EVANS—THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF ASTERELLA. 311 
unusual size they seem to be unique. In all the other North American species 
the length of the appendages apparently never exceeds 1 mm., and such a length 
seems to be always associated with narrow and sharp-pointed appendages. The 
true relationships of F, mexicana thus remain obscure. 
4, FIMBRIARIA PRINGLEI Stephani, Rev. Bryol, 36: 189. 1909. 
Mexico: Without definite locality, C. G. Pringle. 
Most of the important collections of Hepaticae made by Pringle in Mexico 
were sent to Stephani for determination, and F. pringlei is one of the nine new 
species which he proposed in his first report on the material.” Now the name 
F. pringlei is untenable on account of the older F. pringlet Stephani, of 1899, 
based on Asterella pringlei Underw., of 1895, a species discussed at length in 
the present report. There is also evidence that Stephani himself had little con- 
fidence in the validity of this new species, since he makes no allusion to it in 
the sixth volume of his Species Hepaticarum, where several of the other novel- 
ties in Pringle’s collection are again proposed as new, Under the circumstances 
further comment is perhaps unnecessary. Stephani refers to the species, how- 
ever, certain sterile plants in which the thallus is slender and decurved, appear- 
ing hornlike on account of the incurved margins; and since these features are 
very unusual in Asterella, a few words about them may not be out of place. 
Among the North American species studied by the writer the only one showing 
branches of this type is A. versicolor. Specimens of this species from the 
Pringle collection, referred by Stephani to A. echinella, are in the writer’s pos- 
session and arouse a strong suspicion that F. pringlei Stephani 1909, is a 
synonym of A. versicolor. Unfortunately Stephani describes the spores as 
yellow and 54 » in diameter, while those of A. versicolor are purplis hblack and 
110 to 120 w in diameter. It is quite possible, however, that he did have this 
species before him when he drew up his description, and that his account of the 
spores was drawn from poorly developed capsules or from the capsules of some 
other species in accidental admixture. 
5. FIMBRIARIA STAHLU Stephani, Bull. Herb. Boiss, 7: 201. 1899. 
Mexico: Without definite locality, Bourgeau, Stahl. 
GUATEMALA: Without definite locality, Bernowilli. 
Stahl’s specimens should, of course, be considered the type. Whether the 
species is identical with the Mexican “ Fimbriaria stahliana,” investigated by 
Kamerling? in 1897, does not appear. Kamerling’s observations, however, refer 
simply to the epidermal pores of the female receptacle, so that his account 
can not be regarded as the publication of a species in the taxonomic sense. 
In Stephani’s monograph F’, stahlii directly precedes F, lateralis, but the char- 
acters which he emphasizes by no means indicate a close relationship. In his 
description of the thallus he speaks of thin-walled epidermal cells ; of narrow air 
chambers, the roof of nearly every one occupied by an almost bullate pore, the 
opening surrounded by 6 radiating series of cells with 4 or 5 cells in each series ; 
and of large ventral scales, each with a single long-linear appendage. He 
doubtfully assigns a monoicous inflorescence to the species, and states that the 
antheridia are in elongated groups on narrow branches. He notes further that 
the peduncle of the female receptacle is naked ; that the disk (known only from 
imperfect examples) is globose and covered over with numerous papilliform 
1 Hepaticae mexicanae novae recoltées par le Dr. Pringle de Burlington. Rey. 
Bryol. 386: 138-140. 1909. 
2 Plora 84: Erg. Bd. 52. pl. 1, 2, f. 14-17. 1897. 
