Mosses to be Found in May. 265 



the stem, or longer, and lanceolate, spreading, or secund, ob- 

 scurely plicate at the base, bluntly toothed or serrated, and 

 having the margin recurved below, with a sub-excurrent nerve, 

 which sometimes ceases below the apex. The leaves are also 

 papillose at the back, and those of the principal stem are 

 broader than those on the branches. The capsule is of thick 

 texture, and large size, of a reddish-brown colour, curved, and 

 longitudinally furrowed when dry ; the teeth of the outer peri- 

 stome are closely barred, and the inner furnished with cilia, 

 bundled two or three together. The fruit-stalk is long and of 

 considerable tenacity. The spores are rather large and red- 

 dish ; the inflorescence dioicous, the inner leaves of the peri- 

 gonium obtuse and horizontally spreading from a broad concave 

 base, the nerve so very faint as to be visible only with difficulty 

 and always ceasing below the apex. 



There are several varieties : variety alpina has short robust 

 stems, with densely leafy branches, of an ovate-lanceolate form, 

 mucronate, and having shorter fruit-stalks. Variety fa hata has 

 yellowish falcato-secund leaves, with a thick reddish nerve, and 

 having the branches curved at the apex. Variety pumila has 

 very slender short stems, with small narrow leaves, and a 

 small capsule. 



The inflorescence is dioicous and it fruits in June. 

 Bartramia calcaria, the thick-nerved apple-moss, has also a 

 dioicous inflorescence, and grows, too, in wet places, but seems 

 confined to limestone districts, and has longer and more rigid 

 leaves than B. fontana; they are also less papillose, have a 

 stronger nerve, larger areolae, and the margin is not recurved : 

 the perigonial leaves also differ considerably, being tapering to 

 a very acute point, and nerved to the apex, while the teeth of 

 the peristome, instead of being closely, are but remotely, 

 barred. It has been found in the Highlands of Scotland, near 

 Todmorden, in Lancashire, and at Hale Moss, in Cheshire. 

 Its fruiting season is July, and it grows in dense patches of a 

 more intense green colour than B. fontana. 



In Bartramia Halleriana, Halter's apple-moss, the inflores- 

 cence is monoicous, the stems are somewhat elongated, from 

 one to three inches in height, with irregular, but fastigiate 

 branches, i.e., the branches, wherever they begin, all reach an 

 equal height. It forms soft, lax tufts, of a bright yellowish 

 green colour, but as the stem descends it becomes covered 

 with radicles of a rich brown tint. The long slender leaves 

 are linear-subulate, and seem to spread in every direction from 

 an erect dilated, slightly sheathing base, which is pale, and 

 somewhat shining — sometimes however they are sub-secund ; 

 they are roughish on both sides, serrulate at the margin, and 

 are tortuous or crisped when dry. The fruit-stalk is very short, 



