318 Mr. W. Mitten on the Mosses and Hepaticee of Sussex. 



lycarpus ; folia inferiora lanceolata nervo excurrente mucronata, 

 marginibus erectis, e basi cauli adpresso patentia ; perichsetialia 

 longissima e basi lata convolutacea subulato -acuminata acuta 

 apicibus arcuato incurvis; theca in pedunculo brevi, elliptica, oper- 

 culo brevi apiculato ; flos masculus in medio fertilium ; folia peri- 

 gonialia ovata acuta. 



Gathered in 1836 by Mr. Borrer, near Goldstone Barn near 

 Brighton, growing on a fence bank with W. viridula. 



In appearance this moss differs greatly from all its allies ; the peri- 

 chsetia are crowded together around the central male flower, and their 

 leaves are remarkably long for the small size of the plant. The cap- 

 sules appear to be slightly coloured, but are too young in all the spe- 

 cimens to ascertain if they may be coloured when mature like those 

 of the Pkascum crispum of Drummond's ' Musci Americani,' No. 9, 

 which nearly resembles the present moss, and may belong to the 

 same species. 



77. W. aciculata, Mitten ; monoica ; caulis elongatus, ramulis 

 fastigiatis polycarpis ; folia inferiora e basi latiora erecta lanceo- 

 lata divergentia nervo excurrente mucronata ; marginibus erectis 

 vel parum incurvis ; perichsetialia e basi lata sensim subulata an- 

 gusta acutissima nervo excurrente ; marginibus erectis ; theca in 

 pedunculo brevissimo vel fere sessilis, elliptica, operculo brevi 

 apiculato ; flos masculus ut in W. crispa. 



On clayey soil by a roadside near Hurstpierpoint. 



Nearly resembling W. crispa, but much more slender, with more 

 attenuated and very acute perichsetial leaves, which have the margins 

 erect and not rolled in. The capsules are almost sessile and covered 

 by the pericheetial leaves, and the operculum and calyptra are shorter 

 than those of W. crispa. 



This and the last species present differences from each other, and 

 from the other preceding species, amounting to the same value as 

 those which distinguish W. squarrosa, W. phascoides, W . rostellata, 

 and W. microstoma ; and in all these mosses there is great difficulty 

 in seizing upon any distinctive character which can be readily defined ; 

 yet they cannot well be considered varieties of a single species. TV. 

 crispa and TV. longifolia are both found on the chalk, where as yet 

 no intermediate state has been seen. W. multicapsularis, W. Mittenii, 

 and TV. aciculata are found on clay, and have but little the appear- 

 ance of being varieties of each other : still it is possible that some of 

 these at least may be only states of W. crispa modified by soil and 

 situation. In all the species the leaves are patenti-divergent from an 

 erect base appressed to the stem, and the apices are slightly hooded ; 

 the perichsetial leaves have the margins more or less involute, and, 

 like the cauline, are very papillose. The inflorescence in W. multi- 

 capsularis and W. convolutacea appears to be dioicous, but the male 

 flowers are yet wanting to both species. The flowers of W. Mittenii, 

 although sometimes hermaphrodite, do not essentially differ otherwise 

 from those of W. crispa, which has the male flower sometimes ter- 

 minal. In W. longifolia the male flower remains at the extremity of 



