_ some other leaves that this paper is devoted. 
396 
ing perithecium; osteole poreiform, innate. Epithecium pale, 
whitish. Hymenium black. Spores ellipsoid, elongated, hyaline, 
bilocular 14X16 ic. 
406 
On trunks with smooth barks, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. 
Mr. C.G. Pringle. Not unlike P. majuscula Nyl. of the Hawaiian 
Islands in general appearance. 
Notes on the Chromatophores of Astrophyllum sylvaticum Lindb. 
(Mnium cuspidatum Hedw.), and of some other Plants. 
By ALFRED C, STOKEs. 
Among the commonest mosses in my locality is the one usually 
referred to as Mnium cuspidatum Hedw., my specimens having. 
been identified for me by Dr. G. N. Best, of Rosemont, N. J. 
The plant is always so attractive in appearance at almost 
any season, that for several years I have been in the habit of 
collecting it in the autumn, and of keeping it all winter under 
an inverted glass on my table, where in the diffused light ot & 
warm room it will grow and flourish, and, as I have learned, supply 
the microscopist with several important objects for investigation, 
asking in return only that it shall be abundantly furnished with 
the moisture which it must have or die. I know that it has long 
been a favorite object of study with microscopical botanists, but I 
have not been able to learn that the observations which I have 
had the pleasure of making over it have been anticipated. 
But the leaf-cells of Astrophyllum sylvaticum are so transparent, 
especially in the adult and the young conditions, that microscop! 
examination may be made of them in their living state. In these 
young and in the mature, but not old cells, the chromatophores | 
(chloroplasts or chlorophyll-bodies) are so few and so conveniently ee 
scattered over the upper and the lower cell-surfaces that they may 
be studied with some ease and the protoplasmic cell-contents ce, 
amined with as great comfort while the whole leaf is living a4 
per cent. solution of sugar, in which its structure is apparently 
unaltered, and where for a time its functions are not vitiated. } : 
is especially to the structure of the chloroplasts in these and 1” 
