/ 
 ~ ^t 
 

 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 Ilii Right Hon. Sir EDWARD FRY, LL.D, 
 
 F.R.S., F.S.A., F.L.S., 
 
 One of the Lords Justices of Appeal. 
 
 LONDON : 
 FEINTED BY WITHEEBT & Co., 326, HIGH HOLBOEN, W.C. 
 
 1892.
 
 The following pages have grown out of a Lecture 
 on British Mosses delivered by me in January, 1891, 
 at the Royal Institution. They are reprinted from 
 
 " KNOWLEDGE." 
 
 E. F. 
 
 May, 1892. 
 
 209OPG7
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PA&E 
 
 Introductory ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5 
 
 Classification ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 6 
 
 Life-History ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 9 
 
 Modes of Reproduction ... ... ... ... ... ... 21 
 
 Weismann's Theory ... ... ... ... ... ... 29 
 
 Comparison with Zoological Emb ryology ... ... ... 30 
 
 Organization ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 32 
 
 Leaves ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... 34 
 
 The Capsule ..................... 37 
 
 Sphagnaceae ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 44 
 
 Structure ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 45 
 
 Leaves ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 45 
 
 Physical Kesults from Structure ... ... ... ... 49 
 
 Ancient Forests ..................... 51 
 
 Decay of the Moss ... ... ... ... ... ... 58 
 
 Sedgmoor ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 59 
 
 Hepaticese ........................ 62 
 
 Distribution in Time ... ... ... ... ... ... 65 
 
 Distribution in Space ... ... ... ...... ... 67 
 
 Conclusion .. 69
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 Introductory. LORD BACON thought that a Moss was 
 "but a rudiment between putrefaction and a herb." Mr. 
 Buskin thought, and perhaps thinks (he is at war, he tells 
 us, with the botanists), " that the pineapple is really a 
 Moss." People popularly talk of Club-Mosses and Stag- 
 Mosses. Now all these usages of the word may be useful 
 to us when we begin to think about Mosses, if we will 
 make the right use of them, i.e., if we will absolutely 
 reverse them. A Moss is not a rudiment between a 
 putrefaction and a herb, but a delicately, exquisitely 
 organized plant. No possible stretch of the conception of 
 a Moss can make it include a pineapple any more than an 
 elephant ; and the Stag and Club-Mosses of popular speech 
 belong to a group of plants quite different from the Mosses, 
 and of a far higher organization.
 
 6 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 What then is a Moss ? This is a question not to be 
 hastily answered, and will I think be best answered at 
 the end and not at the beginning of this paper. If you 
 are working deductively, your definitions may come at the 
 beginning; but if by patient investigation into natural 
 facts, beware of starting with definitions they ought to 
 be the ripest fruit of your longest labour. 
 
 Classification. Vegetable productions are commonly 
 divided into two great groups : those which possess obvious 
 blossoms, or Phanerogams, and those which possess no 
 obvious blossoms, or Cryptogams. The Cryptogams are 
 again divided into two great groups those whose structure 
 is built up of cells without regularly formed vessels, such 
 as sea weeds, fungi and lichens, the cellular Cryptogams ; 
 and those which, like the ferns and the Club-Mosses, 
 possess, in addition to cells, regularly formed vessels ; 
 these are known as Vascular Cryptogams. 
 
 This brief explanation will be enough to enable the 
 reader to learn from the following table, which is arranged 
 in an ascending rank, something as to the position of the 
 Mosses in the vegetable kingdom, and the principal groups 
 into which they may be divided : 
 TABLE A. 
 
 Series. Orders. Examples. 
 
 Vascular 
 
 
 
 Cryptogams 
 
 
 
 
 
 (Pleurocarpee 
 Acrocarpse ( Stegocarpse 
 
 Hypnum 
 Polytrichum 
 
 
 
 eis ocarpse 
 
 Phascuin 
 
 
 i. Musci. 
 
 
 
 Muscineea 
 
 
 Anomaleffi ( Schizocarpse 
 
 Andrea 
 
 
 
 (. Holocarpsa 
 
 Archidium 
 
 
 ii. Sphagnaceee 
 
 
 
 A 1~~ J~~ 
 
 iii. Hepaticete. 
 
 [fccSS 6 * 

 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 7 
 
 From this table it will be gathered that the Mosses, 
 using that word in its wide signification, stand at the head 
 of the cellular cryptogams, and that above them are the 
 vascular cryptogams, of which, as I have already said, the 
 ferns are one of the best-known groups. From these 
 vascular cryptogams the Mosses are, however, separated 
 by a distance which Goebel has described as a chasm " the 
 widest with which we are acquainted in the whole vegetable 
 kingdom." Perhaps, however, at some future time it may 
 be found that even over this gulf Nature has thrown some 
 slender bridge. 
 
 From the table it will be further seen that the larger 
 group of the Muscinese divides itself into three principal 
 smaller groups : the Hepaticeas or Liverworts, the Sphag- 
 naceae or Turf Mosses, and the Musci or true Mosses Urn- 
 Mosses, as they have been called, from the form of their 
 
 FIG. 1. Hypnum : a Pleurocarpous Moss, after Dillenius. ar. Position 
 of the Archegones. c c. Capsules. 
 
 capsule. These three divisions the Germans conveniently 
 name as Leber-Moose, Torf-Moose, and Laub-Moose.
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 Cal. 
 
 FIG. 2. Polytrichum : an 
 Acrocarpous Moss Female 
 Plant, after Dillenius. ar. 
 Position of archegone. 
 *. Seta. a. Capsule and ap- 
 pendages, c and c 1 . Capsule. 
 o. Operculum. cal. Calyptra.
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 9 
 
 Now I will ask the reader to look at the column under 
 the word " Series." The Pleurocarpse or Pleurocarpous 
 Mosses are those which carry their capsules on stalks pro- 
 ceeding from the sides of the axis of growth ; the 
 Acrocarpse or Acrocarpous Mosses are those which bear 
 these capsules on the top of their axis of growth. This 
 distinction will be readily understood by comparing Fig. 1, 
 which is a Pleurocarpous Moss, with Figs. 2 and 3, which 
 represent an Acrocarpous Moss ; in the former it will be 
 seen that the axis, or line of growth, is horizontal, that 
 $& a the plant, in short, grows along the 
 
 ground, whilst in the latter the 
 direction of growth is vertical. 
 
 Again, in the former the capsules 
 c c are seen carried on stalks origin- 
 ating from the principal stem, whilst 
 in Fig. 2 the capsule a crowns the 
 line of growth. This distinction in 
 the mode of carrying the capsule is 
 one of great importance in the classifi- 
 cation of Mosses, and the student who 
 desires to begin to learn them should 
 pay early attention to it. Often it 
 
 FIG. 3. Polytrichum: j s perfectly easy of application, but 
 Male Plant. After . 
 Dillenius. a. Male intermediate forms occur which are 
 
 Blossom. puzzles, and go to show that the 
 
 chasm between the two forms is bridged over in Nature. 
 
 Life-History, I propose now to trace the life-history of 
 a Moss in its most complete course of life, and I shall then 
 show how, in many cases, this course is abbreviated. It
 
 10 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 will be found that the full cycle of life may be indicated 
 in the following circular form : 
 
 Sporogone. Protonema 
 
 ogone. Protc 
 
 Moss Plant. / 
 
 Bud, 
 
 so that, starting with a spore of one generation, and 
 travelling to our right hand, we return to another spore 
 which will give rise to a new circle of life. 
 
 (1) The spore is a simple cell ; how produced we shall 
 hereafter see. It is, I say, a simple cell, and not like the 
 seed of a phanerogam, a highly complex organism. The 
 spores are often seen to be emitted in vast 
 
 numbers from the cases in which they are M& 
 
 produced, and sometimes are brightly 
 
 J FIGK 4. Spore 
 
 coloured red, green, or yellow. Fig. 4 of Funaria 
 represents (highly magnified) the spore of 
 a common Moss, the Punaria hygrometrica. 
 
 (2) From the spore proceeds the protonema, a line 
 of cells, extending by transverse divisions, so that it 
 comes to consist of single cells joined end to end to one 
 another an organism indistinguishable from the hypha of 
 an Alga. At points this hypha throws off lateral branches, 
 which are always of less diameter than the principal ones. 
 There is thus produced a tangled mat of fibres, running on 
 or near the surface of the ground, and often coloured by
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 11 
 
 chlorophyll. This is the green stuff so often seen in 
 flower-pots which have been allowed to get too damp. 
 At points in the primary hypha cells begin to divide in a 
 new fashion not by transverse septa as 
 
 a, 
 
 before, but by septa differently inclined, so 
 as to produce the rudiments of leaves ; and 
 the direction of growth changes from hori- 
 zontal to vertical. Thus is formed ( 3) the 
 bud, which by growth gives rise to (4) the 
 Moss plant. 
 
 This course of development is illustrated by Figs. 5 
 and 6. Fig. 5 shows at a the remains of the cell which 
 has burst in emitting the hypha, or cellular projection to 
 the right. Fig. 6 shows the same plant further advanced 
 
 FIG. 5. Spore 
 with young 
 Protonema. 
 
 After Schimper. 
 
 Fra. 6. Protonema with, a a, young Moss 
 Plants forming on it; r, Rhizoids or Rootlets. 
 After Schimper.
 
 12 
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 in life ; the hypha has been divided into numerous cells by 
 the transverse septa or walls ; lateral branches have grown. 
 Two letters a will be observed on the diagram. At the 
 left hand a the divisions of the cells have assumed a new 
 inclination so as to cut the cells into rudimentary leaves, 
 and we have the first promise of the Moss plant. At the 
 right hand a we have another Moss 
 plant in a far more advanced stage, 
 showing distinct traces of leaves, and 
 having thrown out rootlets (r) down- 
 wards. The Moss plant when mature 
 assumes generally, but not universally, 
 a form referable to one or other of the 
 two types already described, either the 
 pleurocarpous form shown by Fig. 1 or 
 the acrocarpous form shown in Fig. 2. 
 This Moss plant is a structure of very 
 considerable complexity, and often of 
 great beauty of form. Sometimes it 
 assumes the likeness of some of the 
 smaller and more delicate ferns; but 
 very rarely would it be taken for a 
 flowering plant, even by a casual 
 observer. 
 
 The Moss plant produces organs 
 with two distinct functions, comparable 
 the one to the pistil and ovary, and 
 the other to the stamens including the 
 anthers of a flowering plant. The organ corresponding 
 with the pistil is called the archegonium or archegone ; 
 
 FIG. 7. Archegone 
 greatly magnified. 
 c. Canal, o. Oo- 
 sphere. After Ber- 
 keley.
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 13 
 
 the organs corresponding with the stamens the antheridia 
 or antherids. The archegone is a flask-shaped organ, 
 which ultimately produces a specialized cell, known as the 
 oosphere, at the bottom of the flask, the neck of which is 
 perforated by a canal. This organ is usually surrounded 
 by circles of leaves, often larger and almost always different 
 in form from the ordinary leaves of the Moss. The ordered 
 arrangement of these leaves produces something like a 
 flower, and is known as the perichaetium, i.e., the sur- 
 roundings of the couch. If the reader will turn to Figs. 
 1 and 2, and note the letters a r, they will indicate the 
 situation of the archegone before it gave rise to the 
 capsule. 
 
