139 



SPHAGNUM INTERMEDIUM, &c. 



Dr. E. Braitbwaite has given descriptions and plates of two 

 additional species of Bog Mosses in the " Monthly Microscopical 

 Journal" for February, 1875, to which we must refer for a copious 

 synonymy and other particulars not included in the following- 

 abstract. 



Sphagnum intermedium. Hoffm. (S. cugpidatum var. /3. recurvtim. 

 " VVils. Bry. Brit.,"j7. 21.) 



Dioicous. Plants robust, straight, in large dense or lax tufts, 

 yellow-green, pale green, or sometimes pale ferruginous above, 

 pale brown or whitish below. Stems 6-12 in. high, greenish - 

 white ; the cortical cells small, thin, not porose, in 2-3 layers ; 

 woody zone narrow, pale yellowish. Cauline leaves reflexed, rather 

 small, ovato-triangular, minutely auricled, without fibres or pores, 

 broadly bordered with narrow cells, the apex somewhat obtuse 

 with 3-5 small teeth, not involute at margin. 



Branches 4-5 in a fascicle, two divergent, and arched down- 

 ward, the rest pendent, attenuated, closely adpressed to the s*em, 

 and concealing it ; those of the coma numerous, short, obtuse, 

 squarrose-leaved, forming a large dense capitulum ; retort-cells 

 elongated, perforated, and slightly recurved at apex. 



Branch leaves densely imbricated, erecto-jDatent, broadly lanceo- 

 late, involute in the upper part, when dry with the margins undu- 

 late, and points recurved ; apex with 2-3 minute teeth. Boi'der of 

 2-4 rows of extremely narrow elongated cells ; hyaline cells of the 

 upper half elongated, filled with annular and spiral fibres, and with 

 a few small pores; of the lower half very long, with annular fibres 

 only and no pores ; chlorophyll cells free on the posterior surface, 

 trigono-compressed in section. 



Male ameutula fusiform, subclavate, ochraceous, the bracts ovate, 

 acuminate. Capsules numerous in the capitulum, exserted, and 

 also in the upper fascicles. Perichsetium yellow-green, the bracts 

 broadly oval, pointed, concave, without .fibres or pores ; lower 

 ovate, acuminate, recurved at apex, upper elliptic, oblong, emai-gi- 

 nate. Spores yellow. (Plate xcii.) 



var. /3. i^iparitrm. 



var. y- i-obustum. 



Hub. — Open moorlands, wet heaths, &c. /?• in deep pools. 

 Woolston Moss, Cheshire, y- Eastern Europe. 



Sphagnum cuspidatum. Ehrhart. ("Eng. Bot.," t. 2092.) 

 • Dioicous. Plants very soft, in loose, submersed, or floating 

 tufts ; light green, deep green, or more or less tinged with yellow 

 or brown. 



Stems slender, flaccid, pale green, 6-18 in., or sometimes several 

 feet in length ; cortical cells not porose, larger, well defined, in 

 2-3 strata. 



Stem leaves ovate-oblong, pointed, with the margins involute at 



