FE11XS AND MOSSES. 23 
is so utterly invisible as 'the wind felt in its effects, but 
unseen !' Yet the seeds and the wind, working conjointly, 
clothe the herbless rock with verdure, and form, as years 
pass on, a rooting-place for oaks that ride sea-billows, and 
circumnavigate the globe. 
Mosses, therefore, and their handmaids, crustaceous 
lichens, are needful in the economy of nature : the first, as 
already noticed, prepares a slight accumulation of vegetable 
mould for the reception of the second ; and these are rapidly 
succeeded by grasses and lesser plants, which in their turn 
decay, and give place to shrubs and trees, till after the 
lapse of years, extensive woodlands often clothe the boldest 
and most precipitous ascents. Thus, in the passes of the 
Alps, near Inspruck, the high cliffs on either side, though 
CTP, OR CHALICE-MOSS. 
nearly perpendicular, are mantled with vast forests, that 
cast a dismal shade over the road. Time was, when those 
rocks were destitute of vegetation, when huge masses were 
raged over by fierce winds, and winter rains descended on. 
them in their might : had the eye of some passing natu- 
ralist been open to discern tilings invisible, he might have 
seen a light vapour, borne by zephyrs, and left among the 
fissures of those wild rocks, where already the smallest 
particles of mould had accumulated ; then came soft rains 
and sunbeams, ministering to the tender seeds, till forth 
from out their rocky cradles peeped green mosses of various 
forms and hues. The Cup, or Chalice-moss of old botanists, 
grew there abundantly, and its descendants still linger in 
