1896.] - 235 



MOSSES AND HEPATICS. 

 BY DAVID M*ARDI.i:. 



Thk number of species of Mosses found at Clonbrock is low, 

 and there was a striking similarity of collections made on 

 different parts of the estate. A peculiar feature on the Sheep- 

 pool bog was the patches of Ftinaria hygrometrica^ yards in 

 extent ; the brilliant red colour of the countless numbers of 

 setae and sporangia of the matured plants at once attracted 

 attention, and was visible for a considerable distance. Most 

 of the trees had their stems clothed with many forms of 

 Hyp7uivi cupressiforjfie, notably the var. filiforme, which hangs 

 in long festoons. Orthotrichum crispum selected the tips of 

 branches and luxuriated in neat compact tufts. O. affi?ie was 

 common on the trunks near the base. The ground in the 

 woods was carpeted with Hypmwi trlquctrum 2i\i&H. proliferu7n, 

 with large patches of Dicra^iimi palustre. On the bogs 

 Leucobryum glaucum grew in large hassocks ; Cainpylopus 

 fragilis and C. setifolius were very common ; and in wetter 

 places Aiilacovmion palustre. On the drain-banks Dicranella 

 varia and Fisside?is adiantoides were plentiful, in the streams 

 the water-moss Fo?iti?ialis aiitipyretica was abundant. The 

 Sphagnums were plentiful, and large patches of 6*. cymbifoliiun^ 

 S. papillosum, and 5, rubellum, with many forms of S. acutifolium 

 were collected, in the bog-pools 6*. aispidahim var. phmiosum 

 was plentiful ; it is by no means a common plant. On Doon 

 bog I found S- papillosicm var. coiiferhmi, a rare plant, only 

 found by Professor Lindberg and myself on Connor Hill, Co. 

 Kerry ; it is very close to the rarer 5. Austini, which I took 

 it for at Clonbrock as I did in Kerry, but the microscopical 

 difference is very marked. In the cell-walls the papillae 

 are regular and conical. On Tycooley bog, near the banks 

 of the Shiven River, I was fortunate in finding the rare 

 6". Austi7ti, which differs in its peculiar branching, and in 

 having the cell-walls of the leaves furnished with pectinate 

 ridges. It was first found in Ireland by the Rev. H. W. 

 I^ett, in a bog at Glenariff, Co. Antrim, in 1889, and he 

 afterwards collected it in a bog near Geashill, King's Co. 

 {LN., vol. ii., p. 22), as did Rev. Canon. Russell and 

 myself. These are the only known localities for this 

 rare Sphagntim. There is an excellent figure and descrip- 

 tion of the plant in the Monthly Microscopical Journal, June 



