FUNARIACE.E. 



[ 279 ] 



species of which (F. hygrometricd) is well- 

 known on account of the hygroscopic cha- 

 racter of its fruit-stalk, which twists in dry- 

 ing, and untwists again when wetted. 



1. Funaria hyyrometrica, Hedw. 



2. F. Muhlenberyii, Schwagr. 



3. F. hibemica, Hook. 

 FUNARIACE.E. A family of Funarioi- 



deae (Acrocarpous Mosses), of loosely-tufted 

 or gregarious habit, growing on the ground ; 

 the stem loosely leaved, very simple. Inflo- 

 rescence monoecious; antheridial flowers 

 disk-shaped, mostly terminal on a special 

 branch. Antheridia small, oval. Archegones 

 small, narrowly apiculate. Paraphyses fili- 

 form at base, club-shaped and articulate at 

 the apex. Peristome, if present, cartilagi- 

 nous, red, streaked, with solitary, oblique, 

 trabeculate teeth. 



British Genera. 



I. FUNARIA. Capsule asymmetrically 

 arched (fig. 261) ; orifice oblique, very small; 



Fig. 261. Fig. 262. 



F. hibemica. 



Fig. 261 . A ripe capsule with its twisted seta. 

 Fig. 262. An immature capsule, covered by its calyptra. 

 Magnified 25 diameters. 



stalk much curved, elongated, very hygro- 

 scopic and twisting. Calyptra ventricose- 

 dimidiate, rounded at the base, obtuse, 

 shorter than the capsule, or larger and trun- 

 cate at the base (fig. 262). Peristome dou- 

 ble, erect ; outer of sixteen, oblique, broadly 

 lanceolate-subulate, trabeculate teeth, with 

 appendices near the point (fig. 263), chained 

 together at the apex by a reticular disk ; the 

 inner as many as the outer, opposite and 

 adnate at the base, lanceolate, granular, with 

 a longitudinal line. Cells of the operculum 

 circinately -reticulate at the apex. 



FUNARIACE.E. 



Fig. 263. 



^y 



F. hibemica. 



Teeth of the peristome, with appendices. 

 Magnified 150 diameters. 



II. PYRAMIDIUM. Calyptra squarely-py- 

 ramidal, apiculate, entire at the base, far ex- 

 ceeding the capsule, totally covering it, in- 

 flated and persistent, bursting at the middle 

 of the side, longer. Capsule symmetrical, 

 erect, pyriform, without a peristome. Oper- 

 culum regularly areolate. J?is. 264. 



III. PHYSCOMITRI- 

 UM. Calyptra mitre- 

 shaped, split at the 

 base into several laci- 

 niae, entire below, much 

 shorter than the cap- 

 sule, with a long api- 

 culus. Capsule sym- 

 metrical, straight, pyri- 

 form, without a peri- 

 stome. Operculum re- 

 gularly areolate. 



FV. ENTOSTHODON. Physcomitrium pyriforme. 

 Calyptra bladder-like, Capsule, mag. 25 diams. 

 dimidiate, with a long apiculus, entire, 

 rounded or truncate, readily splitting. Cap- 

 sule symmetrical, pear-shaped, straight, or 

 declined on an arched stalk, with or without 

 a peristome. Peristome, if present, horizon- 

 tal, erect when dry, simple, internal wanting 

 or scarcely perceptible, composed of very 

 short lacinioe. Teeth lanceolate, without 

 appendages, simple or twin, flat outside, 

 trabeculate within, mostly oblique at the 

 summit, connivent but not connate. Oper- 

 culum regularly areolate. 



V. AMBLYODON. Calyptra hood-like, nar- 

 row, very fugacious, longish, very slender, com- 

 posed at the apex of very small, thickened, 

 square cells. Capsule asymmetrical, pear- 

 shaped, straight, with a peristome and an 

 annulus. Peristome double, external : teeth 

 sixteen, short, lanceolate, obtuse, erect, tra- 

 beculate with a slender longitudinal line; 



