464 A. HESSELBO 



Iceland is probably due to the fact that the coast there has been but 

 little investigated. At Husavik the coast cliffs consist of easily weathered 

 tuff which is very poor in mosses, the surface being too much in- 

 clined to crumble away. Grimmia maritima occurred also very sparingly 

 there, and Ulota was not found at all. Like Grimmia maritima it keeps 

 chiefly to the shores of broad fjords; therefore it was not found, or was 

 very rare, in the interior of the deep fjords of East and North-west 

 Iceland, nor did these two species occur at Akureyri. On Vestmannaey 

 Ulota phyllantha was the most commonl}' distributed moss; it occurred 

 abundantly everywhere, reaching up the face of the cliffs and being 

 also found on that side of the latter which faced the interior of the island. 

 It often descended to the ground, it was thus found on the knolls in a 

 wind-torn grass-field on the slopes of Helgafell associated with Rhaco- 

 mitrinm hypnoides and Hylocomiam spp. 



98. Orthotrichum anomalum Hedw. 



S. Iceland: Vestmannaey!; Drangshlid (H. J.;!). 



On Vestmannaey it was rather frequent on tuff-rocks at the foot of 

 Stora Klit and in Heljusdal. The fruit was ripe in the first days of 

 June. Near Drangshlid it was found on dry tuff-rocks, associated with 

 O. rupestre, Grimmia Doniana and Homalothecium. The plants from this 

 habitat form a transition to 0. saxatile, as slender cilia, which easily 

 fall off, are often found on them. The capsule is however 8-striate, 

 and the diameter of the spores is 0,0120,018 mm. as in O. anomalum. 



99. Orthotrichum saxatile Schimp. 



SE. Iceland: Hornafjordur!, on rocks in company with O. Stnrmii. 

 The fruit was ripe in the middle of June. 



100. Orthotrichum cupulatum Hoffm. 



S. Iceland: Vestmannaey!, fr. 



It was growing in the above locality on fallen blocks of tuff at the 

 foot of Stora Klit; in the first days of June it had capsules which had 

 just ripened. 



In older lists this species as well as 0. affine and 0. lejocarpum is 

 recorded from Iceland as collected by Morch; the habitats are not 

 given more particularly, and no specimens of these species are to be 

 found in the collections, so all the records are probably due to con- 

 fusion with 0. Blyttii. 



101. Orthotrichum rupestre Schleich. 



Common all over Iceland except in the north-west, where it has 

 been observed only at the head of Isafjordur near Arngerdareyri. 



It grows on dry rocks and detached blocks in the lowlands, and 

 probably does not ascend higher than about 400 metres above sea- 

 level. The fruit ripens in the first half of July. 



