124 



NATURE STUDY 



everywhere and altho thej' are at first 

 puzzliijg, the children become ver}' much 

 interested in them. 



They are the plants which often form 

 drab or gray-colored patches on the bark 

 of trees or on the surface of stones. There 

 are manj' 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 abundantl}' in California, 

 hanging in long festoons from the oaks. 

 (Not the "hanging moss" of Florida). 

 They reproduce by means of spores, borne 

 oftentimes in colored cup-shaped surfaces. 

 The spore surfaces are sometimes carried 



upon stalks, thus beiug elevated above ^.^ .^^ a prothaiius of a rem 

 the plant body. In some forms small [™™ ^^^=^^1°^^°!'=™ '^srow- 

 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, by the use of the microscope, the wonderful bit of 

 natural history' shown in the relation between the lichens and the 

 bit of green algaj on which they are parasites, may be made out. 



Mosses. 



Mosses are more common than ferns and little understood, 

 except by botanists. They may be the subjects of many interest- 

 ing lessons. JMany of the facts about them which are of great 

 interest from a scientific point of view, are difficult to make out 

 and would better not be attempted in this course. Teachers who 

 wisli to learn of them are referred to works on botany, especi- 



