BOTANY 



it was clear that they must represent the growth of many months, prob- 

 ably of several years, and this without connection of any kind with the 

 soil or other matrix, so that the nutriment must have been obtained 

 entirely from atmospheric moisture ; they were however perfectly fresh 

 and vigorous. No doubt detached stems of the moss, the ordinary form 

 of which was growing in close proximity, had been carried at various 

 times by the wind into the hollows, where the moisture of the air, to- 

 gether with the natural vitality, apparently a marked character of this 

 species, combined not only to resist decay, but even to promote growth, 

 resulting in the very unusual phenomenon described. . . . The Rev. 

 C. H. Waddell informs me that the same curious growth of P. alopecurum 

 here described has been observed in Ireland by the curator of the 

 Fernery, Botanic Park, Belfast, who called it " the rolling moss," and 

 described how it grew without roots and was blown about from place to 

 place by the wind ; he kept it as a curiosity among his ferns.' ^ 



In the following lists of some of the more uncommon or noteworthy 

 species the term ' characteristic ' must be taken with some latitude. It 

 is rarely that a moss is so absolutely confined to any particular matrix as 

 never to occur elsewhere, and it must not be assumed that this is the 

 case here. Hypnum revohens and H. intermedium, for example, here given 

 as characteristic of calcareous bogs, are indeed with us found only in the 

 highly calcareous bogs of north and south Northamptonshire, but this 

 is by no means universally the case. 



MOSSES CHARACTERISTIC OF CALCAREOUS BOGS 



Philonotis calcarea, Schimp. 

 Hypnum stellatum, Schreb. 

 — revolvens, Swartz 



Hypnum intermedium, Lindb. 



— falcatum, Brid. 



— commutatum, Hedw. 



MOSSES CHARACTERISTIC OF NON-CALCAREOUS BOGS OR MARSHY 



GROUND 



Sphagnum cymbifolium, Ehrh. 



— subsecundum, var. contortum, Schimp. 



— acutifolium, Ehrh. 



— intermedium, HofFm. 

 Splachnum ampullaceum, L. 



Aulacomnium palustre, SchwSgr. 



Philonotis fontana, Brid. 



Bryum pseudo-triquetrum, SchwSgr. 



Hypnum cordifolium, Hedw. 



— giganteum, Schimp. 



MOSSES CHARACTERISTIC OF THE [OOLITIC] LIMESTONE 



Ditrichum flexicaule, Hampe 

 Ceratodon conicus, Lindb. 

 Pottia recta. Mitt. 



— bryoides, Mitt. 



— lanceolata, C. Mall. 



— Starkeana, C. Mali. 



— intermedia, FOrnr. 

 Tortula pusilla, Mitt. 



— lamellata, Lindb. 



— ambigua, Angstr. 



Tortula rigida, Schrad. 



— aloides, De Not. 

 Barbula sinuosa, Braithw. 

 Weisia tenuis, C. Mall. 

 Trichostomum crispulum, Bruch 

 Encalypta streptocarpa, Hedw. 

 Orthotrichum anomalum, var. saxatile, 



Milde 



— cupulatum, Hoffm. 

 Ephemerum recurvifolium, Lindb. 



1 Journ. o/Northanli Nat. Hist. Soe., vol. x. pp. 250, Z79. 

 83 



