NOTES ON MOSSES. 135 
acute, entire, nerve longly excurrent; calyptra rather large; 
capsule obovate-elliptical, with a swelling neck, inclined ; lid with 
a straight subulate beak. Also, fruiting in April and May, though 
much less frequent than the last, being found only on chalk cliffs 
and calcareous rocks, is .S. calcarea, the short leaved bristle Moss. 
Of a dull blackish green, the leaves are short; broad, ovato- 
lanceolate ; entire ; nerve flattish and faint, but stronger towards 
apex; capsule turbinate on thick yellowish brown seta, with a 
shortly rostrate lid. 
The summit of Ben Lawers is the only recorded station for the 
very rare Stylostegium cespiticium, the minute tufted beardless 
Moss ; while also fruiting in summer, and found in the northern 
regions, in the fissures of Alpine rocks, is Arctoa, or Dicranum 
Julvellum, the brownish fork Moss. 
Fruiting in June, and not uncommon on rocks in sub alpine or 
hilly districts, is Cyxodontium Bruntont, Brunton’s fork Moss. It 
bears great resemblance to Wezssta cirrhata in the foliage. See 
page 61, but the capsule is more turgid, shorter, and has a very 
different peristome. C. virens is another very rare Moss found on 
Alpine rocks in the Ben Lawers’ province, as also D¢cranella 
Grevilleana, Greville’s fork Moss, and D. arcticum, or Slaciale. 
D. spurium, the wide-leaved fork Moss, is a very fine species, and 
is distinguished by its broad tapering ‘leaves, Although fruiting 
in June, fertile plants are not often found, its habitat being moors 
and bogs in limited localities. Stems covered with radicular fibres ; 
leaves ovate- lanceolate, acuminate, serrate, papillose on the back : 
capsule sub-cylindrical, striated, cernuous. 
The Leucobryacez is a family comprising 65 species remarkable 
for their pale colour and similarity to the Sphagna in the com- 
posite structure of their leaves. They are almost entirely tropical, 
and our British species Leucobryum glaucum is the only repre- 
sentative in Europe. Although common on wet heaths and in 
woods, the fruit, which ripens from October to March, is very rare. 
This rarity of the fruit is compensated by there being commonly 
found on the terminal leaves of the stems of the female plant, a 
minute tuft of woolly fibriles, developing a cluster of young plants, 
which, falling to the ground, grow into a new colony. 
It grows in dense spongy tufts. Stems 1-6in. high, forked ; 
leaves in thirteen rows, soft, patent ; entire, broadly lanceolate, cuspi- 
date with incurved margins. Capsule oval, cernuous, strumose ; lid 
with a long oblique beak. Dioicous. Generic name from eras 
white. Ceratodon cylindricus, the narrow-fruited Fork-Moss, found 
on sandy banks, is not common, and the fruit, which ripens in 
April and May, is very rare. This Moss is not unlike Dicranum 
Crispum, but it may be easily distinguished by the sharply 
denticulate or papillose leaves. 
