REPORT ON THE BOTANY OF THE ISLANDS OF THE SOUTHERN OCEAN. 171 



cellulis hexagono-oblongis versus folii apicem brevioribus areolata. Theca in pedunculo 

 brevi globoso-pyriformis, ore truncate- magno, operculo perfecte conico, calyptra longirostris, 

 basi plurifida, laciniis ad operculi basin descendentibus. 



Caulis 1-2 cm. altus. Folia 2-2, 50 mm. longa, satis firma, viridia, Pedunculus 1 mm. 

 parum longior. 



Very different from most of the known species of this group by its taller stem, but in 

 other respects not different. 



Aphanorhegma serrata, Sullivant, the typical species of the group to which Physcomi- 

 trium brevisetum belongs, and which it very nearly resembles, so nearly agrees in appearance 

 with Physcomitrella patens, that the specimens collected by Drummond were distributed 

 with that name — Phascum patens, and it really only differs in the fruit in the same way 

 as Phascum bryoides differs from Pottia. And although this character — the closed 

 capsule — seems well marked in some species of mosses, there occur species in which the 

 operculum is well defined, and it becomes difficult to know whether it falls off in the 

 usual manner or is persistent. 



Besides Plnjscomitrium serratum, there are the Physcomitrium immersum, Sull., 

 from the United States, Physcomitrium pusillum, Hook. f. et Wils., from New Zealand, 

 Physcomitrium cyathicarpum, Mitt., from North- West India, Physcomitrium cubense, 

 Mitt., from Cuba, and Physcomitrium niloticum, Del., from Egypt, and another South 

 African species collected by Capt. Eooper at East London — Physcomitrium rooperi: Theca 

 subglobosa operculo parvo distincte limitato persistente 1 calyptra ad medium thecse 

 descendens, folia suprema apiculata apicem versus serrulata. And Physcomitrium giberti: 

 Physcomitrium, immerso, simillimum sed foliis magis spathulato-oblongis et theca a basi 

 lata versus orem angustata calyptra operculum planiusculum apiculo parvo tantum obte- 

 gente, Uruguay. — M. Gibert. All these species are closely allied to each other in size and 

 mode of growth ; they are in Europe represented by Physcomitrella platens, which is 

 most usually a very little less in stature ; such species are generally supposed to be very 

 short lived. It is certain that Physcomitrella patens is able to come to maturity in three 

 or four months in situations covered at other times by water, but it is in some situations 

 more than an annual species. 



Ditrichum conicum. Mitt. 



Aschistodon conicum, Mont, Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 3, iv. 109, et Syll. Crypt., p. 42. 

 Cijnontodium conicum, Mitt., Muse. Aust. Am., in Journ. Linn. Soc. Lond., xii. p. 44. 

 Leptotrichum montagnei, C. Mull., Synop. Muse. Frond, i. p. 448. 



Tristax da Cdnha. Moseley. 



Tall stems, barren, but to all appearance the same as specimens from South Chili. 



