2778
G Y M N O S T O M U M cæspititium.
Minute tufted Beardless-Moss.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musci.
Gen. Char. Fruitstalk terminal, slender, rigid.
Mouth of thecapsule naked, or,at most,in an early
stage closed with a more or less complete horizontal
membrane. Calyptra dimidiate.
Spec. Char. Stems elongated, more or less branched.
Leaves lanceolato-subulate, canaliculate, obscurely
nerved, very straight even when dry,
those of the perichætium much longer than the
turbinate quite furrowless capsule.
Syn.. Gymnostomum cæspititium. Web. et Mohr,
FI. Cr. Germ. 77 453. Hook. Engl. FI. v. 5.6.
Anictangium cæspititium. Schwoegr. in Hedw.
Suppl, v. 1. 35. t. 12.
Schistidium cæspititium. Brid.—Nees 8$ Hornsch.
Bryol. Germ. 94. t. 8. f 2.
F e w spots in Britain have been more generally visited
by the lovers of alpine botany than the rough and craggy
portion of the summit of Ben Lawers, the well-known station
for Saxifraga cernua, Verrucaria Hookeri, and other
rarities, and by none perhaps more frequently than ourselves.
Yet till within the last few years, (the year 1830,)
the little Moss here figured had entirely escaped our notice;
nor should we then have detected it but for the bright and
glossy capsules nestling among the very inconspicuous yet
dense foliage. It was in perfection in June and July,
and its favourite situation is on (lie scanty soil intervening