126 A ^lANUAL OF MOSSES 



exserted after the operculum has fallen ; calyptra small, conic, 

 often split down one side. 



A genus of 9 species, mostly of the northern hemisphere ; 

 7 in North America ; one species in our range. 



1. Splachnum ampullaceum Linnaeus, Hedwig. 



Loosely cespitose : stems 1-2 cm. high ; leaves distant, the 

 lower lanceolate, the upper long obovate-lanceolate with a 

 long tapering acumen, coarsely serrate above, soft, light green ; 

 costa ending in or just below the apex; leaf-cells large, more 

 or less regularly hexagonal : seta 2-5 cm. long, reddish-brown, 

 erect ; capsule oblong-cylindric, yellowish, surmounting a much 

 larger, broadly pyriform, soft and fleshy hypohysis, usually 

 reddish-brown above and "pale lilac below," rugose when dry ; 

 lid convex, obtusely mamillate; peristome-teeth 16, in pairs, 

 yellowish, strongly reflexed when dry; spores mature in 

 summer : usually autoicous ; antheridial flowers terminal, 

 discoid. 



On organic matter in swampy places, usually on excre- 

 ment of larger herbivorous animals. Europe, Asia, and, in 

 North America, from Newfoundland to Ontario south to New 

 Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. To be looked for in the 

 northern and northwestern part of our region. 



Family X. DISCEUACEAE. 



Dioicous ; gregarious, annual, with persistent protonema : 

 stem very short with gemmiform foliation ; inner leaves larg- 

 est, ovate to lance-oblong, acute, with plane margins, entire ; 

 costa none; cells loosely rhomboid-hexagonal, thin-walled, pel- 

 lucid, elongated below, smooth, very sparsely chlorophyllose: 

 seta elongate, 2-3 cm., stiff, slender, pellucid, red or castane- 

 ous, decidedly sinistrorsely twisted ; capsule minute, cernuous 

 or horizontal, globose-ovate, smooth, with a short collum ; 

 annulus of one (or two) series of cells, falling away in pieces; 

 peristome inserted below the mouth, simple; teeth lanceolate, 

 acute, red, the lower half usually perforate or split, the exterior 

 usually vertically striate but with no median line, not papil- 

 lose, the interior with papillie and projecting trabeculas; spores 

 medium size; operculum large, convex, unbonate; calyptra 

 split down on one side and usually remaining attached to the 

 seta by the constricted base. 



A peculiar family consisting of but one genus with only 

 the following species. Occurring in sandy soil in northern 

 Europe, Asia, and, in North America, in Illinois, Ohio, and 

 Eastern Pennsylvania. 



L DISCELIUM Bridel. 



1. Discelium incarnata (Schwaegrichen) New Combination. 



(Z>. nudum Bridel; Weisia incarnata Schwaegrichen). 



