1912] Evans,— Notes on New England Hepaticae,—X 215 
the short male branches described by Stephani and Miiller really 
represent is difficult to determine. Possibly they belong to some 
other species mixed with the plant in question. In any case, if they 
are never produced by the true Ch. ascendens, one of the most im- 
portant differences between this species and its allies falls away. 
Müller adds further that the female inflorescence is borne on a 
branch springing from the axil of an underleaf, that the perichaetial 
bracts equal in size or exceed the other leaves, and that their margins 
are not toothed but often bear gemmae in small numbers. He finds 
gemmae also on the lobes of the perianth and on the male bracts and 
compares them with the gemmae of Lophocolea minor Nees. The 
writer has sought in vain to confirm these various statements. He 
finds instead that the female branches are always lateral, that the 
perichaetial bracts are smaller than the normal leaves and variously 
lobed or cleft, and that no gemmae whatever can be demonstrated. 
Here again the possibility of an admixture in Miiller’s material sug- 
gests itself. 
It will be seen from the foregoing remarks that Ch. ascendens is 
based on very vague characters. Even the differences in the size of 
the leaf-cells, upon which Schiffner places most reliance, are open to 
criticism. In the specimens distributed by Underwood and Cook,}! 
for example, which are cited by Schiffner as belonging to Ch. ascendens, 
the marginal cells average 35 u in width and the median cells about 
50 u in length. And yet in the Californian specimens collected by 
Baker and Nutting and referred by Schiffner to Ch. pallescens the 
cells give almost identical measurements. By computing averages 
from four specimens determined by Schiffner as Ch. ascendens the 
marginal cells were again found to measure 35 u in width, while the 
median cells were only 47 u in length. Similar averages from four 
specimens referred to Ch. pallescens yielded 35 u for the marginal cells 
and 51 u for the median cells. A mean difference of only 4 u in the 
length of the median leaf-cells is surely of very slight significance, 
especially in plants where the cells are subject to so much variation 
in size. 
On a cursory examination the perianths still seem to yield differential 
characters of importance. In a typical Ch. pallescens these organs 
are small and deeply trifid with more or less spiny lobes. The lobes 
1! Hep. Amer. 725. 
