216 THE MICROSCOPICAL NEWS. 
strongly nerved, margin plain; perigonial leaves tapering, very 
acute, nerved to the apex. ’ 
Catascopium nigritum, the lurid Apple Moss, fruits near South- 
port in August, and is known by the dark-coloured or black globose 
capsules. Stems, 1 inch or more; leaves lanceolate, acute, margin 
reflexed, entire, nerved nearly to apex. 
A natural group of Mosses is the genus Sp/achnum, Collar Mosses, 
the name, ozAaxvov, is borrowed from Dioscorides, and was origi- 
nally used for a genus of Lichens, probably S#cfa, and subsequently 
adopted by Linnzeus for this family. 
The capsules are very elegant, and furnished with a peculiar 
swelling at the base (apophysis). The leaves are remarkable for 
their soft, succulent, spongy habit, and are loosely reticulated, 
much contracted when dry. They grow on the dung of her- 
bivorous animals, in a loosely ceespitose manner, and are perennial 
plants. 
S. vasculosum, the large-fruited Collar Moss, occurs only in wet 
places in the more elevated parts of the Highland mountains, fruit- 
ing in July. S. sphericum, the round-fruited Collar Moss, is 
dioicous, fruiting in May and June on dung in moist peaty places. 
Stems }—1 in. long, soft and succulent ; leaves roundish obovate, 
acuminate, scarcely serrate, lower smaller, nerved nearly to apex. 
Capsule subcylindrical ; apophysis somewhat wider than the cap- 
