Fie* 11. Settionof the âam'e bÿ tfhich the insertionof the outer and, particularly, the. inner vpéristomium is ex-
posed to view. Fig. 12. Cilia of the outer peristomium. Fig. 13. Upper part of the seminal bag with its filaments,
and terminated by the columella. Fig. 14. Transverse section of the green seminal bag. Fig. 15. A
filament that connects the seminal bag to the inner wall of the capsule. Fig. 16. Old Capsule laid open to show
the columella. Fig. 17. Ripe seeds.—All from^gv 7- highly magnified.
This singular plant, “ Musconm reginaj as Dillenius emphatically calls it, may justly be considered as the rarest
British species of the tribe to which it belongs. The only specimens that were ever discovered in England 1 had
the good fortune to find, in December 1806, in a wood at Sprowston, near Norwich, growing on a small hillock
of peat earth, together with plants of Dicramim scopariurn, and abundance of Conjervajngtda {Lerammm Bill-
wvnii Roth.), in a situation shaded by fir-trees. For several wintêrs I had the opportunity of watching the pro-
grass of this plant from the infant state to its progress to maturity, which happened m March or the beginning of
April, when it perished and nothing more was to be seen till the following October or November.
'Notwithstanding the strictest'search was made throughout the wood by my botanical friends as well as myself,
ho other station was to be found than the one just mentioned; and even there, although 1 left several plants every
season, the number of individuals annually diminished, so that since the year 1812 none have appeared. In Scotland
mv young friend Mr. E. Maughan, of Edinburgh, gathered it m Rosslyn wood, by the road-side, not far from
the chapel, in 1808 and the following year ; since which time none have been found there : and another Scotch
habitat was detected in 1809 by the late Mr. Jackson in a wood near Aberdeen. Dr. Wade m his Fiant a ra-
riores Hibernia mentions having found it upon rocks by the lake of Killarney ; a place of growth very different
from any that has been elsewhere remarked. A large variety grows in Switzerland upon the decayed stumps of trees,
which M. Decandolle has intimated to me may probably be a distinct species ; but after an attentive examination
I confess that I see no. reason to think it so. V I ■ , , . , . . . F ., ■ ■ .
Unless Mr. Jackson stated to any person more particularly than he did to me the station for tins plant near
Aberdeen, I fear that no certain one is now known to exist in this country.
On the continent of Europe and even in America this plant is more frequent than with us. It was first discovered
on the banks of the Wolga near Astrachan by. Buxbaum, and described by him in his Ceiituria as Muscus
capillaceus aphyllus, capitulo crasso bivalvi*,” mistaking probably a line formed by the shrinking of the upper
part of the Capsule for the suture of ihe valves. After the example of Marchant, Buxbaum was anxious to name
this new moss after his father : “ sed venit,” he observes, “ mihi in mentem vulpes, qui dendebatur ab alas, quod
uvas non pro se, sed pro ægrota poscèret matra.” Future botanists,, however, have done him the honour which
he so iustly merits. . , F
Nothing can be more evident than that Micheli’s description, above quoted; is made from some species of
Polytrichum, although he may have received the plantin question from Monti. - Indeed Dillenius assures usthat he
obtained a specimen from Monti himself which proved to be the Buxbaumia', so that he concludes that the individuals
«fiven to Micheli were mixed with some Polytrichum which he confounded with them.
