Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/86

74 M U S M U S which look inwards of the stratum of cells which forms the peri- stome have also in these cases become somewhat thickened, and continue as "cilia," while the thin portions of membrane placed at right angles to them perish. In other cases (Fontinalis aiiti- pyreticn) the peristome forms a lattice-work. The number of teeth in the peristome is always four, or a multiple of four. They are very hygroscopic ; their function is to close up the opening of the capsule in wet weather, and so to hinder the exit of the spores, which are scattered abroad by the wind. In the same way also any germination of the spores in the interior of the capsule is pre vented. The columella shrivels up after the formation of the spores, so that at that time we find nothing in the capsule but the spore-dust. The Polytrichacese have special arrangements for the protection of the spores. Here the opening of the capsule is covered over by a kind of plate ("epiphragma"), which is supported by thirty-two or sixty-four teeth, consisting of fibre-like cells. Retrospective View. Comparing generally the Mosses with the Liverworts, we see that, however great the variety of the forms they comprehend, they still form two connected series. In several of the subdivisions of the Leaf-mosses conditions occur which remind us of the Liverworts. Such are, in Sphagnum, the form and posi tion of the antheridia, the tearing open of the ventral portion of the archegonium, and the want of a "calyptra" on the sporogonium which proceeds from it. This last is also found in Andre&a, in which the method of opening of the sporogonium likewise reminds us of the Liverworts. Among the Phascacex, the Archidium agrees with Liver worts in the absence of a columella. Some few cells in the interior of the sporogonium are formed into mother- cells of spores, and push aside the rest of the tissue. Here, too, the calyptra is absent. The simplest Liverworts make a near approach to the Algge. The sporogonium of Riccia is of scarcely higher organization than the mass of tissue which proceeds from the fertilized ovum-cell of Coleochxte, a green freshwater Alga. Among plants of a higher order we find no group closely allied to the Muscinese. It is true that the Ferns have a perfectly analogous alternation of generations, but it is not a sporogonium which is produced from the fer tilized oosphere, but the leafy fern-plant. No transitional forms occur between these two sections; the chasm which divides them is the widest with which we are acquainted in the whole vegetable kingdom. (K. E. G.) MUSES, THE, according to the view which prevailed among the Greek writers and has become a commonplace of modern literature, were nine goddesses who presided over the nine principal departments of letters : Calliope, Muse of epic poetry ; Euterpe, of lyric poetry ; Erato, of erotic poetry; Melpomene, of tragedy; Thalia, of comedy; Poly hymnia, of the hymn as used in the worship of the gods; Terpsichore, of choral song and the dance which formed its necessary accompaniment ; Clio, of history ; and Urania, of astronomy. They are represented in ancient art as fully draped figures characterized by attitude, dress, and symbols appropriate to the departments over which they presided. In the simpler conception that prevails in earlier literature they were said to be daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, i.e., memory personified. In chorus round the altar of Zeus they sing the origin of the world, of gods, and of men, the might and the glorious deeds of Zeus. At the banquets of the gods their joyous music is heard. They honour also the great heroes ; they sing at the marriage of Cad mus and of Peleus ; their mourning song at the death of Achilles drew tears from both gods and men. They know all things past and future and impart to their chosen poets the knowledge and the skill to write. They are usually maiden goddesses, but some of the mythic poets Orpheus, Linus, lalemus are said to be sons of a Muse. This conception of the number and character of the Muses is as old as Hesiod and the Odyssey (xxiv. 60), yet it is far removed from the genuine religious stratum out of which the poets fashioned it. The religion of the Muses had two chief seats, on the northern slope of Mount Olym pus around Dion in Pieria, by the holy springs Leibethron and Pimpleia, and on the slope of Mount Helicon near Ascra and Thespiae. Nothing is known of the cultus in its older form, but it appears to have been connected with the religion of Dionysus. The Muses must have been originally a variety of the Nymphs (see NYMPHS), the spirits of nature who live in the fountains and forests ; hence they are asso ciated with Pegasus, the winged horse of the thunder-cloud. The half -mythic race called Thracian, which is specially associated with the two localities where the worship of the Muses had its seat, survived in Greek memory as a race of bards ; and this character of the race coloured its concep tion of the spirit-life which it saw in nature. The spirits who know or who remember (Mouo-a = Movrta, from man, to think) sang to them in the voice of the water and the trees. At first they gave no definite number or form to their conception of these spirits ; the number nine is the invention of a later time and of a different order of thought, and some accounts speak of three Muses or of a single Muse. MUSHROOM. There are few more useful, more easily recognized, or more delicious members of the vegetable king dom than the common mushroom (Agaricus campestris,~L.). It grows in short grass in the temperate regions of all parts of the world. Many edible Fungi depend upon minute and often obscure botanical characters for their determination, and may readily be confounded with worthless or poisonous species, but that is not the case with the Common Mush room, for, although several other species of Agaricus some what closely approach it in form and colour, yet the true mushroom, if sound and freshly gathered, may be distin guished from all other Fungi with great ease. It almost invariably grows in rich, open, breezy pastures, in places where the grass is kept short by the grazing of horses, herds, and flocks. Although this plant is popularly termed the " meadow mushroom," it never as a rule grows in meadows. It never grows in wet boggy places, never in woods, or on or about stumps of trees. An exceptional specimen or an uncommon variety may sometimes be seen in the above- mentioned abnormal places, but the best, the true, and common variety of our tables is the produce of short, up land, wind-swept pastures. A true mushroom is never large in size; its cap very seldom exceeds 4, at most 5 inches in diameter. The large examples measuring from 6 to 9 or more inches across the cap belong to Agaricus arvensis (Sch.), called from its large size and coarse texture the Horse Mushroom, which grows in meadows and damp shady places, and though generally wholesome is coarse and sometimes indigestible. The mushroom usually grown in gardens or hot-beds, in cellars, sheds, &c., is a distinct variety, known as Agaricus hortensis (Cke.). This is a compact and inferior form of the true mushroom, or it may indeed be a hybrid or even a distinct species. The parts of a mushroom consist chiefly of stem and cap ; the stem is furnished with a clothy ring round its middle, and the cap is furnished underneath with numerous radiat ing coloured gills. In the accompanying illustration (1) represents a section through an infant mushroom, (2) a mature example, and (3) a longitudinal section through a fully-developed mushroom. The cap D, E is fleshy, firm, and white within, never thin and watery ; externally it is pale brown, dry, often slightly silky or floccose, never vis cid. The cuticle of a mushroom readily peels away from the flesh beneath, as shown at F. The cap has a narrow dependent margin or frill, as shown at G, and in section at H ; this dependent frill originates in the rupture of a delicate continuous wrapper, which in the infancy of the mushroom entirely wraps the young plant ; it is shown in its continuous state at j, and at the moment of rupture at K. The gills underneath the cap L, M, N are at first