H2 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



different from that of D. varia, as well as different from that of 

 Leptotrichum honiomallum, var. zonal inn, to which, however, the 

 moss from Ben Lomond belongs, inasmuch as, in the latter, the 

 cells are nearly linear and narrow, much as in the main form. 



LEPTOTRICHUM CONFERTUM. Very compactly tufted, green or 

 greenish above, dark red below ; stems simple or bifurcate ; leaves 

 densely disposed, minute, about 0.65 mm. long, slightly incurved 

 when dry, spreading somewhat and straight when moist, from a 

 broadly oblong base, rather abruptly narrowed into the short, slightly 

 concave, entire subula, margin entire throughout ; nerve broad, one- 

 third breadth near base, thin, indefinite at the edges, reaching or 

 protruding a little beyond pagina ; cells minute throughout, quadrate 

 or rhomboid, 0.009 to 0.013 by 0-005 to 0.007 nim., with several 

 cells at central base a little longer, viz., 0.017 mm - ( on King's Seat, 

 near Killin, 1868). 



The cells are larger than those of L. flexicaule. 



In the western ravine of Ben Lawers I discovered, in 1865, a 

 curious moss. 



HYPNUM ANOMALUM. Stems slender, straggling over the ground 

 or other mosses, long, undulating, pale, ultimately nearly black, 

 emitting at irregular intervals secondary stems, which in turn are 

 irregularly, but not infrequently somewhat pinnately, branched ; 

 leaves rather closely set in a complanate, almost distichous, manner; 

 broadly ovate acute, not acuminate, or only slightly so ; gibbous, i.e., 

 the lower border of the pagina rounded at the base, narrowly attached 

 to the stem, or not infrequently terminating on the nerve at its base ; 

 the upper wing of the pagina broad where it is attached perpendicu- 

 larly, not transversely, to the stem, and there margin often shortly 

 incurved, margin plane strongly serrated all round ; nerve strong, 

 yellow, at times reddish near base, tapering, and ceasing a little 

 below apex ; cells at alar base in a small group, roundly oblong, 

 concolorous (or reddish), o.oiS to 0.024 by 0.009 to 0.012 mm. ; 

 rest of cells narrowly and acutely rhomboid, or even fusiform, 0.04 

 to 0.06 by 0.004 to 0.006 mm., a little broader near base and 

 blunter near apex ; leaves on the main stem scattered, more 

 acuminate, and nerve relatively shorter. I cannot associate this 

 moss with any other. Hypnuin distans comes near it, but its leaves 

 are quite symmetrical, etc. One rosette is present, composed of 

 narrow, squarroso-recurved, serrated, narrowly-acuminated leaves. 

 This in all likelihood contains organs of generation. 



In the same patch with the preceding grew a Plagiothecium, 

 having leaves terminating in long hair-like acumina, much as in 

 P. piliferum. The latter I discovered in 1864 on Ben Voirlich, by 

 Loch Lomond, growing throughout a form of Dicranum uncinatum. 

 The present differs from it in several important particulars. 