The figures given in Dillenius’s Hist. Muscorum are made partly from Buxbaums plate and partly, from the
plants received6from Monti, neither they nor the description being very accurate. Specimens afterwards obtained
from Celsius gathered » ad Upsaliam in rupibus Lasbyensibus in 1729,” are described in the appends, where
Dillenius seems to doubt if the plant be a moss or a fungus. ■ . • H M R H M H R H
In the first edition of Haller’s Enumeratio Plantarum Helvetia it is mentioned as a fungus ; but the author was
induced to change his opinion in the second edition, in which he asserts it to be a moss, describes it under the
name of Buxbaumia, and adds “ Modestia Buxbaumii fecit, ut destinatum nomen plantæ ranssimæ imponere non
sustineret E*o vero eo confidentior, novæ plantæ impono nomen peregrinatons Botanici, cm, præter copiosum
certe catalogum plantarum circa Halam nascentium et.quinque Centurias plantarum ranorum in Oriente atque
Russia lectarum, mulias etiam observationes per Acta Petropolitana sparsas debemus. In his Stirpes the:i lus-
trious Haller has given some further particulars of Buxbaumia, which, however excellentfor the time in which they
were written, go but little way towards a satisfactory illustration of the species.
Fabricius changed the name to Hippopodium, “ propter capitulum
igulam equideiE
Gleditsch ranges it among the fungi again. I , A B .. .
Our great master Linnæus published an admirable memoir on the genus in the fifth volume of the Amanitatcs
Academica, which, though written eo long ago as the year 1757, is full of valuable observation Scarcely, a year
elapsed when Schmidel gave to thebotanical world his Dissertation on Buxbaumia, than which a more complete
.or satisfactory history scarcely exists of any plant. The account.of the internal structure of the sack and of the
peristomium is howeyer defective.. ■ .. B B H H Ü • -, F r .• „
According to this author, who has had the advantage of me in the opportunity heranjoyed of dissecting^ specimen
of Buxbaumia aphylla in its minutest state, when no larger than a seed of Chickweed (Alsine)o i loppy,
and discoverable only witli the help of a microscope, the penchætium is at first hollow, or cup-shaped, with tii
mouth open and truncate. Within, from the base in the centre, uses the minute; oblong germens not half the -
meter oftire hollow, swollen at the base, which
In a-little time the head of the germen is protruded beyond the penchætium, still covered with itsicalyptm, and
annears as at dg. 2. in the annexed plate. The plant is not much further advanced when the calyptra alls. = «
at thé tniddleperiod of its growth it assumes the form that is represented at Jig. 4., where the capsule, though still
erect, begins to show its remarkable gibbosity on one side : and the apophysis and operculum are.both discern*.
I ï < 6. shows the capsule fully formed, but not mature. It is in this state that it exhibits the internal structu .
given at fig. 7, arid which is described under Diphysciumfoliosum. . . H I R ., o
A section of the apophysis, which I neglected to make till the annexed plate was finished, presents to he v ew a
central column of a cellulose substance, such as Schmidel describes and figures at jig . 20. and 25. Dipkyscu
. capsule of Buxbaumia from green becomes of a yellow-brown colour, more
especially on the under side, with red or reddish purple. The operculum falls off, and offers to. view the
margin of the capsule sometimes cleft a little way down at unequal distances ( see Jig. 10.), m such a manner th
Hedwig an.d (following him) many other authors have considered it to he an external peristome. Thus th y. |
made this plant to possess a treble peristome ; while others, Bndel and Brown for example, seem to ha g
the other extreme, either omitting to notice the “ corona e processulis succulentis, or not considering it .
way connected with, the peristome. Nay, even Hedwig himself seemed at one time disposed to look upon it
'analogous to the annulus in many other mosses. . .. . . . . 1 „„
In 111 the specimens that I have myself examined of this moss, and I have destroyed every ripe capsule in y
Herbarium for the purpose,Ihave always seen adecided double peristomium, both, of them arising from t l c a a
liai tegument, and just within the margin (fig. 11.) : the exterior is composed of many (an
crowded, succulent, reddish, opaque, jointless, but somewhat torn ose threads or cilia, which are erect, n«w y I
in h ei#;, and about one fourth of the length of the capsule. I know of no.hmg.slr.cfly an^qgous to t e e i n g
peristone of any mosses. Some simUarity, indeed, there appears to be.with that of Tortilla, which lf
“ non obscure hie muscus refertreceptaculum tùbuli U
e solet, qui vocat PluJj'en-jutteral"
x quo tabaci fumus hduritur, ex-liguo o