52 FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION. 
three species of moss in Madeira which belong 
to the Leskeoid group of Hypnum or Feather 
mosses, which are very remarkable in this respect 
that it is only in Australia, Tasmania, and. New 
Zealand that two entirely congeneric species are 
known to grow. The connexion between these 
closely allied species of the same group, separated 
by the whole breadth of the globe from each other, 
is a puzzling circumstance. : Well-developed 
stems, forming tree-like branches of one of these 
mosses (Leskea spinosa) often exceed six inches 
in height. Onthe Cameroon mountains, at a height 
of 8000 feet, among abundance of our own com- 
mon mosses, Polytrichum juniperinum and Funaria 
hygrometrica, occur two lovely transparent green 
mosses, Hookeria lete-virens and H. splachnoides, 
which are also found at the Lakes of Killarney 
and in Madeira and the Azores. While in the 
south-west of Ireland occurs the Adelanthus or 
Fungermannia decipiens, a Scale-moss, which has 
also been gathered in St. Helena, Fernando Po, 
Quito, and Monte Tunguragua in Peru. From 
these few examples, and the number might be 
greatly increased, it will be seen that mosses are 
almost as important as flowering plants in solving 
the problems of the geographical distribution of 
plants. 
Mosses, in. many instances, are limited in their 
