Bkown. — On Ncio Zealand Musci. 437 



excurrent nerves, which are red iu the substance of the 

 leaves ; margin slightly reflexed, not thickened, but com- 

 posed of two or three rows of narrower cells than those of 

 the rest of the pagina ; seta long, stout, red ; capsule red, 

 pendulous, narrowly obconical ; lid sharply conical, apiculate, 

 deep-red, shining. 



" Allied to Br. obconicum." — Stirton, op. cit., p. 188. 



Bryum bulbillosum, Montague. 



" Description of this moss in MilUer's Synopsis (ii., p. 301) 

 agrees pretty well with the character of the New Zealand 

 moss, and, iu the absence of any more definite indications, it 

 has not been thought advisable to separate them." — Stirton, 

 op. cit., p. 188. 



Art. XXXVII. — Notes on the New Zealand Musci. 

 By Egbert Brown. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 3rd August, 1898.] 



Plate XXXVIII. (in part). 



Genus Weissia, Hedwig. 



This genus is composed of species which have ovoid or ovoid- 

 oblong capsules, oblique operculums, single peristomes, 16 teeth 

 free to the base, without a medial line, entire or perforate, 

 annulate or exanuulate and cucullate calyptra. 



The species are of various habits : some of them grow in 

 small tufts on rocks or in crevices ; others grow in dense 

 patches on damp banks ; one species was found by Mr. Donald 

 Petrie growing in swampy ground near Mount Pembroke, and 

 he has kindly consented to allow it to be recorded in this 

 paper; it is named Weissia petriei. Nearly all the species 

 have alpine or subalpine habits, although some of them are 

 occasionally found near the sea-level. 



In the " Handbook of the New Zealand Flora " five species 

 of this genus have been described as belonging to New" Zea- 

 land, two of which have been identified as being similar to 

 European species — viz., W. controversa and W. crispula. 

 I have seen no New Zealand example of the former species, 

 although I have searched for it wherever I have been botanis- 

 iug ; neither does it occur in the large herbariums of Mr. Bell 

 and Mr. Wright, who have allowed me to examine their valu- 

 able collections. The plants originally identified as W. con- 

 troversa were collected by Sir J. D. Hooker at the Bay of 



