m
Î'I::
! r ‘
Of the six species of Encalypta which have been described
by botanists, there are three which very evidently possess a
striated capsule. One of these is beautifully distinguished by
the striæ being spirally arranged. The remaining two, are
E . rhaptocarpa of S c h w a e g r i c h e n , and E . piUfera of
F u n c k . I do not possess satisfactory specimon.s of the latter ;
but, judging from the immature individuals published in my
copy of F u n c k ’s beautiful “ Deutschlands Moose,” I am induced
to regard it as a variety of E . rhaptocarpa, more especially
as the main difference seems to consist in the one having
a persistent the other a fugacious peristome, a character scarcely
sufficient of itself to constitute a specific distinction. S c h w a e g
r i c h e n , indeed, describes the nerve in the leaves of E . rhap.
tocarpa as disappearing below the apex ; but in his magnified
figure of tbe summit of one of the leaves (1. c. t. 16. f. 6.), it is
represented as reaching to the very point, which I have always
found to be the case, and often seen it considerably excurrent,
in Irish, Scottish, Icelandic, and German specimens. In this
respect, then, it does not differ from E . pilifera. As to the
excurrent nerve being diaphanous or coloured, I do not find
either of these characters to be sufficiently permanent to deserve
much confidence.
With the authors of the Muscologia Britannica, I agree
entirely, that no importance is to be placed upon the absence
of the appendages at the base ef the calyptra ; for, though they
are most frequently wanting, yet traces of them are sometimes
to be distinctly seen. The striated capsule seems to afford the
best specific mark, and it is surely a satisfactory one, as tbe
striæ are fully as evident in the scarcely mature capsule as in
age, when the whole is collapsed. In many instances (probably
usually), the striæ are of a different colour from the rest of the
capsule.
Fig. 1. E. rhaptocarpa, nat. size. Fig. 2. A plant magnified. Fig. 3. A lower
leaf. Fig. 4. An upper leaf. Fig. 5. Peristome. Fig. 6. PoHhn o f the
peristome. Fig. 7. Calyptra. Fig. 8. S p o n d e s .-A ll the figures except \.
more or less magnified.