 Fig. 7 will show an archegone, with the canal, c, and 
 the oosphere, o. 
 
 The male organs are known as antherids. Fig. 8 
 shows an antherid, a long bag-like cell, surrounded by 
 filaments, sometimes club-shaped, called paraphyses. 
 These are usually associated in groups, and surrounded 
 by specialized leaves, often in the shape of a rosette, 
 and when (as sometimes) they are highly coloured 
 they present the aspect of small 
 but beautiful flowers. Fig. 3 exhibits 
 a male plant of one of our common 
 Mosses, the Polytrichum, terminat- 
 ing in the rosette-shaped flower of 
 a scarlet colour, composed of the 
 
 antherids, the paraphyses, and the 
 
 . ,. ' ml i v. a Fia.8. Antherid,*, 
 
 specialized leaves. The large beds ^th Paraphyses, 
 
 of these short stiff male plants of P- z >. Escaping 
 
 Antnenzoids. 
 Polytrichum, which may often be seen After Berkeley. 

 
 14 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 in the spring of the year, are objects of great, but, I fear, 
 
 often neglected, beauty. 
 
 The antherids burst and give out swarms of small 
 bodies, known as antherizoids, con- 
 sisting of roundish cells containing in 
 the interior a spiral thread, which 
 produces a rotatory movement in the 
 containing cell. Fig. 9 represents such 
 
 antherizoids. These little bodies find 
 Fia. 9. Antlieri- 
 
 zoids, showing their way to the canals of the archegone, 
 
 After^Schimper! P ass down itf and enter tlie OOSphere, 
 and so effect that union of two in- 
 dependent cells which produces fertilization. 
 
 In the account which we have given of the life-history 
 of a Moss it will be remembered that we started with 
 a single cell in the shape of a spore, in which was 
 wrapped up the whole future of the life of the plant ; 
 that from that single cell all the successive developments 
 which we have been tracing have had their origin ; and 
 that we have then got back again to another cell, the 
 fertilized oosphere, in which are again involved all the future 
 life of the plant. We have travelled from cell to cell ; the 
 first part of the history of the plant, the so-called oophytic 
 generation, is complete, and a new part of the history is to 
 begin. 
 
 Now, what does the fertilized oosphere do ? It begins a 
 new career. It enlarges; it produces what is known as 
 the sporogone: it sends up a stalk, often of considerable 
 length and tenuity. This bursts the archegone and carries 
 up with it the upper part of the cell, which forms the
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 15 
 
 veil of the capsule; it gradually swells at the upper 
 end till it produces the capsule. In this capsule, without 
 any fertilization or union of cells, is produced a mass of 
 spores of the kind with which we began our life-history. 
 We have now completed the second part of this history, and 
 have come round to the spore with which we started. The 
 plant has thus began with the spore, an asexual cell, reached 
 the point where its whole future is gathered up in a sexual 
 cell, which has produced an organism again producing an 
 asexual cell. We started with a spore, and have returned 
 to a spore ; we have travelled round a circle, divisible into 
 two parts or generations, one sexual, the other asexual, and 
 we have therefore a case of alternation of generations. To 
 make this statement more clear, it may be observed that a 
 generation is here spoken of as that part of the life of an 
 organism which intervenes between the two points at which 
 its whole future is gathered up into one cell ; that such a 
 cell is sexual when it is the result of the combination of two 
 previously existing and independent cells ; that such a cell 
 is asexual when it is not the result of such combination ; 
 that an alternation of generations exists whenever in the 
 complete cycle of existence or life-history there are two 
 points at which the whole organism is reduced to a single 
 cell, and when the forms of the organism in the two 
 intervals of its development are different. In the Mosses, 
 where the sporogone co-exists with and is organically con- 
 nected with what I have called the Moss plant, it is evident 
 that the two generations are not such, according to the 
 more popular notion of that word they are not independent 
 nor necessarily successive.
 
 16 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 Such in outline is the course of the life of a Moss in its 
 fullest and most complete circuit : like every other history 
 of the growth and change of an organism, it fills one with 
 wonder and amazement. Think of all the promise and 
 potentiality which is wrapped up in every little spore of 
 every little Moss, and we can no more account for it or 
 understand it than we can for the creation of the starry 
 host or of the infinite wonders of the human mind. 
 
 In the table following, the life-history, as I have 
 already traced it, is represented by the first column under 
 the head of Moss :
 
 17 
 
 * 
 M 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 IB 
 
 i 
 
 PQ 
 H 
 
 Kl 
 
 B 
 ^ 
 'H 
 
 a 
 
 <~ ' 
 
 
 P-i 
 
 PH 
 
 
 
 B H
 
 18 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 The column under the head " Fern " in like manner 
 epitomizes the course of development of a fern, and a 
 comparison of these two columns reveals at once the like- 
 ness and the unlikeness of the life-histories of the Moss 
 and of the fern. In each case the spore produces a growth 
 of a form and nature entirely unlike the mother-plantin 
 one case a hypha, in the other a thallus, i.e., a flat leafy 
 cellular plate. But whilst in the Moss the protonema 
 produces the Moss plant, in the fern the prothallus itself 
 is the home of the male and female organs, and of the 
 sexual process, so that the fern plant belongs to the 
 sporophytic, and the Moss plant to the oophytic generation ; 
 the fern plant is the result of the sexual union, whilst the 
 Moss plant is produced from the asexual spore ; the fern 
 plant produces spores asexually, the Moss plant produces 
 the sporogone as the result of the sexual union. 
 
 The observations which arise in connection with this 
 comparison are numerous. (1) It is the belief of botanists, 
 ever since the investigations of Hofmeister, that not 
 Mosses and ferns only, but all the phanerogams, go 
 through an alternation of generations consisting of the 
 oophytic and sporophytic generations. (2) It appears that 
 the Mosses and the Characese are the only groups of plants 
 in which the conspicuous and vegetative organism the 
 plant, in ordinary parlance belongs to the oophytic 
 generation. (3) That, in consequence, the plant of the 
 Moss is in no sense the ancestor of the plant of the fern, 
 or of the phanerogams, but belongs to a different genera- 
 tion from these ; and further, that the leaves, the stem, 
 and the epidermis of the Moss have no genetic connection
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 19 
 
 with the leaves, the stem, or the epidermis of our flowering 
 plants, whilst the fibro-vascular bundles of the sporogone 
 of the Polytrichum, and the stomata on the .apophyses (or 
 swollen bases of the capsule) of some Mosses will belong 
 to the same generation which, in the vascular cryptogams 
 and phanerogams, produces similar organs. (4) That 
 the great chasm in the systematic arrangement of the 
 vegetable kingdom between the Mosses and the ferns 
 is thus accounted for by their belonging to different 
 generations, so that the ferns are not in any sense 
 descendants of the Mosses, but only collateral relatives, 
 as thus : 
 
 Ferns. 
 
 Mosses. 
 
 Algae. 
 
 (5) That, consequently, the Mosses not only represent the 
 highest development known of the cellular cryptogams, 
 but the highest point in one line of development, in which 
 the oophytic generation took the lead in importance ; 
 whilst the vascular cryptogams and phanerogams are the 
 results of another and more successful line of development, 
 in which the sporophytic generation took the lead as the 
 
 prominent part in the life-history. 
 
 B 2
 
 20 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 The appearance of similar organs in two independent 
 lines of development i.e. of the leaves, stem, and 
 epidermis in the Mosses, and then in the ferns, without 
 any relation of descent, is a thing well worthy of being 
 pondered over by those who study evolution : it may 
 suggest that the two lines of development, though inde- 
 pendent, are governed by some common principle which 
 brings about such like results : it may be compared with 
 the parallelism of the stages of evolution which are reached 
 independently by the placental and marsupial mammals. 
 
 Such are some of the reflections and conclusions which 
 follow from the adoption of that doctrine, current amongst 
 botanists, of the presence of two alternative generations in 
 what appears at first sight to be the history of a single 
 generation. It would be presumptuous in one who makes 
 no claim to any other position than that of a learner to 
 assail the conclusions of great authorities ; but it may be 
 allowable to observe that I have sometimes asked myself 
 whether the theory can stand the strain of all the conclu- 
 sions which arise from it ; that at any rate these conclu- 
 sions are such as to seem to demand that the foundations 
 of the theory should be very firmly laid in indubitable 
 facts ; that the approach of some ferns, especially the 
 filmy ferns, to the Mosses is, on the theory we have been 
 adopting, merely phenomenal and delusive ; that the 
 facts we are about to consider show that Nature can 
 suppress one whole so-called generation without imperil- 
 ling the life of the organism, and that the facts known as 
 apospony and apogony produce the same results in the 
 case of ferns. Perhaps in future years, and with fuller
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 21 
 
 knowledge, the different parts in the cycle of the life- 
 history of the Moss may be expressed by other terms than 
 those of alternative generations, and some larger generaliza- 
 tion may be arrived at which will remove the difficulties 
 which seem to stand in the way of the received doctrine. 
 
 One observation must be made to correct the generality 
 of some of the language I have already used. I have 
 spoken of the growth from the spore of the Mosses as 
 a thread-like protonema : that from the spore of the ferns 
 as a prothallus. This statement is generally but not 
 universally true. The true Musci always, so far as is 
 known, produce a protonema. The sphagnum produces 
 protonema when the spore develops in water, but a pro- 
 thallus when on the ground : the Hepatic produce some- 
 times a protonema, sometimes a flat plate of cells, or a 
 mass of tissue. On the other hand, in the Ferns, whilst 
 the ordinary first produce of the spore is a prothallus, in 
 the filmy ferns, this is, so far as has been observed, a 
 thread-like protonema closely resembling the like structure 
 in Mosses. These facts show an approximation between 
 the two great groups of cryptogams, the Ferns and the 
 Mosses, and may hint to us the possibility of some direct 
 genetic relation between them. 
 
 Modes of reproduction. The remaining columns of the 
 foregoing table B are epitomes of other modes of repro- 
 duction than the one which we have already described. 
 
 Hitherto our whole attention has been addressed to the 
 reproduction from a spore produced in the special organ 
 for their production the spore capsule. But so far is 
 this from being the only form of generation, that, in fact,
 
 22 
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 one of the most striking peculiarities of the Mosses is the 
 vast variety of their modes of reproduction. 
 
 Fig. 10 represents the upper part of the leaf of a small 
 Moss the Orihotriclium phyllanihum. It 
 is a Moss which grows on some of our 
 coasts. I have gathered it in abundance 
 amongst the nests of the sea-fowl on the 
 Fame Islands, and again on the basalt rocks 
 under Dunstanborough Castle, also on the 
 coast of Northumberland. It affects great 
 elevations as well as the sea level. It has 
 been found high on Chimborazo, though 
 Mr. Whymper did not meet with it there ; 
 it grows in great size on Cape Horn ; it 
 does not despise trees near the sea-shore 
 as a home. This world- wide little plant 
 rarely produces capsules, so rarely that 
 they have only once or twice been seen, 
 and that only quite recently ; but in lieu 
 of spores, it is reproduced by articulated cells or gemmae, 
 which cluster round the ends of its leaves ; these drop off 
 and produce protonema, from which the plant grows just 
 as if the protonema had arisen from a spore. 
 
