30 HANDBOOK OF MOSSES. 



opposite rows, with an abundance of purple fruit-stalks, 

 capped by the slightly inclined capsule, which has a conical 

 lid. The fruit-stalks are usually inserted near the base of 

 the stem, and examination with a lens will show the male 

 flowers immediately below the fertile flowers. Hypnum 

 purum will also frequently be found in such places, growing 

 in great, scrambling masses. This moss has a beautifully 

 pinnate stem ; the leaves are pellucid, light, glossy green, 

 very concave, blunt, and terminated by an abrupt, recurved 

 point. The fruit, which is very rare, must be looked for in 

 November. On the lower part of these banks, coating any 

 stray stone, or broken bough or tree root, and forming 

 dense, matted patches of bright green, Amblestegium serpens 

 will be frequent. This is a minute species, with abundant 



FIG. 18. Fissidens bryoides. i, plant slightly enlarged. 2, conduplicate leaf 

 much enlarged ; 2 a, axillary male flower ; 2 a', the same more highly magnified ; 

 2 a", antheridia. 3, capsule ; 3 a, slightly beaked (rostellate) lid. 



thread-like branches ; it will usually be found in abundant 

 fruit, a noticeable character being the little white calyptra 

 which surmounts the capsule. This will be in good fruit 

 about April or May. 



_Marly and clayey banks will yield such mosses as Fissidens 

 bryotdes (fig. 18, i), a very beautiful little moss, known by its 

 flattened foliage, with leaves on opposite sides of the stem, 

 looking very fern-like, fruit-stalk arising from the top of the 

 stem and surmounted by an erect reddish capsule, with a 

 cone-shaped lid, and a fringe of sixteen bifid teeth. The 

 fruit of this moss ripens from October to the end of the 

 year. A larger species, Fissidens taxifolius, will frequently 

 occur with this j but the fruit-stalk arises from the base of 



