SELIGERIA. 65 



5. Seligeria calcarea B. & S. (Bryum calcareum Dicks.) 



(Tab.-XIII. I.). 



Plants in wide patches, densely gregarious, dull deep green. 

 Stem very short, simple. Leaves short, from an oblong concave 

 base abruptly narrowed to a rather short, wide, somewhat obtuse 

 subula, entire; nerve indistinct below, above stronger, but 

 flattened and obscure, and occupying the whole apex ; cells 

 shortly rectangular, thin and pellucid at base, above irregularly 

 rounded-quadrate, oval or hexagonal, obscure, incrassate, chloro- 

 phyllose. Capsule on a straight seta, minute, very slightly larger 

 than in S. pusilla, more solid, but otherwise resembling it ; peris- 

 tome teeth broader and more obtuse, more closely articulate. 



Hab. Chalk cliffs and limestone quarries. Frequent on the chalk hills of the 

 south and east of England. Fr. summer. 



Easily recognised by its dwarf, stouter habit, with broader, thicker leaf-points, 

 which are also more obtuse. The nerve is flattened and obscure, so that it is difficult 

 in the subula to say where the lamina ceases and the nerve begins. In the fruit this 

 species most resembles .5". pusilla. It often forms very wide extended patches on the 

 perpendicular face of chalk cliffs, resembling until more carefully examined, patches of 

 protophytic algae. 



6. Seligeria recurvata B. & S. (Grimmia recurvata Hedw. ; 



5. setacea Lindb., Braithw. Br. M. Fl.) (Tab. XIII. J.). 



In close patches, olive green, usually very fertile ; stems 

 short, but rather longer than in the last species, fragile, simple or 

 forked. Leaves erecto-patent.^Arwo^ longly subulate from an 

 ovate-lanceolate base, acute, entire ; nerve narrow, excurrent, 

 but very ill-defined and hardly distinct from the lamina in the 

 subula ; cells at base variable, usually rectangular with thin walls, 

 pellucid ; above shorter, more quadrate, incrassate. Capsule on 

 a rather long, flexuose and arcuate seta, oval with a short neck, 

 thin-walled ; lid with a slender, straight beak ; teeth of peristome 

 lanceolate, obtuse or acute. 



Hab. Sandstone rocks in shady places. Not common. Fr. spring and summer. 



The slender, arcuate seta is the chief characteristic of the present species, and is 

 especially noticeable when the plant is growing; and at the period of ripening of the 

 capsules ; when gathered in this condition the seta remains curved in drying, but older 

 capsules usually dry with the fruitstalk straightened. The capsule is variable in 

 length, the lid sometimes oblique. The tissue of which the capsule is composed is 

 looser than in the other species, the cells being larger with thin walls. 

 F 



