46 Rhodora _ [Maron 
groups he hesitates to name definitely at the present time, although 
he remarks that some of the specimens very likely represent forms of 
F. viridulus while others approach F. obtusifolius. 
F. incurvus and F. viridulus are both common and well known British 
species. The probability that the latter is widely distributed in this 
country has not, however, been generally appreciated. By many of 
the European writers of the present day the two are considered con- 
specific, but both Braithwaite and Dixon consider them distinct. 
They are indeed uncomfortably close, but in a case like this it is neces- 
sary to emphasize small dissimilarities. The most striking difference 
between the two, and one that makes them appear distinct at a glance, 
is seen in the form and degree of inclination of the capsules. In its 
typical form F. incurvus possesses a strongly curved and cernuous or 
horizontal capsule, while in F. viridulus the capsule is usually sym- 
metric and erect or only slightly inclined. In a recent letter Mr. 
Dixon remarks that he will not venture to say how far the curving 
of the capsule is a constant character; there are indications that it 
may not be; there are certainly intermediate forms. But so far as 
the character goes the writer, after examining a number of British 
specimens, agrees with Mr. Dixon that there is nothing among the 
Connecticut specimens like the typical F. incurvus of Europe. Inci- 
dentally, the habitats of the two mosses are suggestive. The Euro- 
pean manuals describe F. incurvus as growing commonly on clay banks 
and roadsides or in fields. The American plant, on the other hand, 
is ordinarily associated with moist rocks and only rarely does it occur 
on earth; in the writer's experience it is to be looked for on boulders 
in streams or on rocks in shady ravines, but never in open fields. 
The variety Lylei is a very small plant whose leaves, except on the 
vaginant lamina, lack the narrow-celled border which is so character- 
istic in the typical form of the species. 
GYMNOSTOMUM RUPESTRE Schleich. On limestone in moist shaded 
ravines, altitude about 800 feet, Salisbury (G. E. N., 1911). Deter- 
mined by Mrs. E. G. Britton and Dr. A. LeR. Andrews. The Con- 
necticut specimens are rather short, hardly 1 cm. in height, and pre- 
sented somewhat the same general field aspect as a Rhabdoweisia. 
The nearest relative among our local mosses and the only thing with 
which there is really any danger of confusing it is Hymenostylium 
curvirostre. The generic distinction between these two seems to be 
derived from the fact that in Gymnostomum the lid falls off from the 
