CURIOUS GROWTHS 179 
the spores new Moss-plants will develop. I don’t 
think the plant has an English name ; its scientific 
name is Polyirichum commune. Mosses are such 
lowly plants that they seem to have been ignored 
by all but a few botanists. Yet they have a most 
interesting life-story, which I had better not trouble 
you with now ; but I am sure, if you keep up your 
Nature interest, you will some day want to know 
something about it. There are about six hundred 
kinds of Mosses in Great Britain, some of them ex- 
ceedingly small. One cannot study them without 
the aid of a microscope, but I can tell you from 
experience that, once you get on to their study, you 
are not likely to give it up in a hurry. I could not 
imagine a more fascinating group of plants. 
What is that red mossy growth on the Wild Rose 
(Rosa canina) ? Oh, that is called a Rose Bedeguar. 
Is it not curious ? and how lovely is the rich red 
colour! ‘“* Robin’s Pincushion ” is another name 
which has been given to the growth. It is caused 
by the larve of the Gall Gnat (Rhodites rose) ; if you 
open the growth, you will find some inside. The 
eggs or larvee cause a kind of irritation to the plant, 
and the growth is the consequence. This reminds 
me of the bird’s-nest-like growth which is commonly 
seen on Birch-trees. Many a time when I was a 
boy did I mistake these growths for bird’s-nests. 
They are popularly called ‘‘ Witches’ Brooms’: 
some of them are caused by a fungus, which, of 
course, is a lowly plant, and others by a Gall Mite 
(Phytoptus rudis). So, you see, these growths are 
the homes of curious creatures or other plants. 
Oak-apples are not the fruit of the Oak, but growths 
