452 38. CINC. rONTIXALIOIDKS. [CL. XXIV. 



point, of an olive-green colour, which, by drying the part, be- 

 comes dark green. The texture of the leaves is very thick 

 granular, almost opake, indistinctly cellular. A strong green 

 nerve runs to the point : this also is persistent, when the pa- 

 renchyma of the leaves is consumed by water, and these re- 

 mains of the leaves appear as merely short iibrcs on the low- 

 er part of the stem. 



In the axillae of the leaves we find sometimes male, some- 

 times female buds, in considerable numbers. The covers 

 of these buds are of a yellowish red colour. In the male 

 buds the covering leaflets have no nerves, and are ovate; 

 in the female they are lanceolate. In the male buds we find 

 green knobs, with intermingled sap-tubes ; in the female we 

 find tender red pistilla, with fine sap-tubes standing between 

 them. From these buds rises the fruit, but on a very short 

 stalk, scarcely half a line in length, whence it is commonly 

 overtopped by the covering leaves. The capsule is perfectly 

 elliptical, smooth, olive-green, and afterwards of a brownish 

 red colour. Where the operculum rests on the capsule, the lat- 

 ter is of a red colour. The former is conical^ with the point 

 standing rather obliquely, and the twisted peristome is im- 

 pressed upon it. The calyptre is even, mitre-shaped, and 

 sphts transversely at the base. After the operculum has fal- 

 len off*, the peristome appears, which is beautifully red and 

 simple. It consists of thirty-two pretty long, hair-shaped, 

 divided, and in the dried state, twisted teeth, which at the 

 base are partly united with, and partly penetrate each other. 

 The seeds are small dirty-green spheres. 



Diagnosis and Affinity. 



The moss which most nearly resembles this is Anooctangi- 

 urn aquaticiim Hedw., which likewise grows in running water, 

 and has a dark green colour. But tlie leaves of the latter 

 are much longer and smaller, always falcated, and bent to one 

 .side : the fruit-stalks are father longer, and hence the cap- 

 sules are more prominent than in our species. But espe- 

 cially the peristome is wanting in An. aquaticum : it like- 

 wise grows only in waters south of Austria. Our moss can 



