I860.] ORTHOTRICHUM ANOMALUM. 359 



with the plant of Continental authors. It would also appear more 

 than probable that a similar misconception of the plant of Hook, 

 and Tayl. exists in the minds of all foreign bryologists, as no- 

 where^ so far as I know, do we meet with any description of the 

 plant in accordance with our views of it in this country, more 

 especially as to the eight-striate capsule. If such a state had 

 occurred, it is singular that it should not have been noted either 

 in Bry. Eur. or in the later Synopsis of Professor Schimper. 

 Such variations, when they do occur, have attracted the obser- 

 vation of authors, as sources of probable perplexity, and have 

 consequently been placed on record. In 0. cnpulatmn, for in- 

 stance, the normal state of which is to have sixteen uniform strise 

 on the capsule, it occasionally, hid rarely, happens that it has 

 only eight, and unless we were aware of this fact, it might give 

 rise to much difficulty in determining its correct identity. In 

 confirmation of this I may here mention, that not long ago, my 

 friend Mr. Palgrave, of Liverpool, sent me specimens of a Moss, 

 gathered on trees near Bolton Abbey, with only eight ribs on the 

 capsule, but which in all other respects accorded perfectly with 

 0. cujmlatum, as confirmed by my friend Wilson, to whom I sub- 

 mitted them. 



If such a variation had existed in connection with 0. anomalum, 

 — and why it should not I cannot say, — surely it must have been 

 noticed in a plant whose geographical range is so wide and ex- 

 tensive that it may be truly deemed cosmopolitan. Schimper 

 remarks, when referring to this, " I have received it from Green- 

 land, and also from Algiers ;" and yet amongst the innumerable 

 examples that he must have seen from all parts of the world, 

 none would seem to have presented themselves with characters 

 analogous to those found in this country, or at all at variance 

 with the description as given in Bry. Eur. The inference then 

 is all but certain that the plant known and found in Britain has 

 not yet been recognized as a denizen of the Continent ; and yet, 

 again, in Bry. Eur., the synonym of Hook, and Tayl. and of Bry. 

 Brit, are quoted without the least hesitation ! 



Much of the obscurity and mysticism, however, in which this 

 subject has been hitherto involved, is, I am happy to believe, 

 now put in a fair way of being explained, or, at least, greatly 

 modified. In the month of June last, a friend of mine, Kobert 

 Luckman, Esq., of this place, was on an excursion in Scotland, 



