142 BRYOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND. 
3. Tortula phaea (H. f. & W.) Dixon comb. nov. [Plate VIII, fig. 2.] 
Syn. Trichostomum phaeum H. f. & W., Fl. N.Z., ii, 72 (1855) ; 
Handb. N.Z. Fl., p. 416. Tortula lancifolia R. Br. ter. in Trans. 
N.Z. Inst., vol. 30, p. 404. 7. linearifolia R. Br. ter., op. et loc. cit- 
T.. brevitheca R. Br. ter., op. cit., p. 405. 
I have removed this plant to the genus Tortula on the following con- 
siderations : Wilson described the Trich. phaeum from very small material 
collected by Colenso on the shores of Take Waihau, and makes the com- 
ment “specimens insufficient.” Enough material remains, however, in 
Wilson’s herbarium to identify the plant without doubt with one or two 
plants which I have been able to study, collected by R. Brown and b 
D. Petrie, and which are in sufficient quantity to give a good idea of the 
species. 
Wilson in his herbarium has drawn ae sketches of the peristome, 
obviously—since oBTy. a fragment is drawn in each case, while the whole 
MS. note in his herbarium: ‘“ Folia pho scpre margine plano, inferne 
vix reflexo, nervo continuo (integerrima), peri latiora, erecta, operc. 
breviusculo (only loose ones seen). Teeth ‘aiactiy fo to the base, oblique. 
WoW: here are no lids now to be found among the material. 
Wilson did not, therefore, pe the leaf-margin absolutely plane ; and 
in examining his material I find o ee frequently, perhaps usually, 
narrowly and shortly but rsa recurv: ‘below ; and this is confirmed 
y R. Brown’s specimens of | sspaesfulis and T, lancifolia. 
Of T. linearifolia Brown neither describes nor figures the peristome ; 
but of 7. lancifolia he describes it as “ Peristome twisted, tube very short,” 
and the peristome he figures is cmon that of a Tortula, and may, I think, 
be relied on. All the Se in his herbarium, Satoeuinately, of both 
species are without peristom 
ave, moreover, a pint from Oamaru, South Island, collected in 
September, 1892, by Mr. D. Petrie, which certainly belongs here, and which 
shows irrefutably a Tortuloid capsule and peristome. The vegetative 
characters agree exactly with Wilson’s plant: the capsule is rather longer 
and more cylindric, the lid more than half the length of the > the 
peristome red, rather short, but distinctly twisted, from a basal membrane 
or tube about one-fourth of its length. Colenso’s original chases was no 
doubt a rather small form of the species. 
examining T. brevitheca R. Br. I was at first disposed to 
consider it a new and distinct species. sinc then, ie I have seen 
numerous gatherings of T. , an ve been reluctantly compelled 
to unite it with the latter species, of whic h it is a ar Ng developed Lae 
Tortuloid base, the stems a taller—about 4 in. high—and. in better 
- condition. Several, however, of the forms = undoubted T. phaea I have 
seen show a distinct transition in width and direction of leaf, and in all 
other respects the plants are identical, the brown colour, differentiated 
marginal cells, hyaline tip, and short capsule being especially noteworthy 
characters 
