ToRTULACE^.] 182 [Ephemerum. 



to them, thus in Pottia they are conical and also in many species of Barhula 

 and Tortula; in others again they are cleft in the centre by a semilunar 

 excavation, and in some as just mentioned, still more lobulate like a wart. 



The teeth of the peristome are also usually rough with minute papillse, 

 and they exhibit such gradual stages of development in the membrane which 

 unites them at base, from a scarcely projecting band to a long tesselated tube, 

 that the variations fail to afford a generic character, though available for 

 minor groups. 



Of still less value is the direction of the teeth, for they may be quite 

 straight, or ascend obliquely, or form a half spiral or one of several turns. 

 Three European genera do not enter into our Flora, AscMsma- Lindb. 

 founded on Phascum camiolicum, Molendoa Lindb. for Ancectangium Hornschuchii 

 and its variety Sendtneri, and ScopelopUla Mitten = M8refiy3 Schimp. allied 

 to Encalypta. Special papers on this family are Schultz " Recensio generum 

 Barhulce et Syntrichia " in Nova Acta Phys.-Med. acad. caes. Leop. Carolin. 

 nat. cur. xi, 1, 191 (1823), De Notaris " Musci Italici." fasc. i,Tortula (1862) ; 

 and LiNDBERG " De TortuUs et ceteris Trichostomaceis Europms " in Oefv. af kon. 

 vetens. akad. Foerhandl. xxi (1864). Schultz remarks on the difficulty of 

 separating some Tortula from Tnchostomum. 



Subf. I. TORTULEM. Calyptra cucuUate. Teeth of peristome 

 papillose, straight or contorted, 16, cleft to base or more or less united into a 

 tube ; sometimes wanting, or the capsule may be inoperculate. 



I. EPHEMERUM Hampe. 



(Flora, 1837, P- 285.) 



Plants simple, minute, gregarious, with persistent, dichotomous, 

 fasciculate-branched protonema forming a byssaceous tuft. Leaves 

 sparingly chlorophyllose, the cells rhomboidal, lax, hyaline ; smooth or 

 papillose. Calyptra thin, campanulate, cleft on one side or lacerate at 

 base. Capsule immersed in the perichastium, globose, apiculate, cleis- 

 tocarpous, composed of two strata of cells, without special spore sac or 

 columella ; spores large. Male plants very small, nestling near the 

 female on the same protonema, bracts 3 — 4, with few or no paraphyses. 

 Inhabiting moist bare places. — Der. £^57/i€pos, evanescent. 



Among the most minute of mosses, and only evident by the numerous 

 individuals aggregated into patches ; their structure also is frail and delicate, 

 and they seem incapable of maintaining independent existence, but like poor 

 weakly children, retain their nurse on the establishment all through their 

 short lives, in their supporting protonema ; yet when brought under the 

 microscope they prove to be veritable little gems, and well repay careful 

 investigation. About 18 species are known, chiefly from N. America and 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and although they have been usually placed with 

 the Funariaceae, their affinity appears to be greaterwith the genus Ptecw;;;, 

 both in the calyptra and areolation. 



