150 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH MOSSES. 



more or less inclined, subsym metrical; lid obliquely rostrate. 

 The reticulation is quite different from that of any Hypnum. 



26. LEUCODON, Schweg. 



Sporangium erect, symmetrical ; peristome erect, single, of 

 sixteen entire, perforated, or bifid teeth ; leaf-cells of margin 

 subrotund, of disk, elongated, disposed in lines; secondary 

 stems erect, with descending stolons at the base. 



1. L. sciuroides, Schwceg. ; leaves crowded, densely imbri- 

 cated, erect when dry, spreading when moist, ovato-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, entire, plicate, nerveless ; sporangium elliptic or 

 oblong; lid conical, acute; teeth of peristome perforated. 

 Hook. Sf Wils. t. xx. ; Eng. Bot. t. 1903. ; (Plate 13, fig. 3) ; 

 Moug. fy Nest. n. 321. 



On trunks of trees, walls, etc. Bearing fruit in spring. 



Dioicous; forming bright-green tufts. Stem creeping, 

 throwing up erect shoots, 23 inches long, often beset with 

 axillary buds, thickened at the end and incurved, rarely di- 

 vided ; leaves closely imbricated, erect when dry, spreading 

 when moist, and more or less secund, ovato-lanceolate, but 

 varying greatly in breadth, strongly acuminate, entire, nerve- 

 less, plicate ; cells at edge round, more oblong in the centre, 

 disposed in rows ; fruitstalk ^ an inch long ; sporangium erect ; 

 lid conical, acute ; teeth nearly white, more or less perforated ; 

 ring soon breaking up. 



2. L. Lagurus, Hook. ; stem irregularly branched, tomen- 

 tose; leaves without striae, ovato-oblong, concave, suddenly 

 acuminate or piliferous, serrulate above, nerved halfway; 

 sporangium erect, cylindrical ; lid conical, with a short beak. 

 Hook. Muse. Esc. t. 126. 



Var. /3, borealis ; stem not tomentose; branches tumid; 

 leaves auriculate and serrated at the base, more concave, more 



