266 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH MOSSES. 



nerve vanishing below the apex ; sporangium cylindrical ; lid 

 rostellate; ring narrow; teeth very short. — Hook, fy Wils. t. 

 xx. ; Eng. Bot. t. 2493. ; (Plate 22, fig. 6.) 



On stones, straw, roofs, etc. Bearing fruit in early spring. 



Forming bright-green soft tufts. Leaves broader than in the 

 foregoing species; leaf-cells subquadrate, slightly elongated 

 towards the base; stems often bearing little branchlets, which 

 are easily detached, and may be mistaken when fallen for 

 some Phascum ; leaves sometimes gemmiparous. 



5. D. recurvifolius, Tayl. ; stems elongated, loosely csespi- 

 tose; leaves suuarrose, crisped and undulated when dry, ellip- 

 tico-oblong or ligulate, pale, margined, serrulate ; nerve sub- 

 excurreut. — Rook, ty Wils. t. xli. 



Near Killarney. 



A doubtful species, as it has not hitherto been found in 

 fruit, bearing some resemblance to Tortula squarrosa. 



85. DISTICHIUM, Br. Sf Schimp. 



Sporangium oval-oblong or subcylindrical, with a short ta- 

 pering base ; lid cucullate, with a slender beak ; peristome of 

 sixteen teeth inserted below the mouth of the sporangium, not 

 confluent at the base, equidistant, transversely barred, marked 

 with a medial line, entire or perforated, occasionally cleft; 

 leaves more or less distichous ; leaf-cells minute above, large 

 and diaphanous below. 



1. D. eapillaceum, Br. fy Schimp.; densely tufted; leaves 

 spreading, subulate, from a semiamplexicaul base ; sporangium 

 erect, subcylindrical ; teeth narrow, distantly articulate, irre- 

 gularly cloven.— Hoo k. fy Wils. t. xx.; Eng. Bot. t. 1152.; 

 (Plate 22, fig. 7) ; Moug. fy Nest. n. 211. 



In crevices of mountain rocks. Bearing fruit in summer. 



Monoicous ; forming large dense-green patches. Lid short ; 