 Now, except in the very rare case of this plant producing 
 a cell, the life-history of the plant differs widely from the 
 one we have already considered the Moss plant. The 
 vegetable with its stalk and leaves is there, but there are 
 no archegones, nor antherids, no fertilized oosphere, no 
 sporogone, no capsule, and no spore ; the whole sporophytic 
 generation is excluded ; the life is a short circuit which 
 
 FlG. W.Ortho- 
 trichum phyl- 
 lanthum, with 
 gemmae, after 
 Schimper.
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 23 
 
 never enters upon that generation at all. This is epito- 
 mized in the second column, under the head " Moss," of 
 table B. 
 
 The Tetraphis pellucida is one of our most lovely little 
 Mosses ; it grows in hollows in woods, and on damp and 
 decaying stumps of trees, and produces 
 capsules comparatively rarely at least I 
 have only once found the capsules growing 
 but relies mainly for its reproduction on 
 gemmae not much different from those of 
 the Orthotrichum, but these it carries in 
 cups at the end of its stem, formed of 
 large, delicate and almost translucent 
 leaves, which with their egg-like gemmae 
 are a very beautiful structure. A magni- 
 fied drawing of this Moss forms our Fig. 11. 
 
 The Aulacomnium palustre is another 
 British Moss which is reproduced sometimes 
 by spores, sometimes by gemmaa, but in 
 this case the gemmae are borne, not on the 
 ends of the leaves or in terminal cups, but in 
 clusters growing at the ends of special 
 supporting stalks growing out from the plant laterally. 
 The two forms of the plant, the spore-bearing and the 
 gem-bearing, are strangely unlike as regards their general 
 appearance, and the casual observer would, I feel 
 sure, take them for widely different plants. The 
 question whether the plant shall adopt the one mode 
 of reproduction or the other seems to depend, in part 
 at least, on temperature, a high temperature tending 
 
 FIG. 11. Te- 
 traphispellu- 
 cida, with its 
 cup contain- 
 ing gemmae, 
 after Schim- 
 per.
 
 24 
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 towards the production of the gemmee, and a lower tempera- 
 ture towards that of spores. The two forms are shown in 
 Figs. 12, 13 and 14. Fig. 14 shows the plant surrounded by 
 its stalked heads of gemmae (g y}. The plant, as its name 
 
 Fi&. 12. 
 A ulacomnium 
 p alu st r e. 
 Male plant of 
 spore-bearing 
 form, after 
 Dillenius. 
 
 Fia. 14. 
 
 Aulacomniu m 
 palustre. Grem- 
 bearing form, 
 after Dillenius. 
 
 Fio. 13. Aulacomnium palus- 
 tre. Female plant of spore- 
 bearing form, after Dillenius.
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 25 
 
 indicates, affects marshy situations, and often grows 
 amongst sphagnum, and as this is used for orchids, and 
 often kept in considerable heat, this form of the Aula- 
 comnium may sometimes be seen in orchid houses in great 
 abundance and beauty, raising its delicate heads above 
 the level of the sphagnum. 
 
 The other form of the plant is double, i.e., the male 
 and female blossoms are produced on different plants; 
 the former is shown in Fig. 12, and the latter in 
 Fig. 13. This is a very handsome and strong-growing 
 Moss. 
 
 The great diversity in the general appearance of these 
 two forms of the same Moss is very striking ; it suggests 
 the great influence of temperature on such forms, the 
 warmer temperature in this case producing the more 
 delicate plant and the colder temperature the more robust. 
 Furthermore, it is an instance of the correlation of great 
 difference of general form with differences of modes of 
 reproduction. 
 
 Other Mosses produce gemmae on other parts of their 
 structure ; some on the midribs of the leaves, and some in 
 the axils. 
 
 In the case of the Tetraphis there is reason to believe 
 that the cup that contains the gemmae is a modification of 
 a male flower, and from the drawing above presented of the 
 male flower of the Aulacomniu m (Fig. 12), it would seem as 
 if it had a tendency to produce the stalked heads of gemmae. 
 The drawing is a copy from one in Dillenius. I have 
 never seen such a growth in Aulacomnium, but the drawing 
 is probably accurate, and it suggests for investigation, as a
 
 26 
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 question of interest, the relation between these stalked 
 heads and the inflorescence of the Moss. 
 
 We have seen that Nature has been practising a piece 
 of severe economy in doing without the spore and the 
 whole machinery adapted for the production of spores and 
 substituting a gemma for a spore. We shall now see her 
 going a step further in the same course of economy and 
 doing without the gemma. She will produce protonema 
 from the existing Moss plant without the intervention of 
 spore or gemma. 
 
 Fig. 15 represents a leaf of Orthotrichum Lyelli, a Moss 
 
 Fia. 15. Leaf of Orthotrichum Lyelli, after Schimper. 
 
 found both in the old and the new world, on the trunks 
 of trees : from this leaf, and especially from its midrib, are 
 seen growths of protonema, and these gradually change 
 into true roots, and on these roots buds are formed, which 
 buds develop into true Moss plants. At x will be seen 
 such a protonema divided into cells by transverse walls 
 further on the walls are oblique to the line of growth, and 
 the growth then assumes the form of a root and at y is 
 seen a bud destined to produce a Moss plant.
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 Other species of Moss pro- 
 duce protonema from other 
 parts of their structure; some- 
 times from the small roots 
 or rhizoids, sometimes from 
 the base or the margin of the 
 leaf,sometimes from the stem 
 and sometimes from the 
 calyptra or veil. These modes 
 of reproduction are referred 
 to in the third column in 
 table B, under the heading 
 " Moss." 
 
 But Nature has not yet 
 tired of economy, she will 
 try a yet shorter circuit of a 
 life ; she will reject the pro- 
 tonema, as well as the spore, 
 and produce on the existing 
 Moss plant itself a bud which 
 shall produce a new Moss 
 plant. Sometimes leafy buds j 
 are formed on the true rhi- 
 zoids, sometimes on the root- 
 like hairs which hang sus- 
 pended in the air and are 
 
 FIG-. 16. Sphagnum cuspi- 
 datum. aa,yonn;plantsatend.3 
 of branches. After Schimper.
 
 28 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 known as aerial rhizoids ; sometimes bulbs are found 
 on the stem, and from these buds and bulbs fresh Moss 
 plants arise. A yet more direct mode of propagation may 
 exist, viz., the direct production of a Moss plant from a 
 Moss plant ; whether, in this case, a bud is first formed or 
 not I do not know, though I should suspect the affirmative. 
 This curious mode of reproduction is shown in Fig. 16, 
 which depicts a plant of Sphagnum cuspidatum, on the ends 
 of the loose leaves of which (a, a) are seen numerous 
 young plants directly arising and alike in all things but 
 size to the parent plant. 
 
 The last-mentioned modes of reproduction are epitomized 
 in the last two columns of table B. 
 
 There is one reflection which must almost have forced 
 itself on every reader in considering this sketch of the 
 development of Mosses, and of the economies of Nature 
 in the process. The one object of her solicitude is the 
 Moss plant whatever else be left out, this is always 
 present : Nature may strike off the spore, she may do 
 without the gemma, she may avoid the protonema, but do 
 whatever she may she always produces the Moss plant, the 
 vegetable growth with its stem and its leaves. To the 
 production of this all else is subordinate ; it is the one 
 thing needful. 
 
 On the other hand, the one thing which Nature seems 
 desirous to avoid is the sexual reproduction by the concur- 
 rence of the two organs of the archegones and the antherids. 
 This is found only in the one mode of growth ; every other 
 kind of reproduction by gemma, by protonema, by bud, all 
 of course leave out the whole sporophytic generation.
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 29 
 
 In the following table, which is far from exhaustive, I 
 have endeavoured to exhibit some of the modes of repro- 
 duction, dividing them into those cases in which it takes 
 place with protonema and those cases in which it takes 
 place without. 
 
 TABLE C. MODES OF EEPRODUCTION. 
 
 A. With Protonema. 
 
 i. Spores in capsule. 
 
 ( Leptodontium gemmascens. 
 
 ii. Gemmae on end of leaf 1 Orthotrichum phyllanthum. 
 
 (.fifrimmia Hartmani. 
 
 on midrib Tortula papillosa. 
 
 in axils of leaves ... Bryum. 
 
 in balls Aulacomnion. 
 
 in cups Tetraphis. 
 
 in. Protonema ... from zhizoids {^Surn. 
 
 from aerial rhizoids... Dicranum undulatum. 
 
 from terminal leaves. OncopTiorm glaucus. 
 
 from base of leaf ... F unaria hygrometrica. 
 
 from midrib Orthotrichum Lyelli. 
 
 from margin Buxbaumia aphylla. 
 
 from stems Dicranum undulatum. 
 
 from calyptra Conomitrium jiilianum. 
 
 B. Without Proionema. 
 
 iv. Leaf-Buds ... on rhizoids Grimmia pulviiiata. 
 
 v. Leaf-Buds ... on aerial rhizoids ... Dicranum undulatum. 
 
 vi. Bulbs on stem Bryum annotinum. 
 
 vii. Young Plants, at ends of branches ... Spnagnum cuspidatum. 
 
 viii. LeafvBranche, becoming detached ^{WSS&S^ 
 
 vt. Booting of main ^ ,, . 
 
 g^jg t Jtfmum undulatum. 
 
 Weismanris Theory. The consideration of this table, and 
 of the facts which are epitomized in it, is not without its 
 interest in reference to Prof. Weismann's theory of the 
 division of the cells and the plasma of organisms into two 
 kinds : the germ cells and germ plasma endowed with a 
 natural immortality, and the somatic cells and somatic 
 plasma possessing no such endowment. That the Mosses 
 are a difficulty in the acceptance of the theory as a universal
 
 30 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 truth, the professor himself admits. The evidence of the 
 Mosses seems to amount at least to this : that in this whole 
 group, the highest in this line of development, where the 
 oophytic generation produces the principal plant, and where 
 there are highly specialized organs for the production of 
 spores or germ cells that in this whole group either there 
 is no effectual separation between the two kinds of plasma, 
 or that the germ plasma is so widely diffused amongst the 
 somatic plasma that every portion of the plant is capable 
 of reproducing the entire organism. 
 
 Comparison with Zoological Embryology. The table will 
 further offer us some points of comparison with animal 
 embryology. 
 
 In that branch of physiology, one of the most remarkable 
 facts is what has been called recapitulation, i.e., the sum- 
 mary in the life of the individual of the life of the race, so 
 that the development of the individual tells the development 
 of the race e.g., the gills of the tadpole tell us of the 
 descent of the Batrachians from gill-breathing animals. 
 
