406 iv. musci. \_Symllej)haris. 
C. Mueller, which has distinct masses of alary cells at the contracted bases of the somewhat 
crisped leaves {Mitten). 
7. FXSSIDENS, Pled wig. 
Small, usually bright green, monoecious or dioecious mosses, growing on 
earth and stones, rarely on roots of trees. Leaves distichous, equi- 
tant, alternate, semiamplexicaul, the blade unequal-sided and vertical ; cells 
minute or lax and distinct. Fruitstalk terminal in all but one of the New 
Zealand species, sometimes on short lateral shoots. Capsule erect inclined 
or cernuous; annulus 0 or present; teeth 16, in one row, equidistant, with 
a dark line down the middle, entire 2-fid or 3-fid at the apex, when dry 
spreading and curling outwards at the base and then inwards. Operculum 
conical or beaked. Calyptra cucullate, rarely mitriform. 
A very large genus of mosses, abounding in all parts of the world except the arctic and 
alpine. The New Zealand species, I suspect, want a very careful re-examination, with much 
more numerous specimens than have been hitherto collected. The characters of several are 
very difficult to detect — if, indeed, they be valid, — especially the denticulation and thickened 
margin of the leaf, leDgth of stem, and direction of the capsule. 
Fruitstalk lateral 1. F. adiantoides. 
Fruitstalk terminal. 
a. Margin of leaf entire or nearly so, not thickened and hyaline. 
Stem iu. Leaves crisped when dry. Fruitstalk stout . . . 2. F. asplenioides. 
Stem J-l in. Leaves not crisp when dry. Fruitstalk slender . 3. F. oblongfolius. 
Stem p in. Leaves pale-yellow 4. F. pallidas. 
fi. Margin of leaf crenulate 5. F. tenellus. 
y. Margin of leaf thickened and hyaline. 
Leaves nerveless 6. F. dealbatus. 
Leaves furnished with a nerve. 
f S tetris 1-2 in. long 7 ■ F. rigidu/us. 
ft Stems less than J in. long. 
Leaves broad -lanceolate, apiculate 8. F. bryoides. 
Leaves lanceolate, acuminate 9. F. viridulus. 
Leaves ovate-acute, cymbiform 10. F. brepifolius. 
Leaves verdigris-green, opaque, lanceolate 11. F. aruginosus. 
1. F. adiantoides, Iledivig. Stems 1-2 in. high, elongate, branched. 
Leaves crowded, crisped and incurved when dry, ovate-lanceolate, denticulate 
at the apex, minutely serrate below, nerved to the apex. Fruitstalk lateral. 
Capsule cernuous, ovoid-oblong ; operculum beaked.- — Wils. Bryol. Brit. 
307. t. 16. 
Middle Island : Otago, in damp places, Hector and Buchanan. (Europe, Tasmania, 
N. America.) 
2. F. asplenioides, Swartz. — F. ligulatus, Hook. f. and Wils. FI. N. Z. 
ii. 63. t. 84. f. 1. Stems f-1 in. high, erect. Leaves very numerous, suberect, 
rather remote, crisped and involute when dry, ligulate, obtuse ; margin sub- 
crenulate or denticulate, not thickened ; nerve stout, pellucid, not continuous 
to the apex ; cells minute. Fruitstalk stout. Capsule cernuous, with a 
large mouth ; operculum conic, beaked, half as long as the capsule ; male in- 
florescence on separate stems from the female. 
Northern Island : Bay of Islands, near waterfalls, J. D. H., etc. ; Auckland, Knight; 
