INTKODUCTION TO CRYPTOGAMIC BOTANY. 479 



climates, as Guiana, Madras, Guadaloupe, &c. Ceratodon 

 purpureus seems to be cosmopolitan.* 



4. Syerhopodontei, Mont. 



Sporangium straight, equal, destitute of a ring ; peristome 

 single ; teeth connivent or horizontal, and thus closing the 

 orifice. Base of leaves discoloured and amplexicaul or 

 sheathing. Calyptra persistent, cuculliform, split in the 

 middle. 



528. This tribe consists of two or three tropical or sub- 

 tropical genera, remarkable for the various characters assumed 

 by the leaves, especially as regards the nerves and margin, and 

 for the connivent teeth of the peristome ; the base of the 

 leaves, which is either sheathing or amplexicaul, is in Syrrho- 

 podon and TraehvmitriuTn remarkable for the discoloration 

 of the tissues at the base, except the nerve and margin, from 

 the absence of chlorophyll. The habit is somewhat like that 

 of the larger Weissice, but on a grander scale, or some Ortho- 

 tricha. The contrast between the sheathing scarious base and 

 the thick patent elongated tip, in Syrrhopodon, is sometimes 

 very striking. In Galym/peres, the tip of the nerve, whether 

 reaching to the summit or otherwise, is usually furnished with 

 a tuft of gems (Fig. 100, h), which have been considered erro- 

 neously as constituting a distinct genus, Bryomyces. A species 

 of Calymperes is marked in the Hook. Herb., as received from 

 Tierra del Fuego, but the locality is probably wrong. The 

 Pacific, East and West Indies, Guiana, &c., are the favourite 

 localities of the genus. Several species of Syrrhopodon occur 

 at the Cape, but most of the species are purely tropical. The 

 same species occurs in India and Lima ; but the species in 

 general seem not to be widely difEused. S. candidus has very 

 much the habit of Octohlepharum. Trachymitrium is a 

 Syrrhopodon in everything except the rough calyptra, a cha- 

 racter which does not, however, appear in Musci Ex., tab. 171, 

 for the calyptra is represented there as perfectly smooth. 



* I have notes of the following localities : Campbell Island, Falkland 

 Island, New Zealand, Nilgherries, Chili, Quito, Abyssinia, Ai-ctic regions, 

 Tristan d'Aciinha, Victoria, Nova Scotia, and India Orientalis. 



