238 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



NEW AND RARE MOSSES FROM DIFFERENT 

 AND DISTANT PARTS OF SCOTLAND 



By Dr. JAMES STIRTON, F.L.S. 



FROM a heterogeneous mass of plants, chiefly lichens, I 

 picked out, the other day, a small parcel of mosses gathered 

 on Ben Lawers in July 1855, on the occasion of my second 

 visit to that famous mountain. Amongst them I detected 

 Timniia Norvegica (Zett). Several years afterwards, this 

 moss formed the subject of a somewhat lengthened 

 correspondence between Mr. W. Wilson, author of the " Bry. 

 Brit." and myself. He maintained throughout, his original 

 opinion that this moss could not be otherwise reckoned than 

 as a form of T. megapolitana (Hedw.). Along with this grew 

 another smaller Timniia which, at the time, must have 

 escaped observation. My curiosity aroused I renewed my 

 researches amongst my later collections from the same 

 mountain and secured several additional tufts of this smaller 

 Timniia. After due comparison with different species of 

 this peculiar genus, and more especially with those sent to 

 me by the late Prof. Schimper of Strasbourg, I am con- 

 strained to separate it from the others and to elevate it to 

 the rank of a species. 



The peculiarity which mainly characterises species of 

 this genus is the protrusion of the anterior cells of the pagina 

 and nerve. From a little above the basal portion of the leaf 

 to near its apex, these protrusions present themselves in 

 the form of large, nearly semi-globose, hyaline bullae, much 

 resembling those seen on the posterior surface of the broad 

 nerve in several Campylopi. The height of these protrusions 

 above the general surface varies in different species from .005 

 to .017 mm. All the species that I have examined have 

 such bulls with the exception of T. Austriaca, but even in 

 this, faint indications of their presence may be detected under 

 a high power of the microscope, but for purposes of diagnosis 

 these bullse may be reckoned awanting in that species. 



Timniia scotica. In small tufts varying in height from 

 half an inch to nearly two. Stems generally simple (rarely 

 dichotomously divided), upright ; leaves rather laxly disposed, 



