THE SPHAGNACE^ OR PEAT MOSSES. 573, 
in this manner has elevated itself abov^e the surface water, 
it is familiar to us by the name of Peat, becomes material 
for fuel, and all Sphagnum vegetation ceases." 
"Their power of retaining moisture renders them useful 
to the gardener in the cultivation of orchids, and ferns and 
other delicate plants, and for their package and transport 
in a fresh state. 
'*To the inquiring mind the study of the structure of these 
plants must prove an unfailing source of instruction, for in 
no members of the vegetable kingdom do we find means 
so well adapted to the ends they serve, as in the beautiful 
and varied tissues which build up a single stem of 
Sphagnum. " 
In the Journal of Botany for 1900, there is an article on 
the European Sphagnaceae after Warnstorf, by E. Charles 
HoPPell, F.L.S., in which he explains the difference of the 
European workers on these plants since the publication of 
Dr. Braithwaite's monograph issued in 1880, b} D. Bogue, 
3, St. Martin's Place, London, W.C. 
He says the main difference between Warnstorf's system 
and that in general use in this country is due to the great 
importance ascribed in Warnstorf's system : — 
1. To the position and form of the chlorophyll cells as 
seen in the transections of the branch leaves. 
2. To the form and distribution of the pores on the walls 
of the hyaline cells of the branch leaves, and to a less 
extent of the stem leaves. 
In this article, which is commenced in the April number 
of Journal of Botany for 1900, and contined each month 
until concluded in the December number, there is given a list 
of the various treatises on these plants issued since the 
publication of Braithwaite's monograph in 1880. 
August, 1905. 
