APPENDIX I.

ON THE

MUSCI AND HYPATICE

FOUND WITHIN TWELVE MILES OF

LIVERPOOL AND SOUTHPORT..

BY

FREDERICK P. MARRAT.

[READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY ON THE 30th APRIL, 1855.]

NOTE.

In preparing a list of the Mosses, so short a time after the publication of the "Flora of Liverpool," by Dr. Dickinson, some explanation appears necessary.

At the close of the year 1851, the number of species known to our local collectors was 114; and at the end of the year 1854, the species numbered 170-shewing an increase of 56, or nearly one half of the original number.

Among these will be found three new British species, two of which are new to the science, (Bryum cochlearifolium and Bryum Marrații,) and the third (Bryum calophyllum) was enveloped in considerable obscurity on account of the ambiguous descriptions, and the want of good fruiting specimens for examination. If we add the following rarities, Hypnum elodes, polygamum or nodiflorum, scorpioides, piliferum, resupinatum, pratense, caespitosum, elegans, salebrosum, Kneiffii, pumilum; Omalia trichomanoides; Meesia uliginosa; Leskea polycarpa; Campylopus terfaceus; Splachnum ampullaceum; Orthotrichum tenellum, phyllanthum, &c., it will be found that our list is equal in interest to any hitherto published, and vastly superior to most.

My thanks are due to those gentlemen who have contributed to this paper. Mr. Harrison and Mr. Fisher have each furnished me with a list of localities, and some interesting additional species.

Dr. Dickinson, with his usual urbanity, has greatly assisted me by lending books, &c., from his extensive and very valuable library, without which my operations would have been materially diminished and my progress retarded.

William Wilson, Esq., of Warrington, has been the principal means of our receiving such an extraordinary increase to the list; his able assistance has been given on a great many occasions where uncertainty would otherwise have caused the specimens to have been thrown aside.

Mr. Tudor, of Bootle, whose love of Natural History, and particularly of Botany, has led him to investigate some of the most important facts connected with the science, has always been of great service. Mr. Sansom and Mr. Shepherd must not be omitted.

INTRODUCTION.

I. INFLORESCENCE.

As the study of this portion of Cryptogamic Botany has been almost entirely neglected by some of our local students, it will perhaps be useful to explain the method of investigation in some of the species belonging to different genera. That mosses flower, there now appears to be little doubt; also that the organs called archegonia and antheridea are analagous to the stamens and pistils of cotyledonous (flowering) plants,-the spermatozoids acting in a similar way to the pollen, although no botanist has yet been able to discover the spermatozoids entering the tube of the archegonia. When we consider the extreme minuteness of these bodies, which require the aid of the best microscopes to discover even their form, this circumstance is easily explained.

Examining some plants of Bryum cernuum, a synoicous species, abundant on the shore at Southport, in September last, my attention was attracted by the red appearance of the tops of some of the stems, and these I dissected under my simple microscope, an instrument indispensible to the practical bryologist. The method adopted was the following:-having washed the moss clean, I dropped some water into the centre of the glass, fixed firmly in the brass ring of the instrument, and with a pair of glover's triangular needles, placed in crochet handles, with a screw on the end, forming the cheapest and the best instrument that can be employed, I commenced operations on the plant. On removing the perigonial leaves for the purpose of examining the centre, there appeared two very differently shaped organs, the one bag-shaped, the other long and narrow, having, when considerably magnified, a flask-shaped mouth, with a hollow tube communicating with the centre -this is the Archegonia, or portion of the plant destined to form the reproductive organs, (such as the seta and theca, with its operculum and calyptra), and to ripen the spores contained in the urn-shaped capsule. Some species are provided with an elastic band or ring surrounding the mouth of the peristome and called an annulus, which separates the operculum from the capsule when the seed is mature; the office of the

teeth being to distribute the spores, an operation which may sometimes be seen under the microscope. To the other organ the name of archegonia has been applied: it is filled with the spermatozoids, which are amongst the most wonderful and interesting productions in the vegetable kingdom. One of these burst when under the microscope, the whole band, as if suddenly relieved, came twirling along with great rapidity, forming all manner of groups; after a time some of these burst the thin case that encloses each separate spermatozoid, and then came a number of snake-like creatures, with a round protuberance in or near the centre, curling and gyrating most curiously, and this was continued for several hours. They were observed under one of Pillischer's compound microscopes, with the quarter object-glass and the lowest eyepiece.

In the Hypnum, the inflorescence is enclosed in the perigonial leaves, situated on the sides of the stems and sometimes on the branches, like small dark buds or clusters of leaves, not difficult to recognise, generally nestling among the leaves. In the genus Orthotrichum the antherideæ are jointed; and in one species, O. phyllanthum, found only in a barren state, they are situated on the apex of the leaf.

II. DISTRIBUTION.

THE basins formed in the sandhills on both sides of the Mersey are peculiarly favourable to the growth of Mosses. They appear almost naturally formed for the reception of the floating spores of this minute class of plants. In winter these basins are partially filled with water, which evaporates in the summer, and the decaying leaves of the Salix fusca and the Rosa spinosissima, &c., together with the entangled and closely matted growth of some of the species of Moss, form what might be termed peat bogs in miniature.

The plants found from Crosby to Southport, on the river side of the railway, are the following:-Mnium stellare, cuspidatum, serratum; Meesia uliginosa; Amblyodon dealbatus; Tortula ruralis, subulata, and unguiculata; Climacium dendroides; Bryum serratum, inclinatum; Hypnum elodes, lycopodioides, revolvens, molluscum, polygamum or nodiflorum, confertum var. megapolitanum, stellatum, Kneiffii fluitans, cuspidatum, cupressiforme var. nigro-viride, cordifolium, albicans, lutescens, filicinum, and serpens. Many species occur on walls and exposed rocky situations, while others attach themselves to the bark on the trunks of trees; some are found on moist clay banks, and a few inhe athy and marshy places; one plant grows where it is exposed

to inundations of fresh water, and many are found on the sea shore where the tide occasionally washes over them; but few adapt themselves to any soil or situation.

Those found on the sea shore from Southport to Churchtown are:Bryum calophyllum, Marratii, Warneum, intermedium, cernuum, pallens, atropurpureum var. Funkii; Hypnum Kneiffii, stellatum, polyganum, serpens, elodes, cuspidatum; Ceratodon purpureus; Trichostomum tophacium, &c.

Those found on the wall in Smithdown-lane, from the end of Ulletlane to the end of the wall beyond Greenbank-lane, are :-Grimmia pulvinata; Ptychomitrium, polyphyllum; Racomitrium fasciculare, heterostichum; Hypnum cupressiforme, velutinum, and rutabulum ; Funaria hygrometrica; Bryum capillare, cæspiticium, and intermedium; Tartula murale; Didymodon rubellus; and Weissia cirrhata.

Those found on the river bank from New Ferry to Bromboro Pool are: Hypnum molluscum, stellatum and var. minus, striatum, cuspidatum, filicinum, purum, triquetrum, squarrosum, tamariscinum, denticulatum, elegans, rutabulum, splendens, prælongum, and cupressiforme; Fissidens bryoides, viridulus, taxifolium, and exilis; Tortula aloides, unguiculata, and fallax; Bryum carneum; Mnium cuspidatum, and undulatum; Dicranum varium, rufescens, and heteromallum; and Atrichum undulatum.

And the plants found on Bidston Moss are:-Aulacomnion palustre; Dicranum cerviculatum, pellucidum, heteromallum; Bryum pseudotriquetrum, carneum; Hypnum salebrosum, fluitans, cordifolium, commutatum, cuspidatum, and rutabulum.