174 
BRYOLOGY OF CASTLE HOWARD. 
WM. INGHAM, B.A., 
York. 
THE 20th February, 1915, was a glorious spring-like day for 
the Excursion of the Yorkshire Bryological Committee, a great 
contrast to the wet days that preceded it. 
We first examined the quarry close by the station. The 
dominant mosses here were three, all of the genus Hylocomium, 
viz., H. splendens, H. squarrosum, and H. triquetrum. A 
sub-dominant was Bbrachythecium purum, the fisherman’s 
moss, as he uses it for scouring his worms. On the sides of 
the grassy hillocks was Thuidium Philiberti. On loose stones 
at the side of the quarry were the minute moss Seligeria doniana, 
and the glossy moss Plagiothecium depressum. On the cart- 
track leading into this quarry was Barbula Hornschuchiana in 
flat patches with adust complexion. The B. purum (a rare 
fruiter) fruits well here. 
Proceeding along Crambe Beck we found the great rariety 
Wetsia calcarea var. viridula lining the face and sides of a small 
depression on a bank. Here also was Fissidens incurvus mixed 
with Ff. ¢axifolius. We next took a long walk to the Castle 
Howard Quarry. Many small estuarine sandstones are 
scattered over the floor of the quarry, and the surfaces of these 
stones are kept sufficiently moist by shade, and by the dripping 
of water from the grasses, to support a rare moss in abundant 
fruit. This is Brachyodus trichodes. The writer has a speci- 
men of this moss from the highest land in Britain, the summit 
of Ben Nevis, but mostly barren. This species was also found 
on the vertical face of a rock in situ, in shade, and therefore 
damp. Polytrichum urnigerum and Dicranum Bonjeani var. 
calcareum were also found here. 
We found our way thence, guided by Mr. Mennell, to a 
small and interesting sandstone quarry. We were pleased to 
find here a repetition of the moss Weisia calcarea var. viridula. 
The dark green colour of this variety is evidently due to the 
influence of the sandstone habitat, as the pale green typical 
plant grows directly on the limestone. 
This quarry produced the rare plants Ditrichum tortile and 
Dicranella crispa, both in fruit. We had clearly found here 
the happy hunting ground of Dr. Spruce and Mr. M. B. Slater. 
On the face of the crumbling sandstone was Barbula vinealis 
of a more vivid green colour than the writer has ever seen in 
this moss. On a very old wall with the ferns Asplenium 
adiantum-mgrum and A. ruta-muraria var. elatum Lange, was 
Bryum caespiticium near var. imbricatum, with pure white 
peristomes to capsules, the white almost vanishing on drying. 
Naturalist, 
