133 OBSERVATIONS ON HYPNUM PRATENSE. 
The functions of this orifice remain to be more exactly determined ; 
while its value as a botanical characteristic is still unknown. T hope 
in the summer to pursue the inquiry further: the examination of nume- 
rous fresh specimens at and near maturity is necessary. I venture to 
suggest the term * aéropyle,’ for the opening to which T have drawn at- 
tention. 
R. A. College, Cirencester. 
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE MOSS KNOWN TO 
BRITISH BRYOLOGISTS AS HYPNUM PRATENSE. 
By WILLIAM Mirren, Esq., A.S.L. 
This Moss, although noticed by Turner as a distinct species, re- 
mained neglected in Mr. Borrer’s herbarium for forty years, until the 
specimens were re-examined by Spruce, who identified it with speci- - 
mens he received from Bruch as Hypnum pratense, Koch. This name 
appears first in Bridel, ii. p. 769, who merely says of it, that the speci- 
men in De Candolle’s herbarium appeared to him to be only a poor state 
of H: Schreberi.- In C. Mueller’s ‘Synopsis,’ ii. p. 293, H. pratense 
is referred to H. curvifolium, Hedw. The species appears first de- 
scribed as distinct by Spruce in the Lond. Journ. of Botany, 1845. 
In the * Bryologia Britannica, p. 399, two states are noticed,. the 
var. a being considered identical with the specimens in Drummond's 
* Musci Americani, no. 196 (H. amenum), and stated to be common 
in the Pyrenees, and to have been found in Sussex by Mr. Borrer, and 
the var. B, with less compressed foliage, found in the North of England 
and elsewhere. In Schimper’s ‘Synopsis,’ p. 628, H. pratense is fully ` 
described, having been previously figured in the * Bryologia Europea,’ - 
t. 611; the var. a. being said to grow in marshy fields, and the var. " 
B, with narrower leaves, all faleate secund, is stated to occur in Prussia, 
Silesia, and Britain. In the Oefers of K. Vet. Akad. Fórh. 1861, 
no. 8, M. Lindberg first clearly defined the distinctions between the 
two species hitherto confused in the descriptions of H. pratense, and 
retained for H. pratense ihe species figured in the * Bryologia Europea," 
and distributed in Schimper’s *Stirpes Normales ; and gave to the. - 
species he considered new the name H. arcuatum with a careful de-. 
scription, and it is to this species that all the British specimens appear’ ' 
