360 ORTHOTRICHUM ANOMALUM. [Decembe)', 



and although he had no botanical knowledge of Mosses, he 

 amused himself in his rambles by collecting for me such as fell 

 in his way or most attracted his attention. When at Aberdour, 

 in Fifeshire, he gathered, " on rocks," near that place, an Ortho- 

 trichmn perfectly distinct from any that I had j)reviously seen, 

 though in general aspect simulating the ordinary form of O. 

 anomalum. On a more careful and detailed examination, I felt 

 quite convinced it could be only referred to 0. anomalum of 

 Bry. Eur., but certainly not to our indigenous plant so called. 

 The truly oblong, leptodermous capsule, the pedicel shorter, 

 thicker, and less twisted, with its sixteen strise alternately long 

 and short, when dry and empty of its spores usually much con- 

 tracted in the middle, almost urceolate, the mouth wide and di- 

 vergent, the base remarkably ventricose or globoso-ovate, without 

 any evident neck, but terminating abruptly in the pedicel, and 

 the erect, somewhat spreading, rufous, perfectly free and separate 

 teeth of the peristome, were characters that appeared to me to 

 stamp it as unquestionably the genuine representative of the Con- 

 tinental plant. The difference was so marked between it and our 

 native species, as to be obvious at a glance ; I felt quite sure of its 

 true identity, so far at least as could be determined by the de- 

 scription and in the absence of authentic specimens, and that now 

 it was clear and manifest to demonstration, that two widely dis- 

 tinct species had, there could be no doubt, been confounded, and 

 were passing under the same name. The question then arose, to 

 which of these did the appellative of 0. anomalum truly belong ? 

 That it could not apply to both was quite certain, and therefore, 

 of necessity, one of them must be deemed a usurper, or have been 

 confounded with some other species with which I was not ac- 

 quainted. This question, however, as has been already observed, 

 can only be determined by reference to the original specimens of 

 Hedwig, the first founder of the species ; most probably it will 

 ultimately be found that the Continental plant and the Aberdour 

 specimens are really those which will establish for themselves by 

 priority the right to retain the name already given, this form 

 being apparently the one most widely disseminated, and, conse- 

 quently, the one with which Hedwig would be most likely to 

 meet. The Moss hitherto known to us will then become a name- 

 less outcast, and some other appellation, less " anomalous" than 

 it has before borne, will have to be found, by which it may be 



I 



