EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA. 45 



numerous minute pores, chlorophyllose cells central, enclosed by the 

 hyaline, compressed. Pericheetial bracts oblong, obtuse, emarginate. 



Synon. — Sph. laricinum, Spruce, Mss. 1847. Wils. Bryol. Brit. p. 23, ut 

 synon. (1855). Angstr. in Ofv. Vet. Ak. Forh. xxi. p. 197 (1864). Lindb. in 

 Act. Soc. Sc. Fenn. x. p. 263 in not. et p. 280(1872), et in Notis. ur Siillsk. Fn. Fl. 

 Fenn. Forh. xiii. p. 401 (1874). Sulliv. Icon. Muse. Suppl. p. 17, t. 8 (1875). 

 Schlieph. in Verh. d. k. k. Zool. Bot. Gesells. in Wien, 1865, p. 408. Hobk. 

 Synop. Br. Moss. p. 186 (1873). Schimp. Synops. ed. 2, p. 845 (1876). Braithw. 

 Sphag. Brit. Exsic. n. 13 (1877). 



Sph. subsecundum, C. Mull. Syn. Muse. ii. p. 539 (1851) ; spec, bor.-amer. 



Sph. contortum, Sull. Mosses Un. St. p. n, n. 3 (1856). 



Sph. negledum, Angstr. in 6fv. Vet. Ak. Forh. xxi. p. 201 (1864). Lindb. in 

 Journ. L. Soc. xi. p. 468 (1870). Hartm. Skand. Fl. ed. 10, ii. p. 124 (187 1). 

 Aust. Muse. Appal, p. 7, n. 26 (1870). Braithw. in Monthl. Micr. Journ. Oct. 

 1872, p. 157, t. 30. 



Sph. curvifolium, Wils. Mss. Hunt, in Mem. Lit. Phil. Soc. Manch. 3rd ser. 

 iii- P 2 33 (1867). 



Dioicous ; in lax tufts, pale yellow green, sometimes tinged with 

 rufous above, sometimes olivaceous. Stems 4-8 in. high, simple or 

 bipartite, pale, the peripheral layers incrassate, rufous ; cuticular 

 cells in 2-3 layers, rectangular, without fibres or pores. Stem 

 leaves reflexed, broadly ovate-oblong, moderately auricled, con- 

 cave, narrowed upward, the apex obtuse and very minutely 

 fringed ; margin with a border of extremely narrow cells ; the 

 hyaline cells of the upper third of leaf fibrose, with a few minute 

 pores, the rest empty or with a few faintly fibrose at base. 



Ramuli 3-4 in a fascicle, 1-2 divergent, arched downward at the 

 extremity, the others appressed to stem ; their cuticular cells large, 

 the retort cells cylindric, without any projecting neck. 



Leaves of divergent branches when moist laxly imbricated, when 

 dry erecto - patent, subsecund and subfalcate, somewhat glossy, 

 ovate-oblong below, lanceolate-acuminate, the two sides somewhat 

 unequal, very concave, the margin involute in the upper third, 

 bordered by three rows of extremely narrow elongated cells ; apex 

 subacute, with 3-5 minute indistinct teeth ; hyaline cells serpentine, 

 elongated, spirally fibrose, with very few small marginal pores ; chlo- 

 rophyllose cells narrowly elliptic, central, enclosed by the hyaline, 

 strongly compressed. 



Fruit seated in the coma, moderately exserted, perichaetial 

 bracts oblong, obtuse, scarcely bordered, innermost large, con- 

 volute, emarginate, the hyaline cells rather small, lower narrow, 

 upper suboblong with few fibres. 



Male amentula short, subclavate, greenish brown, the bracts 



