HYPNACEAE 89 



CIRRIPHYLLUM Grout 



Robust glossy mosses resembling Eurhynchium in the long- 

 beaked opercula and other capsule characters, but resembling 

 Brachythecium in their general leaf characters; leaves imbricate, 

 very concave, spoon-shaped, often cucullate at the apex, abruptly 

 drawn out into a long-filiform acumination, costate to the middle 

 or beyond. Branches julaceous, usually turgid in appearance, 

 due to the concavity of the imbricated leaves. 



The species I have included here have usually been referred to 

 Eurhynchium, but are so distinct in leaf form and structure 

 that they are best treated separately. 



C. Boscii (Schwaegr.) Grout (Hypnum Boscii Schwaegr.). 

 Common on soil almost everywhere, especially in shaded grassy 

 places but often depauperate and difficult to recognize. Autumn. 



C. piliferum (Schreb.) Grout. Closter, N. J., Austin, Bx. ! 

 "On ground about roots of trees and on old logs in swampy 

 places, N. J.," Muse. App. 336. 



EURHYNCHIUM B. & S. (Plate X.) 



Resembling Brachythecium in general appearance; leaves 

 costate to the middle or beyond, apical cells of branch leaves 

 much broader and shorter than the median in some species, in 

 others as long or longer. Stem leaves acute to long and slen- 

 derly acuminate; sporophyte as in Brachythecium, except for 

 the long-beaked operculum, the beak being }/$-}/2 the length of 

 the rest of the capsule. 



The meaning and origin of the fantastic needle-like beak on 

 the operculum in this and many other species of mosses, notably 

 Dicranum, is a great puzzle. That it can be of any use so as to 

 be favored by natural selection seems improbable. The only 

 possible utility that I can imagine is that it serves to aid in 

 dehiscence, causing the operculum to be knocked off more 

 readily. As every collector knows, it is rather a difficult matter 

 to find matured capsules of these long-beaked species in good 

 condition and keep them so in the herbarium. One year I 

 collected E. rusciforme on August 15 in excellent condition, but 

 apparently immature. When I collected for my North American 



