162 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



but seldom oil-bodies in the leaf-cells, which are. however, richer in 

 chlorophyll. The author hopes to explore bryologically the regions 

 round Hermagor, Passriach and Gortschach, which promise to yield a 

 rich booty. 



Post-glacial Mosses of Cracow.*— A. J. Zmuda gives an account 

 of the fossil-flora of the Cracow diluvium, including seventy-two mosses, 

 twenty-five of which are absent from the local flora of the present day. 

 Six strata lying above Miocene clay were investigated. The two lowest 

 strata are early post-0 lacial and contain mosses of Arctic and Arctic- 

 Carpathian types. The third stratum is post-Glacial, is remarkable for 

 containing all the European species of Galliergon, and a Tundra-flora. 

 The next two strata contain a forest-flora with mosses which are absent 

 or rare near Cracow nowadays. The author describes his methods for 

 extracting and preparing the fragments of mosses, etc., for the Microscope. 



Bryophyta of the Near East.f -V. Schiffner writes on Bryophyta 

 from Mesopotamia and Kurdistan, Syria, Rhodes, Mytilene, and Prinkipo, 

 collected by Freiherr v. Handel-Mazzetti. The material from Meso- 

 potamia shows a quite European character. Eighteen species occur in 

 Middle and South Europe — ten are typical Mediterranean species, two 

 are already known from Near Asia, while six species and four varieties, 

 all new, belong distinctly to " Formenkreisen " of Europe. It is note- 

 worthy that Riccia Frosiii and Tortula Fiorii only occur there on soil 

 containing gypsum. Many acrocarpous mosses form here a two-layered 

 leaf-lamina (e.g., Tortula desertorum), or have a tendency to partial 

 formation of a double layer of cells (Barbula vinealis, Grimmia apocarpa). 

 This is probably caused'by climatic conditions. The Kurdistan flora is 

 also European, with the exception of one new quite foreign type, namely 

 Anoectangium Handelii. It is thus evident that large tracts of Asia 

 (the whole of Near Asia with Mesopotamia and Persia, all Siberia, and 

 a great part of Central Asia) possess an almost purely European moss- 

 flora. On the other hand the Atlantic coasts of Europe show, compared 

 with the rest of Europe, many more strange elements. New species are 

 described, and figures of their structure, and of neighbouring species, 

 are compared. Interesting notes are given on synonymy, relationship, 

 and distribution. 



North American Mosses. — A. Le Roy Andrews % publishes further 

 notes on North American Sphagnum. He defines the character of the 

 group Cuspidata — the outward position of the chlorophyll cells of the 

 branch leaves ; the pores of the hyaline cells commonly reduced to a 

 minimum ; the small distinctive stem-leaves :• the shape of the branch- 

 leaves : and the dioicous inflorescence. The North American species 



* Bull. Internat. Akad. Sci. Cracovie, 1914, Ser. B, 2, pp. 209-352 (4 pis.). See 

 also Bot. Centralbl., exxvi. (1914) p. 669. 



f Ann. k.k. Naturhist. Hofmuseums, xxvii. (Wien, 1913) pp. 472-504 (100 figs.). 

 See also Bot. Centralbl., exxvi. (1914) p. 628. 



t Bryologist, xviii. (1915) pp. 1-6. 



