NO. 8 UGANDA MOSSES — DIXON 3 



twisted when dry, as in B. nepalense Hook., they are sometimes erect 

 and appressed ; the arista may be short and cuspidate or long and 

 flexuose, the border well defined though narrow, or entirely wanting. 

 The capsules may be pendulous, horizontal, or inclined. I supposed 

 at first that there were two similar plants closely intermixed, distin- 

 guishable by the position of the leaves when dry, but the two forms 

 appear to intergrade, and there seems to be no difference in the 

 fruit. 



It differs from B. capitnlatum, apart from the characters distin- 

 guished above, in the peristome, the outer teeth of which are very 

 densely barred with highly projecting lamellae on the outer surface, 

 deep orange in color, strongly bordered, very finely and regularly 

 papillose on the dorsal surface ; the basal membrane of the endostome 

 is about half the height of the outer teeth, with well developed, broad, 

 obtuse segments, almost equal to the teeth, pale, and very delicately 

 papillose. 



These characters, the form and position of the capsule, and the 

 very weakly bordered leaves, will separate B. variable from its other 

 African near allies, almost all of which have the capsule suberect or 

 only slightly inclined, and often or usually turgidly oval in form. 



RHODOBRYUM ROSEUM (Weis) Limpr. 

 Rocky outcrops, Namonyungi, alt. 4,000 ft., June, 191 5, Dilmmer 

 2578. 



NECKERACEAE 



PILOTRICHELLA PILIFOLIA Dixon, sp. nov. 



Ab omnibus congeneribus africanis facile distinguitur foliis 

 caulinis in pilum longum Uliforme saepe undulatum attenuatis. 



Stirps pergracilis, ramis flexuosis attenuatis, foliis perindistincte 

 seriatis, basi minime auriculatis, apice breviter • cuspidatis. Seta 

 flexuosa, circa 3 mm. longa ; theca elliptico-cylindrica, f ulva, oper- 

 culo oblique longirostrato. 



Hab. : Epiphytic ; pendent in forest, Mabira, near Mubango, alt. 

 4,000 ft., July, 1916, Dilmmer 2961 ; c. fr. Type in British Museum. 



A distinct species, more slender than most of its African allies, 

 with markedly attenuate branches, and a very conspicuous differ- 

 ence between the longly piliform stem leaves and the shortly 

 mucronate turgid ones of the branches. Some species of the closely 

 allied genus Squamidium have similarly piliferous stem leaves, but 

 these have a distinct group of differentiated alar cells. 



