
224 THE NORTHERN MICROSCOPIST. 

the record of which forms one of the most charming chapters of his remarkable 
book on Insectivorous Plants, 
In reporting on the Mosses gathered Mr, Stanley said we cannot all be Moss 
students, but it is as well that we should be occasionally reminded, not only of 
the important part that Mosses fill in the economy of Nature as the precursors 
of higher vegetation, but also of their value in filling in and making complete 
the beauty of Nature’s pictures. 
For how different, even to the most ordinary observer, would the various 
spots appear in our ramble from Buxton to Millers Dale, if we could imagine 
that each boulder, bank and wall was suddenly bereft of every particle of Moss; 
their bare and rugged appearance affording no relief to the more prominent 
features of the landscape. This thought was suggested by the beautiful 
appearance of the wall tops on the left side of the road in Ashwood Dale ; 
being covered for yards together by the bright yellow-green leaves and stems of 
the Silky Feather Moss, Homalothecium sericium, mixed here and there with 
almost black patches of the bristle Mosses, Orthotricum saxatile, and cupulatum. 
Of the many favourable spots around Manchester for the Muscologist this 
district is perhaps the richest in variety of species; although the sandhills at 
Southport possess a greater number of the more rare mosses, 
The genus Orthotricum is named bristle-moss from the hairs on the calyptra 
being quite erect; while the Polytrichacez, or hair-mosses, besides being very 
large in habit, have their calyptras covered with hairs like a shaggy coat. 
The stems of the Orthotricums are from /-inch to 1-inch in length, and the 
leaves are mostly ovate-lanceolate; the species saxatile being known from 
capulatum by its capsule not being immersed in the leaves, and having eight 
striae very prominent when dry. Allied to Orthotricum is the genus Grimmia, 
named from Dr. Grimm, a German botanist, two species of which were gathered 
—Grimmia apocarpa and Grimmia pulvinata, the grey-cushioned Grimmia, 
found abundantly on wall tops and rocks, and justifying this appelation by the 
beautifully circular cushions formed by the short branches and hair-tipped 
foliage. 
Of the 126 generic names of British Mosses, fully three-fourths are derived 
from Greek roots, with reference to marked features of the capsule and peristome; 
hence the attempt to establish an artificial classification from the peristome, 
which has proved of no avail, for along with others, this genus Orthotricum has 
both single and double peristomes, and in one or two intances is without peris- 
tome. Its general features, however, are so constant and well marked, that 
there is no mistaking the genus when once recognized. Another species O, 
affine was collected, but without fruit. Of the remaining generic names four— 
Tortula, Funaria, Fissidens and Fontinalis—are from the Latin; and the rest 
are named after various cryptogamic authorities. 
Four species of Tortula or Barbula were gathered. The wall-screw moss, 
Tortula muralis, common on almost every wall, and known from the leaf, 
having its margin thickened, and its nerve extended beyond the apex into a very 
long hair point, almost as long as the leaf itself. 7. rigidula, the lesser rigid 
Screw Moss, 7. recurvifolia, recurved leaf, and 7 tortuosa, curly-leaved Screw 
Moss. This genus, named from tortus twisted, is very distinct and easily known 
from the twisted character of its peristome. In the same family of Pottiaceze 
are Didymodon rubellus, Trichostomum mutabile, and Ceratadon purpureus. 
The same afternoon, Seligeria tristicha and fTypnum commutatum, two rare 
Species, were collected near Millers Dale by one of our members, Mr. Cash, who 
has kindly given me specimens for exhibition this evening. 
One of the beardless Mosses, Gymnostomum calcareum, is found near Buxton, 
as also Zygodon viridissimus, variety rupestris. 
These are developed by means of gemme, not fruiting in England. Specimens 
were also gathered of Encalypta streptocarpa, the extinguisher-moss, from its 
calyptra entirely enveloping the capsule. This is very rarely found in fruit. 

