22 HANDY BOOK OF 
found to consist of slender, articulated threads, form- 
ing the cases of minute living creatures, called Gaillonclle 
ferruginea. No doubt, therefore, now exists, that this 
Bog-iron Ore which is partly silicious and partly ferru- 
ginous comprises millions of these small cases, which 
although invisible to the naked eye, are yet so powerftil in 
their effects as to occasion the ebony blackness of such oaks 
as have been found in peat. 
For the sake of our readers who reside near peat-bogs, we 
shall briefly mention, that the Grey Bog-moss is the most 
common, with its two varieties : the Zigzag is rare : the 
leaves are of a splendid intense green, and when placed 
under a water-spout, it assumes the character of a brytan. 
Grey Bog-moss. Stems growing together, from three to 
twelve inches high, upright : branches, two, three, or four, 
from the same part often drooping from the abundance of 
moisture. . Leaves white, egg or oval shaped, concave, soft, 
tiling the .branches. Capsules, when ripening on fruit- 
stalks, urn-shaped ; generally several together at the top of 
the stem. 
Such are the natural history and associations connected 
with the Bog-moss. 
MARCH. 
" WHERE'ER we search, tiie scene presents 
Wonders to charm th' admiring sense, 
And elevate the mind ; 
Nor ever spreads a single spray, 
That quivers in departing day, 
Or turns to meet the morning ray, 
But speaks a power Divine. " 
WHAT is apparently more insignificant than moss-seeds ': 
in some species only to be discovered by aid of a high mag- 
nifier, in others resembling the finest grains of sand. What 
