Of this moss, which has been recently discovered in Scotland
by my friend Dr H o o k e r , I have little more to add to
what he has already observed in his beautiful Musci Exotici.
He there mentions, that he first observed it in Switzerland in
the summer of 1814, near to one of the highest summits of
Mount Cenis; and that he afterwards received it from Professor
S c h m id t , Professor H o r n s c h u c h , and from S c h l e i c h e r .
Dr H o o k e r has in my opinion very correctly rejected it as either
a Timmia or Meesia, and observes that it approximates to
B r yum ccespiticium in its leaves, and to B r yum Zierii in the
form of its theca.
B r yum demissum is a highly interesting addition to our
Flora, and exists probably on many of the Highland mountains.
I t seems to delight in bare precipitous spots, and in such rocky
clefts as produce B r yum Zierii.
The uppermost leaves are much more attenuated than the
lower ones. That represented at Fig. 5. should have had a
longer point.
Il i
Fig. 1. Tufts o f Bry. demissum, nat. size. Fig. 2. A separate plant. Fig. 3.
A young theca. Fig. 4. A mature theca, having lost the operculum. Fig. 5.
A leaf. Fig. 6. Teeth o f the Ext. Peristome. Fig. 7. Ini. Peristome.
Fig. 8. Sporules.—All but Fig. 1. more or less magnified.
( A