202 Mr. R. Spruce 07i the Musci and Hepaticse of Teesdale. 



Although fully satisfied that this is the moss described in the 

 'Bryol. Em*./ having compared it with an original specimen 

 from Bruch (given me by Mr. Wilson), 1 have had great diffi- 

 culty in persuading myself of the validity of its specific claims ; 

 but this has chiefiy arisen from my having got hold of some 

 puzzling varieties, and I now think it may prove a genuine spe- 

 cies ; at the same time leaving it to further observation finally to 

 decide the question. Bruch and Schimper's remark, " Cette 

 espece varie infiniment,^^ would prepare one to expect some ano- 

 malies. 



From Bi\ inclinahim, growing along with it and not very dis- 

 similar in habit, Br. pallescens is to be distinguished by the fol- 

 lowing characters : — The leaves are cuspidate (not acuminate), 

 except on the ramuli and innovations, where they are often nar- 

 rower and run out into a longer point ; their margins only re- 

 flexed, not revolute as in the other : the infloi-escence is normally 

 monoicous : the capsule has a longer neck and is mostly sub- 

 clavate : the operculum is longer : the peristome is larger : the 

 outer teeth far longer, tapering to a very slender point, and closely 

 trabeculate ; and the seeds are somewhat smaller. To tliis may 

 be added, that the outer teeth are strongly inflexed by di-ying, 

 while the processes of the inner stand erect between the inter- 

 stices : this never occurs in the other. 



The form which grows on the sandy margin of the Tees has 

 the inner peristome very fragile, and the cilia scarcely appendi- 

 culate. 



The large and beautifid \ar. from Ettersgill beck has the pedi- 

 cels widely curved, and twisted just below the collum so as to 

 bring the lower face of the cajjsule uppermost. I have found 

 antheridia mixed with archegonia in two out of five or six fertile 

 flowers that I have examined; yet separate gemmaceous male 

 flowers are abundant on the same plants; and in all the other 

 states of this species I have been unable to detect a single her- 

 maphrodite flower*. 



Bryum intermedium, Brid., is considered the nearest ally of 

 Br. pallescens by Bruch and Schimper, from whom I quote the 

 following diagnosis : " Quelque grande que soit la ressemblance, 

 meme dans les varietes, du Br. pallescens avec le Br. intermedium, 

 ces deiLx especes ne sauroient cependant pas se confondre, vu la 

 difierence dans la fleuraison. La premiere espece se reconnait 

 en outre, et dejk a la premiere vue, ^ la couleur plus pale de la 



* I do not conclude from the accidental occurrence of androgynous flow- 

 ers in a monoicous species, that the authors of ' Brj'ol. Eur.' have been alto- 

 gether in error in adoptiug' the inflorescence as a character for discriminating 

 species : nature always refuses to be bound by our artificial rules, and there 

 is no character taken niiiyltj which may not admit of exception. Sexual ano- 

 malies exist amongst Howeving-plants as well as mosses: e.y. in the genus 

 Care.r, Myricu Gale, Lychnis dioica, Brijo/iia din'ica, &-c. 



