306 bryace^;. 



ventricose, when dry frequently contracted below the wide mouth ; 

 lid widely mamillate ; annulus broad; peristome orange-yellow; 

 inner with a membrane about half the height of the teeth, cilia 

 two, well developed ; processes widely gaping at the median slit. 

 Paroicous. Antheridia in the axils of the upper leaves. 



Var. /3. longiseta B. & S. (W. longiseta Brid.). Stems 

 simple ; comal leaves -very long, acuminate, spreading ; seta 

 very long ; capsule large. 



Var. y. bicolor Schp. (Webera bicolor Hoppe & Hornsch.). 

 More compact, with numerous sterile branches, their leaves sub- 

 equal, ovate; capsule short, wide, cernuous, darker on the 

 upper side. 



Hab. Peaty and sandy soil, in woods and in sub-alpine districts. Common. 

 The var. $ on damp heaths, not uncommon ; the var. y on mountains, rare. Fr. 

 early summer. 



The commonest species of the genus, and perhaps the most variable. The colour 

 is usually a very deep green, the texture soft, the whole plant slender. In neither the 

 fruit nor the vegetative characters is it likely to be taken for any of the foregoing 

 species ; in texture and habit it is entirely distinct from W. cruda, while the 

 preceding species have narrower lower leaves, almost constantly narrower capsules 

 with longer, narrower neck, smaller mouth, and very different inner peristome. The 

 following plants, with the exception of W. ctuullata, are all dioicous. 



The areolation of the lower leaves is often much wider than that of the narrower 

 upper ones, and in fresh plants is highly chlorophyllose. When growing, as it 

 frequently does, at the foot of trees in woods, it often forms large dense patches, with 

 numerous slender barren innovations ; this is the var. ccespitosa B. & S. In this state 

 it fruits less freely than in the other forms. Among mountain rocks it approaches 

 very close to W. cucullata, with slender stems somewhat catenulate with the small 

 imbricated leaves, which are hardly glossy. 



* Webera cucullata Schp. (Bryum cucullatum Schwgr. ; 

 Pohlia cucullata Bruch, Braithw. Br. M. Fl.) (Tab. XLII. B.). 



Differs from W. nutans in the leaves less glossy, rather 

 shorter, less pointed, often rather obtuse with the apex cucullate, 

 less strongly denticulate ; capsule more exactly pendulous, con- 

 tracted at but not below the narrow mouth ; lid small, conical, 

 obtusely pointed; peristome teeth narrower and less crowded; 

 cilia of inner peristome very short, fugacious. 



Hab. On earth and among rocks in mountains ; very rare. Scotland ; Derby- 

 shire. Fr. late summer. 



The above characters are, as will be seen, hardly of first importance, and their 

 value is greatly diminished by the fact that many of them, to say the least, are 

 inconstant. Some specimens are certainly almost as glossy as W. nutans, while in 

 that species the leaves are very variable in size, and occasionally are cucullate, 

 besides showing much variation in the amount of denticulation. The capsule in the 

 present plant is occasionally, if not frequently, somewhat horizontal instead of actually 