 So here we cannot doubt that the protonema of the 
 Moss tells us of the descent of the whole group of Mosses 
 from the Algse. 
 
 Another remarkable fact in animal embryology is the 
 co-existence in exceptional cases of the mature and the 
 immature form : so the axolotl retains both gills and lungs 
 throughout its life. In like manner some Mosses retain 
 their algoid protonema throughout life. 
 
 The Phascum or Clay Moss is a conspicuous instance of 
 this curious fact : it is depicted in Fig. 17. It is a Moss of 
 a not very high organization. The leaves grow close to the
 
 BKITISH MOSSES. 
 
 3t 
 
 ground and the stem is very short. In like manner the 
 sporangium (a) is almost sessile, and is seen almost 
 enshrouded in the leaves, true rootlets or rhizoids (r) 
 attach the plant to the ground, and the protonema (p) from 
 which the plant has arisen survives and remains attached 
 to it during the whole life 
 of the plant. This proton- 
 ema often exists in great 
 quantity in the clay banks or 
 fields where the Phascum 
 dwells, and forms a sort of 
 tangled mat. 
 
 Again, in zoological em- 
 bryology, an attempt is often 
 found, to use the language of 
 Prof. Milnes Marshall, " to 
 escape from the necessity of 
 recapitulating, and to sub- 
 stitute for the ancestral process a more direct method." 
 
 In like manner we have already seen to how great an 
 extent Nature has adopted the system of short-circuiting 
 in the reproduction of the Mosses ; for in every mode of 
 reproduction, except that through sporogone and spore, a 
 shorter circuit is travelled. We have seen how in every 
 case Nature seems to leave out the sexual reproduction if 
 she can help it, and directs her whole attention to the 
 production of the vegetative organism the Moss plant in 
 the popular sense which she never omits. 
 
 Another point of comparison arises, but this time it is one 
 of contrast between the embryology of the two kingdoms. 
 
 Fia. 17. Phascum cuspi- 
 datum. a, capsule; r, rhizoids; 
 p, persistent protonema. After 
 Schimper.
 
 32 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 In animals, to again quote Prof. Milnes Marshall, " re- 
 capitulation is not seen in all forms of development, but 
 only in sexual development, or at least only in development 
 from the egg. In the several forms of asexual development 
 of which budding is the most frequent and the most 
 familiar, there is no repetition of ancestral phases, neither 
 is there in cases of regeneration of lost parts." 
 
 In Mosses, on the contrary, the table last given shows 
 that in most of the modes of reproduction the ancestral 
 form, the algoid protonema, is retained and reproduced, 
 whereas in the growth from a sexual cell, i.e. in the 
 sporogone, the ancestral form entirely disappears. 
 
 Organization. I now propose to describe somewhat 
 more in detail certain parts of the structure of a Moss. 
 
 The stem of Mosses is, as we have already seen, very 
 variable in size. Sometimes, as in the Phascum (Fig. 17)f 
 the whole plant is almost sessile ; in other cases, as in 
 the Polytrichum (Fig. 2), it attains to a very considerable 
 length. In some Mosses inhabiting water, the length of 
 the plant reaches to feet. In our flowering plants the 
 stem is supported by the presence of fibro-vascular 
 bundles, i.e., fibres arranged in combination with tubes 
 along which fluids can and do pass. But with the ex- 
 ception of one family, the stem of the Mosses, like all the 
 other parts of the plant, is constituted of cells alone, and 
 consequently the circulation of fluid in them appears to 
 result entirely from the passage of fluid through the walls 
 of the cells. Hence their close dependence on the presenceof 
 moisture ; hence in dry weather they fade and droop, and 
 with the return of moisture assume their wonted appearance.
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 33 
 
 The exception to which I have referred exists in the 
 family of the Polytrichaceae, of which the genus Poly- 
 trichum is the foremost (Figs. 2 and 3). In that kind of 
 Moss the stem of the plant and the stalks that support the 
 capsules are of a firm, almost woody, structure, and give 
 to the whole plant a different character to that of most of 
 the Mosses. This peculiarity of the Polytrichum has, so 
 to speak, enabled it to play a greater part in the world 
 than most Mosses. Gilbert White tells us that the 
 foresters of his neighbourhood made " neat little besoms 
 from the stalks of the Polytrichum, common or -great 
 golden maiden hair, which they call silk wood, and find 
 plenty in the bogs. When this Moss is well combed and 
 dressed, and divested of its outer skin, it becomes of a 
 beautiful bright chestnut colour, and being soft and pliant 
 is very proper for the dusting of bed curtains, carpets, 
 hangings, &c." But long before the dwellers in Wolmer 
 Forest discovered this use for this Moss, it had been 
 known to the pre-historic dwellers in our island, and 
 had, it appears, been used by them to adorn themselves or 
 their wives (themselves most likely). Curious fringe -like 
 objects plaited of the stems of this Moss have been dis- 
 covered in a crannog, or island fort, at Lochlee, in Ayrshire, 
 attributed to that pre-historic period which has been called 
 the late Celtic period. Furthermore, it is perhaps due to 
 this fibrous character of the class that the earliest Moss 
 of which we have any record in the strata of the earth 
 appears to be one of the Polytrichaceae. 
 
 The roots or rhizoids of the Mosses are distinguished by 
 the minuteness of their growing ends, by their pliancy, and
 
 34 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 by the presence on their exteriors of a balsamic or glutinous 
 deposit. To these points of structure they owe their 
 capacity to insinuate themselves into the minutest crevices 
 of rock, to get, for instance, amongst the particles of the 
 oolites, and also to fix themselves in the shifting sands 
 of the sea-coast, and by so fixing themselves to give fixity 
 in return to the sand, and so tend to produce the sand- 
 dunes in many parts of the coast. At some parts of the 
 Northumbrian coast the Racomitrium canescens may be 
 found buried deep in the sand, from which it can scarcely 
 be detached ; and in like manner the sand-dunes of Holland 
 and the west of France have in many places been fixed by 
 Mosses. The forests of firs on the North Sea and the 
 Bay of Biscay thus owe their place of abode to humble 
 Mosses. 
 
 Leaves. When we examine the leaves of Mosses and 
 compare them with the more familiar forms presented to 
 us by the phanerogams, we find ourselves in a new world, 
 and the interest with which we view them is increased 
 when we remember that, according to the view usually 
 accepted, they are, so to speak, a unique phenomenon ; 
 they are not the descendants of any earlier leaves nor the 
 ancestors of any later ones ; they appear thus once, as it 
 were, in the history of the vegetable kingdom, and advance 
 no further. They possess something of the charm which 
 an a7Ta| Aeyo/Aevov exercises over the mind of a philologist. 
 
 We may first note what they are not. They are never 
 opposite, never whorled, never on leaf-stalks, never truly 
 veined, never lobed or compound, never furnished with 
 epidermis or stomata.
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 35 
 
 When we turn to consider affirmatively what Moss 
 leaves are, we find them in some cases characterized by 
 an extreme simplicity of form. They are single plates of 
 similar cells without midribs, without veins, and without 
 border. 
 
 The accompanying Fig. 18, representing a leaf of the 
 
 FIG. 18. Leaf of Hookeria lucens, magnified, after 
 nature. A. F. 
 
 beautiful Moss, the Hookeria lucens, is an illustration of 
 this form of leaf, and the Figs. 19 and 20 will show more 
 
 FIG. 19. Cells of young leaf 
 of Hoolceria lucens, after 
 nature. A. F. 
 
 Fl&. 20. Cells of old leaf 
 of SooJceria lucent, after 
 nature. A. F.
 
 36 
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 highly magnified the structure of the component cells in a 
 young and old leaf, and the grains of chlorophyll in the 
 cells. In the old leaf a tendency will be observed in these 
 grains to place themselves along the walls of the cells so 
 as to produce the effect of thickened walls. 
 
 The leaves of Mosses stand in immediate connection 
 with the atmosphere, absorbing moisture from it when 
 moist, and shrinking and shrivelling when the air is dry. 
 In some cases they are characterized by a marked difference 
 in the form of the cells in the different parts of the leaf, 
 and again in other cases by the unequal distribution of 
 chlorophyll ; in other cases we come across 
 strange forms , the like of which we hardly 
 know in the phanerogams ; such are the 
 thick border and double rows of teeth in 
 some of the genus Mnium, the parallel 
 plates in Polytrichums and, stranger still, 
 the third flange of the leaf in Fissiden ; 
 the true homology of which has proved a 
 crux to bryologists. 
 
 A drawing of the leaf of Fissidens 
 adiantioides is shown hi Fig. 21 a 
 thickened line of cells down the middle of 
 the leaf assumes very much the appear- 
 ance of a midrib, and on the right hand 
 side occupying the lower half of the leaf 
 is seen a third flange to the leaf, attached 
 at its upper part to the leaf in an oblique 
 line and after that to the vein or midrib 
 of the leaf, so that in that part of the 
 
 Fi&. 21. Leaf of 
 Fissidens adian- 
 tioides, showing 
 a a, the third 
 flange. After 
 Schimper.
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 37 
 
 leaf there are, as it were, two sheets or plates instead 
 of one. Various theories of the homology of this part 
 of the leaf have been suggested. By some it has been 
 thought to result from a vertical splitting of the leaf; but 
 each of the two plates where they are doubled is of an 
 equal thickness to the rest of the leaf. Some have 
 suggested that the double portion is alone the true leaf 
 and the rest an outgrowth, but this seems a violent 
 assumption. Others, again, have suggested that the 
 additional lobe is a stipule arising on the opposite side of 
 the stem, which has become adnate with the leaf. Some 
 of these suggestions carry conviction with them. 
 
 In some cases the leaf is produced into a long thread or 
 beak, devoid of chlorophyll, and often with indented or 
 toothed edges. This structure is found chiefly in Mosses 
 living on stones and rocks, and in dry situations, such as 
 Grimmia and Racomitrium, and the presence of these long 
 white threads or beaks gives a grey tint to the whole Moss, 
 and in places where the Moss is predominant (as, for 
 instance, some parts of Dartmoor and North Wales, where 
 Eacomitrium abounds) a grey tint to the whole landscape. 
 These long hairs and prominences, especially when armed 
 with lateral teeth, no doubt retain the moisture which is 
 necessary not only for the vegetative life of the Moss, but 
 also for the process of reproduction by archegones and 
 antherids ; hence it probably is that this form of leaf 
 prevails in Mosses living in dry situations, just as the 
 thick leaves of succulent plants are found in similar 
 situations. 
 
 The capsule. Of all the organs of a Moss plant, the
 
 38 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 capsule which produces the spores is, perhaps, the most 
 peculiar and characteristic. If the reader will refer back to 
 Figs. 1 and 2, he will see the capsules (c in Fig. 1, a in 
 Fig. 2) borne on the end of the long stalks (s). The cap- 
 sule, as is shown in Fig. 2,. is covered with a delicate veil 
 or calyptra, which is shown as removed at cal. This veil 
 is the remains of the archegone, borne up by the stalk or 
 seta in its upward growth. In the case of the Polytrichum, 
 it is covered with a thick coating of depending hairs, a cir- 
 cumstance which gives its name to the genus. When the 
 veil is removed, the capsule itself is disclosed (c in Fig. 2), 
 surmounted by an operculum or lid (o), which fits on to the 
 top of the capsule like the lid on a box. The capsule with 
 the lid removed is shown at the letter c'. 
 
