465 



OATHIRINEA TENELLA Rohl. IN BRITAIN. 



By Ernest S. Salmon. 



(Plate 393.) 



In May last Sir James Stirling showed me the locality in Bedg- 

 bury Wood, near Goudhurst, Kent, for Catharinea angastata Brid., 

 lately discovered there by Mr. W. E. Nicholson. Amongst the 

 G. angiistata we found another species of Catharinea , which, as noted 

 in this Journal for August last, proved to be C. tenella RohL, a new 

 moss for Britain. Last October, Sir James Stirling, Mr. W. E. 

 Nicholson, and myself visited the locality, and found a few fruiting 

 plants. I have compared these with authentic continental speci- 

 mens of C. tenella, and find that the British plants agree well with 

 them in all characters. 



I propose to give a description of G. tenella, so as to direct the 

 attention of British bryologists to this plant, which miy certainly 

 be expected to occur in other localities. 



The most detailed description is that of Limpricht in Raben- 

 horst's Gnjptogameii -Flora, Band iv. Abth. ii. p. 598. As this work 

 may not be generally accessible, I will quote the synonymy and 

 diagnosis (in translation) given there : — 



*' 0. TENELLA Rohl. in Ann. Wett. iii. 234 (1814). Mnium 

 orthorrhynchum Brid. Spec. Muse. iii. 45 (1817). Polgtrichwn undu- 

 latum ft minus Funck, Moost. 70 (1820). Bryum Polla orthoryncha 

 Brid. Bryol. univ. ii. [i.] 691 (1827) [1826]. Atrichum tenellum 

 Bryol. Eur. fasc. 21, 22, Monogr. p. 9, t. 4 (1844). 



" Dioicous. Tufts lax, i to 2, rarely 3 cm. high, dirty yellowish 

 green. Stem slender, simple, yellowish green, densely leaved, in 

 transverse section angular, central strand ill-defined, nut poly- 

 trichoid, all the cells thin-walled. Lower leaves small and squami- 

 form, above quickly becoming larger, soft, erecto-patent, when dry 

 curled and crisped at the margins, oblong to elongate-lanceolate, 

 3-41 mm. long, and 1 mm. broad, keeled, scarcely undulate ; 

 lamina smooth at back, or in the upper leaves with a few distant 

 spines, bordered with a narrow bistratose margin, spinose with 

 single or double teeth from the apex to below the middle. Nerve with 

 2-4 lamellae, spinose at back towards the apex, biconvex, two rows 

 of Deuter cells, one row of central cells, the upper stereid band 

 rudimentary. Leaf cells rounded-hexagonal, 0-018-0-024 mm., 

 basal rectangular (1:2 to 4). Seta -|- to 2 cm. high, slender, 

 yellowish, becoming flesh-coloured, above slightly turned to the 

 right, with a cylindrical cavity in the foot ; vaginula with a delicate 

 laciniate ochrea. Capsula slightly inclined, about 2 mm. long, 

 I mm. thick, obovuid to oblong and urn-shaped, dirty yellowish 

 brown. Galyptra almost sm.ooth, often remaining behind on the seta. 

 Lid as long as the capsule, rostrate from a hemispherical shining 



Journal of Botany. — Vol. 36. [Dec. 1898.] 2 k 



