280 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
becoming strongly involute when dry; and both usually show a dense cluster of 
hyaline scale appendages at the apex. Under ordinary circumstances the 
Grimaldia can be recognized by its characteristic aromatic odor, the Asterella 
being odorless; but since the Grimaldia also sometimes lacks the odor, this 
difference can not always be relied upon. Even in their minute structure the 
species have much in common, the epidermis, the green tissue, and the scales 
being a good deal alike. In the Grimaldia, however, the epidermis is composed 
of smaller cells (averaging only 15 uw in length), the trigones are more con- 
spicuous, and there are no cells containing oil bodies; the green tissue is a little 
more compact, the dorsal chambers being more subdivided; and the scales show 
a more abrupt transition between the basal portion and the appendages. The 
median cells of the basal portion, moreover, are distinctly smaller, averaging 
only 15 » in width; in A. saccata they usually measure 20 to 30 # in width, 
Among North American species A. saccata is perhaps most closely allied to 
A, palmeri, a fact to which both Stephani and Howe have called attention. 
Both are xerophytic species, showing a thallus involute when dry, a rather com- 
pact green tissue, and large ventral scales. They agree further in the bluntly 
conical female receptacles with short and indistinct lobes and in the white 
pseudoperianths extending almost vertically downward. In most other respects 
they are amply distinct. In A. palmeri, for example, the compactness of the 
green tissue is due to the small size of the dorsal chambers, the epidermal cells 
are thin-walled and contain no oil bodies, the peduncle of the female receptacle 
is naked throughout, and the spores are dark brown and covered over with 
distinct rounded folds. In A, saccata, on the contrary, the compactness of the 
green tissue is due largely to the subdivision of the dorsal chambers, the epi- 
dermal cells show trigones and an occasional cell contains oil bodies, the pe- 
duncle of the female receptacle shows a basal cluster of hyaline paleae, and 
the spores are brownish yellow and usually show no distinct surface folds ex- 
cept the wings along the edges, 
With regard to the male inflorescence the statements in the literature are not 
altogether in accordance, and the limited amount of material at the writer’s 
disposal has made it impossible to decide some of the disputed points. The 
statements in the description have been taken largely from Bischoff’s figures 
and explanatory text. According to his account the clusters of antheridia oc- 
cur on both fertile and sterile thalli, forming median subconvex areas on the 
upper surface, not sharply limited but approximately oval or oblong in outline. 
According to Nees von Esenbeck’s description the species is definitely paroicous; 
he compares it with A, ludwigti in this respect and states that the antheridia 
are found close to the female receptacle. Stephani describes the antheridia as 
occurring in small clusters but says nothing about their position with respect 
to the peduncle, except that the species is monoicous, Miiller does not de- 
scribe the male inflorescence at all, and Massalongo, apparently on the basis of 
very few observations, states that it occurs on an isolated branch and that the 
species is therefore not paroicous. The question deserves further study, but 
according to the evidence at hand both paroicous and autoicous conditions have 
been demonstrated. 
6. Asterella californica (Hampe) Underw. 
Sauteria limtata Austin, Proc. Acad. Phila. 1869: 229. 1869, in part. 
Fimbriaria californica Hampe; Boland. Cat. PI. San Francisco 40. 1870, 
nomen nudum; Underw. Bull. Ill, Lab. Nat. Hist. 2: 41. 1884. 
Fimbriaria lescurit Austin; Boland. Cat. Pl. San Francisco 40. 1870, as 
synonym, 
