bl2 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Evans and Nichols's The Bryophytes of Connecticut (1908). Nichols 



has been studying the Ephemeras, and °;ives his results. The species of 

 Nanomitrium and Ephemerum are very minute, consisting of a short 

 stem and a bud-like cluster of leaves, in which nestles the diminutive 

 sporophyte, and they arise from a persistent green protonema. They 

 are annuals, and mostly grow in open, moist places : for example, in 

 dried-up ponds. Nanomitrium is distinguished from Ephemerum by 

 possessing a well-marked rudimentary lid to its capsule. At maturity 

 the capsule of Nanomitrium has a delicate unistratose wall, the spore-sac 

 having disappeared. In Ephemerum, on the other hand, the capsule has 

 no lid and its wall is bistratose, is comparatively tough, and contains 

 stomata ; also, the spores are twice as large (80 ^ as against 35 /m in 

 Nanomitrium). Nanomitrium appears to be rarer than Ephemerum, but 

 both genera escape notice owing to their small size. The species of 

 Ephemerum are classified by their leaf-characters. In one group the 

 leaves possess no midrib. In the other group a midrib is present, though 

 often indistinct. This latter group is again divided into two, in one of 

 which the leaves are ovate-lanceolate and smooth ; in the other the leaves 

 are narrowly lanceolate and distinctly papillose. Nichols gives further 

 details, which need not be quoted here. 



Passing on to the recent additions to the flora of Connecticut, the 

 author gives notes on : — 1. Physcomitrium immersion. This is frequently 

 confused with Aphanorrhegma serratum, but differs in habit, growing in 

 laser tufts, and also in the supra-medial dehiscence of its thin- walled 

 capsule. Aphanorrhef/ma grows in depressed tufts, and its capsule is 

 tough-walled and dehisces round the middle. 2. Aulacomnium andro- 

 gynum does not fruit in the eastern states, but produces masses of geninias. 



3. Philonotis marchica and P. csesjntosa. These species had been over- 

 looked, and have been brought to light as a consequence of Dismier's 

 revision of the European and North American species. A key for the 

 discrimination of P. marchica, P. csespitosa, and P. fontana is given. 



4. Pterigynandrumfiliforme and Pogonatum brachyphvllum have recently 

 been found in small quantity. 5. Drepanocladus aduncus {Hypnum 

 aduncum L.). There is much dispute about the identity of this plant. 

 The following solution is suggested by Warnstorf . The Hypn urn aduncum 

 of Linnaeus was misunderstood by Heclwig, who unwittingly redescribed 

 Linnams's plant as H. uncinatum, and wrongly applied the binomial H. 

 aduncum to a collective group of forms of Harpidium ( = Drepanocladus). 

 From the latter group several species, viz. H. Kneiffii, H. Sendtneri, etc., 

 have been split off by Schimper ; and the disputed question remains, 

 What is Hypnum aduncum Hedw. ? Warnstorf follows Lindberg in dis- 

 carding H. uncinatum Hedw. and retaining H. aduncum Linn. ( = Drepano- 

 cladus aduncus Warnst.), and he designates as Drepanocladus subaduncus 

 a form which Hedwig certainly included in his Hypnum aduncum group. 



Canadian Mosses.* — N. C. Kindberg publishes a list of Canadian 

 mosses containing 104 species and varieties collected by Macoun, Brink- 

 man, and others. Thirty-four new species and several sub-species and 

 varieties are described. 



* Ottawa Nat., xxiii. (1909-10) pp. 137-43, 180-91. 



