116 



The Naturalist. 



of tomentum (judging from my specimens), firm, not soft, falcato- 

 secund leaves whicli are wider at the base, furnished with larger, 

 laxer auricles, and a nerve much less depressed ; besides it grows on 

 rocks, a thing which D. montanum does not do, except very 

 rarely. From the ordinary forms of D. fuscescens it differs much more 

 decidedly than from Z). montanum^ in being almost quite if not wholly 

 destitute of the long narrow cells which advance upward from the 

 base to about one-fourth the length of the leaf, and in the pagina^ 

 being more decidedly papillose, but in these particulars D. fuscescens 

 varies exceedingly. The nerve of the specimens gathered by Dr. 

 Parsons is much more that of D. fuscescens than of D. montanum. 

 Whilst fully recognising the close affinity of the Wharncliffe moss 

 with B. montanum, of which it may only be a rock form, I have the 

 greatest difficulty in getting clear of the idea that it is closely related 

 to specimens which I have from various quarters, which differ in 

 aspect most decidedly from every form of D. montanum which I have 

 seen. Such forms have been gathered at Dunoon by Dr. Stirton ; at 

 Pateley Bridge, Yorkshire, by Mr. J. S. Wesley ; at Staly Brushes 

 by the late Mr. Hunt; in Mayo, Ireland, and in various places 

 throughout the kingdom. To me it seems that these cannot be easily- 

 included in D. montanum, but belong fully as much to B. fuscescens 'j 

 and it may be as well to delay deciding definitely what they are until 

 better and more abundant specimens are obtained, or to regard them 

 in the meantime as belonging to a doubtful variety, if not species, 

 and to let it pass under the name of B. saxicola. 



A FORTNIGHT IN THE FENS. 



By G. T. Porritt, F.L.S. 



When collecting in the New Forest last year with the Rev. T. W. 

 Daltry, M. A., F.L.S., of Madeley "Vicarage, we came to the conclusion 

 that, as for six or seven years we had kept pretty well to wood 

 working, and had " done " some of the most noted localities of that 

 character, it would be as well to change the nature of the ground for 

 our excursion this year. Accordingly we decided to try " the fens." 



Of these there are now three portions existing in England ; first, 

 a fair extent, Mr. F. D. Wheeler tells me, still undrained about 

 Holme, in Huntingdonshire (the next station to Peterborough, on the 

 Great Northern line) ; next, Wicken Fen, a small piece of perhaps a 

 mile and a half square, the last relic of the Cambridgeshire fens ; and 



