—55— 



open grassy places and the like. It is very small and will be easily 

 overlooked. It, also, comes to maturity in June. 



Mrs. Britton has given these two species a much fuller treat- 

 ment in The Observer, and has written a monograph of the spe- 

 cies of Physcomitriiim which appears in the Bulletin of the Torrey 

 Botanical Club for May, 1894. 



The beginner may perhaps confuse species of Pottia with the 

 urn mosses, especially P. truncatula. In this last species, how- 

 ever, the costa is e.xcurrent, passing out of the apex of the leaf 

 into a short point. The costa is percurrent or excurrent in nearly 

 all of our species of Poltia, and in most the leaf cells are papillose. 

 The Pottias, moreover, mature their capsules in winter. 



MOSSES FOR DISTRIBUTION. 



THE Splachnacea; are of our queerest and most interesting 

 mosses. They are usually found growing on decaying ani- 

 mal matter or nitrogen-containing animal excreta. They 

 are furthermore remarkable for the extreme development of the 

 apophysis which never occupies less than half of the capsule and 

 in some species of Splachnum is so greatly enlarged as tc become 

 umbrella-shaped, reminding the writer of the hood of a cobra. 

 There are a large number of stomata in the outer wall of the apophy- 

 sis and a large amount of assimilative tissue within, which goes to 

 show that this grotesque outgrowth is another of Nature's devices 

 to provide nourishment for her lowly children. 



For a stamped self-addressed envelope, the following mosses 

 will be sent to members of the Moss Chapter only: Mrs. Britton 

 will send Tetraplodon hryoides, an alpine member of this group; 

 Mr. A. A. Eaton will send .Splachnum ampullaceum; Mr. J. Warren 

 Huntington will send Bnxbaumia aphylla, which was mentioned 

 in a previous article; Mrs. Emilia C. Anthony will send "the white 

 moss" [Leucobryum glaucum), which grows in conspicuous whitish 

 cushions in woods throughout our range. This moss is a near 

 relative of the Dicranums as its peristome will show and it is also 

 remarkable in having its leaves of more than one layer of cells. It 

 is thought by many botanists that these leaves represent the greatly 

 expanded costa, from which the lamina has entirely disappeared. 

 This will not seem improbable to those who have studied the leaves 

 of the long-leaved Dicranum. 



The Cambridge Botaiiical Supply Co., of Cambridge, Mass., 

 will send Brachythecium asperrii)uir>i, Mitt. 



F"or five cents in stamps A. J. Crout will send Funaria hygro- 

 metrica and Physcomitrium turbimitum. 



The above specimens are all fertile. Hereafter when sterile 

 specimens are offered, st. will be placed after their names. For 

 addresses, see list of members. 



