The Scottish Naturalist. 125 



REGENT ADVANCES IN BRITISH BRYOLOai. 

 By the Rev. J. FERGUSSON. 



DURING the past year very considerable progress has been 

 made in investigating the bryology of the country. A 

 considerable amount of light has been thrown upon plants which, 

 until now, have been the objects of doubt and discussion; and 

 tlieir true position and character have been finally determined. 

 Many new localities for several of the rarer species have been 

 discovered, and species previously unknown as British, or er- 

 roneously regarded as such, are now, on satisfactory evidence, 

 shown to be entitled to a place in the British list. Besides this, 

 interesting and unsuspected varieties of well-known species have 

 been detected ; and bryologists being at present more on the 

 alert than usual, are likely to detect something of consequence in 

 the course of the present year. 



In a recent number of the ' Naturalist,' Mr Whitehead has 

 raised anew, and, we think, finally settled, the question whether 

 the European plant usually called Hypnum {Plagiothecimn) elegans 

 be identical with that gathered by Menzies in Vancouver Island 

 in 1787, and so named by Hooker in his ' Musci Exotici.' Mr 

 Spruce was of opinion that they were not, and in consequence of 

 this distributed our European plant under the name of Hypimm 

 Borreria?ium. On the other hand, Wilson, who examined both 

 plants, pronounced them to be identical ; and his decision has 

 been generally accepted, although Lindberg has recendy with- 

 drawn the assent which he gave to it in 1867. Mr Whitehead 

 adopts the opinion of Spruce, and gives the following reasons for 

 doing so. The American plant is described and figured by 

 Hooker as having ovate-lanceolate, scarcely pointed leaves, cer- 

 nuous capsule, and red outer peristome, whereas the European 

 plant has leaves so strongly acuminate as to be almost pihferous, 

 horizontal, or sub-erect, capsules, and a pale-yellow outer peri- 

 stome. Upon the whole, we think that the difference in the 

 forms of the leaves of tlie two plants by no means warrants their 

 separation as distinct species, for our Bridsh plant is very variable 

 in the form of its leaves as well as in the colour of its stems ; but 

 the direction of the capsule, and, above all, the colour of the 

 outer peristome, seem insurmountable objections to the two 

 plants being included in one species. This conclusion renders 

 imperative the rejection of the name by which our European 



