140 
OF THE MOSSES AND THEIR ALLIES. 
refts in a wall, the hard surface of a rock, and finally to 
spots (such as the resort of the charcoal-burner) where 
the soil, though sheltered by trees, has been withered and 
scorched by the action of fire. 
Mosses, observes Lindley, 1 are found in all parts of the 
world where the atmosphere is humid, but they are far 
more common in temperate climes than in the tropics. 
They are among the first vegetables that clothe the soil 
with verdure in newly formed countries, and they are the 
last that disappear when the atmosphere ceases to be 
capable of nourishing vegetation. The first green crust 
upon the cinders of Ascension consisted of minute Mosses ; 
they form more than a quarter of the whole Flora of 
Melville Island ; and the black and lifeless soil of New 
South Shetland is covered with specks of Moss struggling 
for existence.’ 
Their favourite localities, however, are those which are 
rich in decaying vegetable matter, and but little exposed 
to the sun’s lieat ; so that it is to the wood and forest, the 
deep ravine and the narrow valley, that the collector must 
look for his principal gatherings. The shady side of bold 
ridges must be carefully searched ; also damp hedgerows 
and wet rocky places, especially with a northern aspect, 
for in these many of the delicate Jungermannise love to 
grow. A few, comparatively rare, forms (the Splachna) 
choose the dung of animals as their habitat, principally in 
Alpine and Subalpine districts. ‘ One of these, Splachnum 
angustatum, which is commonly met with upon dung, we 
once saw growing vigorously upon the foot of an old 
stocking near the summit of Ingleborough, Yorkshire. The 
same species was found by a friend of ours covering the 
half- decayed hat of a traveller who had perished on the 
mountain of St. Bernard in Switzerland ; and the same, if 
we mistake not, was discovered by Captain Parry in 
Melville Island, vegetating in the bleached skull of a musk 
ox.’ * The Sphagna, as stated above, are truly aquatic, 
* Mascologia Britannica. 
