444 
IV. MTJSCI. 
\_Bryum. 
B. flaccidum, Bridel ?, of FI. N. Z. ii. 85, which much resembles B. caspiticium. 
B. varium, FI. N. Z. ii. 85. t. 85* .f 4, a Dusky Bay plant without fruit, of which I find 
no specimens in Herb. Hook. 
B. intermedium, Bridel?, FI. N. Z. ii. 87, of which a mere scrap was so named by my 
friend Mr. Wilson. 
B. INCURVIFOLTUM, C. Muell. in Bot. Zeit. 1851, 549, a dubious plant, of which no 
fruit has ever been found, collected by Mossman at Kiapara. 
' 37. MNIUM, Bruch and Schimp. 
Erect, rarely creeping, loosely tufted, usually rather large perennial mosses ; 
stems proliferous from the base, not from the tops. Leaves large, crowded 
and spreading at the tops of the stems ; cells hexagonal. Fruitstalks ter- 
minal, often several together. Capsule pendulous, ovate-oblong, annulate ; 
peristome double, as in Bryum. Operculum usually rostrate, rarely convex, 
and apiculate. Calyptra small, cucullate. 
Usually handsome mosses, growing in woods, on moist rocks and trunks of trees, in many 
parts of the globe, differing in habit more than by tangible characters from Bryum. ; the 
New Zealand species may be known by the rostrate operculum. 
Leaves ovate acuminate, nerve subcontinuous . . . . • . . . 1 .31. rostratum. 
Leaves longer, denser, nerve stronger 2. M. rhgnchophorum. 
1. M. rostratum, Schwcegr. Suppl. t. 79; — FI. N. Z. ii. 87. Stems 
decumbent, then ascending, §-2 in. long, with creeping barren runners. 
Leaves large, crisped and undulate when dry, lower ovate acuminate, upper 
spreading, oblong, obtuse, apiculate ; margin thickened, toothed ; nerve sub- 
continuous. Fruitstalk crowded, 1-2 in. long. Capsules nodding or pen- 
dulous ; operculum rostrate. Inflorescence hermaphrodite. — Wits. Bryol. 
Brit. 254. t. 31. 
Common in the Northern and Middle Islands: Colenso, etc. (Europe, Asia, 
America.) 
2. M. rhynchophorum. Hook, and Harv. Ic. PL t. 20. /. 3. Very 
similar to and perhaps a form of M. rostratum, but the leaves are longer, of 
denser substance, with minute cells, and the nerve stronger with a pellucid 
border. 
Northern and Middle Islands : probably common in woods. Waikare lake, and 
Tuaranga, Colenso ; Chalky Bay, Lyall. (Europe, Asia, America.) 
38. MEESIA, Hedwig. 
Large handsome mosses, with the habit of Bryum. Eruitstalk very long 
and slender. Capsule suberect, obovate or clavate, curved, gibbous at the 
back; mouth small and oblique; apophysis long, tapering. Peristome 
double; outer of 16 short entire or split teeth, more or less adherent to the 
inner peristome, which is longer and formed of a membrane split into 16 
keeled processes ; annulus small. Operculum small, conical. Calyptra sub- 
mitriform, indexed at the base, fugacious. 
A small genus of more or less Alpine mosses. 
1. M. macrantha. Mitten in Hook. Kew Journ. Bot. viii. 260. Stems 
tufted, short, branched. Leaves lanceolate, obtuse, margin recurved ; nerve 
