56 BKYACE^. [Weisia. 



borders : calyptra reaching to the middle of the capsule : cap- 

 sule oval-oblong, of thick texture, slightly constricted under the 

 orifice, wrinkled lengthwise when dry, light brown ; pedicel 

 twisted to the right ; lid long-beaked, straight or bent ob- 

 liquely ; teeth very vai'iable, linear-lanceolate, broad or narrow, 

 often truncate or bifid at the apex with two to five articula- 

 tions, sometimes merely rudimentary and scarcely distinguish- 

 able ; annulus narrow, persistent. — Bryol. Univ. i. 334 ; Bryol. 

 Eur. t. 21. W. controversa and W. tnicrodonta^ Hedw. 



Var. stenocarpa, Muell. Capsule narrower, subcylindri- 

 cal, thin-walled, substriate, greenish brown ; lid long-beaked, 

 cernuous or curved ; teeth nearly entire. 



Var. densifolia, Muell. Plants larger, more densely cespi- 

 tose : leaves crowded, narrower ; teeth imperfect. 



Var. amblyodon, Muell. Leaves shorter and broader: 

 teeth truncate, very short or scarcely perceivable, pale. — 

 TK gymnostonioides and W. microstoma^ Nees & Hornsch. 

 W. Brandegei^ Austin, Bull. Torr. Club, vi. 46. 



Var. gymnostomoides, Muell. Plants small: leaves 

 shorter than in the normal form: capsule small, elliptical; 

 teeth rudimentary, scarcely visible. — 7F! gymnostomoides, Brid. 

 ITymenostomum microsto^num, Austin, Muse. Appal, n. 63. 

 Gymnostom.ii'in Hauanum,^ Austin, Bull. Torr. Club, v. 21. 



Hab. On the ground in meadows, broken fields, borders of ditches, clay 

 banks, etc.; var. stenocarpa in Arkansas {F. L. Harvey); var. amblyo- 

 don in Colorado, (Brandefjee); the last variety near Bethlehem, Pennsyl- 

 vania {E. A. Eau, F. Wolle), on rocky ground, Palisades of New Jersey 

 (Austin), New England {James). 



The most common, most variable, illusive and ambiguous species. 

 Among the numerous forms which have been at different times con- 

 sidered and described as specific, those described above are the more 

 distinct. To the var. gymnostomoides are to be referred all tlie speci- 

 mens that have been communicated under tlie generic name Hymenosto- 

 mum, which genus is not yet known from North America. 



2. W. longiseta, Lesq. & James. Much like the last in 

 the characters of the leaves, it differs in the dioecious inflores- 

 cence, the numerous male plants with gemmiform polyjohylloua 

 aggregate flowers, the small curved ovate 8-sulcate capsule on a 

 long, very slender, pale yellow pedicel, the teeth of the peristome 

 large, perfect, linear-lanceolate, lacunose along the divisural 

 line, regularly bifid, spreading when dry, and the spores large 

 and ferruginous. — Proc. Am. Acad. xiv. 136. W. viridula^ 



