DICRANUM UNDULATUM 109 



Die. Bonjeanii. De Xotaris.- Syllab. Muse. p. 213 (1838). c. 

 MU1. Synop. I. p. 3G9. (1849). 



D. palustre, Bryol. Eur. Wilson, Bry. Brit. 



D. undulatum, Turner, Mus. Hib. 



Seta solitary ; stem erect ; leaves more or less erecto-patent, 

 straight, from a broad linear flat base, broadly oblong-lanceolate, 

 gradually narrowed into a strap-shaped point, tapering into an 

 acute apex; lightly undulate above, canaliculate ; margin acutely 

 serrate above, the teeth uniform in shape and direction ; nerve very 

 narrow, vanishing below apex, smooth at the back ; cells at base 

 short, quadrate, brownish ; above elongate-hexagonal or parallelo- 

 gramic, the uppermost elliptic oblong. Schimper erroneously 

 describes this species as having leaves " serrated on the back," so 

 that it seems barren specimens of the two species are liable to be 

 confounded by the best authorities. De Notaris, in his " Syllabus," 

 points out the difficulty of distinguishing them, a difficulty which 

 does not seem greatly lessened in our own day, especially since 

 both are subject to considerable variation. The British specimens 

 of D. undulatum certainly show little approach to the falcate direc- 

 tion, usually observable in continental specimens. De Notaris, in 

 his Epilogo della Briol. Ital. points out that La Pylaie's specimens 

 of Dicr. palustre (Bridel Bryol. Univ. i. p. 814) belong to Campy- 

 lopus flexuosus, and hence the name Bonjeanii is to be preferred. 



I hope on a future occasion to illustrate the subject of these 

 notes by figures, and in the meantime leave the point to be further 

 elucidated by our numerous collecting bryologists. 



Note on Sphagnum neglectum. — I have just received a letter 

 from Prof. Lindberg, in which that great Bryologist informs me 

 that he has identified Sphagnum neglectum, Angst., with an original 

 specimen of Sph. laricinum, Spruce. This celebrated observer 

 detected the plant in 1846, in Terrington Carr, Yorkshire, and 

 since that time its place in the genus or its title to specific rank 

 has never been settled ; Sph. neglectum therefore drops into a 

 synonym, and the species must stand as Sph. laricinum, Spruce. 

 The figure 6x in my plate, representing a section of the leaf, is 

 erroneous, for the chlorophyllose cells are elliptic and central, just 

 as in Sj)h. subsecwidum, to which, indeed, S. laricinum appears to 

 stand in the relation of a sub-species. Angstrom described both 

 S. laricinum and S. neglectum as species in the " Ofver. Vet. Ak. 

 Iorhandl.," for 18G5, but Prof. Lindberg points out that the Lap- 

 land specimens collected by him and published under No. 712, in 

 Rabenhorst's " Bryotheca," as Sph. laricinum, and also those of 

 Austin's " Mnsci Appalach," do not belong to the species, but to S. 

 cuspidatum. Fine specimens of S. laricinum in fruit, from the 

 Island of Aland and Stockholm, accompanied the note. — R. 

 Braithwaite, in " Monthly Microsc. Journal." 



