Mr. Hooker's Observations on Andrcea. 385 



it llielast ; by which means its affinity to Jungermannia, with which 

 the next order llcputkce begins, will l)c pointed out. Yet it is 

 to be.i'egretted that, by so doing, according to the present ar- 

 rangement of Musci, it must be so widely separated from the 

 genus Sphagnum, to which in many particulars it bears a most 

 striking resemblance, and in none more so than in the white suc- 

 culent ycdlcellus* and irregularly torn cali/plra, a part of which 

 frequently remains at the base of the capsule. If it were neces- 

 sary in an artificial arrangement to regard more particularly na- 

 tural affinit}', perhaps at some future time it would be found 

 desirable to alter the present disposition of the genera of Mosses, 

 and begin with those whose peristomium is of a more compli- 

 cated structure, — for example, with Buxbaumia, which, according 

 to Dr. Mohr, has a treble row of teeth, — and thus descend suc- 

 cessively through Ilypnum, and those with a double and single 

 peristomium, to Gymnostomum, Phascum, SpJiagnum and Andrcea. 



The most striking similarity between the latter genus and Jtni' 

 germannia is in the fleshy or rather succulent peduncle, the deep 

 brown colour of the capsule, and the circumstance of its open- 

 ing into four valves ; to these may be added the absence of an 

 internal membrane to the capsule, and the irregularly torn ca- 

 lyptra, which is not cut round transversely (circumscissa) as in 

 most of the Mosses. But if we examine more attentively the 

 structure of the capsule of Andrcea, a nearer approach to the true 

 Musci may be readily discovered, and wc shall not fail to meet 

 with all the important characters of that order. Bridel in his 

 Muscologia, i. p. 3, defines a moss to be " Pianta fructu calyptrato 



* I have called this a pedkellus in compliance with the generality of Muscologists ; 

 but it is in reality an elongation of the receptacle in Andrcea as well as in Spkcignum ;. so 

 that these two genera differ from all other Mosses in having the capsule really sessile. 



et 



