3^5 



NOTES MOSSES. 



Leptobryum minus Phil. ---It will interest the various readers who 

 have received a specimen of this moss from me to read the diagnosis of it 

 from two of our leading- bryologists. Mr. Bag-nail's opinion is given in ' The 

 Naturalist ' for September 1900. 



Mr. W. E. Nicholson, of Lewes, says: — 'As far as I can see your 

 interesting Leptobryum must belong- to minus Phil., whether as a species or 

 as a variety. In any case it is fairly well marked. The characters of the 

 fruit are not unimportant. There can be no doubt but that the outer 

 peristome is shorter, and the inner imperfect. The cilia seem very imperfect, 

 and without a trace of appendages. The long-, delicate appendiculate cilia 

 are quite conspicuous in my mounted specimens of Z. pyriforme. The 

 spores are certainly larger in your moss, and they appear, to me to be finely 

 punctuate, not so smooth as in Z. pyriforme. The cells of the exothecium 

 are a little smaller, and more incrassate, than in my Z. pyriforme, but 

 possibly the exposure might account for this.' 



Mr. H. N. Dixon, M.A., F.L.S., of Northampton, says: — 'I am very 

 pleased to have the Leptobryum minus, although I do not feel able to accept 

 its specific status. It is a marked form, and I should say constitutes a good 

 variety, but I should hardly be disposed to go further. The size of the 

 spores is certainly a point of importance ; but they must vary considerably 

 in Z. pyriforme. Those I have examined averaged about 10 m., while your 

 ' minus ' has them about 15 m. to 24 m. This seems a great distinction, 

 but Limpricht (who describes ' minus' as a var., without reference to the 

 spores) gives the size of spores in Z. pyriforme type as 14 m. to 20 m., 

 so that the difference is considerably reduced.' — \Ym. Ingham, York, 

 22nd October 1900. 



A Few Sporadic Mosses of Yorkshire.— By sporadic mosses I mean 

 those that have established themselves within a limited area, but have not 

 found a permanent home there, and have the appearance to the bryologist 

 of being out of their element. In July 1900, within a bend of the coast at 

 Coatham Marshes, I came across a large extent of sand that looked quite 

 brown by the multitude of capsules of the small moss called Pott i a Heimii. 

 This moss, which is known as a seaside moss, was luxuriating- in what was 

 evidently its natural home. It quite surpassed all other plants, and reigned 

 supreme, attaining- also its highest development there. 



Now, I have found this sea-side moss settled on a wall at Thorp Arch, 

 where it has been known for some time. Also, quite lately, I have found it 

 by the side of a cinder-path, in shade, at Barkstone, near Sherburn-in-Elmet. 

 It is plain that in both these places the moss is quite out of its element, and 

 is st niggling for existence. To my mind it seems clear that the wind has 

 caught up the countless multitude of spores that are produced on Coatham 

 Marshes, or similar sea-side places, and has wafted them to such places 

 as Thorp Arch and Barkstone, where they have come to rest and produced 

 the stragglers mentioned above. The spores are so small, thousands of 

 them together forming what appears like a light stain to the eye, and are 

 produced in such vast numbers, that it is conceivable they may be floating 

 to any distance in the air. 



On one of the large cinders thrown out from the ironworks at Coatham 

 .Marshes. I found one small tuft with fruit of the moss called Ptychomiirium 

 polyphyllum. On a stone bv the river Derwent at Kirkham Abbey I found 

 the same moss. To find the home of this moss we must go to the siliceous 

 recks and walls of our mountainous districts, such as Teesdale and 

 Wenrdale. 



The common moss Rhacomitrium lanuginosum covers the stones of our 

 mountain moorlands with its hoary carpets. I have found one tuft only of 

 this on Strensall Common, and on Skipwith Common. The spores must 

 have been carried to these commons by the wind, or they are lingerers 

 from bygone colder conditions, when the plains would produce the same 

 plants as now find their true homes only on the mountains. WM. INGHAM, 

 York. 22nd October 1900. 

 1900 December 1. 



