MOSSES AND LICHENS. 



I fear my readers may turn over these few pages and 

 regard the subjects as things of little worth — mosses and 

 lichens, dry, uninteresting objects that we tread under 

 our feet or pass by without giving them a second glance 

 — and place them among the rough " Pebbles," not the 

 choice " Pearls " of my collection. 



Uninviting and trivial as the subject may be to many, 

 I am confident that to the true lover of Nature they 

 will not be without their interest, and may possibly 

 direct attention to a world of beauty which has 

 hitherto escaped his notice. 



The lichens, the fungi and the mosses were probably 

 the earliest forms of vegetable life. Before the grasses 

 and small herbs these may have been created as a 

 promise of what should clothe the young earth with 

 verdure. The sea- weeds (Algce) may, indeed, have 

 preceded them, and we might call them, not inaptly, the 