 If the reader will refer back to table A, he will find that 
 the Acrocarpous Mosses, i.e., those which produce their 
 capsules at the end of the axis, are divided into Stegocarpae 
 and Cleistocarpae. We are now in a position to appreciate 
 this distinction. In the Cleistocarpous Mosses, the 
 capsule is never differentiated into the two parts of the 
 true capsule and lid ; it remains always as a closed 
 capsule until the walls decay or break, and so emits the 
 spores which it contains. Of this class, the clay Moss or 
 Phascum (Fig. 17) is a familiar example. As a whole, 
 this class is less highly organized than the Stegocarpous 
 Mosses such as the Polytrichum where the capsule, 
 originally a single organ, becomes differentiated into the 
 two parts already described, and the spores are retained in 
 the capsule dry and snug until the ripened lid falls off and 
 allows their escape.
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 39 
 
 In some cases, the orifice of the capsule 
 is formed by a smooth edge or lip ; but 
 in other cases this orifice is surrounded 
 by a girdle of teeth of varying number, 
 form, and colour, so that the study of 
 the peristome, as this girdle is called, 
 presents a continued variation of objects 
 of beauty and interest. Fig. 22 exhibits 
 the peristome of the beautiful little Moss ^ IQ 22. 
 
 the Tetr aphis pellucida, to which I have Peristome of 
 
 , , . , ,, . , ,, , Tetraphis pel- 
 
 already referred. No simpler form of i uc ida, after 
 
 peristome can be found than this, ex- Schimper. 
 hibiting four teeth in a single ring. 
 Fig. 23 is part of the peristome of the Fissidens adiantioides 
 magnified, and shows two phenomena common in 
 
 I'lO. 23. Part of peristome of 
 Fissidens adiantioides, mag- 
 nified. After Schimper. 
 
 . 24. Peristome of Tortula 
 ruralis, magnified. After 
 Schimper.
 
 40 
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 peristomes, (1) the division of the teeth at their free 
 ends, and (2) the presence of transverse markings, 
 generally of a darker colour than the intervening spaces. 
 A tooth thus marked is said to be trabeculated, i.e., 
 marked by trabeculae, or little beams. 
 
 In one considerable family of Mosses, some of 
 which are very common on the tops of our walls, the teeth 
 are hair-like in length and delicacy, and are twisted into a 
 curious scroll like a lambent flame of fire. Fig. 24 
 represents one of these twisted peristomes, from which 
 the genus especially characterized by it has received from 
 some botanists the name of Tortula. 
 
 Again, in another form, which exists in Polytrichum, 
 the teeth assume a very different appearance and connec- 
 tion. To make this intelligible I must refer to a portion 
 of the structure of the capsule to which I have not hitherto 
 referred, the columella, or little column, a central stem 
 which occupies the very axis of the 
 capsule ; this, in Polytrichum, 
 emerges from the mouth and ex- 
 pands into a tympanum or drum- 
 head, and the teeth arising from the 
 lip of the mouth join and support 
 this drumhead, leaving interspaces 
 between them something like long 
 narrow windows under the flat roof 
 of a circular tower, through which 
 the spores escape. Fig. 25 is a re- 
 presentation of this singular struc- 
 ture, in which p. marks the place of the peristome or girdle 
 
 Fia. 25. Capsule and 
 peristome of Poly- 
 trichum. p. peris- 
 tome, t, tympanum, 
 after nature. A.F.
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 41 
 
 of teeth: these are seen to be attached to t., the 
 tympanum, into which the column has expanded. 
 
 FIG. 26. Diagrammatic section of a capsule, col., calyptra ; 
 oper., lid or operculum ; ip., tooth of inner peristome ; 
 op., tooth, of outer peristome ; an., annulus or ring ; col., 
 columella ; sp., wall of the actual spore sac ; ap., region 
 of the aphyse. A. F.
 
 42 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 I have hitherto spoken of the peristome as consisting 
 of one girdle of teeth ; often it is double as in the 
 great genera Hypnum and Bryum, and then the 
 teeth often reach the number of sixty-four. In one 
 foreign genus (Dawsonia) there are as many as four circles 
 of teeth. 
 
 The accompanying Fig. 26 is a diagram intended to 
 assist the reader in gaining a general notion of the 
 structure of the several parts of a capsule with a double 
 peristome : it is a diagram only of a section of an ideal 
 capsule, and not a picture or representation of any 
 existing capsule. The reader who will carefully inspect 
 it will learn what to look for when he first holds a 
 capsule in his hands, and may get some assistance as 
 regards the technical language of bryology. He will 
 see the calyptra, or veil (caZ.), the remains of the ori- 
 ginal archegone ; he will see the operculum, or lid (oper), 
 severed from the capsule itself ; he will observe the double 
 peristome (i.p. and o.p.), the outer teeth consisting of a pro- 
 longation of the outer coat of the capsule, the inner teeth 
 arising in like manner from the wall of the inner sack or 
 spore case, or sporangium (sp.) ; he will observe an interspace 
 between these two sacks filled with cellular tissue ; he will 
 observe in the interior of the sporangium the cells which 
 become spores with the maturity of the growth ; and in 
 the middle of the diagram he will notice the columella 
 or column. At the base of the capsule he will see 
 the region (op-) which, when swollen or enlarged, gives 
 rise to the apophyse. All these parts are subject to 
 a great range of variation, but this diagram may never-
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 43 
 
 theless, I hope, prove of some assistance to those beginning 
 the study. 
 
 The object served by the complicated structure of the 
 peristome is not, perhaps, very certain, but it seems to be 
 intended to secure the retention or exclusion of the spores 
 from the spore sac in such conditions of the atmosphere 
 as will best conduce to their germination. In the 
 Gymnostomous Mosses (i.e., those without peristome) it is 
 observed that the spores sometimes germinate within the 
 capsule, an event which is probably adverse to the 
 prospects of the race. The following table will illustrate, 
 in a few cases selected as illustrations, the different 
 behaviour of the teeth of the peristome under different 
 hygrometric conditions, and suggests what is the probable 
 advantage in each case : 
 
 TABLE D. 
 
 
 Condition of teeth. 
 
 
 (jrcnns. 
 
 in dry weather. 
 
 in wet weather. 
 
 XvGilSOll SU^gGSIGCl. 
 
 Bartramia ... 
 
 Erect 
 
 Convergent 
 
 That spores require 
 
 
 
 
 dry weather when 
 
 
 
 
 first emitted. 
 
 Orthotrichum 
 
 Erect or re- 
 
 
 
 
 flexed 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Funaria 
 
 Reflexed 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Bryum 
 
 Convergent... 
 
 Expanded 
 
 That spores require 
 
 
 
 
 wet weather when 
 
 
 
 
 first emitted. 
 
 Fissidens 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Ditto 
 
 The motion of the teeth of the peristome appears to be 
 due to the action of the annulus, a ring of specialized
 
 44 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 cells which surrounds the mouth of the capsule at the 
 base of the teeth : and the opposite ways in which these 
 cells act in the same condition of moisture in different 
 genera is a remarkable circumstance. 
 
 To anyone who studies the subject, the immense variety 
 as well as beauty of the peristomes of Mosses becomes 
 very impressive. If the sole end be the protection and 
 extrusion of the spores in the proper weather respectively, 
 why is there this infinite wealth and variety of 
 form and of colour? The question can be asked, but 
 hardly can be answered : and the mind of the beholder 
 is left, as it so often is when contemplating the rich- 
 ness of Nature, in a state of admiration and wonder and 
 ignorance. " Kerum natura tota est nusquam magis quam 
 in minimis." 
 
 If the reader will now return to my table A, at the 
 beginning of this article, he will see that I have given 
 some account of all the Musci except the Anomaleae ; 
 these are a somewhat heterogeneous group of plants, 
 of great interest to the botanist, but with which I fear 
 to detain my reader lest I should disgust him with 
 apparently dry details. 
 
 Sphaynacece. Next in order to the Musci in my table A 
 will be found the Sphagnaceee, or Turf or Peat Mosses, 
 a natural group of comparatively few species and very 
 marked organization. The general appearance of this 
 class of Mosses may be gathered from the figure of 
 one already given (see Fig. 16), and is well known 
 to almost everyone who has had any interest in a 
 hot-house.
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 45 
 
 Vast tracts of land in this country and throughout 
 Northern Europe and America are covered with plants of 
 this group, and large tracts which are now fertile agricul- 
 tural land, where they have entirely ceased to grow, have 
 in former times been occupied by them. The bogs of 
 Ireland, which are mainly constituted of Turf Moss, were 
 computed in 1819 by the Bog Commissioners to occupy 
 2,830,000 acres. No Moss has probably ever, at least in 
 the present state of the globe, played so large a part as the 
 Sphagnum or Turf Moss. 
 
 Structure. It is to the peculiar structure of the Peat 
 Moss that this great part on the theatre of the globe is to 
 be attributed. 
 
 Leaves. In the young leaves the component cells are all 
 alike ; then by a differential growth we are presented with 
 large cells (sometimes of a square or rectangular shape) 
 surrounded by narrower cells ; then chlorophyll forms in 
 these narrow cells, but is absent from the square cells ; 
 from these the contents disappear, and water or water-like 
 fluid occupies the whole cell ; subsequently annular and 
 spiral threads develop on the walls of the square cells. 
 The intimate structure of the leaf thus enables it to absorb 
 great quantities of water. 
 
 But again, the shape of the leaves is in many species 
 adapted to the retention of water. By a retardation of the 
 lateral as compared with the mesial growth, the leaf 
 assumes a boat shape. Often the edges of the leaves are 
 turned over ; the leaf thus affords means of holding 
 water. 
 
 Figs. 27 and 28 will enable the reader to follow
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 P 
 
 FIG. 27. Leaf of Sphag- 
 num acutifolium, magni- 
 fied ; * s, stem ; p, point 
 of the leaf. After Schim- 
 per. 
 
 the foregoing description. Fig. 
 27 shows a magnified leaf of 
 the Sphagnum acutifolium with 
 a portion of the adjoining stem 
 (s s), of which more hereafter. 
 The edges of the leaf are turned 
 over as may be seen by looking 
 at the extreme point of the leaf 
 (/>) where these foldings over 
 cease. Fig. 28 exhibits a portion 
 of a leaf far more highly magni- 
 fied ; the large cells free from 
 chlorophyll bounded by the 
 narrower cells charged with it 
 will be at once observed as well 
 as the spiral threads developed 
 on the walls of the larger cells, 
 a peculiarity of the leaf of this 
 genus which enables one to 
 detect the presence of its remains 
 so long as any organic structure 
 is retained ; and at the points 
 o o are seen orifices opening 
 
 from the interior of the cell 
 and admitting water. 
 A reference to Fig. 16 will show that the leaves of the 
 Sphagnum are borne on lateral branches. These at the 
 head of the plant form a thick and often widely ex- 
 tended tuft; but lower down the branches grow out 
 laterally from the stem, generally in tufts of four branches,
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 47 
 
 of which, as shown in Fig. 29, two generally grow 
 more out or less horizontally, and two are disposed in 
 close proximity to the stem, round which in fact they 
 fall (see again Fig. 16), so as to exert a great capillary 
 attraction and keep a great mass of water in suspension 
 even against the force of gravity. 
 
