72 HANDY BOOK OF 
Such as grow in tropical regions prefer the shade of rocks, 
especially when assigned to alpine heights, where the tem- 
perature of the climate is rendered moderate by their 
elevation. 
The brotherhood, like most of their cryptogamic relatives, 
are tenacious of life ; even when apparently dead, a shower 
presently revives them. They thrive, too, in places un- 
favourable for general vegetation ; and hence, wherever a 
wandering sunbeam enters, or breezes gain access, some 
tiny moss, it may be, finds a home. You may discover 
them equally in cold, damp caverns, and in fissures among 
rocks, or on walls open to the sun. 
"Wonderful it is, that when some species are subjected to 
great drought at the time appointed for ripening their 
seeds, they acquire the property of absorbing and retaining 
moisture, like succulent plants ; the process of ripening 
consequently advances rapidly, even if the heavens deny 
rain, and the earth is hard as iron. But though assigned 
to different regions of the globe, and various growing places 
in this country, they generally affect temperate and cold 
regions, and often, in companionship with lichens, present 
the last trace of vegetation towards the limits of perpetual 
snow. Their uses are multifarious they protect young 
plants and seeds during the heat of summer, and in the 
depths of winter, and form retreats for insects and small 
animals. Travellers who explore the vast forests that ex- 
tend far north, relate that the trunks and branches of the 
trees are covered with mosses, especially on the northern 
side ; and that by means of these natural indications, those 
who traverse them in quest of animals readily find their 
way. 
Abundant in mountainous countries rare on plains ; 
somewhat restricted, also, in its localities, the only station 
where this moss has been discovered in the eastern angle of 
Great Britain, is on the sandy waste near Yarmouth. The 
dark and almost blackish green, cylindrical, and straggling, 
