Fergusson : The Wharncliffe Dicranum. 115 



which I think formed a part of the eastern side of the Hambleton 

 hills. 



On the 26th of July, 1876, whilst on a ramble in the North Moors 

 with my late lamented friend, Mr. S. Anderson of Whitby, I found 

 Jung, ciirvifolia growing on decayed wood in Blaeberry Gill, and in 

 1877 MadofJieca lamgata was gathered by myself in the Shaw Wood, 

 at Castle Howard, only in one place. 



THE WHARNCLIFFE DICRANUM. 



By Rev. J. Fergusson. 



It seems to me to be an exceedingly difficult matter to determine 

 this moss ; and that any decision given about it will be likely to give 

 rise to diversity of opinion among botanists. Unfortunately it is in a 

 barren state, and the two or three stems which I have of it, and 

 which were kindly sent me by Mr. Hobkirk, are so miserable — only 

 fragments apparently, — that I have the greatest hesitation in 

 hazarding an opinion as to the species to which they belong ; and 

 this notice is intended mainly to call out the views of others regarding 

 them. To the naked eye they look not unlike Die. scoparum var. 

 rupestre, if the specimen which Mr. Boswell has had the goodness to 

 send me be an authentic one ; but when placed under the microscope 

 they are seen to have an areolation of a type totally different from 

 that which any form of Die. scoparum can possibly have. On first 

 seeing Mr. Hobkirk's mounted specimen of the Wharncliffe plant, 

 which could not be dissected, and did not show the nerve structure or 

 the bases of the leaves sufficiently, I supposed it to belong to D. 

 fuscescens. On receiving his unmounted stems, and being at once 

 struck with the remarkable papillosity of the pagina of the leaf, I 

 concluded that they should be ranked with D. montanum — a species 

 found in several places in England and Scotland. On more careful 

 examination I find that this papillosity is not confined to D. monta- 

 num,^h\it is manifest in undoubted forms of D. fuscescens, D.fulvum, and 

 JJ. Muhlenbeckii. From D. Mvhlenheckii the Wharncliffe plant differs 

 iu the nerve bein^ very rough, not quite or nearly quite smooth on 

 the back, and in other particulars. D. fulvum, again, has a very 

 broad, thick, flat nerve occupying nearly a third of the base of the 

 leaf, the short quadrate cells descend almost or quite to the base of the 

 leaf; and the leaf itself is quite different in form and direction. 

 From D. montanum our plant differs in the dark green colour, absence 