 . o. 
 
 Fia. 28. Portion of leaf of Sphagnum acutifolium, highly 
 magnified ; o o, orifices opening from interior of cells. 
 After Schimper. 
 
 Yet further, as it would seem, to add to the absorp- 
 tive capacity of the leaves, Nature, in one or more 
 species of the Peat Moss, has recourse to a further
 
 48 
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 PP 
 
 expedient. Bound the base 
 and sides of the leaf, clus- 
 ters of half free cells, with 
 spirally marked walls, are 
 clustered, ready, like their 
 sister cells in the leaf, to 
 carry their full complement 
 of water. Such a group is 
 shown (magnified of course) 
 in Fig. 30. 
 
 The stem of the Sphag- 
 num in like manner is 
 developed as a water-carry- 
 ing instrument. Its appear- 
 ance when examined by the 
 microscope, as shown in 
 Fig. 27 and in Fig. 31, 
 is very singular, for it 
 is surrounded not only 
 with large transparent cells 
 of more ordinary shape, 
 but with large cells de- 
 veloped into the shape of 
 flasks, with openings at 
 their tops. Fig. 32 will 
 enable the reader further 
 to realize this structure. 
 
 FIG. 29. Lateral branches of SpJiag- It IS a highly - magnified 
 
 num ; s s, stem ; h h, horizontal se ction of a quarter of a 
 branches ; pp, pendant branches. 
 
 After Schimper. stem.
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 49 
 
 Again, the mode of growth of the plant, abandoning its 
 moorings on the soil and throwing out roots into the water, 
 and growing suc- 
 cessively year after 
 year, enables it 
 not only to attain 
 great growth, but 
 also when the oc- 
 casion demands, to Fia> 30 ._ cluster of cells at bage o 
 
 keep pace with the leaf of Sphagnum acutifolium. After 
 
 . , . Schimper 
 
 rise of the water m 
 
 which it maybe growing, " the individual thus becoming," 
 it has been said, " in a manner immortal, and supplying 
 a perpetual fund of decomposing vegetable matter." 
 
 Physical Results from Structure. The result of these 
 peculiarities is that the entire plant of any species of 
 Sphagnum is a perfect sponge. When dry it is capable (as 
 may easily be found by experiment) of rapidly absorbing 
 moisture, and carrying it upwards through the plant ; and 
 when growing in vast beds it acts thus on a great scale. 
 Everyone who knows Scotland must know how on many 
 a steep mountain-side, or on the bottom and sides of a 
 gorge, these beds will hold up a great body of water against 
 the force of gravity ; and again, the Irish bogs are described 
 as often ascending from the edges towards the interior, 
 sometimes by a gradual and sometimes by a sudden 
 ascent, so that at times the bog is so high that it reaches 
 the height of the church steeples of the adjoining country, 
 without any rising ground intervening. 
 
 These peculiarities in the structure of Sphagnum
 
 50 
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 have produced considerable physical 
 effects. 
 
 (1) Everyone knows the different 
 effects of rain falling on a land of 
 bare rock or sand, like the Sinaitic 
 desert, and on a porous soil. In the 
 one case it produces a freshet or a 
 flood, that leaves no water behind ; 
 in the other it is held for a while in 
 suspense, and only gradually passes 
 into the streams. The glaciers and 
 the Sphagnum beds of the mountains 
 of Europe alike act as compensation 
 reservoirs receive large quantities 
 of moisture as it falls, and retain it 
 till the drier season comes, when 
 part of it gradually passes away ; but 
 for these reservoirs, many of the rivers 
 would exhibit a far greater shrinkage 
 in summer and autumn than is now 
 the case. But (2) the Sphagnum beds have become peat, 
 and have gradually filled up the ancient lakes and morasses, 
 and turned water into dry land. It is true that peat appears 
 under some circumstances to be formed by other vegetables 
 than Sphagnum, and in all cases it has probably some 
 other plants or roots growing amongst it. Mr. Darwin 
 tells us that in Terra del Fuego and the Chonos Archipelago, 
 peat is formed by two phanerogamous plants, of which 
 one at least seems endowed with an immortality something 
 like that of the Sphagnum ; and the peat of the fens of 
 
 Fia. 31. Stem of 
 Sphagnum mollus- 
 cum, magnified, show- 
 ing MM, the utricles or 
 flask-shaped cells. 
 After Schimper.
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 51 
 
 Lincolnshire is formed mainly of Hypnum fluitans. But 
 
 FlO. 32. Magnified section of stem of Sphagnum cymbifolium. 
 s s 1 stem; s l x, mass of spirally threaded cells surrounding 
 stem. After Schimper. 
 
 Sphagnum appears to be the main constituent of peat in 
 Ireland, Scotland, and, so far as my researches have gone, 
 in England ; the peculiar spiral threads of the cells of the 
 Sphagnum leaf being easily detected in the peat so long as 
 it retains traces of its organic origin. 
 
 Ancient Forests. The Peat Mosses, and the sea-shores of 
 our islands and of the adjoining mainland, reveal, as is very 
 well known, traces of ancient forests. Manyparts of England, 
 nearly all the mainland of Scotland, the Hebrides, the Ork- 
 neys, and the Shetlands, Ireland, and Denmark, the shores 
 of both sides of the English Channel, Normandy, Brittany, 
 the Channel Islands, and Holland, and the shores of Norway, 
 all bear evidence to the presence of these primeval forests ; 
 
 D 2
 
 52 
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 and what is more, to the successive existence of forests, each 
 in its order living above the buried remains of the earlier ones . 
 The following table will show the order of succession in 
 the different species of trees in some of the places where 
 this has been observed, the braces representing the co- 
 existence of the trees : 
 
 3 w 
 o 
 
 02 O W 
 
 S W
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 53 
 
 In some Irish bogs fir, oak, and yew, and rarely elm, 
 have been found. 
 
 What is the cause of the disappearance of these ancient 
 forests one after the other? To this question various 
 answers have been proposed. 
 
 The Eomans, it has been suggested, in their inroads, cut 
 ways through the forests and laid waste the land. But, 
 wide as was the spread of the wings of the Roman eagle, 
 the phenomenon in question is of far wider extension. 
 They never conquered Denmark, or Norway, or Ireland, or 
 the islands of Scotland : in Scotland, and even hi England, 
 their operations could never have covered the whole 
 country ; and as regards some of our Peat Mosses, we 
 know that they must have existed long before the Roman 
 invasion ; for at least on the borders of Sedgmoor we have 
 traces of their using peat for fuel as it is used there at the 
 present day. 
 
 Still humbler agents have been invoked, in the suppo- 
 sition that the beaver and other rodents were the authors 
 of the destruction of the forests. So far as I can judge, 
 the cause suggested seems inadequate to the effect. 
 
 Again, changes hi climate have been suggested. But, 
 although there may be some evidence from the succession 
 of the trees of a gradual amelioration in the climate, 
 we know of no evidence of changes of so sudden and 
 violent a character as would destroy the existing forests 
 over large areas. Moreover, with few exceptions, the 
 trees of the destroyed forests are such as are now found 
 wild, or will grow easily hi the spots where they lie 
 buried.
 
 64 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 The overthrow by storms has, again, been suggested as 
 the cause of this wholesale destruction ; and the fact that 
 in some of the peat bogs of the west of Scotland the trees 
 that have fallen lie to the north or north-east, and in some 
 of those in Holland to the south-east, in the direction 
 of the prevailing winds in those countries respectively, 
 affords some reason to believe that wind has given the 
 coup de grace to the dying trees, and determined the 
 direction of their fall. But it is much more likely that 
 the work of the wind should be confined to this final 
 overthrow of the decaying trees than that successive 
 forests in full strength should have been swept from the 
 face of vast tracts of Europe by the agency of wind 
 alone. Moreover, in some cases the trunks as well as 
 the bases and roots of the trees are found standing or 
 buried in the bogs. 
 
 Allowing that some or all of these agencies may have 
 had their part in the destruction of the forests, I believe 
 that the growth of Sphagnum has been the greatest factor 
 in the work of destruction. " To the chilling effect of the 
 wet bog Mosses in their upward growth must be attri- 
 buted," says Mr. James Geikie, " the overthrow of by 
 far the greater portion of the buried timber in our peat 
 
 In a letter written by Lord Cromarty, in 1710, on Peat 
 Mosses, and published in the twenty-seventh volume of 
 the Philosophical Transactions, we get a curious account 
 of the swallowing up of a forest by a peat bog. In 
 1651 the Earl saw in the parish of Lochburn (or, as 
 Walker says, at Lock Broom, in West Boss), a plain
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 55 
 
 with fir-trees standing on it, all without bark, and dead. 
 Of the cause of their death he says nothing. Fifteen 
 years after he found the whole place a Peat Moss or 
 "fog," the trees swallowed up, and the moss so deep 
 that in attempting to walk on it he sank in it up to his 
 armpits. 
 
 This same process of destruction is still found to be 
 going on in the mountain districts in the Harz and in 
 Thuringia. "Forestry in these highlands," says Graf zu 
 Solms Laubach in his Fossil Botany, " is everywhere at 
 strife with the peat bogs, which, left to themselves, are 
 always growing, and by the advance of their margins eat 
 their way into the adjoining forests, and make irregular 
 gaps in them." 
 
 But, it will be said, assuming that this may be the case 
 with one growth of forest, how about the successive 
 destruction of successive forests ? The answer is, I believe, 
 to be found in the curious change which peat undergoes, 
 and which converts it from a substance highly absorbent 
 of water into one impervious to it. 
 
 The section exposed by a peat-cutting in, I believe, 
 almost all cases exhibits two kinds of peat, the one known 
 variously as red peat or red bog, or fibrous bog, or in 
 Somersetshire as white turf which lies at the top, and 
 the other a black peat, which lies at the bottom. The 
 red peat retains visible traces of the Sphagnum of which it 
 is mainly composed, and is highly absorbent of moisture ; 
 whilst the black peat has lost all, or nearly all, traces of 
 the minute structure of the cells, and is not only un- 
 absorbent of moisture, but is impervious to it. In fact,
 
 56 
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 it constitutes an insoluble substance which is said to be 
 scarcely subject to decay, so that it is used In Holland 
 for the foundations of houses, and is found unchanged after 
 ages, and when the buildings have fallen into decay. It is 
 even said to have remained unchanged after three months' 
 boiling in a steam-engine boiler. The broad difference 
 
 FIG. 33. Section of Irish Peat bog, showing the growths of three 
 successive submerged forests. ( From Third Report of Commissioners 
 on Irish Peat Sags.) a Present surface with vegetation, b Third peat 
 bog. c Third forest, d Second peat bog. e Second forest, f First 
 peat bog. g First forest. A Limestone gravel at base of bog.
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 57 
 
 between these two kinds of peat may easily be ascertained 
 by anyone who will, as I have done, subject the two kinds 
 to the action of water. 
 
