ToRTULACE^.] i88 [Acaulon. 



apex or slightly excurrent, margins plane, cells at base large, rliombo- 

 hexagonal, smaller and incrassate above. Calyptra very small, 

 lacerate at base, corrugated by drying. Capsule concealed in perich. 

 on a straight pedicel, erect, globose, pachydermous, orange-brown ; 

 spores yellow-brown, tuberculate. Male infl. gemmiform, on a short 

 basal branch. 



Hab. — Sandy clay in open grassy places ; not uncommon. Fr. 2 — 3. 

 Var. p. minus. (Hook. Tayl.) 



Plants smaller ; bracts more shortly pointed, entire, scarce exceeding 

 the capsule, which is smaller. 

 S'i'n.—Phascum globosum Schleich. MSS. 



Phase, muticum R, miyiiis Hook. Tayl. Muse. br. 7. Brid. Bry. un. i, 23. 



Sphacrangium muticum R. minus. Schimp. Synops. 



Acaulon minus Jaeg. Op. (.. 78. 



Hab. — Sea coast. Torquay (Hooker) ! Findon, Sussex [Davies i86g) ! ! 



From its short duration and concealed capsule this little moss is doubt- 

 less often overlooked; not unfrequently it has a rufous brown tinge. Although 

 Dillenius's Sph. acaulon &c. minus is represented in his herbarium by a small 

 form of Phascum acaulon, there is little doubt but the early authors also 

 included the present plant. 



2. ACAITLON TRiaUETRTJM [Spruce) C. Muell. 



Autoicous ; bracts broadly oval, trifarious, carinate, boat-shaped, 

 connivent, nerve excurrent in a recurved apiculus. Caps, horizontal on 

 a cygneous pedicel. (T. XXVII, H.) 



Syn. — Phascum muticum MouQ. Nestl. Stirp. cr. Vog. rhen. n. 802. Drumm. Muse. Amer. 

 ... 8 p.p. 



Phascum bulbosum Var. y, minimum De Not. Syllab. 306 (1838). 



Phase, triquetrum Spruce in Eng. bet. suppl. t. 2901 (1845). et in Hook. Lond. Journ. bot. 

 iv. i8g (1845). Raben'. Deutsch. kr. fl. ii, P. 3, 81 (1848). WiLS. Bry. brit. 29, t. 37 

 (1855). De Not. Epil. bri. ital. 737 (i86g). Hoek. Syn. br. m. 27 (1873). 



Acaulon triquetrum C. Muell. in Bot. Zeit. v, 100 (1847). Synops. i, 22 (1849). Br. 

 ScH. Bry. eur. fasc. 42, Mon. suppl. 3, t. i (18^9). Jaeg. Ber. St. Gall. ges. 1869, p. 76. 



Schistidium triq. MiTT. in Ann. mag. Nat. hist. 1851, p. 311. 



Sphcerangium triq. ScHiMP. Synops. 14 {i860). Berk. Handb. br. m. 302 (1863). Milde 

 Bry. siles. 92 (i86g). Lindb. de Tort. 216 (1864). Juratz. Laubm. oester.-ung. 89 

 (1882). Lesq. James Mosses N. Amer. 41 (1884). 



Autoicous; pale rufescent, densely gregarious, bulbilliform, trique- 

 trous, often with a little fine protonema. Lower leaves very small, 

 nerveless ; upper obovate, apiculate, very concave ; perich. bracts three, 

 very large, broadly obovate, acutely carinate, boat-shaped, connivent, 

 the margin recurved and eroso-denticulate toward apex, nerve excurrent 

 in a recurved apiculus, cells lax, rectangular at base, rhomboidal at 

 apex. Calyptra very small, dilated and irregularly torn at base, caps, 

 on a cygneous pedicel, horizontal, globose, immersed, rufous; spores 



