Amblyodon.] ERYACE^. 211 



segments, sometimes partly cohering by the lacerate borders; 

 cilia none or rudimentary. 



« 



78. CATOSCOPIUM, Brid. 



Plants slender. Leaves open, erect, lanceolate, acutely acu- 

 minate with a strong percurrent costa; perichsetial leaves 

 longer, half-sheathing to the middle ; areolation small, quad- 

 rate-oblong or rectangular, opaque. Flowers dioecious, the 

 male gemmiforra. Calyptra long, narrowly cucullate. Cap- 

 sule small, globose, thick, dark brown, black when old, polished, 

 narrowed by its short collura to the twisted pedicel (1 or 2 cm. 

 long). Lid short, conical, obtuse. Peristome simple ; teeth 

 short, irregular, punctulate. Annulus none. 



1. C. nigritura, Brid. The only species, with the char- 

 acters of the genus. — Bryol. Univ.. i. 368, t. 4 ; Bryol. Eur. 

 t. 313. Weisia nigrita, Hedw. Muse. Frond, iii. 97, t. 39. 



Hab. Lake Superior, in boggy meadows [Agassiz); Lake Huron, 

 Ontario (Macoun). 



A very rare species in North America, easily known by its small globose 

 blackish capsules, resembling pinheads. The genus, though abnormal in 

 its characters, is more nearly related to the Meesieoe than to any other 

 group of mosses. 



79. AMBLYODON, Beauv. 



Plants short. Leaves remote, few, the upper tufted, all thin, 

 soft, very loosely areolate. Flowers bisexual and unisexual on 

 the same plants, the male with few or no archegonia. Capsule 

 thin, stomatose. Lid narrowly conical. Teeth half as long as 

 the narrow segments ; cilia none. 



1. A. dealbatus, Beauv. Leaves oblong-ovate and lingu- 

 late-lanceolate, the comal only minutely serrate toward the 

 acuminate apex, whitish when old, twisted when dry; costa 

 dirty brown, vanishing below the apex: capsule soft, long- 

 pyriform, turgid and attenuated to a long neck, which is 

 abruptly narrowed to a long fleshy pedicel, twisted to the left 

 when dry: spores large. — Prodr. 41; Bryol. Eur. t. 307. 

 Brijicm dealbahtm, Dicks. Crypt. Fasc. ii. 8, t. 5. Meesia 