 In Fig. 83 will be found a section of a peat bog, copied 
 from an engraving in the third Eeport of the Commissioners 
 on Irish Bogs (" Parliamentary Papers," 1813-4), and 
 exhibiting the remains of three forests anterior to the 
 vegetation growing on the surface of the bog. The history 
 of the formation will be, I believe, much as follows : 
 
 (1) We must get a watertight bottom. In the section 
 given it is said to consist of limestone gravel, but this 
 probably had, at least in its lower part, got consolidated 
 into a pan by the infiltration of insoluble iron oxides, 
 themselves often due to decaying vegetable matter, or it 
 rested on a subsoil of stiff clay. The necessity of this 
 watertight bottom is well shown by the fact that in places 
 in the Irish bogs where a pure limestone subsoil occurs the 
 bog becomes shallow and dry. 
 
 (2) On this limestone gravel a forest arose and flourished 
 for a considerable period, until the natural drainage of 
 the area was stopped, whether by the choking up of the 
 course of the effluent stream, or from the aggregation of 
 vegetable matter, or from the fall in the course of nature 
 of the trunks of the trees themselves. Everyone who will 
 consider how much care our rivers require in order to 
 make them flow with regularity to the sea who thinks, 
 for instance, of the works in the Thames valley, or in the 
 upper valleys of the Rhine will see how often and how 
 easily, in a country in the condition of nature, stagnant 
 waters will arise. In the morass thus formed the Sphagnum
 
 58 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 has grown, years after years, and if it has not destroyed 
 the old trees it has prevented the growth of young ones. 
 The stools of the trees buried in the antiseptic waters of 
 the Sphagnum pools have been preserved, whilst the fallen 
 trunks have, except when preserved by the like circum- 
 stance, rotted, and added their remains to the peat which 
 the Sphagnum has been producing. It has been observed 
 in several places in Scotland, that the under side of fallen 
 trees which would be protected from decay by the tannin 
 of the Sphagnum is preserved, whilst the upper side has 
 decayed or rotted away. Year by year the process of decay 
 on the lower parts of the Sphagnum went on until the 
 water grew shallower and at last disappeared, leaving the 
 original morass choked and filled up by the Sphagnum and 
 the plants which it has nourished. On the top of this soil 
 have grown first the heath and bog shrubs which first 
 succeed the Sphagnum, and in time, as the soil has grown 
 more solid, forest trees. This is our second forest. This 
 first peat deposit, or the lower part of it at all events, 
 having been turned into the black peat impervious to water, 
 plays the same part in the second stage that the clay or 
 pan did in the first stage. Again, the drainage of this 
 second level got stopped, and the forest bottom loaded with 
 stagnant water, the home of the Sphagnum ; together, the 
 water and the Sphagnum killed the forest trees, which 
 share the fate of their predecessors. The same history is 
 gone through again the Sphagnum filling up the morass 
 and turning the water into dry land until it supports the 
 third forest. 
 
 Decay of the Moss. There comes, however, in many
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 59 
 
 cases a time when this process is arrested ; the artificial 
 drainage of the soil, or the physical position of the area, 
 prevents the re-formation of a morass, and the Sphagnum 
 dies away. So in many parts, if not universally, in 
 Sedgmoor, in Somerset, it is almost impossible to gather 
 a bit of Sphagnum, and the peat is well known to the turf 
 diggers not to be reproduced. Here the regulated drainage 
 of the level maintains the surface in the condition of 
 meadows or agricultural land. But in many cases, 
 especially on mountain sides or tops, when the Sphagnum 
 has died, and the peat undergone its last change into black 
 earth, a process of decay sets in under the influence of air 
 and water. The water lies in holes or " hags," or flows in 
 sluggish streams, wearing away the dead peat ; and the 
 surface of the soil is broken and uneven, small patches of 
 green surface with a rough growth of sedge or grass being 
 surrounded by wider spaces of black earth. Such is, or 
 was some years ago, the condition of the peat on the top 
 of Kinder Scout in Derbyshire ; on the parts of Dartmoor 
 around Cranmere Pool ; and such also it is described to be 
 on many of the Lowland hills of Scotland. 
 
 Sedgmoor. In some cases the Peat Mosses have been 
 originally arms of the sea, and the peat has only grown 
 after the exclusion of the salt water. Such appears to be 
 the history of Sedgmoor, the great plain of Central Somerset. 
 Northward it is bounded by the Mendips ; eastward lies 
 Glastonbury with its Tor or hill ; westward the Bristol 
 Channel, The plain is intersected by the low line of the 
 Pouldon Hills, once a long level-backed island or pro- 
 montory in the estuary and afterwards in the morass ; and
 
 60 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 the way in which the villages lie and the moor is appor- 
 tioned between them suggests that the Pouldon Hills and 
 some other spots which slightly rise above the level of the 
 Moss were the original seats of population. Originally 
 this whole area appears to have been open to the Bristol 
 Channel, of which it formed a bay or recess. The Burtle 
 beds are a marine deposit well seen at the slight elevation 
 on which the village of Burtle stands, which have been 
 traced in various places along the borders of the moor and 
 indicate the old line of beach. A curious confirmation of 
 this geological fact is afforded by the presence the one on 
 Shapwick Heath , and the other near Glastonbury of two 
 plants (the Rumex maritimus and the Vicia lutea) which 
 are shore plants, but which have until recently maintained 
 their places as remains of the ancient marine flora, show- 
 ing the retreat of the sea. The Vicia lutea has, I believe, 
 recently succumbed in this interesting locality to the 
 British collector. The description of Glastonbury as the 
 Isle of Avalon, and the account of the bringing of the 
 body of King Arthur from Tintagel to its resting-place 
 at Glastonbury, are confirmations from tradition of the 
 same fact. 
 
 Then a change came over the district, apparently by the 
 formation of barriers of sand or mud along what is now 
 the shore of the Bristol Channel, and along the sides of 
 the overflowing rivers, and in that way the sea-water was 
 shut out, and a depressed region left with a mud surface ; 
 on this there arose a forest of oak, ash, and yew, then the 
 water stagnated, and in it the Sphagnum grew, and 
 gradually filled it up, killing the growth of trees on the
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 61 
 
 surface of the land, but leaving, down to historic times, 
 spaces of fresh water from which the Abbots of Glaston- 
 bury formed their great fishing lake at Meare, by the side 
 of which they erected the beautiful manor house and fish 
 house which still remain. When the Komans occupied 
 this part of England, they not only used the Burtle beds 
 for plastic clay, but used the peat in their kilns, and the 
 remains of the road which they constructed across the moor 
 are now found some six feet below the present surface. 
 In like manner, a pathway exists across part of the moor 
 near Westhay consisting of slabs of birch, and perhaps alder 
 laid crosswise, so as to form a kind of corduroy road. 
 This has been found in one place at a depth of seven, at 
 another of two feet only beneath the surface. The road 
 bears the name of the Abbot's path, or way, and it may 
 well, I think, have been a way by which the monks of 
 Glastonbury passed from their abbey by way of Meare to 
 Burtle, where they appear to have had a chapel which they 
 served. Now, as I have already said, the system of 
 drainage is so complete that the peat, when once cut, is 
 not reproduced (though the lower soil is said to have a 
 remarkable power of expansion and rises often to the old 
 level), and the Sphagnum is to be found rarely, if at all, 
 on many parts of the moor. 
 
 To the intimate structure of the Turf Moss are thus to be 
 attributed great results in the history of the world. To 
 look at our own island alone, but for it the primeval 
 forests that once covered the land might still be standing ; 
 but for it large tracts of land would still be lake and mere ; 
 but for it every freshet in a Highland river would be a
 
 62 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 flood ; without it we should have had no Mosses on the 
 confines of England and Scotland, and where would have 
 been the border warfare and the border minstrelsy ? where 
 the Moss hags in which the hunted Covenanters sought 
 for shelter and freedom of worship ? To come south- 
 ward, by force of its growth, the broad meadows of 
 Somerset have been built up, and the dark waters on 
 which the mysterious barge bore the dead Arthur from 
 Tintagel to Avalon have been turned into the green 
 pastures of Glastonbury and Meare and the battle-field of 
 Sedgmoor. 
 
 Hepaticece. If my reader will once again refer to table 
 A, he will see that the Hepaticeae, the lowest group of 
 Mosses, when that word is used in its wider signification, 
 yet remain for some little notice. I am afraid that most 
 people slight them greatly, and feel little inclination to 
 examine them ; and yet they possess a beauty of their 
 own a great diversity of form, and points of great interest 
 and importance to the botanist. 
 
 Popularly these little plants would probably be considered 
 Mosses, and it may be hard to say whether or no they 
 deserve the name, and so botanists use two Latin words 
 
 FIGS. 34, 35, 36. Jungermanniee. ar, archegones ; 
 *, sporangium. After nature. A.F.
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 63 
 
 8 P 
 
 , 
 
 Cap. 
 
 for the one English one, and allow them to be Muscineae, 
 
 though not Musci. 
 
 In the springtime, anyone who care- 
 fully looks may find, in woods or on 
 shaded banks, little plants, in such 
 forms as those shown in Figs. 34, 35, 
 and 36. These show two species of 
 Jungermannia of the family Junger- 
 manniaceae of my table A. The genus 
 bears a somewhat uncouth name, and 
 one wishes it had a pleasanter one 
 than this, which was bestowed upon it 
 in honour of a worthy German botanist. 
 It has been said that the unpronounce- 
 able names of the Mexican kings before 
 the conquest rob them of the fame 
 which their merits deserve ; and so 
 long as these little plants bear this 
 name, I see no hope that they should 
 ever attain popularity. 
 
 That these little plants have great 
 likeness to ordinary Mosses must be 
 conceded, but the student who looks 
 at them attentively will soon see some- 
 thing different about their general 
 appearance. This is partly due to the 
 peculiar way in which the leaves are 
 inserted the lines of attachment of 
 the leaves to the stem generally forming 
 an angle like a V. But other differ- 
 
 Fio. 37. Part of a 
 Jungermannia,ma,g- 
 nified ; ar, arche- 
 gone ; se, seta or 
 stalk; cap, capsule of 
 four leares opening 
 and emitting sp, 
 spores and el, ela- 
 ters. After nature. 
 A.F.
 
