
242 THE NORTHERN MICROSCOPIST. 


erum serratum fruits both in the spring and autumn, and while so 
minute as to require great care to detect it amongst the Mosses, is 
known by its deep velvety-green colour and fine reddish purple of 
the capsules. The leaves are exceptional, being stemless and 
nerveless ; serrated and connivent; capsule large roundish-ovate, 
and subsessile. Found at Marple. Fig. 15. 
Equally small is Phascum sessile, the sessile-fruited Earth-Moss, 
being about ,'5 inch in height. It is even less conspicuous than 
P. serratum, and is found on clay and chalky heaths; rare, with 
leaves narrower and rigid, cellules smaller. Another rare species 
is Ephemerella recurvifolia, found on heaths and fallows, and having 
erect, frequently recurved leaves, toothed at the apex, with a strong 
excurrent nerve. 
Of the mature plants without confervoid shoots the most notice- 
able is Microbryum Flerkeanum, being only ,'; inch in height. The 
leaves are broadly ovate, tapering to a point with reflexed margins. 
It is found on clay or chalky fields, and is rare. 
The other autumn-fruited Phascums are /. muticum, the com- 
mon dwarf Earth-Moss, found on moist banks and fallows ; P. patens, 
the spreading Earth-Moss, clay banks and fields ; P. mitidum, the 
delicate Earth-Moss, moist banks; and P. rostellatum, the beaked 
Earth-Moss, in dried beds of pools, &c. 
Having capsules with a deciduous lid, but without peristome, 
is the genus Gymnostomum, or Beardless-Moss, from yupvos, naked, 
and croua, mouth. It is distinguished by its oval capsules, dimi- 
diate calyptra and lid with an oblique beak; leaves of close firm 
texture and small dense areola. 
The slender Beardless-Moss, Gymnostomum tenue, found on 
sandstone rocks and walls, has tufted stems with tongue-shaped 
leaves nerved nearly to the apex ; while more generally distributed 
on moist Alpine and sub-Alpine rocks are G. rufestre, the rock 
Gymnostomum, and G. curvirostrum, the curve-beaked Gymnos- 
tomum. In Lancashire and Cheshire is found on clay-fields and 
banks, G. sguarrosum, the spreading-leaved Gymnostomum ; the 
only other habitats for this Moss being the Isle of Wight and the 
South-Eastern counties ; while near Buxton there grows plentifully, 
although not in fruit, G. ca/careum, one of the excluded species of 
the London catalogue. 
Abundant on the summits of the higher mountains of Scotland 
is Zygodon Lapponicus, the Lapland Yoke-Moss. It has also been 
found on Snowdon, and only bears fruit at high altitudes, growing 
in the crevices of rocks, Being without peristome it has been 
classed by some writers amongst the Gymnostomums. In mild 
situations it is barren, and in this state Zygodon Mougeotii is found 
frequently with it. 
A minute and rare Moss found on sandstone rocks is Anodus 

