Tflte MOSSES OF NORTHUMBERLAND 323 



the characters of var. suhsphoericarpon, B. and S. (except that the long 

 single nerve in that variety is not described as nnusnally stoat), and I 

 have received sterile plants so named, evidently on the strength of 

 the vegetative characters. I have, however, gathered this plant in 

 the river Wharfe and elsewhere, bearing capsules of the typical form, 

 and this is the case with the ChoUerford plant in question, where they 

 are by no means wider or more turgid than in ordinary H. palustre. 

 It is quite clear therefore that these vegetative characters are not 

 always correlated with the type of capsule of var. subsphcericarpon, 

 and there is some argument for giving our plant a new varietal name. 

 On the other hand I have gathered a plant in Teesdale, and Mr Binstead 

 sends me a similar plant from the river Wye at Clifford, which with 

 these leaf characters combines a shorter and wider capsule than that 

 of the type, and which may very fairly be placed under the variety 

 in question, although the capsule by no means equals the large, turgid 

 fruit I have gathered in mountain streams in the Pyrenees ; they show, 

 in fact, an intermediate stage between the extreme Continental variety 

 and the plant now under consideration with the foliar characters of 

 the variety, but the capsule of typical palustre. I have plants with 

 these vegetative characters from the following localities: Lomond Hill, 

 Fife (leg. Ewing) ; Glenlyon, Perthshire; Duntulm, Skye ; river Tyne, 

 ChoUerford; Teesdale; Wharf dale ; Lodore Falls, Cumberland; Nant-y- 

 Belan, Denbighshire (leg. Wilson) ; river Wye, Herefordshire (leg. 

 Binstead) ; river Shannon, Limerick (leg. Miss Armitage) ; Downhill, 

 Ireland (leg. Parker) ; so that it is a widely spread form. As bearing 

 on the question of the relative importance of the varietal characters, 

 I may mention that I have gathered a plant in Cumberland showing 

 both forms of capsule, long and narrow, and short and turgid, upon 

 the same stem; and although the capsules are small, and the whole 

 plant in most characters typical of H. palustre, still the juxtaposition 

 of the two forms would seem to indicate a lack of stability in this 

 respect, and a consequent lessening of the value of the character as a 

 varietal distinction. It would seem that on the whole the variety 

 would have been better established upon the vegetative characters 

 alone, which would have comprised a fairly definite group of forms, 

 including the plant on which these remarks are based, and the other 

 similar plants referred to above, as well as the Continental plant 

 with large swollen capsules, on which Schleicher based his Hyprium 

 suhsphcBricarpon. — Another fact in connection with this plant is not 

 without interest. I have already mentioned its association with Grimmia 

 apocarpa var. alpicola. It is a rather curious fact that in the four 

 localities in England and Scotland in which I have gathered this 

 rather marked and scarce variety, it has been always associated with 

 the form or variety of H. palustre in question. I am not able to 

 suggest what are the particular conditions favourable to this association, 

 which it is scarcely probable can be entirely fortuitous.] 



