210 DIPLOPERISTOM1. [Bryum. 



Mnium serpyllifolium. /3. Linn. Sp. PL p. 1577 DHL Muse. t. 53. 

 /. 79. A L. 



HAB. On woods and on walls in shady situations. 

 Besides the difference alluded to under the last described spe- 

 cies, between this moss and B. hornum, we may remark, that the 

 plant is smaller, lax in its mode of growth ; with creeping shoots, 

 which, as Mr. Dalton observes, take root at the extremity; 

 with broader, almost always ovate and fewer leaves, the peri- 

 chaetial ones alone ovate or narrow-ovate, that their texture also 

 is softer, so that they become crisped when dry ; whereas, 

 those of B. hornum are nearly as erect in that state as 

 when growing. The foliage is altogether of a pale but bright 

 green. 



Mr. Dalton, whose late residence at Copgrove in Yorkshire 

 afforded him excellent opportunities for examining the mosses of 

 this family, informs us that he never met with a specimen of 

 the present species with more that one fruitstalk, and he is of 

 opinion that the plant of Dillenius, t. 53. /. 79. M. is a different 

 species. Schwaegrichen confirms this supposition, and has 

 quoted it under his Mnium qffine, of which he says " Mnio 

 cuspidate valde similis sed caulis 2 4 uncialis, valde tomento- 

 sus ; folia latiora et minus acuminata, ssepe obtusa cum mucrone, 

 serrato-ciliata, ciliis patentibus ; setae 2 3 uncialis, plerumque 

 quinque ; quatuor, tres, rare una ;" and to this he refers the 

 Mnium cuspidatum of the Species Muscorum, excluding the 

 Dillenian synonyms A L. Whether a good species or not, 

 we know no instance of its being found in Britain. Dillenius 

 received his specimen from Vaillant. 



END OF THE MUSCI. 