 64 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 ences will be apparent from the figures. The sporangium, 
 as in the Mosses, takes its rise from an archegone. In 
 the Mosses this organ is concealed in modified leaves, and 
 is generally speaking not easy to detect. In these Junger- 
 manniaceas the archegones form conspicuous green organs 
 (ar) hi which, in the earlier stages, the dark-coloured 
 sporangia appear to rest (Fig. 36, s). They are subse- 
 quently raised on a seta or stalk, generally of a perfectly 
 white cellular structure. The sporangium is not divided 
 into capsule and lid, but opens as shown in Fig. 87, by the 
 springing backward of the four leaves which constitute it, 
 and emits large quantities of spores (sp), interspersed with 
 very curious structures , known as elaters (el) . These elaters , 
 with some attached spores, are seen more highly magni- 
 fied in Fig. 88. The elaters are endless threads, twisted 
 
 ...el 
 
 FIG. 38. Spores and elaters of Jungermarmia 
 magnified, sp, spores ; el, elaters. After nature. 
 I.P. 
 
 into spirals, and when liberated the spirals rapidly twist 
 and twirl about, and in so doing, aid in dispersing the
 
 BEITISH MOSSES. 65 
 
 spores. The spectacle of an opening orspangium of a 
 Jungermannia is a very interesting one. 
 
 It is remarkable that in the true Mosses, with their 
 much more highly organized capsules and spore cases, 
 these elaters have disappeared. 
 
 If the patience of my reader hold out, I will ask him, 
 for the last time, to refer back to my table A, where he 
 will find that last of all in the series come the Marchantiacse, 
 so named from the best known species of the group, the 
 Marchantia polymorpha, a plant so remarkable and so 
 worthy of full consideration, that I fear that if I embarked 
 on it I should weary my reader beyond endurance, so I 
 leave it, at least for the present. 
 
 Distribution in Time. It will be interesting now to 
 enquire how long the present Moss flora of England has 
 existed. How far back can we carry our knowledge 
 of the existence on the world's surface of these 
 delicate organisms ? It is evident that they have 
 had but a small chance of leaving evidence of their 
 existence as fossil remains, because whilst the strong, 
 almost wiry, vessels of the ferns have a great power of 
 resisting decay and so gettingpreserved, the delicate cellular 
 structure of the Mosses offers little or no resistance 
 to that process. Hence it is that the fossil remains 
 of Mosses are not very numerous, or for the most 
 part very ancient. Yet we have some materials to answer 
 the enquiry. Three ancient collections of Mosses enable 
 us to throw some light upon it. In an interglacial bed 
 near Crofthead, in Kenfrewshire, eleven species of Moss 
 were discovered, and with one possible exception all are 
 
 E
 
 66 BEITISH MOSSES. 
 
 well-defined British species of the present day. If we take 
 Mr. Wallace's chronology, and hold that 80,000 years have 
 passed since the Glacial epoch disappeared, and 200,000 
 years since the Glacial epoch was at its maximum, we may 
 perhaps give from 100,000 to 150,000 years for the age of 
 this little collection. Out of the eleven Mosses discovered, 
 seven belong to the genus Hypnum, or the family 
 Hypnaceae. This collection, then, is evidence, so far as it 
 goes, (1) that the existing Moss flora is as old as the inter- 
 glacial epoch ; (2) that the Hypnacese were as dominant 
 then as now ; and (3) that the specific forms have remained 
 constant since that epoch. 
 
 Another collection of fourteen Mosses has been dis- 
 covered in a drift in the Clyde valley above the Boulder 
 drift, and tends to confirm the previous conclusions ; as all 
 the species are existing, all now inhabit the valley of the 
 Clyde, and the Hypnaceae are still predominant, though 
 not in so great a proportion as in the Renfrewshire bed. 
 
 A third collection has been found at Hoxne, in Suffolk, 
 in a lacustrine deposit, probably resting in a hollow in the 
 boulder clay. Together with phanerogams of an arctic habit, 
 have been found the remains of ten Mosses, which are 
 described by Mr. Mitten as looking "like a lot of bits 
 drifted down a mountain stream." They are all still 
 dwellers in our island, and exhibit, like the other collec- 
 tions, a preponderance of the family of Hypnaceae. 
 
 But we can give some evidence of more ancient date. 
 Heer inferred the existence of the Mosses in the Liassic 
 period from the presence of remains of a group of small 
 Coleoptera,the existing members of which now live amongst
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 67 
 
 Mosses an inference which seems not very strong. But 
 recently the remains of a Moss have been found in the 
 carboniferous strata at Commentry, in France. It appears 
 to be closely allied to the extant Polytrichum, the most 
 highly-developed genus of Mosses ; so that we have here 
 a phenomenon like that which occurs in reference to the 
 Equisetacae and Lycopodiacese, viz., that the earliest fossil 
 species known belong to very highly-developed forms of 
 the group. 
 
 Distribution in Space. If we turn, now, from the dis- 
 tribution of this family in time to its distribution in 
 space, we shall observe some curious phenomena. Of our 
 English Mosses some are of almost world- wide distribution ; 
 some are found here and in spots far removed from our 
 shores ; some are believed to be peculiar to our island. 
 One observation should be borne in mind in considering 
 the following statement, viz., that Mosses are often small 
 and inconspicuous plants ; that they are often neglected 
 where flowering plants have been collected and studied ; and 
 that consequently the statements as to their non-existence 
 must always be accepted with this proviso, that they may 
 mean the non-existence or the non- discovery, or non- 
 observation of the plant in question. 
 
 Of our Mosses I have said that some are cosmopolitan 
 in their extension. Our common Funaria kygrometrica, 
 our Bartramia pomiformis, and, amongst the Hepaticae, our 
 Marchantia are a few amongst many that are denizens 
 alike of the Old and of the New World. Of the New Zealand 
 Mosses about one-fifth are British, or at least European, 
 species ; of the Tasmanian Mosses about one-third.
 
 68 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 But whilst there are instances of this wide dispersion, 
 there are instances too of the opposite kind. Amongst the 
 British Mosses and Hepatic (as we learn from Mr. Wallace 
 on the authority of Mr. Mitten) seventeen Mosses and 
 nine Hepaticae are said to be peculiar to the British Islands, 
 and of these, three genera of Mosses and three of 
 Hepaticae are also non-European (i.e., not known on the 
 Continent of Europe). The three non-European genera 
 of Mosses have their greatest development in the Andes ; 
 the three non-European genera of Hepaticae have their 
 greatest development in the temperate regions of the 
 southern hemisphere. Let me take one of the Mosses of 
 which the genus is non-European Streptopogon. This 
 genus is thus distributed : Seven species in the Andes ; 
 one in the Himalayas ; three in the south temperate zone ; 
 one in Sussex. Take, again, one of the Hepatic, Aero- 
 bolbus ; its species are confined to New Zealand and the 
 adjoining islands, with one species in Ireland. 
 
 There are other noteworthy but isolated facts about the 
 distribution of Mosses to which I may here refer : one is, 
 that the great boulders of the plains of the centre of 
 Germany are found to bear alpine species of Moss as if 
 brought from some distant or elevated region ; is this due 
 to the actual transport of the boulders on which they live 
 or to the retreat of the northern flora in the tail of 
 the ice as it retreated northward as the glacial period 
 disappeared ? In any event it reminds one of the scattered 
 patches of alpine gentians, which are to be found in the 
 great stretch of moorland south of the Danube, and 
 between that river and the Tyrolese Alps.
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 69 
 
 I have reason, furthermore, to believe that if the Mosses 
 of some parts of the south-west of England were worked 
 out carefully, northern forms would be found to prevail in 
 a way which would require, if possible, some explanation. 
 
 The facility with which the wind can carry the small 
 spores of the Mosses probably accounts in some cases for 
 the wide distribution of the organisms. The very small 
 area occupied by some species suggests great susceptibility 
 to local surroundings. 
 
 Conclusion. I can cordially recommend the study of the 
 Mosses to any, old or young, who really love Nature : I have 
 found in it a great source of pleasure during the last few years. 
 The tops of walls, the banks of lanes, the slopes of woods, 
 the mountain passes, each inhabited by different classes of 
 Mosses, are as distinct in their vegetation as the oak or 
 elm or beech counties of England, or the pine-clad slopes 
 or the birch groves of the Alps. A square foot, in some 
 situations, will contain a large number of species of 
 different forms and modes of growth. The long arms of 
 the Hypnum may stretch along the ground, whilst the 
 Tortulas raise their spires of rich brown from out rosettes 
 of verdant leaves, and the Bryums with their pendant cap- 
 sules vie with them in beauty. One stone or bit of boggy 
 land may be a study in colours greens, browns, reds, greys, 
 and gold which my pen would fail to describe. A wall- 
 top may show 
 
 " A stubble field, or a canebrake ; a marsh. 
 Of bulrush, whitening in the sun." 
 
 Another may present a mimic forest, built up of varied forms, 
 as different from one another as were the huge vegetables
 
 70 BRITISH MOSSES. 
 
 of the Coal period from our trees. In a word, I find myself, 
 whenever in the country, surrounded by a world of beauty 
 and interest which I only dimly perceived before I entered on 
 the study, though I have never, I hope, been entirely un- 
 observant of things around me. More than ever I can 
 say 
 
 " In small proportions we just beauties see, 
 And in short measures life may perfect be." 
 
 "But how shall I begin the study?" some may say. 
 Gather the first moss you come across, examine it with the 
 naked eye, and then with a microscope, and you will have 
 made some advance. If the British Museum be accessible 
 to you, go to the Botanical Department and examine the 
 collection beautifully arranged and exposed in one of the 
 rooms upstairs. But books you must have books to aid 
 you, and therefore I will suggest a few. Bagnall's "Hand- 
 book of Mosses " will, I believe, be found a very useful 
 first book, and is very inexpensive. " The Handbook 
 of Cryptogamic Botany," by Bennett and Murray, will be a 
 very good one with which to begin the study of the 
 organization of the Mosses. Berkeley's " Handbook of 
 British Mosses " may serve as the second book on classifi- 
 cation. Wilson's " Bryologia Britannica" is a more 
 advanced book of the same description, and difficult to get. 
 Dr. Braithwaite's " British Moss Flora," which is in course 
 of publication, is a more elaborately illustrated and ex- 
 pensive book. Two works of Schimper's " Recherches 
 sur les Mousses" and " Entwickelungsgeschichte der 
 Torfmoose " are admirable, and his " Synopsis Muscorum 
 Europaeorum" is very helpful, especially for finding
 
 BRITISH MOSSES. 71 
 
 European species not found in Britain. The work of old 
 Dillenius (" Historia Muscorum "), though of course out 
 of date, is very delightful, and contains many excellent 
 plates, worthy of study even in the present day. 
 
 One pleasant duty remains to be performed. Figures 
 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24 have been copied 
 from Schimper's " Eecherches sur les Mousses " ; Figures 
 16, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, from the same author's 
 " Entwickelungsgeschichte der Torfmoose " ; Figures 7, 8, 
 from Berkeley's " Handbook." For permission to use 
 these sets of figures I beg to thank respectively Messrs. 
 Freutel and Weitz, Mr. Schweizerbart, and Messrs. Lovell 
 Reeve and Co. ; nor can I omit to add my thanks to my 
 daughter, Agnes Fry, from whose drawings, partly original 
 and partly copies, most of the foregoing illustrations have 
 been taken.
 
 A 000 049 509 3