NEW AND RARE SCOTTISH MOSSES 175 



Britannica, a few years before his death now more than 

 thirty years ago had set himself to determine mosses in a 

 similar manner, and, as about a half of those so determined 

 still hold their place, I am encouraged to persevere in the 

 same direction. At any rate, in the interests of pure science, 

 such work is now considered necessary, more especially as 

 nearly a third of all the mosses in this country cannot, under 

 ordinary circumstances, be secured in a fertile condition. 



In what follows, all figures indicating dimensions have 

 as their unit the micro-millimetre or the millionth part of a 

 metre. This unit is now indicated by the Greek letter p, 

 which, however, is suppressed in this paper. 



MOLLIA LAXULA. Gregarious, dingy green, ultimately reddish ; 

 stems generally simple from a quarter to a half of an inch long; leaves 

 nearly linear lanceolate, from a thin, pellucid, scarcely widened, 

 plane margined, slightly clasping base, widely spreading when moist, 

 circinato-incurved when dry and somewhat spirally contorted in the 

 upper half; margin entire, closely reflexed to near the apex, which 

 is bluntish or rendered acute by several coloured, longish, pointed, 

 smooth cells ; nerve yellow, ultimately reddish, tapering somewhat, 

 prominent behind and papillose nearly throughout, traversed within 

 y 3 to 5 largish, pellucid cellular tubes, ending just below apex or 

 reaching it but not projecting beyond, breadth near base about 70 ; 

 a thin section of the pagina shows a single row of pellucid cells, 7 

 to 1 2 diameter, surrounded, back and front, by a dense, opaque 

 layer giving origin to large papillae which cover both sides of the 

 leaf, accordingly the general areolation is very obscure ; central 

 basal cells pellucid, rectangular, attached, dimensions 35 to 50 by 8 

 to 13, ending transversely in an upward direction; capsule erect, 

 reddish, at first turbinate, at length slightly oblique and oblong on 

 a longish red seta; lid shortly rostrate, teeth 16, pale yellow, 

 separate to the base, lanceolate, erect, not twisted but slightly 

 incurved. Ben Lawers, 1864. 



This moss was detected extruded here and there through a 

 layer of Brachythecium reflexum. I do not care to advance anything 

 further as to the constitution of the peristome, as I have only one 

 capsule with perfect teeth. 



MOLLIA SCAPHOIDEA. Depresso-caespitose, yellowish green; 

 stems mostly simple, occasionally dichotomously divided, from one- 

 eighth to a quarter of an inch in height ; leaves minutely papillose, 

 circinato-incurved in a dry state, slightly spreading and straight 

 when moist, broadly ovate, shortly lanceolate, length about three 

 times the greatest breadth, apex often bluntish, margin entire, 



