270 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
it as a doubtful synonym under F. pilosa, and Miiller’ hus since reduced it 
definitely to synonymy. The characters which Lindenberg assigned to it might 
easily come within the range of variability to be expected in a species of 
Asterella. 
The known range of A. ludwigii in North America has been gradually ex- 
tended since the time of Nees von Esenbeck. In 1875 Berggren cited several 
new stations for Greenland, and other stations have since been added by Lange, 
C,. Jensen, and Stephani. In 1884 Underwood recorded the species from British 
Columbia, in 1891 from Washington, and in 1895 from California. In 1915 the 
writer listed two stations from Colorado, and stations from Montana, Utah, 
and Oregon are reported in the present paper. The stations in British Columbia 
were given in detail by Pearson in 1890 and by Macoun in 1902. One specimen, 
which was cited by Underwood in 1895 under Asterella gracilis, has been the 
cause of considerable confusion. It was collected by Macoun on Salt Spring 
Island in the Gulf of Georgia and is listed by Pearson under the name Fimbriaria 
tenella, the station being given as Vancouver Island. By Stephani this speci- 
men was made the type of a new species, F’. macounii. According to his descrip- 
tion the appendages of the ventral scales are oblong or ovate and rounded at the 
apex, while in F’. pilosa (as he calls it) the appendages are said to be lanceo- 
late and sharp-pointed. These differences are, unfortunately, inconstant, and 
the other differential characters brought out in the description are equally sub- 
ject to variation. The writer therefore has no hesitation in reducing F. macounié 
to synonymy, 
Although the ranges of A. tenella and A. ludwigii do not overlap, and although 
one is an inhabitant of temperate lowlands while the other prefers arctic regions 
und mountains, the two species have many features in common, and it is not 
surprising that they have given rise to much confusion. They are both of about 
the same size; they branch regularly by forking; they show a loose green tissue, 
the dorsal air chambers being undivided and each having an epidermal pore; 
the appendages of their ventral scales are similar in both form and size; their 
inflorescence is paroicous; the peduncles of their female receptacles are nearly 
or quite destitute of paleae; their disks are hemispherical ; their pseudoperianths 
are normally 8-cleft, the divisions separating sooner or later; and they both have 
yellow spores, distinctly reticulated on the spherical face. These resemblances 
show a close relationship between the species. In separating them certain char- 
acters derived from the ventral scales, the female receptacles, the divisions of 
the pseudoperianths, the spores, and the elaters can usually be relied on. In A. 
tenella the appendages of the scales, if enough are examined, show examples 
with distinct marginal teeth; the female receptacles have a smooth or almost 
smooth surface and distinct though short lobes; the divisions of the pseudo- 
perianth often show a purple pigmentation and tend to be ovate; the spores are 
mostly 80 to 90 uw in diameter, the surface is marked with fine lines, and the 
plane faces show short ridges not extending all the way across; the elaters, 
finally, often show a single spiral at one or both ends. In A. ludwigti, on the 
contrary, the appendages either are entire or show vague crenulations only ; the 
female receptacles are covered over with low tubercles and their lobes are 
scarcely apparent; the divisions of the pseudoperianth are uniformly white and 
lanceolate ; the spores are mostly 60 to 65 # in diameter, the surface is punctulate, 
and the plane faces are sometimes reticulated and always show ridges extend- 
ing all the way across; the elaters, finally, show (apparently always) 2 spirals 
at each end. Perhaps on account of its inclement habitat, the plants of A. lud- 
*Rabenh. Krypt. Fl. 6: 273. 1907. 
