THE GENERA OF MOSSES, 
which it is scarcely necessary to mention here, such as oc- 
cur in FontinaUs^ Cinclidium, Conostomum^ &c. : they will 
all be particularly described when we come to treat of these 
genera *. 
There is only one other part of which we conceive it 
proper to make some mention, viz. the Calyptra; a mem- 
branaceous veil, which is situated upon, and more or less 
covers the theca It is the upper portion of what in a 
young state is the covering of the theca, and which in 
a short time tears transversely towards its base. From 
this body, which is either fugacious or persistent, ex- 
cellent generic characters may be drawn. It is either di- 
midiate, mitriform, or campanulate; and sometimes, as 
in various Orthotrica, is cleft into numerous, long, nar- 
row laciniae, or strap-shaped segments: its surface is 
smooth, or pilose, or even hirsute ; plane, striated, or sul- 
cated. In some instances it is furnished at its base with 
ciliae, or a kind of lobes, as in some EncalyptcE and Ortho- 
trica ; but though we can scarcely call them adventitious, 
they appear to be of a more tender texture than the calyp- 
tra itself : they are probably portions of the pellicle of the 
vaginula, or that body of which at an early period the ca- 
lyptra formed a part, and from which it was torn by the 
maturing of the theca. 
On the other kind of fructification, the small pedicellated 
and reticulated bodies, described by authors as anthers, 
and likewise generally enveloped in perichgetial leaves, we 
shall also make no comments in this place, nor even after- 
wards, unless extremely remarkable, since they are equally 
difficult to detect, and unsatisfactory when employed as 
characters. 
* The terms of inner and outer peristome, we think almost unnecessary 
to change, being as applicable, after the above explanation, as hitherto. 
