White : On the Antiquity of Musci. 



99 



The next mosses that have been recovered date from inter-glacial 

 times, and were found in the lignites, or brown coal, of Diirnten and 

 Morschweil, in Switzerland. They were determined by Schimper for 

 Ileer, and are mentioned by the latter in his " Primaeval World 

 of Switzerland." With one exception they seem to be all extinct 

 species, though the flowering plants with which they are asso- 

 ciated are all, except one, species still living, and many of the 

 animals are also still existent. The mosses are — Sphagmim cyrribi- 

 folium^ Hypnum lignitorum, Schpr. (allied to H. palustre) ; H. 

 priscum, Schpr. (very like ff. sarmentosum) ; Hypnum sp., (repre- 

 senting H. siramineum and H. trifarium) ; Thuyidium antiquum^ 

 Schpr. (closely related to T. delicaiulum). 



A little older than these Diirnten mosses is one mentioned by 

 A. Nathorst in his paper, " Om den arktiska vegetationens ut- 

 bredning ofver Europa norr em Alperna under istiden," as having 

 been found associated with Salix polaris, in the earliest glacial beds 

 of Norfolk. This is Hypnum turgescens, Schpr., which is also found 

 in Greenland, Spitzbergen, Nordland, (fee. 



Dr. Hermann Credner records in his " Elemente der Geologic " 

 the following mosses as having been found in a Palaeolithic deposit in 

 the lowland of Suabia : — Hypnum sarmentosum, H. groenlandicum, 

 and H. fluitans, var. tenuissimum. It will be noticed that these are 

 all arctic or alpine species. 



We now make a jump to miocene times, when Musettes Berggrcni, 

 described and figured by Heer in the work cited above, grew in Spitz- 

 bergen. At this time also three species grew in Switzerland, as Heer 

 records in his " Primeval World," but as he does not give their names 

 I cannot mention them. I fancy they are described in his " Flora 

 tert. Helv.," as the above-mentioned Muscites is said to be like 

 Hypnum Schimperi, Heer, Flora tert. Helv. p. 28. I imagine the 

 latter to be one of the mosses alluded to in the " Primaeval World.'' 



Perth, Jan. 6th, 1880. 



NOTES ON BIRDS OBSERVED IN DUTCH BRABANT. 



{Conchided.) 

 By Wm, Eagle Clarke. 



Kestrel. — Breeds in the plantations. The sparrow-hawk was not 

 observed. 



Hen Harrier.— A pair or two on all the heaths, consequently this species 

 was seen daily. Its flight struck us as particularly laboured, being 



