A. Three-cornered Hypnum (_Hypnum triquetrum_) is a common species on woodland banks, growing in branching tufts. The stems are well clothed with leaves, which consist of a single layer of cells; there is therefore no necessity for the breathing pores (_stomates_) found on the leaves of flowering plants and giving access to the tissues beneath the cuticle. The leaves of mosses are not provided with stomates; neither are they stalked, but attached directly to the stem by their base. From the sides of the stem at intervals a number of brown, hair-like threads are given off, and each of these ends in a brown, pear-shaped nodding organ, the spore capsule. These capsules are each closed with a lid (_operculum_), beneath which is a double row of teeth, their tips directed towards the centre of the mouth. When the spores are ripe the operculum is cast off, and these teeth erect themselves to allow the minute spores to escape. The teeth (forming the _peristome_) of mosses are always some multiple of four; in Hypnum each row contains sixteen.
B. Beautiful Hair-moss (_Polytrichum formosum_) represents another division of mosses in which the fruits are borne on the termination of the stem or principal branches. In an earlier condition than that figured the capsule is covered with a conical densely-hairy cap (_calyptra_); this is thrown off when the spores are ripe, the operculum follows and the spores are cast.
=Mushrooms and Toadstools= (_Fungi_). Plate 128.
We cannot pretend to do other than call the rambler’s attention to the interesting plants that are variously called mushrooms or toadstools, according to whether they are of the two or three species commonly eaten, or of the multitude concerning which the British public knows nothing, and therefore dismisses them as worthless toadstools.
A. The Fly-Agaric (_Agaricus muscarius_), though in general structure it closely resembles the common mushroom (_Ag. campestris_), is to be avoided as a poisonous species. Its large orange or crimson cap, more or less thickly dotted with whitish flakes, is a very striking feature in woods in late summer and autumn. An examination of the underside of the cap (_pileus_) will reveal a great number of thin yellowish plates set on edge and radiating from the stem to the circumference. Over these plates or _gills_ is stretched a membrane, called the _hymenium_, on which the spores are borne. From this characteristic of the bulk of our mushrooms and toadstools the tribe containing them is dubbed the _Hymenomycetes_.