Mosses of Caledonia Creek. 73 



[From the Tenth Report of the New York Commissioners oi Fisheries.] 



THE MOSSES OF CALEDONIA CREEK. 



By CHARLES H. PECK. 



The plants received from Caledonia creek (the fish-hatching station), are a 

 water-cress, a chara, and four mosses. The latter grow in tufts or patches more 

 or less dense, either in wet places or submerged in water. When growing in 

 or under water, they afford a place of refuge or a habitation, and probably food, 

 also, to various water insects and their larvae, small mollusks and crustaceans. 

 The mosses received had an abundance of these small animals among their 

 branches. I have before observed inhabitants of similar character in tufts of 

 moss in swamps and mountain rivulets, but never before have I seen them so 

 various and so numerous. Whether this abundance is due chiefly to the char- 

 acter of the stream whence the specimens were taken, or to the character and 

 plenteousness of the food it affords them, or to both combined, may be a ques- 

 tion. But one thing is evident. There cannot long be an abundance of con- 

 sumers without an abundance of food to be consumed. The abundance of ani- 

 mal life in Caledonia creek implies an abundance of food on which these organ- 

 isms exist, and, if we wish to perpetuate or increase this abundance, we must 

 preserve or increase the necessary supply of food. 



There is, among the mosses of that locality, one of special interest, both 

 because of its rare occurrence, and because of the noticeable coincidence between 

 its abundant growth there, and the abundance of animal life that accompanies 

 it. It is possible that this coincidence is purely accidental, and yet, on the 

 other hand, it is not wholly improbable that there is some important connection 

 between the two facts, which would render a brief account of the moss desirable. 



It is known to botanists by the name Hypnum noterophilum; or Moisture- 

 loving moss, under which name it was described by Messrs. Sullivant and 

 Lesquereux.7 



Franklin and Lancaster counties, Pennsylvania, are its previously reported 

 localities, given on the authority of Prof. T. 0. Porter. In those localities it 

 is said to grow in limestone springs. , It was discovered in the Caledonia locality, 

 several years ago, by Hon. Gr. W. Clinton, but up to the present time this 

 remains its only known locality in our State. It is quite evident, therefore, 

 that it is a moss of very rare occurrence in our State, although it occurs in 

 abundance in this single locality. At Caledonia it grows (according to my 

 information) in shallow, mostly quiet or slowly flowing water, attached to peb- 

 bles and rocks, and forms quite extensive patches of a dark-green or blackish- 

 green color. The stems are generally two to four inches long, though smaller 

 forms sometimes occur. They are irregularly branched, the branches being 

 rather long, and ascending or nearly erect, so that the moss has a somewhat 

 stiff or rigid aspect. The narrow, nearly erect leaves, also add to this peculiar 

 appearance. They are furnished with a stout, thick midrib, which extends 

 through the leaf and projects a little beyond its apex. In some of the specimens 

 nothing remained of many of the lower leaves except this thick midrib. Whether 

 the blade of these leaves had been eaten away by the crustaceans and insect 

 larvae that hide everywhere among the branches, or whether it had gradually 



