112 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
thescdelicatecreature.s. To study them properly oneneeds 
both a dissectin^c^ and a compound microscope, the first 
for the gross examination of preparations, which are 
The lx;ginner, without directions, is so apt to begin wrong 
end to." High-])ower lenses are for very small objects; io'r 
general study the low-powers are much the more useful. 
Moreover, it takes skill and instruction to use the com- 
pound niicr(i.scope to advantage. How many persons 
wrongly, and thus wasting precious time. 
The parts of mosses upon which we depend for iden- 
tification are extremely small. Everyone will recall the 
pedicels, bearing capsules or urns at their summits. These 
in a general way only, may be called the female llowers, 
though flowers as we know them, mosses have not. We 
can, in the same restricted wiiy, call them the fruit, 
though they arc but slight analogous even to that. Re- 
j>rodt:ctive organs it is ])erfectly correct to call them. 
This is not the place to enter upon the modern view or in- 
terpretation of the reproductive ])r<K'Cssin mosses; it pre- 
supposes other knowledge. I confine myself here simply 
to what one sees. .A. ca])sule, thec.u. or urn, then has 
generally a ring al)out its mouth, called the niiruiina, up- 
on which'a series of teeth, always a multiple of i-, is sup- 
ported. These processes are collectively called peris'tone. 
and may or may not In- acconipained by additional cilin 
a lid, ^^hich as-.imes nianv beautiful forms, and is 
known as the of.crcuhnn. Tliis. in its turn, has a hood-like 
or mitre-like cap which i'^ usuallv deciduous, and is called 
thecnlyntri. The sn-ca!lc«l fruit may be b>>rne on the 
;:\- - • - . i;,,. or laterallv, and u})on this fact 
•• -II of mt>sscs.' It is not ahvavs easv 
-'.lis. When the fruit is terminal the 
.tinned by so-called "innovations"— 
a>. ^ til: below but over-topping the stem 
