—32— 



In Georgia the peristome apparently has no function except to provide an 

 opening for the escape of the spores. In most other forms the peristome is so 

 arranged as to in a manner regulate this escape. 



Explanation of Figures. 



I Fig. I. 7. Half of a section of the peristoms and operculum of Georgia 



{Tetraphis): a. Operculum composed of a single layer of cells; b. Tissue 

 which fills the operculum and which splits into four parts to form the peristome. 

 8. Peristome of Georgia x 40. 



SOHE FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON BUXBAUMIA. 



By ElIAS J. DlRAND. 



The interest I have felt in the notes on Buxbaumia in the last number of 

 The Bryologist has prompted me to add some of my own observations on 

 this genus. I shall never forget the pleasure I experienced when, one spring 

 day eleven years ago, Professor Dudley first pointed out to me some of these 

 little plants growing on a shady bank close by the campus. Ever since that time 

 when in favorable localities, I have kept my eyes open for these little "elves." 



The open woods bordering the ravines about Ithaca furnish most congenial 

 habitats for B. aphylla. On the banks of any one of a half-dozen of our larger 

 gorges, I can be sure of finding at least a few of the capsules in suitable spots. 

 By Coy Glen I have found it every few rods for a distance of nearly two miles 

 on both banks. Near one stump I can collect hundreds of specimens in their 

 season. It is a spot which I always visit with my classes. Were I not afraid of 

 bringing smiles of incredulity to the faces of your readers, I should tell how I 

 once dug down at random through a foot of snow by the side of an old wood 

 road, and found capsules in the first hole dug! This does not mean that the 

 plants are scattered uniformly over the whole surface, but long practice gives 

 one a sort of instinctive facility in knowing just' where to look. 



The habitat of this species is with us very characteristic. The plant always 

 grows in open woods, on soil which has a damp blackish appearance, with a 

 tinge of green due to the persistent protonema. Such spots often have a sparse 

 growth of other mosses and lichens, but show no more traces of rotten wood 

 than other woodland soil. I have never found B. aphylla on wood or logs. 

 Neither have I been able to establish any uniformity in the direction of the cap- 

 sules on level ground. On sloping banks, however, they always stand with 

 their ventral sides down the hill, as Haberlandt long since pointed out. 



The young sporophytes begin to appear early in September, when they are 

 entirely covered by the thimble-shaped calyptras. The latter are ruptured by 

 the elongation of the sporogonia e.xactly as in the other Bryineae. Growth is 

 rather rapid until the last of October or the first of November, when the major- 

 ity of the capsules are about one-half or two-thirds grown. Occasionally devel- 

 opment is much later than these periods. During the cold months of winter 

 there is little or no development of the capsules, which remain a bright green. 



