210 The Extinguisher Mosses. 



mucronate, or sometimes piliferous, concave, with a nerve 

 thinner and paler than in E. vulgaris, generally exeurrent, but 

 sometimes ceasing below the apex. The capsule is of an oblong 

 form, striated, somewhat apophysate, ribbed and strongly 

 furrowed when dry ; the broad, longitudinal, coloured striae 

 distinguishing it from all others. The fruit-stalk is red and 

 twists towards the right. The calyptra is conico-campanulate, 

 yellowish, scabrous or rugged at the apex, and slightly jagged 

 or uneven at the base. The annulus is simple and the peri- 

 stome persistent, consisting of sixteen lanceolate, firm, trans- 

 versely barred teeth, which are sometimes marked with a 

 medial line, as if to show them to be double. They are 

 inserted below the orifice of the capsule, and their position is 

 erect when dry. The vaginula resembles that of E. vulgaris, 

 with its little crown arising from the same cause; but the* 

 calyptra of rhabdocarpa is shorter, wider, and of a darker hue, 

 the leaves more acute and tapering, and the fruiting season is 

 July and August ; its habitats, the Scotch mountains, and Ben 

 Bulben, Ireland. 



The only remaining British species is the spiral-fruited 

 extinguisher moss, Eneahjpta streptocarpa, whose inflorescence, 

 unlike the other species, is dioicous. In this the elongated stems, 

 from one to two inches long, or even more, are still branched 

 and radiculose. It grows in shady situations, on limestone 

 or mortared walls, etc., sometimes on chalky banks, or on a 

 marly soil, often in extensive patches, but is rarely found in 

 fruit. The walls of a bridge near Dunkeld are mentioned as 

 one of its fruiting habitats. It has also been found in various 

 localities in Derbyshire, and near Bolton Bridge in Yorkshire. 

 It fruits in the month of August. 



From its great length of stem, compared with the other 

 members of the genus, one of our muscologists named it 

 Encalypta grandis, but si/reptoca/rpa, from o-Tp€7rrb<;, writhed, 

 twisted, or twined, and Kapiros, fruit, is far too graphic to be 

 superseded by any other, its sub-cylindrical capsulo being, 

 when ripe and dry, marked with eight or nine spiral furrows, 

 and ultimately twisted in the same direction towards the left. 

 It has a compound, dehiscent annulus, and a double peristome, 

 inserted very little below the orifice, the outer one consisting 

 of sixteen long, narrow, nearly filiform, nodulose teeth, almost 

 half as long as tho capsule, marked with a medial line, and 

 confluent at the base. They arc of a purplish red, and erect, 

 Ihi! slightly reflexed when dry. The inner peristome is 

 formed of yellowish-brown cilia\ which alternate with the outer 

 teeth, arc about half their length, adhere closely to them, and 

 unite in their lower half into a plicated membrane. The 

 spores are small and smooth, the barren-flowered plants more 



