BRYUM. 193 



ripened, and throwing off their lid. The form of the leaf, 

 its twisted appearance in a dry state, and the hair-like 

 'point by which it is terminated, are the chief marks to dis- 

 tinguish it from the next species, which it much resembles 

 in general appearance. 



16. Bryum ciESPiTiTiUM, Liuu. [Lesser Matted Thread 

 Moss.) Stems short; leaves ovate, acuminated, entire, or 

 very obscurely serrated at the points, their margins shghtly 

 recurved, the nerve reaching to or beyond the point ; cap- 

 sule ovali-pyriform, pendulous. — Eng. Fl. jo. 61 ; Miill. St/n. 

 pt. \. p. 281. 



Wall-tops, roofs of houses, etc., very common. Fr. 

 Spring. This species is found very much in the same lo- 

 calities as the preceding, and the remarks we have made on 

 that species are equally appHcable to the present. They 

 may both be regarded as cosmopolitan, and, like most of 

 that class, vary much in appearance. These variations wc 

 have thought it unadvisable to describe at great length, for 

 two reasons : first, they are so numerous, that the space we 

 wish to devote to more familiar objects would be for a 

 popular work injudiciously abridged; and second, Bryolo- 

 gists are very much at variance as to the claims of the re- 

 spective forms of these variations to rank as species. AYe 



o 



