MOSSES 77 



sules, each at the end of a strongly twisted stalk 

 (seta). In this case the tubular portion of the 

 peristome is even longer than the upper part 

 where the hair-like growths are free. It is deli- 

 cately marked, as I have endeavoured to show. 



We will now see, with the help of Plates V. and 

 V.a, what some of the various peristome teeth 

 look like under a fairly high power in the micro- 

 scope. We shall at once notice, even if the fact 

 has hitherto escaped us, that they are brilliantly 

 coloured, either some shade of golden-yellow or 

 crimson, or a combination of these two colours, 

 and moreover that they are marked with the most 

 delicate tracery of lines and bars. As I have 

 already had occasion to mention, these markings, 

 though so minute as to be only visible at all when 

 the teeth are highly magnified, are nevertheless so 

 constant as sometimes to constitute a feature by 

 means of which a particular species may be 

 distinguished from another, otherwise almost 

 similar, member of the same family. Fig. 11 of 

 Plate V. gives us some teeth of the Silky Pendulous 

 Thread-moss (Weber a nutans), a moss that grows 

 in fair abundance on sandy banks and heaths, 

 maturing its large pear-shaped capsules, each on 

 a bright red stalk, in May or June. These teeth 

 are a deep yellow in colour, and, as will be seen, 

 are marked with conspicuous bars. The second or 

 inner peristome is also shown in the drawing. At 

 fig. 14 of the same plate we have two or three 



