374 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



between the central strand and the bark ; the central strand is mostly 

 empty, and the remaining tissue takes over the water snpply externally, 

 since the epidermis along the entire stem is only thickened on the inner 

 side. The development of a good system of conduction is decidedly 

 connected with suitabihty to the habitat. A well-developed net of cells 

 lies before us, devoid of all contents. Whether water is only stored in 

 the cells, or whether it is sufficiently well-conducted as to maintain the 

 plant in a fresh state in dry air, is an unsolved problem, and must be 

 further studied. E. S. G. 



Scapania curta and its Allies. — H. Buck {Medd. Soc. Fauna et 

 Flora Fennica, 1916, 42, 85-96 ; see also Bot. CentralhJ., 1917, 135, 

 263-4). A revision of the three critical species Scapania curta, S. 

 rosacea and S. helvetica. The author distinguishes two groups : the first 

 including S. curta and S. rosacea, and characterized by having leaf-cells 

 translucent, leaf-margins with two or more rows of strongly thickened 

 cells, inner leaf -cells thickened only at the angles and having a round 

 lumen ; and the second group having the leaf-cells obscured, uniform 

 and more or less nodose at the angles. In the second group he places 

 Scapania helvetica Gottsche, and two new species, S. mucronata and 

 S. Ungulata. The first group represents the Martinellia rosacea of S. 0. 

 Lindberg, and the second group represents his 31. curta. A. G. 



Desmatodon Wilczekii. — Ch. Meylan [Bull. Soc. VaudoiseSci. Nat., 

 1919, 52, 383-4). Description of a new and interesting moss gathered 

 at 8600 feet in the Pare National on the southern slope of the Piz del 

 Fuorn. It is a link between Desmatodon and Fottia, resembling the 

 capsule of the latter and the gametophyte of the former. It differs 

 from Desmatodon latifolius in its flat-margined leaves and smaller more 

 papillose leaf-cells, and especially by its lack of a peristome and the 

 adherence of the operculum to the columella. From Fottia intermedia 

 it is distinguished by the shape, areolation and papillosity of its leaves. 



A. G. 



Notes on Braithwaite's " Sphag^naceae Exsiccatse." — J. A. 

 Wheldon {Journ. of Bot., 1919, 57, 142-7). A critical revision of 

 the " Sphagnacete Britannicge Exsiccata? " issued by the late Dr. R. 

 Braithwaite contemporaneously with his monograph, " The Sphagnaceae 

 or Peat-Mosses of Europe and America " (1880). It brings this impor- 

 tant series of difficult plants into line with the modern classification of 

 C. Warnstorff. A. G. 



Miscellanea Bryologica. VI.— H. N. Dixon {Journ. of Bot., 1919, 

 57, 73-80). Descriptive and critical notes on some exotic mosses : — 

 (1) Chaetomitrimn Deplanchei Duby, and its allies ; (2) Gymnostomum 

 oranicum Rehm. ; (3) Anmctangium scabrum Broth. ; (4) Taxithelium 

 Gottscheanum (Hampe) Broth. ; (.5) Hypnum scabreUum Lac, and its 

 allies, with the structural characters of a new Bornean species, Semato- 

 phyllum decipiens Dixon ; (6) Bryum Bescherellei Jaeg., and the 

 confusion that enveloped B. erythrocarpoides Hampe et C. Miill. ; 

 (7) Barbella Levieri (Ren. et Card.) Fleisch. A. G. 



