454 
NEW ARRANGEMENT OF 
1st, That every Splachnum, according to our view of 
the genus, has 3^ primary teeth, placed in twos, in fours, 
or in eights, (or even sometimes irregularly). In this place 
we must notice the four additional species constituted by 
Brown, in the Appendix to Parry's first Voyage, to all 
of which that profound botanist attributes 16 teeth for the 
primary number. We cannot confirm this, as we do not 
possess authenticated specimens of any of them ; but con- 
ceive so remarkable an exception should be very cautiously 
admitted into physiological reasoning. That 16 teeth, how- 
ever, were only visible in the peristomes examined by Mr 
Brown, is a fact not to be questioned on his authority. 
SJZz/, With the exception of S. Wormshioldii, whenever 
the teeth present the appearance of being 16 once gemi- 
nated, they are also placed in pairs, though not equally so 
in every species, for we have observed them almost equi- 
distant in specimens of S. spharicum; and Mr Brown 
also mentions, that, in *S'. longicollum of Dickson (a plant 
of North America), the teeth are " vix manifeste per paria 
approximati.'' In S. Wormsldoldii these teeth are equi- 
distant, the main character, we apprehend, on which Mr 
Brown has founded his genus Aplodon. 
It should be recollected, however, that the 16 teeth of 
S. WormsMoldii are each composed of two united ones; 
or, in other words, they are geminate. We candidly con- 
fess, that those species which have 8 equidistant teeth, ap- 
pear to us equally deserving of generic distinction, seeing 
that they are equidistant, though fewer in number, and 
composed of the same primary parts, each tooth being bi- 
geminate. Taking, therefore, into consideration the great 
variety of combinations of these teeth, and the laws which 
the combinations seem to follow*, we have rehnquished all 
• The teeth are found to unite either in twos, in four?, or in eights. \n 
S, Worrmkioldii they are iii twos. 
