108 Rhodora [JUNE 
1869: 228. On moist sandy or clayey soil. Massachusetts: Ames- 
bury (J. W. Huntington, October, 1901); Middleton, Essex County 
(H. H. Bartlett, November, 1908); Reading (C. C. Kingman, Novem- 
ber, 1908). Connecticut: Milford (A. W. E., October, 1909). New 
to New England. The following stations outside of New England 
may likewise be recorded: Axton, New York (E. B. Chamberlain, 
September, 1910); near Batsto, New Jersey, the type locality (C. F. 
Austin, October, 1868, distributed in Hep. Bor.-Amer. 121); High- 
lands, New Jersey (C. C. Haynes, October, 1905, and November, 
1912, the latter specimens distributed in Amer. Hepat. 118, as F. 
foveolata); Morgantown, West Virginia (J. L. Sheldon, October, 1909) ; 
between Dune Park and Mineral Springs, Indiana (G. S. Bryan, 1914). 
The elaters of this curious species, as originally emphasized by 
Austin, yield its most distinctive characters. They are exceedingly 
inconspicuous; when the contents of a capsule are examined under a 
low magnification it often appears as if no elaters were present, and a 
magnification of at least three hundred diameters is essential for their 
proper study. They are remarkable not only on account of their 
small size and delicate structure but also on account of their varia- 
bility in form and scanty development. Their most unusual features, 
however, are found in the local thickenings of their walls. Instead of 
forming two or more parallel spirals, these usually consist of from five 
to nine rings, some of which may be connected to form a single rudi- 
mentary spiral. In rarer cases a longitudinal band of thickening is 
present to which one or more rings are attached. According to a series 
of measurements made on a part of the type material the elaters vary 
from 28 u to 58 u in length and from 6 u to 18 u in width. But the 
length and width do not vary proportionally, one elater having a 
width of 18 u being only 36 u in length. The bands of thickening are 
less deeply pigmented than in most species of Fossombronia and are 
sometimes very pale indeed and difficult to demonstrate. According 
to Stephani ! the elaters are acuminate, but all those studied by the 
writer were blunt. "The variability in form is indicated to a certain 
extent by the measurements given: it should be added that most of 
the elaters are straight or nearly so and that some of them show irregu- 
lar branching. 
The brown spores in the type material are mostly between 36 u 
! Mém. del'Herb. Boissier 16 : 31. 1900. 
