298 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
11. Asterella echinella (Gottsche) Underw. 
Fimbriaria echinella Gottsche, Dansk. Vid. Selsk. Skrivt. V. 6: 867. 1863. 
Asterella echinella Underw. Bot. Gaz, 20: 62. 1895. 
Thallus essentially like that of A. elegans and the branching of the same 
type; epidermis composed of cells with slightly thickened walls but without 
trigones (so far as observed), averaging about 50 X 25 uw; pores slightly ele- 
vated, measuring (with their surrounding cells) mostly 80 to 100 » in length 
and 70 to 90 » in width, surrounded usually by 6 to 8 series of cells with 3 
cells in each series; green and compact tissues, in relative amount and in 
structure, as in A. elegans; ventral scales ovate to narrowly lunulate, the ap- 
pendages borne singly or sometimes in pairs, narrowly subulate, acuminate, 
entire or nearly so, mostly 0.6 to 0.9 mm. long and 0.07 to 0.12 mm. wide, the 
cells usually 75 to 110 X 25 to 30 uw; inflorescence autoicous; male inflor- 
escence terminal on a more or less elongated branch, sometimes innovating at 
the apex, in the form of an oval to obcordate, slightly elevated disk, sur- 
rounded by a fringe of slender paleae, the antheridia (according to Gottsche) 
50 to 60; female inflorescence borne on a short or more or less elongate branch; 
peduncle mostly 1 to 1.5 cm. high, not pigmented (so far as observed), bearing 
long scattered paleae especially at the apex; disk of receptacle 0.5 to 1 mm. 
long, hemispherical in the center, normally 4-lobed as in A. elegans; pseudo- 
perianth white or somewhat tinged with purple, mostly 8 to 10-cleft, the di- 
visions lanceolate, coherent at the apex; capsule as in A. elegans, the operculum 
separating by an irregular line and coming off in one piece; spores pale to dark 
brown, mostly 60 to 100 w in diameter (rarely as low as 50 » or as high ag 
110 »), with wings 8 to 10 w wide on the edges, the margins of the wings broad- 
ened out and more deeply pigmented, marked with irregular dots and lines; 
surface of spore minutely and irregularly punctulate, the spherical face show- 
ing in addition a coarse and usually regular reticulum, the meshes mostly 15 to 
20 » wide, inclosed by a system of narrow ridges 6 to 8 # high and similar to 
the wings, and usually by the wings as well, the plane faces with similar 
reticula; reticula often incomplete or irregular, especially on the plane faces; 
elaters pale to dark brown, more or less curved, mostly 140 to 200 u long and 
12 to 14 w wide, often unispiral throughout but not infrequently bispiral in the 
Iniddle for a variable distance and unispiral at the ends. 
On rocks and banks, Arkansas to Mexico. The following specimens have 
been examined: 
Texas: Without definite locality, 1849, Wright (H., N. Y., Y.; listed as 
Fimbriaria elegans by Sullivant in A. Gray, Man. ed. 2. 688, 1856; listed also 
by Underwood in Bot. Gaz. 20: 62. 1895) ; without definite locality, McAllister 
(N. Y., Y.). 
VERACRUZ: Orizaba, 1853 and 1855, Miiller 2245, 2285 in part, 2327 (N. Y., 
U. S.; including the type of F, echinella) ; along Mexican Railway above 
Fortin, Orizaba, Barnes & Land 630 (Y.) ; Huantica, Hrvendberg (H., Y.). 
The following record is quoted from Stephani’s monograph: 
ARKANSAS: Without definite locality or date, Trécul. 
Gottsche’s original description of Fimbriaria echinella is so full and accurate 
that the writer has been able to add very little to our knowledge of the species. 
In addition to the long tubercles of the female receptacle, which give the 
species its name, Gottsche mentions, among other important features, the lat- 
eral branches and apical innovations and associates the receptacles with 
them, noting that the sexual branches may be elongate. He gives, further, 
unusually good descriptions of the spores with their reticulate markings and of 
