Cladomnion .] 
IV. MUSCX. 
459 
when dry rather shining, snbsecund, erecto-patent, ovate, acuminate, serrate 
at the apex, plaited and striate ; nerve 0. F ruitstalk i in. long. Capsule 
erect, oblong, 8-grooved; outer teeth pale; inner a membrane with rudi- 
mentary cilia; spores small ; operculum conical-subulate, half as long as the 
capsule. Inflorescence dioecious. — Leskea, Hook. Muse. Exot. t. 175. 
Stereodon, Mitten in Journ. Linn. Soc. iv. 89. Neckera glyptotheca, Mueller 
(in Herb.). 
Middle Island : Nelson, Bidwi/l ; Otago, Hector and Buchanan. (Tasmania.) 
54. METEORIUM, Bridel. 
Flaccid, pale green, dioecious mosses. Stems creeping over trees and 
stones, then pendulous, often very long and flexuous ; branches short, 
spreading. Leaves imbricate, usually very delicate, shining, concave, nerved 
or nerveless, smooth or striate ; cells small. Fruitstalk lateral, very short. 
Capsule erect, straight, narrow, oblong or ovoid ; annulus 0 ; peristome 
double ; outer of 1 6 erect teeth ; inner as many cilia, free, or united by a 
membrane at their bases. Operculum beaked. Calyptra cucullate. 
Beautiful tropical and southern mosses ; none are British. 
Pendulous; stems 6-18 in. long. 
Leaves oblong-spathulate, obtuse ; nerve 0 1. M. molle. 
Leaves ovate-cordate, apiculate ; nerve vanishing 2. M. cuspidiferum. 
Leaves ovatc-cordate, acuminate; nerve produced beyond the 
middle 3. M. jlexicaule. 
Pendulous ; stems 1-4 iu. long. 
Minute. Leaves ovate-lanceolate ; nerve very short 4. M. pvdllum. 
Leaves ovate-lanceolate; nerve produced to or beyond the middle 5. M. nitens. 
1. M. molle, Hook. f. and TFils. FI. N. Z. ii. 100. Stems very long, 
pendulous, slender, flexuous, flaccid, 1-8 in. long ; branches nearly simple. 
Leaves pale straw-coloured, shining, imbricate, oblong-spathulate, obtuse, 
subcordate at the base, margins incurved ; apex inflexed, concave, quite 
entire; nerve 0 ; perichaetial twice as long, sheathing. Fruitstalk -J- in. long. 
Capsule ovoid ; inner peristome divided to the middle into 16 keeled cilia ; 
operculum with a slender beak as long as the capsule. Calyptra hairy, 
dimidiate. — Leskea mollis, Hedwig, Muse. Frond. 4. t. 40. Neckera, C. 
Muell. Stereodon, Mitten in Joum. Linn. Soc. iv. 88. 
Throughout the Northern and Middle Islands: common in forests, etc. (Australia, 
Tasmania, Chili, Fuegia.) 
2. M. cuspidiferum, Tayl. mss. ; — FI. N. Z. ii. 101. Stems as in M. 
molle. Leaves dark green or yellowish, loosely imbricate, erecto-patent, 
ovate- cordate, apiculate, semiamplexicaul and slightly toothed at the base, 
elsewhere quite entire, keeled, substriate; nerve vanishing; cells most minute. 
— Tracliypus Hornschuchii, Mitten in Journ. Linn. Soc. iv, 91. 
Var. /3. cerina ; leaves broader, waved when dry ; margins reflexed at the base. — T. cerinus, 
Mitt. 1. c. 
Common in the Northern and Middle Islands : Saddle Hill, Otago, Lindsay ; Bay of 
Islands, Sinclair, J. I). H. Kermadec Islands, Milne. £. Middle Island, Lyall. 
(Norfolk Island, Tasmania, East Indies.) 
2 H 2 
