2 



2. Bryological Notes and Criticisms by C. R Austin, 



^ ^.. yz.- --"^y^/ ^/w^ ^/ a paper entitled ^''Descriptions of 



New Species of North 



^F. P 



Proc. of the Amer. Acad, of Arts and Sciences, Boston, 1879, pp. 



133-141. 



r 



First there Is an introduction, from which we quote : — " On a 

 recent visit by Mr. James to Europe, he took with him not only spec- 

 imens of the species here described, but also of many of those 

 recently described in the Scientific Journals of this country, for the 

 purpose of critically examining the whole in co-operation with Prof. 

 W. P. Schimper, of Strasburg. This justly celebrated bryologist has 

 cordially given his assistance in this review, and therefore secured to 

 the descriptions of our species a higher degree of authority." Then 

 follows the description of 17 species, 14 of which are claimed to be 

 new. Upon reading the introduction, our expectations were raised 

 to a high pitch, and we were prepared for a rich feast of bryological 

 novelties. Sow we fared the sequel will show. 



(i.) Spkagnum^^ Garden, L. & J. Hab. Florida, Garber.—ThQ 

 diagnosis of this " new " Sphagnum, except where it is manifestly 

 wrong, is so very like Sullivant's description (Icones p. 5), of Sph. 

 humile, Schimp., that there cannot be the slightest doubt of their 

 identity. This view is fully confirmed by the examination of an 

 authentic specimen kindly sent me by Mr. James, as well as of spec- 

 imens collected in Florida by Capt. Donnell Smith and myself. Fur- 

 thermore : Having seen many large beds of Sphagnum rigidum, 

 bCHiMP. and examined scores of specimens, including numerous 

 iorms, all the way from British America in the North, to the Ever- 

 glades of Florida in the South, it is equally plain to me that 6\ humile 

 IS only a local form of S. rigidum. The small form {S. humile, S. & 

 L l^xsic. ed. 2 n. 18, and Aust. Muse. Appalach. n. 8). which 

 abounds from New Jersey to Georgia, is characterized by nothing 

 worthy of note except its smaller size. In Florida it runs into the 

 var. humtle. Any one who has watched the growth of Sphagna in 

 their native beds for a succession of years, must know that some of 

 the characters emphasized by authors are of the least possible account 

 in separating them into species ; e. g., the same bed may be all the 

 true i^ph cuspidatum one year and all the true Sph. recurvum the 

 next ! clearly provmg the latter to be a mere state of the former. 

 1 his year a bed may be all the true Sph. cymbifolium, ahd next year 

 all the var. squarrosulum, &c. The most opposite extremes of those 

 characters which are plainly visible to the naked eye are apt to 

 occur in the same species. An abundance of heat, light and moist- 

 ure producing results very different from those produced by a defi- 

 ciency of the same. Sphagnum rigidum varies considerably, yet I 

 P K t^T ^^'^"^ '^ °"^ ^^ *h^ easiest of species to detennine. 

 r/Sms' T/rf/'""^" more from the V than any othe" 

 blv w/,^ n% ^- f .^^ff^'-epces are plainly caused by the remarka- 



mtdns of th T fT^'^ ^^ ^^^^^^ '' g^«^«- I" ^" the forms the 

 margins of the branch-leaves are usually beset with minute blackish 



