10 The Mosses Anacalypta and Pottia. 



There are three other Anacalyptas, all of which fruit in the 

 spring. Of these, A. ccespitosa, or the Round-fruited, grows 

 on chalk hills, and has been found on Woolsonbury Hill, near 

 Hnrstpierpoint, Sussex. It is about the same size as A. 

 Starkeana, but is easily distinguished from it by the rostrate 

 lid of the capsule, which latter is also more ovate, and of a 

 yellowish-brown, with a yellowish fruit-stalk, and plane-mar- 

 gined and narrower foliage. A. ccespitosa has also a distinct 

 perichretium, the inner perichastial leaf being very broad and 

 sheathing, and a yellowish annulus surrounds the mouth of the 

 capsule. It- fruits in March, as does also Anacalypta lanceolata, 

 or the Lance-leaved Anacalypta. The latter is, however, of 

 taller stature, the stems being from one line to half an inch 

 long. The oval capsule, tapering at the base into a rather 

 long reddish pedicel, has rather thick walls, of a glossy chest- 

 nut colour, and is somewhat contracted below the mouth when 

 dry. The lid is obliquely rostrate, but varies in length, some- 

 times longer, sometimes shorter ; the simple annulus dehiscing 

 in fragments ; and the peristome in this, as in Starkeana, is 

 extremely variable ; sometimes the teeth are almost linear, 

 and rather long ; sometimes shorter, and lanceolate obtuse ; 

 sometimes linear lanceolate, and rather acute, formed of a 

 double row of cellules, here and there perforated along the 

 medial line ; somewhat jointed, flattish and minutely papillose, 

 i. e., rough, with small roundish prominences, and usually of a 

 pale reddish-fawn colour; sometimes of a deeper red; sub-erect 

 when dry, or slightly incurved at the apex ; somewhat oblique 

 in direction, and always connected below by a common mem- 

 brane. The yellowish-brown calyptra reaches half-way down 

 the capsule. 



The rare Anacalypta latifolia also fruits in the spring, but 

 it can never be confounded with either of the others ; its 

 singularly bulb-like clustered foliage, of an almost silvery hue, 

 gives it so peculiar an aspect as at once to distinguish it. The 

 [eaves are roundish- ovate, apiculate, or obtuse, very concave 

 and imbricated, not recurved in the margin, membranous, 

 Bhining, and whitish, with an erect capsule, whoso lid is half 

 as long as itself, and bearing a calyptra that reaches half-way 

 doWB the capsule; tho seta long, and annulus sub-persistent. 

 It is :ni elegant moss, inhabiting alpine districts, where it is 

 found in tin; crevices of rocks. It is met with in several places 

 in Switzerland, and has been found on tho Clova mountains in 

 Scotland, in Glen Phee or Glen Dole, by Mr. Druramond. 



Of the Pottias, P. cavifolia, or tho oval-leaved Pottia, is re- 

 tnarkable for the, variation in the length of its leaves, fruit- 

 stalk, and capsule, even when growing in the same locality ', 

 the different forms growing in patches, not promiscuously, but 



