DicRANACEiE.] 175 [Ceratodon. 



fuscous, sulcate when dry and empty, strumulose, horizontal, incurved, 

 4 — 5 angled ; annulus large, compound, rolling back, lid conic, slightly 

 oblique, polished ; teeth of per. purple in lower half, the legs equal, con- 

 joined at base by the united articulations, bordered from base to middle 

 by the pale projecting inner lamina. 



Male plants more slender, inil. gemmaceous, outer bracts broadly 

 ovate, acuminate, with a thick nerve, inner broadly convolute, obtuse, 

 entire, obsolete-nerved. 



Hab. — Gravelly soil on heaths, banks, walls and rocks ; everywhere, Fr.4 — 5. 



The polymorphous character of this plant may be assumed from its 

 lengthy synonymy, and so endless are the forms that we cannot even define 

 stable varieties ; one of the most marked is a robust livid-green one, i — 2 in. 

 high, with broad leaves, found on several of the Scotch mountains, and also 

 by Mr. Holt on banks near the sea in the Isle of Man. We would advise all 

 commencing bryologists to study every part of this moss well, as its structure 

 once familiarized to the eye will save much after trouble, and the beautiful 

 peristome must attract every microscopist. 



2, CEEATODON CONICUS {Hampe) Lindb. 



Dioicous ; leaves ovato-lanc. narrower at base, margin entire, revo- 



lute throughout, nerve longly excurrent. Capsule on a paler seta, erect, 



symmetric, faintly sulcate when empty. (T. XXVI, E.) 



Syn. — Trichostomum conicum Hampe in litt. C. Muell. Synops. i, 575 (1849). 

 Ceratodon conicus Lindb. Muse, scand. 37 (1879). 



Dioicous ; csespitose, dull yellow-green above, fuscous below ; 

 stems short, rather slender dichotomously branched. Leaves erecto- 

 appressed, deep green, smooth, crowded at top into a small closed 

 coma, straight wet or dry, rather broadly ovato-lanceolate, margin quite 

 entire, revolute to apex, nerve thick, excurrent in a long point ; cells all 

 small, regularly quadrate, the basal larger and pellucid. Perich. bracts 

 convolute-vaginant, obtusate, with an excurrent nerve, laxly areolate. 

 Caps, on a pale red seta, erect, ovate-elliptic, rather wide, fuscous, when 

 dry and empty but little altered, sulcate in upper part, not strumulose ; 

 lid purple, conic short, obtuse straight ; teeth pale, red at base, yellowish 

 above, erect, with fewer articulations, scarcely bordered externally. 



Hab. — Walls and waste ground, rare. Fr. 5. 



On the coast near Newhaven (Spruce 1845) ! ! Ireland (Mr. D. Orr). Both sterile. 



It is probable that this moss is not unfrequent on our south coasts, but 

 has been overlooked for the common species in the absence of fruit ; this was 

 first found by Schlotheuber in May, 1847, on walls near Hochmiihlen, in 

 Hanover, and our figures are taken from original specimens. 



