13 



A CURIOUS HABITAT OF SOME MOSSES. 



CHAS. P. HOBKIRK, F.L.S. 



Read in Section D, British Association, Manchester, September yth, 1887; and afterwards at 

 Scottish Cryptogamic Society, October 1887. 



As is probably well known amongst geologists the South-Western 

 portion of the West Riding of Yorkshire is situated on the Lower 

 Coal-Measure series of the Carboniferous formation. The numerous 

 beds of coal of various thickness have been deposited, and are now 

 found intercalated, amongst thick beds of sandstone, some very 

 fine-, others coarse-grained, and these sandstone beds are exten- 

 sively quarried in the district for the excellent building materials 

 they supply. 



It was in one of these quarries, situate at a Colliery called Hartley 

 Bank, near Dewsbury, that the occurrence of this curious moss-habitat 

 was observed. At the bottom of the quarry, which is some 30 ft. or 

 40 ft. below the normal surface of the hill-side in which it is exca- 

 vated, are some deeper holes where blocks of stone have been taken 

 out below the average level, and these have been filled up with water 

 percolating through the cracks in the bedding of the rock. In one 

 of these in which the water stood from a depth of 10 in. to 24 in., I 

 observed, in June 1887, a peculiar looking moss which I could not 

 recognise at first sight. It was growing perfectly upright in a loosely 

 tufted manner and apparently rooted in the bottom of the pool ; it 

 rose up to within an inch or two of the surface, but all of it quite 

 submerged. I rooted up a small tuft with a stick for examination 

 and on putting some of it under the microscope I was very much 

 surprised to find it was Affiiuiii hornum. I at once sent off some 

 spec miens to Dr. Braithwaite of London and to Mr. Boswell of 

 Oxford, who both confirmed my naming of the specimens, but 

 Dr. Braithwaite was of opinion that it was merely a temporary aber- 

 ration from the usual form caused by a temporary submergence. 

 Mr. Boswell expressed great interest in such a curious circumstance as 

 this purely terrestrial or aerial-growing moss being found submerged, 

 and both gentlemen concurred in saying that it was the first time 

 such a thing had come under their notice. On re-visiting the quarry 

 a week or two later, I found on inquiry that it was no temporary or 

 partial inundation that caused the existence of these pools, but that 

 they had been filled with water for at least eight or ten years, and that 

 even in the dryest seasons the depth of the water never varied more 

 than an inch or two. I then made a fresh gathering, of which, after 

 h aving w ell washed it, for the tufts were coated with a diatomaceous 



Jan. 1888. B 



