162 Rhodora [SEPTEMBER 
composed in part of short cells and projects well beyond the bracts. 
The male inflorescence in N. obscura (Figs. 3-5) tends to be shorter 
than in N. hyalina, the bracts are more deeply saccate, and the dorsal 
fold (or lobe) often equals or surpasses the ventral in size. It is to be 
regretted that the capsules present in the material of N. obscura are 
all immature, so that the characters exhibited by the valves and 
spores are still unknown. The stalk, however, as shown by cross- 
sections, conforms to Douin's “type général," just as in the case of 
N. hyalina. ; 
An Asiatic species which should be compared with N. obscura is 
N. subtilissima Schiffn. This species was based on material collected 
by Handel-Mazzetti in the province of Trebizond, Asia Minor, where 
it grew on shaded rocks at an elevation of about 650 meters. Ac- 
cording to Schiffner's full description N. subtilissima is stoloniferous 
and dioicous, the perigynium is about as long as the perianth, and the 
dorsal lobes of the male bracts are larger than the ventral. It has 
been shown that this last feature is occasionally present in N. obscura, 
and the other characters mentioned are likewise found in the American 
species. The Asiatic plant, however, is much more delicate than 
N. obscura, and seems to show no signs of pigmentation; the leaves 
are elliptical, measuring only 0.5 X 0.4 mm., and the thin-walled leaf- 
cells with very minute trigones usually measure only 18 X 18 u in the 
middle of the leaf, rarely attaining a size of 25 X 18 y. 
3. NARDIA OBOVATA (Nees) Lindb. Bot. Not. 1872: 167. Junger- 
mannia obovata Nees, Naturg. Europ. Leberm. 1: 332. 1833. J. 
flaccida Hüben. Hep. Germ. 87. 1834. Southbya obovata Lindb.; 
Hartman, Handb. Skand. Fl. ed. 10, 2: 130. 1871. Eucalyx obovatus 
Breidl. Mitt. Nat. Ver. Steiermark 30: 291. 1894. Aplozia obovata 
Loeske, Moosfl. des Harzes 59. 1903. Mesophylla obovata Corbière, 
Rev. Bryol. 31: 13. 1904. [Text figs. 10-14.] On damp or wet 
rocks. Maine: east slope "saddle," Mt. Katahdin (J. F. Collins 
. 2186b); Chimney Pond, Mt. Katahdin (A. Lorenz). New Hampshire: 
Tuckerman's Ravine, Mt. Washington (J. A. Allen, A. W. E.); 
Oakes Gulf, Mt. Washington (4. W. E.; distributed in Underwood 
& Cook's Hep. Amer. 113, as Jungermannia cordifolia); Thompson’s 
Falls, White Mountains (L. M. Underwood; distributed in Miss 
Haynes's Amer. Hep. 6). 
! Ann. Naturhist. Hofmus. Wien. 23: 136. pl. 7, f. 13-22. 1909. 
