240 ORTHOTRICHACE/E. 



thin-walled j smooth, plicate only for a very short distance below 

 the small, much contracted mouth ; calyptra hairy ; lid rostellate ; 

 outer peristome teeth united in pairs, erect when dry; inner 

 imperfect or wanting. Autoicous. 



Hab. Young trees in mountainous woods ; rare. Fr. late summer and autumn. 



Known at once by the inflated appearance of its obovate, pyriform, smooth, and 

 almost glossy capsules, with the striae so short as to be barely perceptible, and by the 

 strongly contracted mouth. 



2. Ulota Drummondii Brid. (Orthotrichum Drummondii 



Hook. & Grev. ; Weissia Drummondii Lindb., Braithw. 



Br. M. Fl.) (Tab. XXXIV. E.). 



In larger tufts, the marginal stems decumbent and sometimes 

 longly creeping, with erect branches ; yellowish green. Leaves 

 rather longer than in the last species, only slightly twisted when 

 dry, erecto-patent when moist. Capsule oblong or clavate with a 

 long tapering neck, large, thick-walled, reddish with the neck 

 paler ; broadly striate to base of capsule, the neck also somewhat 

 striate below ; when dry and empty the capsule becomes 

 narrower, elongate-fusiform, contracted at and sometimes below 

 the mouth, deeply sulcate from the mouth to the base of the neck, 

 the striae sometimes slightly spirally twisted; lid with a straight 

 subulate beak ; calyptra variously hairy ; peristome usually 

 single, of 16 white teeth reflexed or spreading and recurved when 

 dry ; occasionally rudimentary inner processes are present. 

 Autoicous. 



Hab. Young trees in mountainous districts, frequently growing in company with, 

 and mixed with the last species ; rare. Fr. late summer. 



When growing freely the creeping stems are very characteristic, and produce a 

 resemblance to the important exotic genus Macromitrium ; most frequently however 

 this feature is by no means conspicuous, and then the species is very difficult to 

 separate from U. Bruchii ; indeed there is some doubt whether the two ought not to 

 be united as a single species, the more rigid leaves and the simple peristome in the 

 present plant being almost the only distinguishing characters of importance, and as 

 indicated above, the occasional presence of an inner peristome in U. Drnmmondii 

 considerably minimises the value even of these. The capsule in the present species 

 is rather larger, and in my experience of a rather brighter, more reddish tinge. The 

 striae in U. Bruchii are also straighter and less frequently spirally oblique. When 

 first ripe there is a space at the base of the capsule and the upper part of the neck 

 which is smooth and hardly striate, but the dry, old fruit is sulcate for the whole 

 length. 



Both this species and the preceding are much more abundant in N. America than 

 with us ; U. Ludwigii indeed appears in some parts almost to replace some of our 

 commoner species 



