Mosses to be Found in May. 267 



cuculate, but very fugacious calyptra. The vaginula is oblong, 

 and the spores are reddish, granular on the surface, and, not- 

 withstanding the diniinutive stature of the moss, its stems 

 scarcely reaching half an inch in height, they are even some- 

 what larger than the spores of ' Bartramia fontcma. The branches 

 are fascicled, two, three, or more together, and sub-erect ; the 

 leaves ovate-acuminate, or lanceolate-acuminate, slightly secund 

 and sub-erect, the nerve reaching nearly to the apex, or some- 

 times excurrent ; they are finely serrated in the upper part, and 

 are composed of rather lax oblong cellules. The fruiting season 

 is October, and it has been found growing in different localities 

 on the mountains of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland ; but Mr. 

 Wilson says, ' c It has not yet been observed in any other coun- 

 try, and is liable to be overlooked on account of its diminutive 

 size." 



Of the two other species of apple-moss, Gatoscopium nigritum, 

 or the lurid apple-moss, is somewhat allied in habit to the Bar- 

 tramia, but Bridel and Wilson make a separate genus for it, 

 named tcdra) from down, and, aKoirew to look, in allusion to the 

 appearance of the capsule, which suddenly bends forward, as if 

 looking down from the top of its seta, or solitary elongated 

 pedestal. It is small, roundish, smooth, shining, and of a thick 

 texture, almost horny, with a rather oblique mouth, destitute of 

 an annulus, and having a small conical lid, which covers a single 

 peristome of sixteen short, lanceolate, or truncate teeth, trans- 

 versely barred, irregular, and marked with a medial line, which 

 leads one to suspect that, as in some other mosses, it may be 

 the junction of two teeth cemented, as it were, into one ', some- 

 times, also, obscure traces of an inner peristome may be dis- 

 covered. The spores are comparatively large and smooth ; the 

 calyptra small, shaped like a little hood, smooth, and usually 

 fugacious, though occasionally found remaining on, or rather 

 adhering to the fruit-stalk beneath the capsule, which, when 

 mature, is black, hence its specific name. 



The inflorescence is dioicous, with terminal flowers; the 

 leaves lanceolate, carinate, nerved, somewhat recurved, and 

 spreading ; the areolas small, quadrate, and opaque, and though 

 the species is rare, being found only in a few places, it is peren- 

 nial in its native habitats, which are moist alpine rocks, or sub- 

 alpine marshy places. It is plentiful on Ben-y-gloe, near Blair, 

 in Athol, and we have seen specimens brought from the sands 

 of Barrie, on the coast of Forfarshire — a circumstance which 

 goes to prove what has been often asserted, namely, that the 

 climate of the lofty mountain and that of the seashore are very 

 closely allied, and the sight of this little tenant of the mountain 

 wild, and of the lowly beach, ever brings with it associations 

 both pleasing and sublime. It grows in soft green tufts, the 



