354 FONTINALACE^. 



denuded of leaves ; usually dark green, sometimes golden brown. 

 Leaves in three rows, more or less imbricated, sharply keeled at 

 the back and folded so as to be equitant, giving a triquetrous 

 appearance to the stems, rigid, little altered when dry, erecto- 

 patent and often somewhat incurved above, 2J-3 lines long, i-i| 

 lines wide, widely ovate or ovate-lanceolate , acute or apiculate, 

 rarely obtuse, entire, margins plane, one or the other sometimes 

 reflexed at base ; cells variable in width, rhomboid-hexagonal or 

 linear-rhomboid and vermicular ; the basal angular ones wider, 

 hexagonal-rectangular, sometimes forming distinct auricles; all 

 thin-walled. Perichaetial bracts closely imbricated, the upper 

 wide, sheathing, truncate-rounded, entire or often eroded and 

 lacerate ; capsule almost sessile, nearly immersed, oblong- 

 cylindrical, olive green ; lid longly and narrowly conical, readily 

 deciduous, reddish ; peristome bright coral-red, outer teeth 

 incurved and contorted when dry ; inner united by regular trans- 

 verse bars into a perfectly formed, bright red, latticed cone. 



Var. /?. gigantea Sull. Very robust, less branched, older 

 leaves of a coppery brown, very wide (i%.-2 lines), less acute, 

 curved on the keel ; capsule smaller, peristome less perfect. 



Var. 7. gracilis Schp. (F. gracilis Lindb.). Slender; stems 

 much divided, denuded for some distance at the base ; leaves 

 narrow, lanceolate , smaller, often split along the keel ; capsule 

 smaller, usually contracted below the mouth. 



Hab. Ponds, rivers, etc. Common. The var. j8 rare. The var. y in mountain 

 streams. Fr. summer. 



A very variable plant, out of which numerous varieties and sub-species have been 

 constructed. The leaves vary greatly in width, length and position, causing a great 

 variety in the habit of the plant ; they are usually conduplicate, the keel very acute ; 

 when this is the case it often happens that the leaf splits along the keel into two 

 similar halves, each of which has much the aspect of a single, un-keeled leaf of F. 

 squamosa ; less commonly the keel is obtuse or indistinct, and very rarely it may be 

 entirely wanting in many of the leaves, this is most frequently the case with the 

 younger ones ; it is typically nearly straight, but may often be curved, like the 

 keel of a canoe. The cells vary very much in width ; in the laxer-celled forms they 

 usually increase in width gradually to the base, so that the alar cells are hardly notice- 

 able ; but in the narrower-celled forms these cells are frequently suddenly dilated 

 so as to form distinct auricles, the median basal cells being always extremely narrow 

 and thus contrasting strongly with the alar ones. 



The stems are usually attached to stones or stumps of trees by the side of the 

 water. When the plant is totally submerged it rarely fruits, but when this does take 

 place, as often happens in hot summers when the plant is left high and dry, the 

 capsules are often produced in great numbers. The peristome is a beautiful microscopic 

 object. 



I have not seen authenticated plants of the var. gigantea from this country ; but 

 specimens which I gathered near Aber, N. Wales, agree closely with N. American 

 specimens named by Cardot, except that the areolation is very narrow ; I have also 

 gathered a very large form in Northamptonshire, with the leaves as much as 3 lines in 



