18 
many until the beginning of the last decade, when it was redis- 
covered by Herr Warnstorf near Neuruppin. His specimens were 
sent for examination to Herr Limpricht, who referred them cor- 
rectly to 7. Marchica and published a full and accurate description 
of the species.* The plant was found last summer by Herr Léske 
of Berlin and the writer, in the Grunewald near that city, and it has 
also been reported from Scandinavia.+ 
Meanwhile, in the United States, Austin found the species, de- 
termined it as /. polita Nees, and distributed it under this name 
as No. 46 of his Hepaticae Boreali-Americanae. It here came 
before the attention of Lindberg, who recognized it as distinct 
from /. polita and described it as Jungermannia laxan. sp. But 
he soon suspected its identity with /. M/archica; for, in 1879,} he 
gives the latter as a possible synonym of /. /axa, and, in 1886,§ he 
states positively that they are the same plant. Quite recently the 
species has been rediscovered in this country by Mr. Rand.|| 
The following description is drawn largely from the Grune- 
wald specimens, which closely agree with those of Austin’s dis- 
tribution, and also, as Herr Stephani kindly informs me, with the 
type in the Nees herbarium: 
JUNGERMANNIA Marcuica Nees, Naturgesch. der europiisch. 
Lebermoose, 2: 77. 1836. 
J. socia Nees, var. obtusa Nees, |. c. 2: 72. 1836. 
J. polita Aust. Proc. Phil. Acad. 1869: 220. {not Nees.] 
J. laxa Lindb. Acta Soc. Sci. Fenn. 10: 529. 1875. 
Dioicous, creeping among Spagna or loosely caespitose, pale 
green, becoming bleached or brownish with age; stems prostrate 
or ascending, thick and wiry, mostly simple, varying in color from 
pale green through reddish-brown to deep purplish-black, and 
bearing scattered rhizoids, which exhibit the same variations in — 
color; leaves of the sterile stems and of the fertile stems in the 
lower part distant, obliquely inserted, not decurrent, broadly quad- 
* Eine verschollene Jungermannia. Flora, 65: 45- 1882. os 
+Arnell, H. W. Bot. Notiser, 1894 : 49. Several facts regarding the history and ee 
Synonymy of the species are also given here. es a 
$Musci Scand.7 1879. [Footnote.] 
§ Meddel. Soc. F. et Fl. Fenn. 13: 233. 18860 0 aa 
| Flora of Mt. Desert Island, Maine. 224. 1894 = 
