BRYOSEDGWICKIA, NOVUM GENUS ENTODONTACEARUM 149 



genus. The position of the papillae is not always very easy to 

 ascertain in the upper part of the leaf owing to the density of the 

 areolation, but it is easily made out in connection with the wilder 

 and more pellucid cells towards the basal auricles. In P. Bam- 

 forthice Broth. I have sometimes found the papillae on the upper 

 cell walls, but for the most part they are on the face, and on the 

 basal part of the leaf they are seen very distinctly to be on the 

 lumen. P. Bamforthice, is therefore in all probability a good 

 species, contrary to the opinion of Wilson and Mitten. 



P. SEMiTORTA (C. M.) Jaeg. is another abundant moss at 

 Darjeeling ; I have received numerous specimens from there, two 

 or three of them, leg. Mrs. Eoper (Nos. 13, 16) and Miss Craig 

 (No. 3), I refer to f. subsemitorta Fleisch. (P. subsemitorta 

 C. M. in sched.) ; they are more robust than the type, blackish 

 within and often golden above, with somewhat shorter, wider 

 leaves. 



Meteorium Buchanani (Brid.) Fleisch. I have received from 

 several stations in the north of India, ranging from Almora to 

 Assam. One specimen, leg. Miss E. Shepheard (No. 3), has a 

 few capsules. This is also the case with a specimen in the 

 British Museum (No. 490, Herb. Griffith in Herb. East India Co., 

 Bhotan) ; the fruit of this species has not, I believe, been de- 

 scribed. The sporophyte is very similar to that of M. Miquel- 

 ianum (C. M.), but the seta is practically smooth, scarcely at all 

 roughened, the capsule slightly smaller and more turgidly oval, 

 the exothecium cells somewhat larger and laxer, and especially 

 the peristome teeth are much less papillose ; in fact, the papillae 

 are nearly absent, so that the peristome is pellucid, and the trans- 

 verse striae at base almost wanting. 



M. ATRATUM (Mitt.) Broth. {Trachypus atratus Mitt.). This 

 plant has given rise to much misunderstanding. Fleischer 

 (Musci . . . von Buitenzorg, iii. 778) makes it a synonym of 

 M. imnctulatum (C. M.) Mitt. But C. Muller's plant is an A'dro- 

 bryidium, with gradually pointed, transversely undulate leaves, 

 and Mitten's description of Trachypus atratus by no means agrees 

 with this, as he compares it with M. Buchanani, a totally different 

 plant ; moreover, his description of the leaves (cymbiformi- 

 concavis oblongo-obtusis subito in cuspidem tenuem elongatam 

 productis, cellulis laevibus, &c.), does not at all apply to M. imnc- 

 tulatum. 



I have received several plants from Ceylon, gathered by 

 Naylor Beckett, and named %1. atratum (Mitt.), which agree in 

 nearly every detail with Mitten's description, except that the 

 leaves are longitudinally plicate, as to which Mitten says nothing. 

 It became obvious on comparison that these belonged to M. Miqiiel- 

 ianum (C. M.) forma atrata Fleisch., but whether or not they 

 were really Mitten's plant was another matter. In order to solve 

 the difficulty, if possible, I applied to Mrs. Britton, who kindly 

 sent me portions of several plants from Mitten's herbarium of his 

 T. atratus, including some cited by him in his original description. 



