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Corbett : Schcenns nigricans at Askern. 



Barbula convoluta var. Sardoa B.&S. The Barbula com- 

 mutata Juratz. of the London Catalogue of British Mosses. 



This very distinct variety of the common moss I found 

 on the border of a cindery path in shade at Barkstone, near 

 Sherburn-in-Elmet, 7th May 1900. It has been verified by 

 Mr. Dixon, and is identical in habit and growth with 

 a specimen from Mr. Nicholson, of Lewes, gathered in 

 Sussex. 



Grimmia orbicularis Bruch. From rocks near the Strid, 

 Bolton Woods, nth August 1898. It has been recorded by 

 Mr. Barnes from Durham, but I believe it has not yet been 

 recorded from Yorkshire. 



Leptobryum minus Phil. This beautiful little moss I found on 

 Coatham Marshes, 19th July 1900. Mr. Bagnall, of Aston, 

 Birmingham, confirms my naming as follows : — ' I have 

 examined your very interesting Leptobryum, and compared 

 it with specimens from Wilson and my own collecting, and 

 find it really distinct from L. pyriforme , in its small capsule, 

 with shorter, less defined neck, less developed inner peri- 

 stome, shorter leaves, and larger spores, these latter differing 

 in size nearly as much from L. pyriforme as do the spores 

 of Funaria microstoma from those of F. hygrometrica. 1 



As the larger spores are not mentioned in Husnot's 

 description of Philibert's plant, and as all other points in 

 my plant agree with his description, I announce the plant 

 only provisionally as Leptobryu?n minus Phil. 



I shall be pleased to send a good specimen of this moss 

 to any reader who is interested in it. 



NOTE— FLOWERING PLANTS. 



Schaenus nigricans at Askern. — On Tuesday, 31st July, I spent 

 a couple of hours ' botanising ' on the bog at Askern, and among- other 

 things I found a sedge that was unknown to me. On examining the plant 

 I concluded that it was Schoemis nigricans L. ; but this species being so 

 very rare in the West Riding, and quite unknown in the Don valley, 

 I thought that my diagnosis must be wrong. But on sending specimens to 

 Mr. F. A. Lees all doubts were removed, the plant being determined by 

 him as 6". riigricans. 



The only hitherto recorded localities for this species in the West Riding 

 are in the Lune, Ribble, Yore, and Nidd basins, and the altitudinal range 

 is given (Flora of West Yorkshire, p. 452) as from 200-450 feet. It is 

 therefore very remarkable that it should be found growing freely in the 

 Don valley at an elevation of about 20 feet. That the plant has only lately 

 come there is evident. Otherwise so conspicuous a species, in such a well- 

 worked locality, must have been noted, and it seems to me (pace Mr. Moss) 

 to be a strong supporting fact in favour of Mr. Lees' theory of ' substitution.' 



— H. H. Corbett, 9, Priory Place, Doncaster, 3rd August 1900. 



Naturalist, 



