FERXS AND MOSSES. 
29 
the functions of absorption, assimilation, and secretion, with 
the flowing of sap and the showing forth of its wondrous 
powers, are the same in both. Moreover, I have often 
thought, when endeavouring to remove a piece of moss, that 
the power of adhesion in its roots is far greater than in 
forest trees. Small though they be, and minute the green 
patch which they sustain, they nevertheless stride their 
sessile fibres so firmly into the rock or stone, that a sharp 
penknife (and used by a strong hand) is often required to 
OAK FERX, OR WOOD FERX. 
separate the moss or byssus from its place of growth. This 
is needful ; and were it otherwise, the tribe of which we 
speak would be continually swept away by the mere force of 
the wind or rain. Hence it is that the roots of mosses are 
comprised under the general name of branching; several 
kinds are furnished with small claspers, that possess great 
muscular strength ; others possess, if we mistake not, a 
restricted power of adhering by means of suction. 
Ferns are now beginning to unfold, and the botanist who 
