14 On Bog Mosses. 



branch leaves are usually somewhat seeund and a little' curved in 

 the direction to which they are inclined. Great diversity also 

 exists in the quantity of threads present in the cells of the cauline 

 leaves, some being almost free from them, while others have them 

 more or less filled to the base. 



Var. /3 is the commonest form in this country, and differs much 

 in appearance from the typical state. The colour is often a fine 

 ochraceous yellow (S. cohtortum ft rufescens, Nees and Hsch. Bry. 

 Genu., Tab. II, Fig. 6*), and not unfrequently the upper part is 

 tinged with vinous-red. The woody layer is well developed, and 

 thus the stem is conspicuous by its brownish-black colour ; the stem 

 leaves are not much larger than those of the typical form, but those 

 of the branches are much broader and more or less glossy. 



This variety occurs on Hampstead Heath, but it also attains a 

 considerable elevation on the mountains, and is attached to deep 

 bogs, where there is a constant supply of water. 



Var. 7 has generally more or less of a purple-brown tinge, and 

 in its extreme form is remarkable for its short, thick clavate 

 branches ; it is, however, completely connected with the Var. contor- 

 tum by intermediate states. I am indebted to Mr. Curnow for an 

 extensive series of specimens collected near Penzance ; some of these 

 are 12 inches long, with the lower part of the stem naked and 

 filiforin, and others quite resemble Sphagnum cymhifolium; he 

 never finds the fruit in the coma, but low down on the older stem, 

 this is due apparently to the rapid growth of the innovations, and 

 from one of these specimens the figure is taken. The woody layer 

 of the stem is less devoloped, and thus imparts a paler hue, and the 

 leaves both of the stem and branches are very large, with wide cells. 



Var. 8 is remarkable chiefly for the large auricles to the stem 

 leaves, composed of loose inflated fibrose and porose cells ; but this 

 character alone is not sufficient to give it specific rank ; and the 

 colour, and presence or absence of fibres in the hyaline cells, are 

 equally valueless for the purpose. It is to be feared that this 

 interesting variety no longer exists at Hayward's Heath, but the 

 figure is taken from an original specimen, for which I am indebted 

 to my friend Mr. Smith of Brighton. Sphagnum polyporum 

 Mitten in Herb. Mus. Brit., also from Hayward's Heath, is a form 

 with more obtuse leaves, those of the stem having the cells fibrose 

 and porose even to the base. The Lapland specimens collected by 



o 



Angstrom and distributed as Sjrt. auriculatum under No. 713 and 

 714 in Kabenhorst's Bryotheca, are very different from the English 

 specimens, and belong, 713 to Var. turgidum, 714 to Var. con- 

 tortum. 



Var. e I have not seen, but it is probably represented by the 

 specimen 2086 in the Bryotheca, collected at Kremsmiinster by Dr. 

 Potsch. Schliephacke also finds it at Jeziorki in Galicia, and states 



