MOSSES. 89 



great quantities on the banks of the Swale about Rich- 

 mond. The walls between Richmond and Easby 

 nourished small forests of drooping urns. Here we 

 found the Drooping Thread moss, (B. cernuusm, fig. 1 7,) 

 with its fresh green oval pointed-leaves, and small urn ; 

 the greater matted species (B. capillare, fig. 1 3), its leaves 

 boasting a thickened border and a hairy point, the 1 

 commonest of the genus ; and the lesser matted Thread 

 moss (B. ccespiticum, Jig. 15), with its rosy tinted urn. 

 Near Hastings we once found a tiny Thread moss with 

 deep red urns, it was the Bloody species, (B. sanguineum, 

 fig. 16.) About Edinburgh I have seen garden walks 

 and pavement covered with a small moss, its glossy 

 foliage contrasting charmingly with the purple drooping 

 urns ; the leaves are short, concave, and pointed, this is 

 the dark purple thread moss, (B. atro-purpureum.) Grow- 

 ing on walls and by way-sides we find the Silvery Thread 

 moss, (B. argenteum, Jig. 14), growing in glittering 

 patches, its urn is reddish, but rounder than that of the 

 Purple species, to which the whole plant bears a close 

 resemblance. We found it on the walls at Easby. 



But the kino; of all the Thread mosses is the Rosaceous 

 (Bryum roseum, fig. 18). The leaves grow in a cluster 

 at the top of the stem ; they are broad and bend 

 outwards, so as to resemble in form the petals of a 

 rose. When first I saw it, by the side of the Twisted 

 Screw moss, I imagined it to be a state of the 

 Tunbridge fern, its leaves were so large, and its 

 stems so long. It is rarely found in fruit. It is 

 the largest species, its star-shaped cluster of leaves, 



