NOTES ON MOSSES. 63 
rigid leaves, is P. alternifolium, the long-leaved Earth-Moss. The 
leaves are also more dilated at the base, and have a thicker, broader 
nerve ; capsule ovoid, immersed, brownish, with an oblique point. 
Spherangium triquetrium, the triangular dwarf Earth-Moss, is a 
very rare Moss, found only on the Suffolk coast. Also, rare, are 
Systegium crispum, S. multicapsulare, and S. Mitteniz. 
Archidium phascoides, the large-seeded Clay-Moss, is separated 
from the Phascums by its sessile globular capsule, large spores and 
perennial growth, and is the only species found in Europe. 
It is named from apyidtov, beginning, because it is the first and 
most simple of the series. 
It frequents moist banks, heaths, and fallow ground, in a clayey 
or chalky soil; its stems of the first year being + in. long and 
simple, while the following year they are almost 1 in. long, decum- 
bent, branched and elougated, with lanceolate distant leaves. 
Brachyodus trichodes, bristle-leaved, is a very small and slender 
Moss, with leaves almost setaceous. The teeth of the peristome 
-are very short, with a large annulus, and it is the only species of 
this genus. On sub-alpine rocks, chiefly of granite or sandstone. 
Without peristome, though possessing a deciduous lid, is the 
genus fottia, belonging to the family Pottiacee, as are the preceding 
Phascums. 
It is named in commemoration of Professor Pott, of Brunswick, 
and consists of annual or biennial plants, mostly found on newly 
exposed soil, though occasionally on walls in lowland districts. 
The leaves are in five series 2, semi-amplexicaul and spreading, 
ovate-oblong or obovate-lanceolate, with loose quadrate or rectangu- 
lar cells, the lower ones enlarged. 
The excurrent nerve forming a short narrow point or avista. 
Capsule roundish or oval; lid with an oblique beak. Inflorescence 
Monoicous. 
The next common, and also the typical species of this genus is 
fPottia truncata, the blunt-fruited Pottia. It is found on newly ex- 
posed soil in fallows, on banks in gardens, &c. ‘The stems are 
from 3 line to 3 in. long, with leaves widely lanceolate, often wider 
above the middle, acuminate, the margin reflexed, nerve slightly 
excurrent ; capsule truncate, obovate and wide-mouthed ; lid with 
a long oblique beak. (Fig. 23.) Not so frequent as the last, and 
with a different habit, being found on banks and mud walls, is P. 
cavifolia, the oval-leaved Pottia. Wilson remarks, that this is a 
species which varies remarkably, even in the same locality, in the 
length of the leaves, fruitstalk and capsule; the different forms 
growing not promiscuously, but in separate groups; some with 
fruitstalks above 4 in. long, others scarcely a line in length, and 
the leaves equally variable, so that an observer is not easily per- 
suaded to consider them to belong to one species. 
