Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/154

132 cution. The origin of these hairs in no way argues the absence of paraphyses, which those authors observe, and which are sufficiently perceptible though of only half the diameter of the hairs themselves, these are perfectly straight and inserted near the base of the vaginula.

1. Poiathichum magellanicum, Hedw.; caule ramoso, foliis rigidis patentibus recurvis basi ovatis vaginantibus delude subulatis serratis, theca inclinata v. horizontali oblonga serni-cylindracea supra plana, operculo conico-rostrato, calyptra glabra. P. magellanicum, Hedw. Sj). Muse, p. 101. t. 20. f. 1, 2. Catharinea, Brid. Bryol. Univ. vol. ii. p. 106. (Tab. LIX. Kg. III.)

Hab. Lord Auckland's group ; moist ground, amongst grass near the tops of the lulls.

Theca junior erecta, matiua inclinata, tandem horizontalis, basi subgibbosa, fusco-bmnnea. In the peculiar form of the capsule (ill represented in Hedwig's figure) and in general habit, this moss bears a strong similarity to Baicsonia ; Menzies, who describes the theca as subcylindrical in the Limiaean Transactions (vol. it. p. 71.), is the only observer who has remarked its peculiar structure. The naked calyptra allies this species to the Catharinea of Bridel, whence some may include it under the division called Pogonatum by Bruch and Schimper; on the other hand, the absence of an apophysis will connect it with Oligotrichum. From Polytrichum of Bruch. and Sehimper, it differs in wanting proper angles on the capsule, and from Atrichum, of the same authors, in having the inner or inverted portion of the sporular membrane surrounding the columella 4-winged.

This moss is found in as low a south latitude as Brazil, from whence we have seen specimens collected by Baddi and named Catharinea pseudo-polyirichmn, and there are others in the Herbarium formed by Jlr. Gardner. It varies in the length and somewhat in the disposition of the leaves, which are sometimes widely spreading and squarrose, but in the specimens now under consideration, they are shorter than in others from Cape Horn. The seta is also of variable length.

Plate LEX. Fig. III. — 1, a specimen of the natural size ; 2 and 3, leaves ; 4, young theca ; 5, mature ditto; 6, teeth; 7, transverse section of theca; 8, calyptra :— -magnified.

17. CONOSTOMUM, Swartz.

Peristomium simplex ; dentibus sedeeim, in conum persistentcm conniventlbus, apicibus subulatis. Calyptra brevissima, conico-subulata, stricta, latere fissa. Theca subinsequalis, exannulata. 1. Con'ostomum australe, Swartz; caule erecto valde ramoso, ramis fastigiatis obscure pentagonis, foliis densis arete imbricatis lineari-lauceolatis acuminatis supremis longe piliferis, theca cernua subrotundata v. ovato-globosa. C. australe, Swartz in Schroder, Neu Bot. Jovrn. vol. i. pt. 3. p. 31. t. 6. Schcaeg. Suppl., vol. i. pt. 1. p. 80. and pt. 2. p. 108. 1. 130. Brid. Bryol. Univ. vol. i. p. 152.

Hab. Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island; on moist rocks, at a considerable elevation.

Conoslomum has recently been united with Bartramia, by Bruch and Sehimper. The genus is still an eminently natural one. It is not upon the most evident characters, such as the various species of Polytriclium present, however constant they may be, that natural genera can in many cases be founded.

18. BAETEAMIA, Hedw.

Peristomitim duplex ; externa dentes sedeeim, iuflexi ; interim membrana carinata, in lacinias sedeeim integras bifidasve fissa, ciliis interjectis v. nullis. Calyptra cucidliformis. Theca globosa v. ovato-globosa rarius elongata, insequalis; ore obliquo, exannulato. — Philonotis et Bartramia, Brid. Bryol. Univ. vol. ii. p. 15 et 32.