743 



' The Phytologist,' I find the following question — " Are the plants 

 published under the name of C. regia and C. alpina, in the Lanca- 

 shire fera list (Phytol. 477), identical with the Lay ton plants ? " In 

 reply to this question, I would say that our plants, so far as my ob- 

 servations have gone, are referrible to one species : if I were to 

 consider them more than one species, the C. regia of Smith and the 

 Layton plant would not be the same, nor would either of them be the 

 true C. alpina : the C. regia of Smith and the Layton plant are as 

 distinct as any two forms 1 have seen. I cannot at present give your 

 correspondent any particulars concerning my Cystopteris, as most of 

 them are now in the hands of Mr. Newman ; but if looked over 

 there will be found a few specimens of the Layton plant, and one of 

 Sir James Edward Smith's C. regia, winch is from his own hands, 

 and likewise a specimen of the Snowdon plant, which is from one of 

 the parties mentioned by Smith ; and I think that if Mr. Newman 

 looks over my Cystopteris (those from Broadbank and Cliviger) he 

 will find amongst them plants that are not very unlike Smith's C. 

 regia, and others which are somewhat like the Layton plant, and 

 perhaps a few others which are quite as distinct as any of the forms 

 pointed out by Smith and others. — Id. 



370. Note on Vaucheria terrestris, Protonema muscicola, S^c. 

 Having observed the Vaucheria terrestris, DC, to be almost con- 

 stantly accompanied by the young state of some moss — probably 

 Tortula unguiculata — 1 am inclined to think that this Alga is merely 

 a young state of the moss, previous to the development of the stem 

 and leaves. This is confirmed by a remark of Hooker, in his fifth 

 vol. of the ' English Flora,' who says that Byssus velutina, L., must be 

 excluded from the list of cryptogamic plants, as it has been observed 

 to be a young state of one of the Polytricha. This Byssus velutina 

 is quoted by Vaucher, in his work on Confervas, as a synonyme of his 

 Ectosperma terrestris, and this again is a synonyme of Vaucheria 

 terrestris. This would seem to prove that the genus Vaucheria is 

 nothing more than a rudimentary state of various mosses. Hedwig 

 states that the sporules of mosses, in germinating, produce ramified, 

 cylindrical, primordial leaves, of indeterminate number, and that 

 these leaves are more permanent in Phascum serratum, &c., than in 

 most mosses. But the vaiious species of Vaucheria are said to bear 

 fruit, and that they are reproduced by the ovoid vesicles observed in 

 their ramifications. 1 do not think there will be any great difficulty 

 in explaining this away, for we observe many cryptogamic plants 

 which, when })artially developed, put on a totally dilferent appearance 



