300 Bryophyten. — Pteridophyten. 



Species of the Genus Mnium. (Journ. Linri. Soc. XLIV. 

 N u 295. p. 1—58. 9 text figures. London 1917.) 



The author discusses the possibility of identifying a species by 

 means of numbers that represent the value of the specific charac- 

 ters. Having obtained satisfactory results (not yet published) with 

 90 species of the genus Carabus, he has applied the method to 

 plants, taking the moss-genus Mnium for his subject, and limiting 

 himself to a study of the leaves ofthe fertile stem of the fol- 

 lowing ten species: affine, cuspidatum, hornum, orthorrhynchum, 

 punctatum, rostratum, serratum, spinosum, subglobosum, undulatum. 

 There is a gradual increase in length of the succession leaves of a 

 given stem as you pass upwards from the base, until a maximum is 

 reached; and above that there is a gradual diminution. The author 

 limits his work to that part of the stem which extends from the 

 lowest leaf to the longest one. And this part of the stem (as the 

 number of leaves is very variable) he has divided into ten inter- 

 vals, and measured the minimal, median, and maximal value of 

 each character in the leaves of each interval. The measurements of 

 each given interval are thus made comparable with those of the 

 same interval in all the stems and species. The description of a 

 species according to the author's method consists of a number of 

 tables giving the gradation of each character. For each species he 

 has recorded in a series of tables the following characters: length, 

 breadth, breadth at the base, number of cells and breadth of the 

 cells at the place of greatest breadth, breadth of the border and 

 number of cells of the border at the same place, number of teeth 

 at the border and on the nerve, length of the nerve (reaching the 

 summit or not), tooth at the summit of the leaf (present or absent), 

 total number of leaves of the fertile stem. For purposes of identifi- 

 cation he gives a series of tables which show the minimal and 

 maximal values of each character for the leaves of the lOth inter- 

 val (longest leaves), together with other characters. Usually four 

 of these numerical characters suffice for the determination of a 

 specimen, but 12—15 characters are available if necessary. 



A. Gepp. 



Watts, W. W., Some Cryptogamic Notes from the Bota- 

 nic Gardens, Sydney. (Proceed. Linnean Soc. New South 

 Wales. XLI. p. 377—386. 1 pl. Sydney 1916.) 



1) The author proposes a new tribe of Polypodiaceae, namely 

 Dryopterideae — in order to avoid a) the unscientific Separation of 

 Phegopteris from the vicinity of Dryopteris, b) the inclusion of ex- 

 indusiate ferns among the Aspidiae, and c) the growing cumbrous- 

 ness of the genus Dryopteris as defined in Christensen's „Index 

 Filicum". The new tribe includes Lastrea, Nephrodium, Phegopte- 

 ris, Goniopteris and Meniscium, all regarded as genera. He gives a 

 list of 27 Australian species which form part of the new tribe. 



2) He gives a description and a figure of Athyrium humile n. 

 sp. which he gathered in The Rapids, Ellenborough River, 

 in April 1915. 



3) He publishes notes and records of the following ferns: Hy- 

 menophyllum peltalum (Poir.) Desv.; H. rarum R. Br.; Dryopteris 

 acuminata (Lowe) Watts, and var. cristata var. nov.; Platysoma 

 microphyllum R. Br. 



4) He gives a description and figures of Fissidens (Amblyothal- 



