ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 477 



county. The author describes the physical geography of the district, 

 its canyons, etc., and the habitats adopted by the different species of 

 ferns. A. E. Scoullar * publishes some notes on Botrychium, Osmunda, 

 Onychium, and other ferns. W. N. Clute f describes and figures four 

 new aberrant forms of Osmunda regalis and 0. cinnamomea. He also 

 publishes! some more additions to his Check-list of North American 

 Fernworts. F. C. Greene § publishes notes on the ferns of six counties 

 in the. State of Indiana, and briefly indicates the geological features of 

 each area. W. N. Clute || gives an account and figure of Rhipidopteris 

 peltata, a small trailing fern of the American tropics. He also 

 publishes! under the title Pteridographia a series of notes on the 

 following subjects: colour of fern-spores; the curious " leaf -shoots " 

 of Dicksonia pilosiuscula ; the aromatic glandular hairs of that species 

 and its mycorhiza ; the fertile leaves of Nephrodium cristatum ; 

 Polypodium aureum Mandaianum, a new form. 



New Ferns from South America.** — A. Sodiro publishes descriptions 

 of thirteen new species of Acrostichum from Ecuador, with a short key. 

 E. Rosenstock ft publishes descriptions of seventeen new species and 

 varieties of ferns collected by 0. Buchtien in Bolivia, together with a 

 list of fifty ferns already known. H. Christ %% supplies descriptions of 

 eight new species and varieties of ferns collected by E. Hassler in 

 Paraguay. C. Christensen §§ describes a new species of Dryopteris 

 collected in Brazil by A. Heiner. 



Bryophyta. 

 (By A. Gepp.) 



Absorption of Water by Mosses and other Plants. |||| — K. Midler 

 gives an account of some experiments made with sundry bryophytes and 

 lichens with a view to determining their capacity for absorbing moisture 

 from fallen rain, etc., and from aqueous vapour suspended in the 

 atmosphere. 



Abnormal Bracts in Funaria hygrometrica.H! — H. N. Dixon de- 

 scribes a remarkable form of Funaria hygrometrica from the half-dried 

 mud of a reservoir in the Pentland Hills. The margins of its perigonial 

 bracts throughout almost their entire length are furnished with closely 

 set and often double serratures, the marginal cells being inflated at 

 their apex into a sort of hammer-head. This he makes clear by a series 

 of figures. In trying to find out their meaning, Dixon thinks that 

 the primary end gained by them is the storage of extra water ; and he 

 compares them with the paraphyses. He gives an imaginary sketch of 



* Fern Bulletin, xvii. (1909) pp. 7-8 and 18-20. + Tom. cit., pp. 9-12. 



% Tom. cit., pp. 20-1. § Tom. cit., pp. 12-15. 



|| Tom. cit., pp. 16-18 (1 pi.). f Tom. cit., pp. 22-5. 



** Fedde's Repertorium, vi. (1909) pp. 27G-82. ft Tom. cit., pp. 308-16. 



XX Tom. cit., pp. 348-51. §§ Tom. cit., pp. 380-1. 



IHI Pringsheim's Jahrb. wiss. Bot., xlvi. (1909) np. 587-98. 

 W Bryologist, xii. (1909) p. 48-51. 



