156 HISTORY OF BRITISH MOSSES. 



On an old Avail near Edinburgh, D. Stewart, Esq. Fr. 

 October to December. Much like the preceding; and 

 specimens which we gathered in the same locality some 

 years after Mr. Stewart's discovery, vary considerably from 

 the above description. Eecent investigations show that the 

 inflorescence is hermaphrodite. 



3. ToRTULA RiGiDA, Turn. {Aloe-like Rigid Screw Moss.) 

 Stem very short; leaves few, linear, incurved, submucro- 

 nulate, grooved, nerved, rigid, the margins involute; lid 

 rostrate, about half the length of the oblong capsule. — Enc/. 

 Fl.p. 43. Barbula abides, Milll. Spi.pt. 1. p. 596. 



On clay-banks in the south of England and other dis- 

 tricts ; near Dublin, and in other parts of Ireland. Er. No- 

 vember. Erom the shorter and less twisted peristome of 

 this species, it has been described as a Tnchostomum [T. 

 aloides). 



In our examination of the various species and varieties of 

 the three preceding species, we are much disposed to con- 

 cur in the opinion expressed by the talented author of the 

 " Musci," in the ' Elora Hibernica,' who says, with reference 

 to them, ''So variable in the breadth of the leaves, the 

 breadth of the nerves, which are sometimes concealed by the 

 involute edges of the leaves, and by the length of the ros- 



