186 BRYACE^. [Syrrhopodon. 



ovate, cylindrical, slender, contracted at the orilice ; pedicel 

 comparatively long (about two cm.) ; lid long and subulate- 

 rostrate ; teeth short, robust, lanceolate, obtuse, with two or 

 three pi'ominent articulations. — Mosses of U. States, 103, and 

 Icon. Muse. Suppl. 32, t. 20. 



Hab. San Marcos, Texas {Wright, who first collected the moss, 

 though sterile); Southern States, from North Carolina to Florida, not 

 rare. 



Tlie leaves often bear at the apex a cluster of oblong articulate bodies, 

 like those of Aulacomniuiii palustre. 



Tribe VI. TETPvAPHIDE^. 



Plants loosely tufted. Stems slender, erect or very short. 

 Lower leaves very small, distant, squamiform, the upper longer, 

 close and tufting at the apex of the stems. Flowers monoe- 

 cious, terminal, the male gemmiform. Calyptra conical, 

 mitrate. Capsule cylindrical or oval. Peristome formed of the 

 operculum filled with cellular matter and cleft into four parts. 

 Annulus none. Spores very small. 



The Tetraphidece, Disceliece and Schistostegece constitute three pecu- 

 liar groups with no marked analogy to any other tribe of mosses. The 

 first are related by tlie calyptra to the OrtJiotrlrJiece, and by the form and 

 areolation of the leaves to the Bnjece. Tlie growth of the DlsceliecB is 

 that of Epheineriun ; their peristome like that of Trematodon. Hampe 

 considers Discelium nudum as an annual Bartramia. The ScJiistostegeoe 

 have the soft texture of the Sj^lachnece, and for that reason are considered 

 by Schimper as most nearly related to that tribe. 



62. TETRAPHIS, Hedw. (PL 2.) 



Stems long, branching by innovations from under the apex. 



Leaves broadly lanceolate, costate to below the apex. Calyptra 



covering the capsule to the middle. Capsule cylindrical, borne 



on a long straight or geniculate pedicel. Teeth attached below 



the orifice, somewhat long, striate on the back, reddish. — 



Georgia, Ehrh. 



1. T. pellucida, Hedw. Tufts yellowish green : perigonium 

 often deformed, cup-shaped, of broad truncate leaves, enclos- 

 ing small lenticular greenish hyaline short-pedicellate bodies : 

 calyptra very thin, whitish below, more solid and reddish above : 



