170 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



propagated by means of these propagula, is now beginning 

 to produce capsules in greater proportion as time goes on ; 

 while the propagula, although still produced, are seldom 

 matured, but fall off at an early stage, and at times are 

 scarcely perceptible at the apices of leaves. 



Last year, during the months of August and September, 

 at Onich on Loch Linnhe, I spent a considerable portion of 

 my time in investigating its moss flora. What interested me 

 most was the presence, in great profusion, of species belong- 

 ing to what is now recognised as the genus Mollia. Although 

 I scarcely agree with the extended limits proposed for this 

 genus, it is a fairly natural one. The section of this genus 

 to which I wish more particularly to draw attention is that 

 in which M. tortuosa may be reckoned the type. One of 

 the main features of distinction in this section is the peculiar 

 acumen from the apex of the leaf. This has very generally 

 been reckoned a mere extension of the nerve ; but it differs 

 in constitution very materially from the nerve, wherein the 

 long, very slender, tube-like cells, traversing the latter in a 

 dense, opaque medium, are very characteristic. This acumen 

 presents a flat, narrowly triangular space, with the acute apex 

 upwards. It is much broader below than the nerve at its 

 junction with the latter, and shows besides a clear, homo- 

 geneous, hyaline or tawny matrix, in which are seen long, 

 narrowly elliptical or fusiform cells rather widely detached 

 from one another, containing at first chlorophyll, then be- 

 coming merely granular, and not infrequently showing a 

 nearly translucent appearance. 



In Mollia tortuosa this acumen is much longer than in 

 the others allied to it, and varies in length from .15 mm. to 

 four times that length, and shows besides very generally 

 bluntish hyaline spines on its surface. In this section such 

 is almost unique. For the second time in all my lengthened 

 experience of cryptogamic botany this otherwise very common 

 moss was discovered in fine fruit. Along with it, and often 

 growing intermixed, was detected M. thrausta (Strn.). This 

 moss is readily distinguished from the former by the long, 

 narrow, nearly linear upper part of the leaf, length 1.5 -.2 

 by .12 mm., terminating in a very short, nearly triangular 

 acumen of the same structure as already indicated, length 



