MOSSES. 101 



a little bent ; the lid is shaped like a mitre ; but the 

 most attractive part is the crimson fringe. I found one 

 with fruit ripe in January last, in Kent. I did not then 

 know its name or relations ; but I was examining it 

 afresh the other day : and by the thick border to its 

 leaves, its fruit-stalks springing from the top of the stem, 

 and its Ions; lid, I decided that it must be the Common 

 Flat-fork moss (Fissidens bryoides, jft/. 13). 



There are several other species with the fruit-stalk 

 springing from the end of the stem : the Slender Flat- 

 fork moss, the Green Flat-fork moss, and the Alpine 

 Flat-fork moss. All these bear their fruit in winter. In 

 the Fern-like Flat -fork moss (F. adiantoides, fig. 15) 

 the fruit is borne half-way down the stem. It grows in 

 those beautiful combes of Somersetshire, and I found it 

 full of fruit last February. We frequently find the Yew- 

 leaved Flat-fork moss, which bears its fruit on stalks 

 springing from the sides of the branches. A number of 

 stems rise from one base, and extend on every side in a 

 half-procumbent manner ; the urn is turned to one side, 

 and, though you cannot see it thus late in the year, the 

 lid is nearly as long as the capsule, and the veil is white 

 (Fissidens taxifolius,^. 14). This moss ripens its fruit 

 in March. Nearly allied to this is the Marsh Flat-fork 

 moss, whose branches creep to the extent of one or two 

 inches ; and the Short-leaved Flat-fork moss, which 

 prefers fallow ground. 



The chief interest that attaches to these delicate little 

 mosses arises from the fact that Muno*o Park gathered 

 specimens of them in the interior of Africa, which speci- 

 mens are in the hands of the authors of i 'Systematic 



