364- oRTHoTRicHUM ANOMALUM. [December, 



pedicel (a character just pointed out to me by Mr. Wilson), and 

 the permanently pale, geminate teeth of the peristome, can leave 

 no doubt as to which of the two they should be referred. That 

 it is possible, nay, probable, that variations do or may occur in 

 the number of the strise, I do not for a moment question. But 

 when such is the case I should be much more inclined to regard 

 them as an exception which ought by no means to influence or 

 invalidate the rule. 



" Your specimens of Orthotrichum from x\berdour have opened 

 up a mine of perplexity which at present seems to increase as I 

 proceed. However, it is always useful in such cases that the sub- 

 ject should be well ventilated, or, as Shakspeare says, — 



' If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well 

 It were done quickly.' 



I most heartily wish this to be so, for at present it is quite a 

 knotty point, and not a recent one either, as you will find on 

 reference to Bridel and Hook, and Tayl. There is indeed a great 

 mass of lore connected with this subject, more than most people 

 (Scliimper included) dream of. I hardly know where to begin. 



" O. anomalmn of Eng. Bot. has been referred by Hook, and 

 Tayl. and by Bridel (after seeing authentic specimens) to 0. cu- 

 pulatum. Smithes specimens were gathered on rocks near Edin- 

 burgh, and tlie figure shows sixteen striae on the capsule. 



" Furthermore, my brother has gathered for me, on Conway 

 Castle rock, an Orthotrichum which would be called O. anomalum, 

 only that the peristome (a grand point in this case) insists on its 

 being exactly like that of 0. cupulatum ! 



" To increase the perplexity, these very specimens (having a 

 rufo-fulvous hairy calyptra, and much exserted oblong-cylindrical 

 capsules) are intermixed with undeniable examples of 0. cupu- 

 latum. It is therefore a fair inference that O. anomalum of Bry. 

 Eur. is represented and warranted by these Conway Castle speci- 

 mens at any rate; but it remains to be proved that B. and S. 

 ' had the right pig by the ear ' after all. Hedvvig and S-mith are 

 both charged with having mixed and confounded 0. cupulatum 

 and O. anomalum together. 



"Then again we seem to have Avhat would be called by Hook, 

 and Tayl. the true 0. anomalum (cited by Schimper unquestioned 

 in Bry. Eur.) with an eight-striate capsule and the peristome in 



