228 HISTORY OF BRITISH MOSSES. 



two Greek words signifying " sleep," applied by Ray to it 

 and its allies, " on account of some fancied soporiferous 

 property." 



It contains a great proportion of the Mosses, as Milller 

 in his ' Synopsis' has enumerated no less than five hun- 

 dred species, including of course Leskea, which liad been 

 made a separate genus by some Muscologists, on account of 

 the internal cilia of the peristome being absent. 



The general appearance the plants present is that of pro- 

 cumbent or trailing stems, branching more or less irregu- 

 larly, and throwing up from the axils of these stems the 

 elegant capsules which contain their numerous spores. 



Generic Character. — Seta lateral. Peristome double ; the 

 outer of sixteen teeth ; the inner of a membrane, cut into six- 

 teen equal segments, with filiform processes {cilia) frequently 

 placed between them. Calyptra dimidiate. 



Section I. Stems {taken in conjunction toith the leaves) 



2J la ne or jla ttened. 



Subsection 1. Capsules erect. 



1. Kypnum trichomanoides, Linn. {Blunt Fern-like 



Feather Moss.) Leaves broadly scimitar-shaped, serrated 



at the point, lierve reaching to the middle of the leaf ; cap- 



