EVANS—THE NORTH AMERICAN. SPECIES OF ASTERELLA. . 265 
account with a series of excellent figures. He still accepted the species in a 
broad sense, including under it various Old World material, and called atten- 
tion to the great variability in color which the plants sometimes exhibited. 
He was also the first, apparently, to note that the elaters varied with respect 
to the number of spirals, one of the elaters figured being unispiral throughout, 
- and another bispiral in the middle and at one end and unispiral at the other. 
Some of Bischoff’s material in the Lindenberg Herbarium at Vienna has been 
examined by the writer and is clearly attributable to A. tenella. 
Taylor’s species, F'. mollis, was based on two specimens. The first of these, 
which may be considered the type of the species, was collected at “ Sicily Island, 
near New York,” and came from the Hooker Herbarium; the second was col- 
lected near Philadelphia and came from G. I. Lyon’s herbarium. The Sicily 
Island material is well represented in the Mitten Herbarium, but there is no 
island of that name in the vicinity of New York. There is, however, a place 
called Sicily Island in northeastern Louisiana, and it is probable that the speci- 
mens were collected there. This idea is supported by a second specimen in the 
Mitten Herbarium, collected in Louisiana, presumably by C. W. Short, and dated 
1837. In all essential respects the two specimens are identical. According to 
Taylor’s description, F’. mollis is characterized by a pale green thallus; by purple 
scales with a single lanceolate tooth on each side; by a short twisted peduncle, 
brown below and yellowish green above; by a succulent hemispherical recep- 
tacle, soft and compressible; and by whitish or pale yéllow, concave, obtuse seg- 
ments on the pseudoperianth, with incurved margins. These features might 
easily come within the limits to be expected in a variable species, and some 
of them are due to immaturity, as the specimens in the Mitten Herbarium 
clearly show. The species, in fact, enjoyed but a short period of recognition. 
Although it was listed in the Synopsis in 1847, it was reduced to a synonym 
of F. tenella by Sullivant in 18567 and has since found no advocates. 
A few other items dealing with the history of the species may be of interest. 
In 1803 Michaux? listed it from Canada, but this record must be considered 
doubtful on account of the rarity of the species within the Canadian boundaries. 
In 1819, Torrey * recorded it from “ Bergen ;” fortunately this record is fully 
supported by a correctly named specimen, collected in 1818 on “hills at Ho- 
boken” and preserved in the Torrey Herbarium, Hoboken being situated in 
Bergen County, New Jersey. In 1821 Schweinitz* reported it from Pennsyl- 
vyania and New York, but these records according to Nees von Esenbeck'° 
were based on specimens of Grimaldia fragrans. In the Synopsis Hepaticarum 
a variety y brachypus is recognized, in addition to the typical form of the species 
and Bischoff’s variety porphyrocephala. It was based on a manuscript species, 
F.. brachypus Mont., collected in “ Carolina.” This variety, as the Synopsis ad- 
mits, is distinguished by vague and unimportant characters, and there seems 
to be no good reason for recognizing it. 
Stephani’s account of Asterella tenella is full and accurate on the whole, 
although the ventral scales are far more variable than he implies. According 
to his description they are large and purple, with a large and hyaline; obliquely 
triangular, “ acuminato, acuto”” appendage, and on the basis of these features 
he places the species in a group with lanceolate appendages, thus separating it 
widely from some of its closest allies. As a matter of fact, the appendages 
1In A. Gray, Man, ed. 2. 688, 1856. 
* V1. Bor. Amer, 2: 276. 1803. 
*Cat. Pl, N. Y. 84. 1819. 
*Spec. Fl. Amer. Crypt. 23. 1821. 
'Naturg. Eur. Leberm. 4: 225. 1888. 
