The organs of fructification, however, with which mosses are furnished, are perhaps the most wonderful parts of their economy. When the requisite conditions are present, these are generally developed during the winter and spring months, and may be easily recognised by their peculiar appearance. At first a forest of hairlike stalks, of a pale pink colour, rises above the general level of the tuft of moss, to the height of between one and three inches, giving to the moss the appearance of a pin-cushion well provided with pins. These stalks, through course of time, are crowned with little urn-like vessels called capsules, which are covered at an early stage with little caps, like those of the Normandy peasants, with high peaks and long lappets,--in one species bearing a remarkable resemblance to the extinguisher of a candle, a curious provision for protecting them alike from the sunshine and the rain, until the delicate structures underneath are matured. When the fruit-stalk lengthens and the capsules swell, this hood or cap is torn from its support, and carried up on the top of the seed-vessel, much in the same way as the calyx of the common garden annual, the Eschscholtzia Californica, is borne up on the summit of the cone-like petals before they expand. When the seed-vessel is riper it falls off altogether, and discloses a little lid covering the mouth of the capsule, which is also removed at a more advanced stage of growth. The mouth of the seed-vessel is then seen to be fringed all round with a single or double row of teeth, which closely fit into each other, and completely close up the aperture. It is a circumstance worthy of being noticed, that the even numbers which prevail in

the formation of microscopic cells, are also found in these organs, the teeth being arranged in each row in the geometrical progression of 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64, there never being by any chance an odd number; thus illustrating the general doctrine that a system of types runs throughout the whole works of nature, furnishing evidences of supreme intelligence, and wonderfully adapted not only to the objects to which it is applied, but also to the same or similar principles in the constitution of man's mind.

a

b

d

FIG. 1.-BRYUM SERPENS.

(a) Veil. (b) Fringe. (c) Leaf. (d) Capsule with lid. (e) Stem. These teeth are highly sensitive to the changes of the weather, opening in sunshine, and closing during moist or rainy weather, for the obvious purpose of ripening the minute dust-like seeds with which the interior of the capsule is filled; and it is a remarkable circumstance that, in one or two genera of mosses which are not provided with hygrometric teeth, the lid that closes the capsule is permanent, being thrown off only when the seeds are ripe and ready to be dispersed. By plac

ing a capsule, the teeth of which are closed, near the fire or in the warm sunshine, the teeth will be seen to open with a graceful and gradual motion; while the slightest moisture of one's breath invariably causes the little teeth instantly to close over the mouth. This beautiful and extremely simple mechanism, of which a somewhat similar example occurs in the Rose of Jericho, is one of the most wonderful contrivances of nature, one of the most extraordinary adaptations of means to an end, to be found in the whole economy of vegetation. Within the capsule the seeds surround a slender pillar or columella, and are enclosed in a membraneous bag. Elevated as the seed-vessels are by their stalks, they are freely exposed to the ripening effects of sun and wind; and it is a curious sight to see these straight footstalks gradually bending, reversing the seed-vessels, and emptying the seeds they contain as from a pitcher, to be carried by the wind to some congenial spot, where through course of time they may spring up and form a new colony of mosses, which in their turn will carry on the circle of life, from the seed to the full-grown moss, and from the full-grown moss to the seed, the beginning and the ending, the ending and the beginning!

Besides these curious capsules, there are other organs of fructification which clearly demonstrate the sexuality of mosses. Their real nature has only recently been accurately ascertained. They are called antheridia and pistilidia, from the strong resemblance which they bear to the stamens and pistils of the flowering plants, and from their being supposed to perform the same or analogous functions. They are small spherical bodies, fixed

by short footstalks, concealed in cup-shaped receptacles among the perichætial or uppermost leaves, and often occur in abundance along with the capsules on the same plant. Examined under the microscope, they are found to consist of a bag, whose membrane is formed of somewhat oblique cells, containing granular matter arranged around a bright red nuclear body, which divides into a number of small vesicular bodies of precisely the same character. This granular matter, under a higher power of the microscope, is resolved into a mass of apparently living animalcules called phytozoa, somewhat similar to the spermatozoa which occur in the reproductive matter of animals. These tiny organisms have short slender bodies, with long spirally-twisted tails, and display the most active and lively movements, each whirling upon its own axis, and quickly running about the field as if from an intense feeling of sensuous enjoyment. These movements generally cease in the course of two hours after the discharge of the phytozoa from the antheridia; but sometimes they are observed to move actively even after the lapse of two days. It is impossible to determine whether these tiny bodies are animals, as they appear to be, or simply modifications of vegetable tissue. They are furnished with cilia like animalcules; and their motion is such as would undoubtedly be attributed to ciliary action if seen in an animal structure. But as Dr. Lindley says, "It is so improbable that animals should be generated in the cells of plants, unless accidentally, that we cannot but entertain grave doubts whether, notwithstanding their locomotive powers, these bodies are really anything more than a form of vegetable

matter.

As to the motion, how are we to tell that it is not a hygrometrical action, like that of the teeth which fringe the mouth of the capsule?" Be their nature, however, what it may, they are extremely curious objects, and well worthy of the most careful examination. In the same receptacle, among the upper leaves of the moss, may be seen antheridia in every stage of development, those in the centre appearing to ripen first, even while some of those at the outer edge are of small size and quite green. There is thus a constant succession of phytozoa produced; a provision which tends to insure their application to the pistilidia at the proper time. Several species of mosses are furnished with gemmæ or pseudopodia, which consist of powdery or granulated heads terminating an elongated and almost leafless portion of the stem. These organs are usually developed only in unfavourable circumstances, being formed at the expense of the fruit which is then abortive. They appear to be simply a mass of naked seed, without the ordinary protection and mechanism of an enveloping seed-vessel, and as such, afford a remarkable illustration of the simplicity of the means by which nature, when placed at a disadvantage, effects her vital purposes. It is worthy of remark, that there are several mosses which possess the power of maintaining and spreading themselves without the aid of any of these organs of fructification. There is one remarkable species, the male plant of which exists only in Europe, so far as can be ascertained, and the female only in America, and yet they propagate themselves with as much facility as though they grew side by side in the same crevice of rock.