240 PEARLS AND PEBBLES. 



annuals, but, like the Hypnum splendens and others- 

 among the hair-cap mosses, are perennial. 



Let us raise the thick mat of velvety mosses that ara 

 so minute and so closely packed. It presents a uniform 

 smooth surface, and it seems a pity to disturb it in its. 

 beauty, but we would look beneath and see what its 

 work has been during the past years. 



A bed of rich black friable mould, the residue of the. 

 annual decomposition of these tiny mosses, meets the 

 eye ; below that mould we find layers of decaying wood,, 

 a loose network of fibrous matter. The cellular tissues, 

 have disappeared, and with the least pressure of hand 

 or foot the whole fabric falls into a powdery mass. 



The very heart of the wood has yielded up its strength 

 and hardness under the influences of the agencies brought 

 to bear upon it. A few more years and that fallen tree 

 will be no more seen. , The once mighty tree, with the 

 mosses and lichens alike, will have returned their sub- 

 stance to Mother Earth. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.'" 

 The little plants that penetrated to the heart of the. 

 vegetable giant of the woods have done their work, and 

 are no more needed. The gases have been set free and 

 restored to the atmosphere. 



Let us sum up the work and see its results. The 

 elements and the wood of the tree have fed the lichens- 

 and mosses. The mosses have been a warm sheltering 

 home for myriads of insect larvas, which have gathered 

 up many fragments during their infant state, all tending; 



