104 



The Naturalist. 



without leaves at the base, capsules generally more abundant. Leaves ■ 

 narrower, more acute, the keel less arcuate, more glistening, of firmer ^ 

 structure, leaf cells narrower, more frequently split along the keel, ^ 

 and with the alar expansion at the base of one or other side less " 

 reflexed. Capsule and spores as in the type." Then there is given 

 as the synonym Foiitinalis gracilis, Lindb., Not. Sallsk. Fauna et Fl. 

 Fenn. 1868.* 



Schimper goes on to say : — " Against the opinion of the illustrious | 

 Lindberg I consider variety y as not specifically distinct from F. anti- | 

 pyretica.. I have noticed it in very many localities, more especially in j 

 the rivulets of the higher Vosges, where in 1837 I gathered a good ] 

 supply of specimens loaded with fructificatioQ, and twenty years later I 

 in the very same place found it manifestly passing in a transitional \ 

 state towards the normal form. The specimens sent me by its \ 

 eminent describer exactly agree with those from the Vosges and ■ 

 others sent me from many localities pretty nearly all over Europe, J 

 but not with the description set forth by the illustrious Lindberg in i 

 the work quoted above. The perichaetia are described as radiculose ; ■ 

 the fact is, that radicular fibres at the base of the perich^tial branch 

 are sometimes present, sometimes wanting, just as in the type F. anti- 

 pyretica ; the leaves present the same characters as in it " (the type) ; 

 " the capsule is found smaller or larger, as often as not of just the 

 same shape and size as in it, not ventricose, nor when dry more 

 constricted below the mouth, nor composed of cells twice as large, as 

 Lindberg says of it ; the teeth of the peristome do not differ in the 

 least, either in shape, length, number of articulations, arrangement of 

 tubercles, nor yet in colour ; the spores said to be four times 

 the size are found to be not really a quarter larger than in the 

 common form ; in it, as in the variety under consideration, spores 

 larger and smaller are found in the same capsule." 



There is more about the leaf cells, but the above is sufficient, and 

 is intended for the information of those who have not Schimjoer's 

 book. 



What Mr. Boswell thinks of F. gracilis as a species will be clear 

 from this passage : — "At p. 553, he (Schimper) has rather a long 

 observation which seems to be quite conclusive as to its claims to 

 specific rank." 



As to Aulacomnium turgidum from Whernside, I don't know who 

 the others were, but I plead guilty to having threatened to publish a 



* Schimper has misquoted the date ; it should be 1865. —Eds. Nat, 



