MOSSES. 95 



dale. There is a Short-beaked, a Large-leaved, and a 

 Star-leaved species, but they are all rare in Britain, and 

 we have none of us met with them. 



The Cupola moss (Cinclidium stygiuni) group succeeds 

 that of the Thyme Thread moss ; there is only one 

 species, and it closely resembles the Dotted Thyme 

 Thread moss, only the stems are matted together with 

 purple threads, which give a sooty appearance to the 

 plant, and its urns are pear-shaped. It grows in bogs. 



A kind friend sent me a specimen of the Drooping- 

 leaved Thread moss (Paludella squarrosa, j%. 4), which had 

 been sent to her from Knutsford Moor, Cheshire. It had. no 

 fruit, she said, and the long stems were closely clustered 

 together, the leaves being turned back. She had a 

 drawing of the fruit upon a foreign specimen, of which 

 she favoured me with a copy. The group of mosses 

 called after Mees, the botanist, has only two British 

 members. The Long-stalked Meesia grows scantily in 

 Ireland, and the Dwarf Meesia is occasionally found 

 anions the Scotch and Welsh hills, along; with the Lesser 

 Pale Thread moss (Amblyodon dealbatus). 



While rambling in the Richmond woods we came to a 

 place where dead leaves and branches had been burned. 

 A quantity of moss had sprung up among the ashes, 

 resembling a Screw moss, only the fruit stalk was 

 twisted in every direction, the urns were bent, and the 

 dry ones furrowed ; the veil was inflated below, and 

 ended in an awl-shaped beak. The twisting of the fruit 

 stalk shews it to be a Cord moss, and its upper leavi 

 drawn close together, its red bordered lid, and notched 

 border to the mouth, identified it as the Common Cord 



