No 6. 38e ANNÉE _ 1941 
REVUE BRYOLOGIQUE 
ParaissaANT Tous LES Deux Mois 
Les manuscrits doivent être écrits en français, en latin ou en anglais 
Sommaire du n° 6 
Abnormality of Moss Capsule. Dixon. — Note sur les mousses rapportées 
par la seconde expédition antarctique française du D" Charcot. CARDOT. 
— Etudes phytogéographiques sur les mousses de la Haute-Saône. 
CopPpey.— Bibliographie. — Table des matières de la 38 année. 
Abnormality of Moss Capsule 
By H. N. Dixon 
Among some mosses collected by Mrs. Roper at Darjeeling, 
in the Himalayas, in the early part of 1911, and sent to me for 
determination by the Rev. C. H. Binstead, I found two gathe- 
rings of Acanthocladium laxilexlum Ren. et Card., displaying 
a very curious abnormality of capsule. The two specimens were in all 
probability collected at the same station; they were loaded with 
capsules, a large proportion of which, approaching 50 per cent, 
exhibited the abnormality in some degree or other. 
At first sight the base of the capsule appeared to be furnished 
with an elongate and very slender spur, of varying length, some- 
times shorter than the capsule itself, sometimes extending to 
about half the length of the seta. The accompanying figures will 
_ give some idea of the appearance. 
Closer examination showed that it was not a question of an 
outgrowth, but of the splitting or tearing away of a strand of 
the seta. The splitting must have taken place when the seta had 
already almost or quite attained its mature development, as 
otherwise the detached fragment would without doubt have shri- 
velled up and ceased from growth, whereas it in all cases retains 
its rigidity and complete development, and is of the same colour 
and texture as the remainder of the sela. 
An explanation of the cause appeared at first possible in an 
 adherence of a portion of the calyptra, internally, to a point on 
the seta; which would have the effect, as the seta elongated, of 
_ tearing off a narrow strip, and carrying the point upwards with 
_ the calyptra, finally to be released, and eventually becoming 
 straightened, when the calyptra became mature or fell off. de 
