178 TORTULACEiE, 



2. Tortula lamellata Lindb. (Barbula cavifolia Schp., Syn.)- 

 (Tab. XXVI. L.). 

 Very near the last species, and indeed indistinguishable except 

 by the fruiting characters (the hair-point however is perhaps 

 never so long as it is sometimes found in that plant). Seta longer, 

 2-4 lines; capsule oblong or cylindrical, sometimes slightly 

 curved, brown, less glossy, furrowed when dry ; calyptra larger ; 

 lid with the cells spirally arranged. Peristome present but very 

 fragile and always falling away with the lid, teeth very slender, 

 slightly twisted, united at the base by transverse bars. 



Hab. Mud-capped walls and bare ground. Not common. Fr. winter. 



The tall seta, elongated paler capsule, and constant presence of a peristome, 

 albeit a very imperfect one, are the chief characters separating this from the last 

 species. I have found it in several localities in Northamptonshire on the mud caps of 

 walls, usually growing in company with T. pusilla, and quite different in appearance. 

 A single plant may here and there present an intermediate form, but in the vast 

 majority of cases the two plants are perfectly distinct, the present having quite the 

 appearance of a Tortula, while the facies of the other is rather that of a Pottia. 



It is impossible to view the peristome apart from the lid, and the best way to 

 observe it is to look at it through the lid of a just ripening capsule, or it may be in 

 part detached by crushing the hd under a cover-glass. 



B. ALOINA. 



3. Tortula brevirostris Hook. & Grev. (Barbula brevirostris 

 B. & S., Schp. Syn.). (Tab. XXVII. A.). 



Plants very short, gemmiform, gregarious in small clusters, 

 pale green or reddish brown. Leaves all small, very concave and 

 obtuse, the lowest roundish, very short, the upper oblong, margin 

 inflexed, cucullate at apex, erecto-patent ; nerve rather thin, not 

 excurrent, lower cells rectangular, or rectangular-hexagonal, 

 hyaline, thin-walled, large, the upper quadrate, or vertically 

 compressed so as to be transversely oblong or elliptical, very 

 incrassate, brownish yellow, pellucid. Seta short, 2-3 lines long ; 

 capsule small, narrowly elliptical ; annulus broad, separating ; lid 

 short, obliquely rostellate, about ]4 length of capsule ; peristome 

 forming a single spiral, short. Spores small, about 15 /* in 

 diameter. Synoicous. 



Hab. On mud-capped walls in limestone districts. Very rare. Edinburgh; 

 Buxton ; Yorkshire. Fr. late autumn. 



Very near T. rigida in appearance, but smaller, with shorter seta and lid, and 

 the leaves even shorter and more rounded ; the fruit also appears to ripen a little 

 earlier, and the synoicous inflorescence is a marked character of distinction. As in 

 all the species of the section Aloina the leaves soon turn a purplish brown. The 

 granular filaments on the nerve, as is the case with the lamelke of Polytrichum, give 

 the leaves in this and the allied species a solid appearance. 



