304 HANDBOOK OP BRITISH MOSSES. 



117. EPHEMERUM, Hampe. 



Prothallus persistent ; sporangium immersed, confluent 

 with the lid ; veil mitriform ; spores large ; leaf-cells large, 

 hyaline, rhomboido-hexagonal. 



1. E. serratum, Mull. ; leaves lanceolate, toothed; nerve 

 less connivent ; sporangium subsessile, subglobose. Hook, fy 

 Wils. t. v. ; Eng. Bot. t. 460, 2106. ; (Moug. fy Nest. n. 803.) 



On the naked soil, whether sandy or argillaceous. Bearing 

 fruit in winter and early spring. 



Mpnoicous ; prothallus dense. Stem scarcely any ; leaves 

 suberect, sharply toothed or almost spinulose, sometimes linear- 

 lanceolate and obscurely toothed, hyaline ; spores yellow ; 

 leaf-cells much elongated. 



2. E. cohserens, Mull. ; leaves ovato-lanceolate, erect, 

 keeled; nerve reaching to the tip; sporangium immersed, 

 subsessile. Hook, fy Wils. t. xxxvii. 



On the ground. Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, Mr. Mitten, 

 Bearing fruit in winter. 



Prothallus abundant. Leaves sometimes nerveless, toothed 

 above, the lower ones nearly nerveless ; sporangium subsphe- 

 rical, pale ; veil mitriform, covering a third part of the spo- 

 rangium. 



3. E. sessile, Br. Schimp. ; leaves rather rigid, suberect 

 or subsecund, linear-lanceolate, narrow, mostly toothed above ; 

 nerve excurrent ; sporangium sessile, immersed, small, round- 

 ish. Hook. % Wils. t. xxxvii. ; Eng. Bot. t. 2829. 



On clayey or chalky soil. Sussex and Cheshire. Bearing 

 fruit in autumn and winter. 



Monoicous; prothallus abundant. Nerve predominant 

 above; leaf-cells not so elongated as in E. serratum and smaller; 

 veil mitriform. 



