64 
On Bog Mosses. 
distant from each other ^ very Iroadly oval, involute at apex, laxly 
areolate, with fibres in the upper cells. Spores ferruginous. Male 
plants more slender, amentula fusiform, tlie bracts ovato-lanceolate. 
Var. p. plumosum. 
Sph. subulutum Bbid. Sp. Muse. I, p. 19. Mant. p. 3. Br. Univ. I, p. 18. 
ScHWGN. Supp. I, r. I, p. 18. Sph. acutifolium S subulatum Bry. Germ. I, p. 21, 
T. Ill, fig. 8***. KoTH Fl. Germ. Ill, P. I, p. 120. Blandow Fasc. V, No. 204. 
Sph. cuspidatum Muse. Brit. p. 4, T. IV. Spli. cuspidatum /3 8 plumosum Schimp. 
Submersed, slender, elongated ; branches decurved, all uniform 
and divergent, their leaves very long and narrow. 
Yar. 7. hypnoides. 
Sph. hypnoides Beaun in Bot. Zeit. 1825, No. 40. Bkid. Br. Univ. I, p. 752. 
Short, densely tufted ; stem simple with simple branches, 
hooked at apex. Leaves uniform, strongly undulated, narrowly 
lanceolate, falcato-secund. 
Var. B. Torreyi. 
sph. Torreyanum SuLLiVANT, Mem. Amer. Ac. n. s. IV, p. 175 (1849). Mosses 
of Un. States, p. 13, No. 16 (1856). 
Eobust, rigid 10-16 in. high, of a dirty brown colour ; branches 
4-5 flattened. Branch leaves very large, involute at point, elongated 
lanceolate-acuminate, spreading, straight, broadly margined, minutely 
eroso-denticulate at apex ; stem leaves without fibrils. 
Hab. — Stagnant pools in moorlands, frequent. Fr. July. P, in 
deeper water. 7, in Lake Hornsee (A. Braun). B, ponds in pine 
barrens of New Jersey (Torrey). 
The chief points of distinction between this species and the last are 
these ; in Sph. cuspidatum the plants are more slender, the pendent 
branches not closely appressed to the stem so that it is more or less 
visible ; the cortical cells of stem well defined from the thicker 
woody layer ; the longer branch leaves not recurved when dry but 
slightly flexuose ; the stem leaves with larger cells, fibrillose in the 
upper part, and narrower more elongated ones at the margin ; the 
more obtuse perichaetial bracts ; and lastly the brown spores. It 
must also be borne in mind that the two plants not unlrequently 
grow together, yet each retaining their special features. A gradual 
transition may be observed between the typical plant and the Var. 
plumosum, a form of which (Var. moUissimum of Kussow) with 
densely placed fascicles is remarkable for its yellow, soft, spongy 
texture, and was found by Nowell near Todmorden. C. Miiller 
regards the Var. hypnoides as an abnormal condition of seedling 
plants. 
