130 PERNS OE GREAT BRITAIN. 



kidney-sliaped capsules ,which have from one to three 

 valves. Two distinct substances lie inclosed in the capsules 

 of some species. One kind is a small dust-like powder, 

 composed of smooth grains; and the other consists of 

 three or four globular-shaped fleshy bodies, many times 

 as large as the powder. The powder is produced by all 

 the species of club-moss ; but the larger fleshy bodies 

 occur but in a few, and are not found in the Stag's- 

 horn. 



The club-mosses are called in Italy Licopodia, and in 

 Holland Wolfshlaw, and the Germans call the plant 

 Kolhenmos. In Sweden, wreaths of our common species 

 are commonly worn on festive occasions by the pea- 

 santry, and Anna Howitt, when describing the May 

 festival at Starnberg, in Germany, says, " People arrived 

 even faster and faster: there were parties in carriages 

 with servants and gentlemen ; there were parties on foot, 

 the gentlemen with wreaths of Ivy or Stag's-horn moss 

 twisted round their straw or felt hats, with gentians, 

 cowsHp, or primula flowers stuck into their button- 

 holes " Wordsworth alludes to a similar mode of using 

 the moss in the north of England. 



" Or with that plant which in our dale 

 We call Stag's horn or Fox's tail, 



Their rusty hats they trim; 

 And thus, as happy as the day, 

 Those shepherds wear the time away." 



Mr. Matthew Arnold, too, refers to the plant : — 



" Under the glittering hollies Iseult stands 

 Watching her children play ; their little hands 

 Are busy gathering spars of quartz, and streams 

 Of stag's-horn for their hats. Anon with screams 



