106 3RYACE.^. [Leptotrichum. 



excurrent, serrate at the apex : calyj^tra descending to the 

 middle of the capsule : capsule narrowly oblong or cylindri- 

 cal, erect or slightly curved, regular; lid short-beaked; teeth 

 attached to a somewhat large basilar membrane, mostly free 

 but sometimes partly connate in the upper part, very variable, 

 nodulose, more or less distinctly papillose. — Syn. i, 454. 

 Trichostomum tortile, Schrad. ; Bryol. Eur. t. 179 ; Sulliv. 

 Mosses of U. States, 26. 



Var. pusillum, Schimp. Plants and capsules smaller; 

 leaves ovate, concave at base, subulate. — Trichostomwm 

 pusillum, Hedw. Muse. Frond, i. 78, t. 28. Leptotriclium 

 ])usillum, Hampe, Linnaga, xx. 74. 



IIab. Sandy and gravelly ground, by roadsides, and in open fields in 

 hilly districts ; the variety near Philadelphia [James). 



Trichostomum tenue, Hedw. (Spec. Muse. 107, t. 24), collected by 

 Mxililenherg at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, still remains an uncertain 

 species, of which nothing is known but from Hed wig's description and 

 figure. It differs from i. tortile in its large double annulus, the more 

 solid brownish-red capsule, and the plane margin of the leaves. 



2. L. vaginalis. Differs from the preceding species in its 

 slender slightly longer stems, a longer sheathing perichaetium, 

 whose imbricate leaves are gradually narrowed or lanceolate- 

 subulate to a shorter blunt apex, the narrower capsule, the 

 larger annulus, and the smooth strongly articulate or nodose 

 teeth. — Trichostommn pusillum, var., Hook & Wils., Drumm. 

 Muse. Amer. (Coll. II.), n. 60 and 61. 2\ vaginalis, Sulliv. 

 Muse. Allegh. n. 176, Mosses of U. States, 26, and Icon. 

 Muse. 43, t. 28. T. tortile, var. p>usillum, Muell. Syn. i. 454, 

 in part. 



Hab. Clayey and sandy soil in tlie Middle States ; not rare. 



Trichostomum nodulosiim, Aust. (Bull. Torr. Club, vi. 74), is merely a 

 variety of this species, as the only character indicated by the author as 

 specific is the peristome, which is smooth in his species, and which he 

 asserts to be papillose in L. vayinans, contrary to Sullivant's description 

 and figures. The last species is itself separated with great difficulty and 

 uncertainty from L. tortile, which has the annulus a little nari'ower, 

 though compound, and the segments of the teeth (says Schimper) very 

 minutely papillose. That this last character is casual is proved by the 

 fact that in liis observations in co-operation with Mr. Sullivant, the 

 writer always found the peristome of the species smooth and even shin- 

 ing, while Austin has found it papillose. In my opinion this L. vaginalis, 

 though admitted by Schimper, is a mere form of the very variable 

 L. tortile. — (Lesq.) 



