208 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH MOSSES. 



Forming broad deep-green tufts. Stem 2-6 inches long ; 

 leaves obtuse, slightly toothed at the apex ; veil clothed with 

 rather short hairs ; sporangium erect or cernuous, solid, gene- 

 rally 5-6-angled ; apophysis obscure ; teeth of peristome sixty- 

 four, short; membrane cribrose. 



2. P. gracile, Menz. ; leaves elongated, lineari-lanceolate, 

 acute ; margin thin, indexed, sharply toothed ; base sheathing ; 

 sporangium erect, on a long fruitstalk, hexagono-ovate ; teeth 

 of peristome irregular, springing from a very narrow mem- 

 brane ; veil shorter than sporangium ; lid rostrate. Hook. Sf 

 Wlls. t. xlvi. ; Eng. Bot. t. 1827. ; (Moug. Sf Nest. n. 418.) 



In turbaries. Common. Bearing fruit in summer. 



Forming dense tufts. Stems matted together with ferrugi- 

 nous rootlets ; leaves shorter than in P. formosum, but with 

 more marked lamellae, larger leaf-cells, those at the base 

 narrow and elongated, those above subquadrate ; sporangium 

 not quite covered with the down of the veil, soft ; apophysis 

 obscure. 



3. P. formosum, Hedw. ; stem elongated, simple ; leaves 

 spreading, lineari-lanceolate, from a pale sheathing base, acute, 

 sharply toothed, plane; sporangium 4-6-angled, obscurely 

 apophysate; lid conico-rostrate ; veil large. Hook, fy IV Us. 

 t. xlvi. ; Eng. Bot. i. 1198.; (Moug. fy Nest. n. 416.) 



In woods. Bearing fruit in summer. 



Forming loose tufts, matted only at the base. Edge of 

 lamellae thickened ; membrane of teeth more elongated ; teeth 

 regular. The indistinct apophysis, the larger lid, and the ab- 

 sence of distinct perichsetial leaves, distinguish this from 

 P. commune. 



2. Sporangium quadrangular ; apopliysis distinct. 



4. P. piliferum, Schreb. ; stem simple ; leaves elongato- 

 lanceolate from a sheathing base, imbricated when dry, 



