THE NATURALIST. 



cida, from the transparent appear- 

 ance of the leaves. In our woods, 

 in spring time, its delicate light 

 green frondage may be found, co- 

 vering the rotten stumps of old trees 

 in considerable abundance. At 

 this time of the year it presents a 

 rather peculiar appearance ; being 

 apparently merely a number of mi- 

 nute cups supported by very short 

 stems, which are hidden by the 

 small transparent leaves. If we 

 place these small cups under the 

 microscope, with 1-inch objective, 

 we shall find they are filled with a 

 number of small granules called 

 gemmae. On increasing the power 

 to the j-inch we shall observe 

 that each of these gemmae is com- 

 posed of a number of cells, arranged 

 in a circular manner, the central 

 ones being full of small granules, 

 the outer ones generally empty and 

 transparent — and further, that each 

 gemma is furnished with a pedicel 

 or footstalk, composed of single 

 four-sided cells placed end to end, 

 by which they appear to be attached 

 to the cup, which bears them. The 

 lower leaves of the stem are ovate 

 and somewhat pointed, with the mar- 

 gin plane and entire ; the nerve is 

 thin and ceases below the apex of 

 the leaf. The fruit which appears in 

 mid-summer, or later, is elevated on 

 a short reddish footstalk, (seta). The 

 capsule, when ripe, is of a yellowish- 

 brown colour, and has a red tumid 



border round the mouth, — the calyp- 

 tra is somewhat whitish, with a 

 brown apex, and is furnished with 

 eight or nine ribs or furrows, reach- 

 ing from the apex to the mouth, 

 each rib terminating in a laceration 

 at the base. The teeth, or peris- 

 tome, are four in number, hence the 

 name (Tetraphis,) and are united, 

 below and inside the mouth of the 

 capsule to the coUumella, which is 

 divided with it into four pyramidal 

 teeth. Bruch and Schimper remark 

 on the peristome of this moss, that 

 " in this genus it does not exhibit 

 the usual composition of 39 primary 

 divisions ; and that each of the four 

 teeth has from 8 to 14 longitudinal 

 striae, the cellular tissues of which 

 they are composed being similar to 

 that of Biixbaumia aphylla. 



In Hooker's Smith's English 

 Botany another species is described, 

 under the title of T. Broivniana, 

 Grev., but this is now removed into 

 a separate genus, Tetradontium, of 

 which two species are described in 

 the Bryologia Europea. 



Synonyms : 



Tetraphis pellucida, Hedwig, Schwa - 

 egr, Bridel, Hooker and Taylor, 

 Bruch and Schimper. 



T. cylindrica, Funck. 



Georgia mnemosyne, Ehrh. 



Mnium pellncidum, Linn. 



Huddersfield, 



April, 1864. 



