50 ME. B. SPEUCE ON THE MOSSES OF THE AMAZON AND ANDES. 



aequans, immersa, saepe subovato-cylindrica ; peristomium spiram 

 dimidiam efformans vel fere omnino rectum, dentibus saepe per paria 

 inaequilongis (ad instar peristomii Leptotrichi, Dicrani, &c.) ; calyptra 

 scaberrima. 

 Hab. In sylvis Llalla et Pallatanga, Cordillera? occidentalis, ad tr uncos. 

 Columella in hac, ut in speciebus duabus praecedentibus, ad capsulae 

 orificium articulata, dimidio superiore cum sporis deciduo, inferiore 

 intra capsulam retracto. Granules peristomii in annulos transversales 

 dispositae. 



That this moss is a genuine species of Tayloria I cannot doubt; the 

 conical scabrous calyptra is exactly the same as in the two preceding 

 species, and the structure of the leaves the same, though the cellules are 

 smaller. The rudimentary antheridia in the axils of the upper leaves of 

 T. laciniata, and of several other Splachnece, are in T. erythrodonta re- 

 placed by completely-formed antheridia, constituting with the terminal 

 archegonia a distinct androgynous inflorescence. If the peristome be 

 regularly contorted (as in Tortula), there is also in the peristome of the 

 other two species a tendency to twisting at the apex ; and in all three 

 the sporular sac has at the apex a firm coloured ring (the base of the peri- 

 stome) free from the walls of the capsule. The teeth are quite like those 

 of T. splachnoides ; but in the latter they are separately twisted, not 

 together contorted into a spire, as in T. erythrodonta. 

 Dissodon is plainly a mere subgenus of Tayloria ; and D. serratus, 

 CM. (Orthodon), has no more right to be separated from its very 

 near allies, Tayloria laciniata, Moritziana, &c, on account of the 

 difference in the peristome, than Orthotrichum affine from 0. Lyellii 

 and O. striatwn. My only doubt is whether even Tayloria should 

 not be reunited, as a subgenus, with Splachnum. 



Tayloria laciniata and erythrodonta, like T. Budolphiana, B. et S., 

 and Splachnum octoblepharum, Hook, (which are perhaps the nearest 

 allies of the latter), grow on trees ; but T. erythrodonta has the 

 peculiarity of growing only on living plants, of which it selects 

 generally the slender branches, and is even occasionally found on 

 suffruticose perennials {Solanece and Malvaceae) : when the matrix 

 whereon it is established dies, its own dissolution speedily follows. 

 This leads me to remark on the true parasitism of many mosses, 

 about which I may have occasion to speak more at length in a 

 separate article. My attention was first forcibly directed to it in the 

 forests at the mouth of the Amazon, where I observed that certain 

 Jungerntanniacece, especially species of Omphalanthus, creeping on 

 green leaves, speedily decayed after the fall of the latter, which 

 they had perhaps hastened. I then recollected that certain Or- 

 thotricha, such as O. crispulum, O. Ludwigii, and O. Drummondii, 

 soon withered up if the slender twigs on which they delight to 



