410 



The Side-fruiting Mosses. 



1. Fontinalis antipyretica (nat. size).— 2. Stem-leaf. — 3. Fruit.— 4. Pericluetial 



Leaf (mag.) 



THE SIDE-FKUITING MOSSES. 



BY M. G. CAMPBELL. 

 ( With an Illustration.) 



Hitherto we Lave treated only of the Acrocarpous, or terminal- 

 fruitiug mosses, and though we have, from want of space, left 

 unnoticed many of the most beautiful of that section, as the 

 Bryums, Miincms, Sphagmims, etc., some of which we may 

 describe hereafter, we purpose to devote this paper to the 

 Pleurocarpi, or side-fruiters, and of these, the three Fontinalea3, 

 or water-mosses, fruiting in Juno and July, have a fructifica- 

 tion eminently microscopic : indeed, so buried is the fruit 

 within tho leaves of the porichaotium, which, like a large imbri- 

 cated, persistent calyx, conceals, and appears almost to smother, 

 the little seed-bearing urn which nestles within it, that any 

 one unfurnished with a tolerable lens might well be excused 

 for pronouncing them barren, even when rich, as they fre- 

 quently are, at the lower part of tho elder stems, with littlo 

 branchlets bearing numerous immersed capsules. 



The Fontinalea) are pleurocarpous perennial mosses, growing 





