162 The Thread-Mosses. 



Wilson says : — " This very remarkable species was at first 

 supposed to be an accidental form of B. latifolium, but it is 

 now ascertained to be essentially different, though nearly 

 allied ;" and that it is readily distinguished from B. laii/olium, 

 a continental species, " by the small roundish capsule, rostel- 

 late lid, red peristome, and narrower obtuse leaves, with a 

 shorter and thinner nerve ." 



The other members of this genus, which contains the 

 most numerous examples of indigenous thread-mosses, fruit 

 chiefly in the summer months, June, July, and August ; but 

 Bri/um Roseum, the Rosaceous thyme thread-moss — which 

 Wilson rightly places as the last of the Bryums, exceeding in 

 size any other of the species indigenous to Europe, and forming 

 a link between them and the Miliums — fruits in November and 

 December. It is a large and very handsome species, the stems 

 reaching from one to four inches in length, giving off branches 

 below the surface of the soil, having the lower leaves very small 

 and inconspicuous, appressed and somewhat decurrent; the 

 upper ones large and widely spreading, slightly recurved, 

 spathulate and apiculate, flattish, with the margin not thick- 

 ened, but recurved, in the lower part and serrated in the upper, 

 the nerve usually ceasing below the recurved apex. The cap- 

 sules are large, pendulous, oblong or sub -cylindrical, slightly 

 curved, reddish-brown, with short necks which taper into the 

 fruit-stalks, two or three of which are often aggregated to- 

 gether, varying from half an inch to two inches in length. 

 The annulus is large, and is spirally dehiscent ; the lid convex, 

 with a short point, shining and reddish. It inhabits shady 

 banks, chiefly in a sandy soil; but the inflorescence being 

 dioicous, it is seldom met with in fructification. 



Space will not allow of our noticing more than these at 

 present, though some of the summer-fruiting Bryums are ex- 

 ceedingly lovely ; but we trust that many of our readers will 

 find pleasing employment for their microscopes in verifying the 

 descriptions of those given, and in searching out the others in 

 due season. Every eye is pleased with the soft verdure of 

 these denizens of wood and wild, but only his who gazes on 

 them through a powerful lens can duly appreciate, or even in 

 the remotest manner apprehend, the latent beauty whose ele- 

 ments, thick set in every part, elude the most prying, unas- 

 sisted vision. 



