134 NEW ARRANGEMENT OF 
led to call our vaginula a portion of the ealyptra ; and, rest™ 
ing on the former part of his definition — " pedunculi basin 
involvens," and disregarding the latter and more important 
clause, searched for the vaginula at the base of his seta, 
and therefore declared Sphagnum to be destitute of it. 
Accordingly, we find that Bridel, following up the same 
most unphilosophical conclusion, separates it from all the 
other Mosses, and constitutes for it a distinct section, 
" Musci EvaginulatV Why they did not equally include 
in this arrangement the former genus Andraa, or rather, 
what it is that in it they term vaginula vioo ulla^'' we 
really confess we do not comprehend. In both, however, 
it will be found that the true vaginula, or remainder of the 
ealyptra, " prima atate calijptra coiitinua^^ is fixed imme- 
diately below the theca, and to the summit of what we and 
gome others denominate the receptacle, or what Hedwig 
called the apophysis. We have already taken notice of the 
peculiar appearance exhibited by the perichaetial leaves in 
a young state, and have now only to add, that, by degrees, 
as the theca advances to maturity, the caulis or stem is 
prolonged into the setiform body, which supports the re- 
ceptacle ; thus separating the perichaetial leaves, which now 
become more evidently distinct from each other, and (as is 
indeed represented in all the best figures of the species) are 
scattered along it a considerable way: — a circumstance 
which also militates against Hedwig's hypothesis of the 
seta ; that body, in Mosses, being always destitute of leaves, 
and having the perichaetial ones situated around its base. 
Hab. All the species hitherto described are confined 
to damp or wet situations. They have been found not 
only in Europe, but in North and South America ; and 
probably there are few countries in the whole world, which, 
