HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



2/1 



H. scorpioidcs. All these have from time to time 

 fruited here, but on this occasion none but barren 

 specimens fell under my notice. Campy/opus 

 flexnosus, forming a soft green velvet on the wet 

 heath, could not escape observation whilst crossing 

 the upper part of the moor in order to reach the 

 road. 



Taking the footpath leading through the village of 

 Boswednan, I found myself in the green shady lane 

 which skirts the Trengwainton ponds, and leads up 

 the valley. Dicranum scoparium, Hypnum pnc- 

 longum, and IP. cupressifornie, were collected on the 

 way, and (being just those common things which one 

 is so likely to overlook) safely lodged in the vasculum. 

 A recess in the hedge, tapestried with Sibthorpia and 

 overhung with ferns — one of those fairy-like nooks of 

 greenery which nobody but the moss-hunter ever sees 

 — produced Hypnum denticulatum, Milium hornum, 

 and Fissidens bryaides. Thuidium tamariscinum was 

 growing in profusion in the old hedge, at the foot of 

 which there is a half-boggy strip of ground well 

 worth twenty minutes' search. Very conspicuous by 

 the bright green colour of its soft tufts was Sphagnum 

 cymbifolium, var. squarrosulum, a form in general 

 appearance very closely approaching 6'. squarrosum 

 (which I did not find) although differing in structural 

 characters. Here I also found Polytrichum commune 

 (very tall), Hypnum aispidatum, Sphagnum sub- 

 secundum, var. co?itortum, Bartramia fontana, and 

 Hypnum stramineum, and a rather starved specimen 

 of H. ochraceum on a stcne in the stream which 

 runs at the side of the lane. 



A few hundred yards up the valley may be seen a 

 singular cavern-like excavation in a high gravelly 

 bank, probably at one time a gravel pit, but long 

 disused ; this cave is lined, roof as well as sides, with 

 that little gem among mosses, Schistostega »smundacea. 

 Standing at the narrow entrance you will see gleams 

 of glittering sheen, paler, greener, and colder than 

 burnished brass, and suggesting to my mind the 

 sparkle of the glow-worm's light. This metallic 

 brilliancy is caused by the light being in some 

 peculiar manner reflected by the confervoid threads 

 of the prothallus ; it disappears on close inspection, 

 and also on removal of the plant from its natural 

 habitat Here and there upon the gravelly sides of 

 the cave Plcuridium subulatum, in fine fruit, was 

 growing intermixed with the Schistostega. On the 

 earth-topped wall at the side of the path were three 

 mosses which may be found everywhere in similar 

 situations : Polytrichum piliferum, P. juniperinum, 

 and Ceratodon purpureas ; and on the lichen-covered 

 stone hedges, Ptychomitrium polyphyllum, and 

 Racomitrhim heterostichum. „ 



Arrived at the end of the path bordering the 

 plantation, a magnificent landscape of heath and 

 rock, trees and cornfields, opened out to the view, 

 every shade and tint of colour brought out with that 

 vivid distinctness which belongs only to a sunny 



September morning. Crossing the little bog which 

 lies in the lowest part of the valley immediately below 

 Trengwainton Cam (where I gathered a fine form of 

 Sphagnum cuspidatum), I ascended the heathy hill- 

 side, just now in the pride of its autumnal beauty. 

 The great boulders and weatherworn stones were 

 sprinkled with tufts of Racomitrhim fasciculare and 

 Hedzvigia ciliata, the latter perhaps the most lovely 

 of all saxicolous mosses. Amongst the heath stems 

 and bracken Hypnum splendens, H. purum, H. 

 triquetrum, and H. Schreberi, formed large tussocks, 

 spring}' and soft as air-cushions : whilst H. squar- 

 rosum was pushing up its star-tipped stems wherever 

 there was a little moisture. 



The rugged crest of the earn (a Cam in Cornwall 

 becomes a Tor in Devon) towered up stern and gray 

 high above my head, and the huge masses of lichen- 

 spotted rock presented tempting attractions ; but the 

 hours had slipped by unnoticed, and there remained 

 a considerable bit of ground to hunt over ; so merely 

 gathering Andrtxa Rothii and Bryum alpinum, I 

 strode rapidly on to Madron Well, or rather Madron 

 Chapel, a ruin of great antiquity and much interest. 

 On the ivy-covered walls I found Neckera pumi/a and 

 Fissidens taxifolius, with Bartramia pomiformis close 

 by ; and then I made way for the road leading to 

 Bossouljack. Curiously enough I stumbled upon 

 Leucobryum glaucum, which was luxuriating among 

 other mosses on the hedge-bank, a rather unusual 

 habitat. The descent of a kind of ravine, locally 

 called " Break-neck lane " (an appropriate name, for 

 it might have been the bed of a mountain torrent, 

 judging by its present condition), brought me to the 

 village of New Mill, on the Gurnard's Head Road. 

 By this time my vasculum had become heavy, and 

 there still remained the Trevaylor Valley to explore, 

 which could not fail to add several species. 



The elder-trees on the roadside were covered with 

 mosses — Homalothecium sericeum, Ulota phyllantha, 

 Ciyphaa heteromalla, Orthotr-chum diaphanum, and 

 Didymodon rubcllus ; and the soft mossy banks on the 

 opposite side of the road consisted in part of Dicranum 

 majus. All the way down the Trevaylor Valley 

 the stones amongst which the noisy little stream 

 bubbles and plunges are clothed with mosses, 

 Hypnum flagellare being perhaps the most noticeable 

 by its fresh green colour. H. plumosum, H. heterop- 

 terum, Milium puuetatum, and Racomitrium aciculare, 

 all grow in abundance along the streamside, and 

 Fontinalis squamosa floats down in long waving 

 streamers ; Fissidens polyphyllus occurs here and 

 there on the banks, at times attaining a length of 

 several inches. 



In moist shady hollows nestling among fem roots, 

 Hookeria lucens was flourishing in rich luxuriance, and 

 close by it the pale Hypnum undulatum, and the 

 lovely little H. elegans, which I once found fruiting 

 here abundantly in one small spot. On every side 

 the tree trunks were literally "with verdure clad" 



