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7) gO 
MOSSES OF TASMANIA (continued), TRIBE 2, 
WEISSLA. 
By R. A. Bastrow. 
[ Read October 12th, 1885.] 
— 
It will be understood from the previous papers that the 
Andrezaceze and the Sphagnacez are so far removed from 
other mosses as to each form separate sub-orders, the remain- 
ing sub-order Bryacez containing two Sections, which are 
again divided into Tribes. Tribe 1, of this sub-order, 
containing Phasce and Bruchia, has already been described, 
and we now notice Tribe 2. 
The Weissize are a low and tufty growing tribe, with nar- 
row leaves, and are difficult subjects for the tyro to identify. 
The tribe includes the genera Gymnostomum, Weissia, and 
Symblepharis ; the first of these is distinguished by the total 
absence of a peristome around the mouth of the capsule; the 
second, Weissia, bears a peristome of sixteen teeth ; and the 
last, Symblepharis, has eight pairs of bifid teeth at the sum- 
mit of the capsule. The three genera are similar in their 
mode of growth, generally not more than half-an-inch in 
height, and, when dry, the foliage curls and twists around 
the fruit-stalks, or anything they come in contact with ; under 
an ordinary botanising lens they resemble a multitude of 
miniature rams’ horns. The capsule, with its fruit-stalk, is 
generally yellowish-green, the rim around the mouth of the 
capsule being of a decided reddish colour. 
The fact that these three genera of mosses are placed in 
one tribe (Mitten places them in the Tribe Tortule), and yet 
that one of them is gymnostomous, is in conflict with the 
ordinary view that split-mosses and naked-mouthed mosses 
are the earliest forms. The affinity of the vegetative systems 
of the three genera appears too close to str ongly support such 
a view, notwithstanding the entire absence of the peristome in 
the genus Gymnostomum. Indeed, M. Philibert, in the Bryo- 
logical Review, 1884,* states his belief that the earlier structure 
is the perfect peristome from which the others have varied by 
degeneration, and he would have us regard the Encalypta 
}(extinguisher moss) as the central point whence all the other 
forms of moss-plauts have diverged, all those which have a 
* Journal, Royal Mic. Soc., Feb. 1885, p. 100. 
+ Since reading the above paper, I have received from Alfred J. Taylor 
Esq., some magnificent fruited specimens of the genus Encalypta found by 
him at the summit of Mount Rumney. 
