452 
IV. MUSCI. 
\Eremodon. 
pairs, inserted below the mouth, flat, reflexed when dry ; spores compound, 
with 6-8 radiating lines. Operculum conic or convex. Calyptra mitriform 
or cucullate, glabrous or pilose, lacerate. 
The Eremodons in the southern hemisphere are the representatives of the large genus 
Splachnum in the northern, but grow on decayed wood or moist ground, not on dung, as 
is usual with their Northern allies. 
Leaves serrated .... 1. E. robust us. 
Leaves quite entire. 
Nerve continuous or excurrent 2. E. octoblepharis. 
Nerve vanishing below the apex 3. E. purpurascens. 
1. E, robustus, HooJc.f. andWils. FI. N. Z. ii. 93. t. 87./. 2. Stems 
1-4 in. high, tomentose with radicles. Leaves pale, bright green, distant, 
lax, spreading, spathulate, lanceolate, with acuminate recurved apices, sharply 
serrated ; nerve vanishing below the apex. Fruitstalk stout, % in. high. 
Capsule erect, oblong-clavate ; teeth 8, incurved when dry, wide at the base, 
yellow ; operculum subconic. Calyptra 4-partite at the base, rough at the 
apex. — Dissodon callophyllus, C. Muell. in Bot. Zeit. 1851, 546. 
Northern Islaud : Bay of Islands, Sinclair , Oldfield; Auckland, Knight ; Hawke’s 
Bay, Jolliffe. (Tasmania.) 
2. E. octoblepharis, Rook. f. and Wils. FI. N. Z. ii. 94. Very 
similar to C. robustus, but smaller; stems 1 in. high. Leaves obovate, long 
acuminate, almost piliferous, quite entire; nerve continuous or excurrent. 
Capsule erect, clavate ; teeth 8, double, perforated down the middle, reflexed 
when dry. — Splaclinum , Hook. Muse. Exot. t. 167 ; Schwsegr. Suppl. t. 129. 
S. plagiopus, Mont. Voy. au Pole Sud, 285. Dissodon ptlagiopus, C. Muell. 
Var. /8. pyriforme, FI. Antarct. 123. t. 57. f. 4. Leaves more erect, and crowded. 
Var. y. major, 1. c. 123. t. 57. f. 4. Leaves larger, broader, lurid-green. 
Throughout the islands, abundant. Var. 0 and y, Lord Auckland’s group and 
Campbell’s Island, J. I). H. (Tasmania and Australia.) 
3. E. purpurascens. Hook. f. and Wils. — Splachnum , FI. Antarct. 
123. t. 57. f. 6. Larger and laxer than E. octoblepharis. Leaves spreading, 
broadly obovate, acuminate, quite entire ; nerve vanishing below the acumi- 
nate apex. 
Northern Island: Auckland, etc., Colenso and Bottom, Kniglit. Lord Auckland’s 
group and Campbell’s Island : in bogs, J. I). H. Not distinct, I suspect, from the 
E. octoblepharis. 
46. POLYTRICHUM, Linn. 
Erect, tufted, often large, rigid, dark green or brown, monoecious or dioe- 
cious mosses, growing on the ground or roots of trees, etc. Stems very rarely 
branched. Leaves usually long, thick, coriaceous, opaque; nerve very thick, 
with parallel grooves or plates on the upper surface ; cells obscure, very mi- 
nute. Fruitstalk terminal, stout. Capsule erect or slightly inclined, terete or 
4-6-angled, rarely concave or flat on one side, and convex on the other, often 
contracted below the mouth; annulus 0; teeth 16, 32 or 64, very short, 
rigid or homy in texture, incurved, of several layers of superposed cells, with 
a circular membrane stretched loosely across their tips. Operculum flattish, 
often beaked. Calyptra small, cucullate, naked or densely clothed with a 
thatch of matted hairs. 
