268 Mosses to be Found in May. 



stems varying in height from two to six inches, or even more, 

 slender, almost filiform, flexuose, and beset with reddish brown 

 radicles in the lower part. 



The only remaining example is the naked apple-moss, Dis- 

 celium nudum, to which also a separate genus is given, named 

 from &<?, twice or two, and o-tcrfkos, a leg, because the teeth are 

 split into two divisions from the base to the middle, giving the 

 appearance of legs. They are also jointed. Discelium nudum 

 is the only known species of this singular genus, which seems 

 to combine in itself some of the attributes of three others ; for 

 example, it resembles Catoscopium in its capsule, Phascum in 

 its mode of growth, and Trematodon in its peristome. Like 

 the Phascums, it is almost stemless, and, like them, grows from 

 a conferva-like thallus, which in Discelium has a green velvety^ 

 appearance ; the leaves are few and imbricated, concave, entire, 

 ovate-lanceolate, and almost destitute of nerve ; the areoke lax, 

 oblong-hexagonal, and diaphanous. Their number is about six 

 or eight, and they seem to be solely or chiefly a gemmiform 

 envelope for the inflorescence. When old they are of a pale 

 reddish hue, and the green velvety thallus withers and becomes 

 discoloured soon after the formation of the fruit ; and frequently 

 by the action of the frost in winter it decays and mixes itself 

 with the mould of the substratum, even before the ripening of 

 the capsules, which does not occur till February or March. 

 The capsule is sub-globose, as we have already said, resembling 

 Cutoscopium, but is reddish in colour, and more or less cernu- 

 ous ; the lid, however, is large, conical, and more or less acute f- 

 the annulus, too, which is sub-persistent, is large, composed of 

 a double row of cellules ; the vaginula oblong, not much thicker 

 than the fruit- stalk, which latter is about an inch long, reddish, 

 and flexuose ; the calyptra is narrow, smooth, and subulate, 

 and splitting on one side throughout its whole length, the 

 fissure ascending spirally. Like that of Catoscopium, it is 

 fugacious, or when entire at the base, which is frequently the 

 caso, being longer than the fruit, it remains attached to the 

 fruit- stalk beneath the capsule. The spores are of moderate 

 size, punctulato and reddish. 



The favourite habitats of the species are tho clayey declivi- 

 ties of the North of England and Scotland. It was first dis- 

 covered by Mr. George Cayley near Manchester j Mr. Don 

 also found it by tho sido of" tho river Tay near Perth; and it 

 has since- been met- with in several places, especially in the 

 neighbourhood of Manchester, turning the vicinity of that busy 

 scene of manual labour into classic ground for the botanist and 

 the lover of nature's most lovely forms, and linking it with 

 iciationa and recollections, apart from the overy-day tur- 

 moil of tho struggle for existence. 



