8 Rhodora [ JANUARY 
and spores are not fully developed. The history of the present 
species, which has remained practically unknown for twenty-five 
years, will serve to emphasize this fact. 
In 1872, Austin distributed, as /ossombronia angulosa Raddi,' a 
plant which he reported as common in brackish meadows, without 
giving any more definite indication of the locality where his speci- 
mens were found. It is probable, however, that the plants were 
collected in New Jersey, as they are listed in Britton’s Catalogue 
of New Jersey Plants. In the two sets of Austin’s exsiccatae which 
I have been able to examine, the specimens are quite destitute of 
mature capsules. Some of the stems, however, show sexual organs, 
among which are fertilized archegonia. As Austin noted that the 
plant matured in early spring, it is evident that these specimens 
were collected in late summer or early autumn before the sporophytes 
had had time to develop. In 1875, Lindberg,? in commenting on 
Austin’s exsiccatae, asserts that these specimens do not agree with 
the true Fossombronia angulosa of Europe, but differ from it in being 
paroicous instead of dioicous. Although no other difference is men- 
tioned, the specimens in Lindberg’s set also being apparently without 
capsules, they are designated as /ossombronia salina n. sp. Since 
this time nothing new has been written about this imperfectly de- 
scribed plant, although attention is called to it by both Underwood? 
and Stephani,* who place it among the doubtful members of the genus. 
A number of years ago, in August, the writer collected a large 
Fossombronia in a swamp in East Haven, 
Connecticut, perhaps half a mile from 
the salt water. The specimens were 
without capsules but showed well devel- 
oped antheridia and archegonia on the 
same stem. Several years afterward 
upon visiting the locality late in May, 
numerous plants were found with some- 
what immature capsules. ‘These devel- 
oped readily upon being brought into 
the laboratory and soon showed fully 
ripened spores. ‘These specimens agree 
with Austin’s in their large size, in their monoicous inflorescence and 
Spore of Fossombronia salina X 730. 
1 Hep. Bor.-Amer. zo. 779. ? Bot. Gazette, 21: 70. 1896. 
? Acta Soc. Sci. Fenn. 10: 533. ‘Mem. de I’ Herb. Boissier, 16: 40. 1900. 
