36 CRYPTOGAMIA MUSCI. 



rate, crisped when dry ; fruitstalks erect, 1 inch ; capsule sub- 

 erect, furrowed. 



Hal. In fissures of rocks by rivers, and in deans, forming 

 tufts of a bright pleasant green, surmounted, in April 

 and May, by its elegant globular fruit, not uncommon. 

 The variety with the stems much lengthened out, I 

 have gathered at the base of Cheviot. 



2. B. fontana, stems csespitose, branched ; branches straight, 

 erect, fastigiate ; leaves short, closely imbricated, ovate, acumi- 

 nate, serrulate ; fruitstalks 2 inches, erect ; capsule oblique, fur- 

 rowed. 



Hal. Wet spongy places in our moors, common. June. 



" Besides the branches which produce capsules, there are 

 others terminated with a radiated calyx, consisting of 5 

 or 6 leaves, surrounding a dusty orange-coloured disk, 

 which HALLER affirms to be the origin of the future 

 branches, into which the stalk will be divided." LIGHT - 

 FOOT. 



3. B. arcuata, stems elongate, irregularly branched ; branches 

 spreading ; leaves patent, lanceolate, acuminate, striate, serrated ; 

 " fruitstalks very short, curved, at length lateral ; capsule smooth, 

 globose." 



Hal. In bogs on elevated moors. Coldingham Moor, 

 Rev. A. Baird. Lamberton Moor ; but not in fruit in 

 either place. 



This, and many other mosses which grow in bogs, have their 

 stems densely clothed with a brown woolly substance, the 

 nature of which seems still imperfectly understood. Some 

 consider it a distinct plant; others believe it to be merely 

 the radicle fibres of the moss. Its entangled mode of 

 growth ; its situation, for it creeps up the whole stem, and 

 is not confined to the base ; the uniformity of its appear- 

 ance in the different species ; and the fact that mosses in 

 general have no roots of the kind, militate against the lat- 

 ter opinion, which rests merely on the observation that 

 there is an organic connection between the fibres in ques- 

 tion and the moss, a circumstance which perhaps is to be 

 expected in a parasitical plant. The filaments, whatever 

 be their nature, are wiry, and very much branched, the 

 branches diverging and spreading, without any appearance 

 of joints. 



