60 FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION. 
in the teeth of other species. In dry weather it 
becomes corded, while it uncoils and straightens 
in moist weather, and thus forms an excellent natu- 
ral hygrometer. As particular illustrations of the 
beauty of mosses, which can be perfectly seen and 
appreciated by the naked eye, may be instanced 
the Splachnum rubrum of the North American 
bogs, with its large, bright red, flagon-shaped fruit- 
vessel, and its broad, pellucid, soft green leaves ; 
the common long-leaved thyme-moss! of our own 
woods, with its exquisite, prominent undulated 
foliage, like a palm-tree in miniature; and the 
Neckera crispa, which is perhaps the loveliest of all 
the species, investing rocks and trunks of trees 
with its richly-coloured and glossy leaves. When 
spreading over trees, it is of a dark, dull green 
colour; but when occurring on dry lichen-clad rocks, 
over which its closely-adhering stems and leaves 
creep for many a yard, it assumes a bright yellowish 
green, glossy hue, changing gradually and imper- 
ceptibly downwards, until the old leaves become of 
a singularly rich dark brown or red colour. When 
the sunbeams and shadows are flickering over its 
crisped and silken leaves, it forms one of the most 
beautiful objects upon which the eye can rest. 
Several mosses are distinguished for their curious 
appearance or structure. One of the queerest of 
1 See Frontispiece. 
