INTRODUCTION. 



19 



Section III. 

 THE STRUCTURE OF MOSSES. 



One Spirit, His 

 Who wore the platted thorns with bleeding brows, 

 Rules universal nature. 



Cowper. 



HE family of which mosses form one division is distinguished by 

 the names of Gellulares, or cellular plants ; Acrogens, or summit- 

 springing; Acotyleclons, or without seed-leaf; Cryptogamu-, or 

 hidden-fruited ; according- as the botanical arrangement is deter- 

 mined by their texture, mode of growth, or structure of fruit : and these names 

 will form good ground for our present observations. 



Mosses vary in size from the minuteness of microscopic objects to the height 

 of five or six inches ; and in growth from separate plants found in tufts, to masses 

 of creeping roots throwing stems up to the surface, which may extend for many feet. 

 They are never found quite solitary, for, even if the plants are detached one from 

 another, several will be near each other. The root does little more than attach 

 the plant to whatever it grows upon, and in the Sphagnum, or bog-moss, it is 

 entirely wanting. More may, some day, be discovered of the functions of the root ; 

 but, at present, it is believed that mosses derive their nourishment from the damp 

 of the surrounding air, through the cells of which they are composed ; hence the 

 classification of mosses as Gellulares. The cells, being damp, spread out, and the 

 moss is fresh and green, but the moment that the moisture is evaporated from 

 them they close and the leaves shrivel up. There is no connection between the 

 cells, therefore one part of the same moss will revive on being wetted, and the 

 rest of it will remain dead and dry ; even a shower will cause the crisped and 

 curled leaves to open ; and a moss may be pressed and dried for years and come to 

 life again on being immersed in water. The species Schistostega pcnnata resists 

 damp, and the circumstance of the Sjolachwitm, or flagon-moss, being invariably 



