INTRODUCTION TO CRYPTOQAMIC BOTANY. 495 



dark purple apophysis arrives at a large size, but this is nothing 

 when compared with the same organ in Splachnum luteum 

 (Fig. 106, d) and ruhrum, which are the pride of hyperborean 

 Europe and America. The apophysis does not always arrive 

 at its full size before the maturity of the sporangium. In S. 

 luteum, for instance, it is very small at first, and acquires its 

 extraordinary dimensions only at a late period. Species are 

 abundant in the southern hemisphere, as well as the northern ; 

 but the same species rarely occur in both divisions of the 

 world. The habits, too, are different. While those of the 

 north grow only on dung, those in the south grow on the 

 trunks of fallen trees. S. qngustatum has, however, been said 

 to occur on cow-dung, on the sandy sea-shore at Port Philip, 

 The apophysis in the southern species is seldom very highly 

 developed, but in S. Gunnii, a Tasmanian species, it is very 

 peculiar, resembling a little Turk's-cap gourd. Splachnum 

 has been divided into several genera, on more or less justifiable 

 grounds. Of these, Tetraplodon, Tayloria, and Bissodon 

 occur in Great Britain. The length of the teeth in Tayloria 

 splachnoides, and the curious manner in which they are curled 

 inward when wet, and diffused when dry, are very striking. One 

 of the most remarkable genera, however, is (Edipodium, 

 which differs from the rest, not only in its confluent apophysis, 

 but in the absence of a peristome ; the columella, however, 

 being dilated at the apex. It grows, moreover, in the 

 crevices of alpine rocks, and appears to differ from other 

 Splachna in not having the spores radiating from the colu- 

 mella. Gems are found in the axiles of the upper leaves of 

 most of the species. 



27. ScHiSTOSTEGEi, Br. & Sc, Mont 



Sporangia sub-globose ; peristome none ; calyptra dimidiate, 

 fugacious ; spore-sac adnate with the walls ; leaves distichous, 

 free at the base, or confluent ; proton ema perennial. 



551. This tribe consists of but a single species, one of 

 the most elegant of mosses. It loves the shade of caverns, 

 which are sometimes lighted by a golden-green gleam from 

 the refraction of the confervoid shoots. These are perennial, 

 and produce year after year a new crop. The leaves show 



