8 | Rhodora [JANUARY 
but no recent collections of the species have been made in the eastern 
United States. 
4. Riccra HIRTA Aust., Proc. Acad. Philadelphia for 1869: 232 
(as synonym). Underwood, Bot. Gaz. 19: 274. 1894. R. arvensis, 
var. hirta Aust., Proc. Acad. Philadelphia for 1869: 232. In the bed 
of an old canal. West Hartford, Connecticut (Miss Lorenz, 1911). 
New to New England. The species has a confused history and its 
range is very incompletely known. It was based on specimens col- 
lected by Austin at Closter, New Jersey, and distributed in his Hep. 
Bor.-Amer. 142 as a variety hirta of R. arvensis. When Underwood 
raised the variety to specific rank he associated with 1t specimens from 
California and drew his account of the spores largely from these speci- 
mens. The Californian plant was soon afterwards described as a 
distinct species by Howe under the name R. trichocarpa,! thus leaving 
nothing except the New Jersey plant to represent the true R. hirta. 
According to Howe the material issued under No. 142 is not homogene- 
ous, some of it being clearly R. Lescuriana, but in the set of Hep. 
Bor.-Amer. examined by the writer the specimens under this number 
seem to be free from admixture and. agree very well with those from 
Connecticut. They agree also in most respects with the description 
of R. hirta given by Stephani,” assuming that his spore-measurements 
are increased 20 per cent., as Schiffner? suggests. Stephani records 
the species from Louisiana (Langlois), as well as from New Jersey. 
The Connecticut specimens of R. hirta do not form rosettes but grow 
in intricate mats. The color is a grayish green, much like that of 
R: arvensis, and the margin is sometimes tinged with purple. An 
individual thallus is occasionally simple but is usually once to three 
times dichotomous. It measures 1-1.5 mm. in width, and the 
branches are mostly 2-3 mm. long. The terminal branches are 
rounded at the extremity and show a very narrow but shallow median 
sulcus which extends back from the apex for a distance of about a 
millimeter. At the basal end the suleus is usually abruptly oblit- 
erated but occasionally widens out into a very short groove. The 
older parts of the thallus are plane or nearly so on the upper surface. 
'The ventral scales are hyaline and inconspicuous and do not extend 
beyond the margin. "The cilia or hairs, which give the species its 
1 Bull. Torrey Club 28: 184. pl. 337. 1898. Mem. Torrey Club 7: 17. pl. 88, 1899. 
2 Bull. de l'Herb. Boissier 6: 317. 1898. 
-3 Lotos 1901: [7]. r 
