6 Rhodora [JANUARY 
and in the Connecticut specimens were dark olive-green in color when 
fresh. The only New England Sphagnum with which there is any 
danger whatever of confusing this beautiful form is S. Torreyanum. 
In the ponds referred to these two species grew side by side but were 
readily separable, the habit of S. Torreyanum being far less robust and 
the leaves much shorter, usually somewhat imbricated, and pale green 
in color. S. Torreyanum more often than not grew just below the 
surface with the lower portion of its stem imbedded in the substratum, 
while S. macrophyllum almost invariably floated free on the surface. 
The geographical distribution of S. macrophyllum is also rather inter- 
esting. It is endemic to North America and is primarily a southern 
coastal-plain species, its range coinciding approximately with that of 
the southern white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides). For New Eng- 
land, in addition to two stations in eastern Connecticut, it is reported 
from at least three localities in Rhode Island,! and in a recent letter 
Prof. Collins writes that he has in his herbarium a single specimen from 
eastern Maine (Marshfield, Washington County)! 
SPECIES OF FONTINALIS NEW TO CONNECTICUT. 
Five species of Fontinalis new to Connecticut have been recorded 
during the past year, thus bringing the total number now known to 
occur in the state up to nine. For the determination of the various 
species the writer is indebted to M. Jules Cardot, of Charleville, 
France, author of the “ Monographie des Fontinalacées" ? and gen- 
erally recognized as an authority on the group. 
Probably no genus, with the possible exception of Sphagnum, is 
more perplexing to the bryologist than Fontinalis. For, as Cardot 
remarks, the species are all more or less polymorphic and frequently 
exhibit marked structural variations as a result of differences in 
external conditions. Thus two plants of the same species growing in 
flowing and still water respectively may present totally different ap- 
pearances; in a similar way, as is not infrequently the case with 
aquatic mosses, there may be marked contrasts between the aspects 
of the plant at different seasons of the year; and furthermore the same 
species-complex — using this term to designate a species in its broadest 
! Bennett: Plants of Rhode Island 59. 1888; also herb. J. F. Collins. 
? Mém. d. Soc. nat. d. Sciences nat. et math. d. Cherbourg 28. 1892. 
