Tetraphis Pellucida, Pellucid Four-toothed Moss. 141 



derived from rerpa, for reropa, four ; and a derivative of <j)V(o, 

 meaning a process or production, in allusion to its four pro- 

 minences or teeth. It is a perennial, and grows in dense 

 patches on the decaying roots of trees in shady and rocky 

 places, as also on banks in a peaty soil. 



Having terminal fruit it belongs to the Acrocarpous section 

 of mosses ; and in the Galyptra, which is mitriform, irregularly 

 plicate, and lacerated at the base, it has considerable resem- 

 blance to the Orthotrichums, which we considered in our July 

 number ; it also resembles them in the internal structure of 

 the fruit, that portion of the columella which is included within 

 the peristome, separating from the cellular tissue that fills 

 up the interior of the lid above the peristome ; a structure, it 

 may be remembered, observable in Polytrichum.* 



The stems of Tetraphis pellucida are slender, erect, simple, 

 or dichotomous, *. e., forked with the branches in pairs ; when 

 old crowded together, growing from a common base to the 

 height of from half an inch to an inch, bearing small scattered 

 leaves in the lower parts, but crowned with a tuft of larger, 

 longer, and more crowded leaves at the summit, or with a cup- 

 shaped cluster of very broad leaves, surrounding a group of 

 pedicellate lentiformef gemmae J. These leaves, except at the 

 summit of the fertile stem, are mostly three ranked, ovate- 

 lanceolate, sub-erect, the upper ones larger and more spreading, 

 variously curved, and entire in the margin ; and under the 

 microscope, they present a beautiful piece of hexagonal reticu- 

 lation, from the shape of the areolae, or spaces between the 

 cellules of the leaf. The nerve ceases below the apex. 



The inflorescence is monoicous, the flowers are gemmiform or 

 bud-like, and the barren flower issues from a branch growing out 

 of an abortive fertile flower. The antheridia, which are analo- 

 gous to the anthers of flowering plants, are mixed with filiform 

 paraphyses, or succulent jointed, hair-like bodies, and the arche- 

 gonia, which answer to the pistils of flowering plants, are few. 



The capsule is of a yellowish brown colour, sub-cylindrical, 

 regular or slightly bent, with a red tumid border at the mouth, 

 and seated on a reddish fruit-stalk about half an inch or more 

 in length. The peristome is inserted below the orifice of the 

 capsule, and permanently united to the included portion of the 

 columella, which, with it, is divided into four pyramidal teeth, 

 each being marked with longitudinal strias. The calyptra is 

 whitish, but brown at the apex ; and the capsules usually soli- 

 tary, though sometimes two are found together. The plant is 

 of a light green above, reddish below, and at the base, con- 



* Vide No. 16 of the Intellectual Obsekvee. 



t Lentiforme, shaped like a vetch seed. 



X Loose granular bodies capable of becoming plants. 



