Remarks. 



Mr. Sprague's No. 3 was a mixture of two species, Nos. 3 and 

 4 above, which are reported in the analysis. No. 5, the Rein- 

 deer Moss, being a well known food of species of Cervidaz, was 

 submitted to chemical examination for the sake of comparison. 



The accounts given in works on botany, or elsewhere of mosses 



