64 
of a doubt, and would advise any one having access to fresh 
material of this rare and interesting species, and who is familiar 
with modern laboratory methods, to do some careful bleaching 
and staining, and try to prove conclusively whether P. parens be- 
longs with the Cleistocarpous mosses or not. 
The stomata as figured by our artist do not agree with fig. 59 
of Limpricht’s Laubmoose (Rab. Kryptfl. 4: 158), but in all our 
specimens they seem to be more or less immersed, and it is only 
in deep focussing that the outlines appear distinct. 
There seems to be some uncertainty as to the position of the 
antheridia in Physcomitrella patens. Schimper in the Bryologia 
(¢. 3) figures them in basal buds, but in the Synopsis Muscorum 
(Ed. 2, 1876) he corrects himself, saying they are axillary to the 
“upper leaves. As in Aphanorhegma they have also globose-tipped 
paraphyses. 
Limpricht says they may be either naked and pseudo- 
lateral under the perichaetium or on a branch, seldom at the base 
of the vaginule ; the paraphyses may be thread-like or globose- 
tipped. We have not been able to verify any of these statements 
from fresh American material. 
The genus Aphanorhegma was founded by Sullivant in 1848 
(Gray’s Man. Ed. i.,647. 1848). Physcomitrella was not published 
till 1849 (Br. & Sch. Bryol. Eu. fasc. 42). In his search after ear- 
lier names, Lindberg seems to have allowed dates to have more 
weight than facts. From the accompanying plates and descrip- 
tions, it seems to me that we cannot consider Physcomitrella pa- 
tens and Aphanorhegma serrata as congeneric, much less is one 
“merely a variety of the other.” 
Description of Plate 229, Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) 
Br. & Sch. 
1. Plants, natural size. 
2-3. Two enlarged, showing the immersed —— 
"4. Outlines of leaves. 
5. Half of the base of one leaf enlarged, showing cells. 
6. Apex enlarged. 
7. Capsule enlarged, showing the stomatose base, and irregular line of dehis- 
’ ence, the parenchymatic walls and large apical cells. 
8. Cells of the walls still further enlarged, showing the transverse elongation of 
ogg in the middle of the capsule, the ey ones above. 
+ .g. Apex of capsule enlarged. 
