—38— 



advantages over any other American work of a similar character 

 are these: Great attention is given to the habitat of each species, 

 that is, it tells one in what sort of place to look for each. 

 While the keys and text include most of the common mosses of 

 the northeastern states they are much simplified by the omission 

 of many species which never occur in our limits and serve only to 

 confuse the beginner in other keys in which they are included. It 

 is the only American book on mosses, excepting monographs, with 

 a nomenclature conforming to the Rochester Code. It is a ver}- 

 great inconvenience t<> unlearn names and learn new ones in their 

 places. The inconvenience is ,best avoided by learning in the 

 beginning the names which are to be used in the literature of the 

 future. With the exception of the genus Hypnum and a few 

 other doubtful cases, the names here used are the names to be 

 adopted in subsequent American works. A complete index, and 

 the synonymy of Lesquereaux and James" Maniial make the list 

 easy to use with the existing literature. The price is fifteen cents, 

 postpaid. A copy of the list and a year's subscription to the 

 Bkyoi.ocist will be sent for thirtv cents. 



THE POGONATUMS OR BEARDED MOSSES. 



THE generic name of the hair cap mosses comes from two 

 Greek words meaning many hairs, in reference to the hairy 

 calyptra. The Pogonatums, which are very closely related 

 to the liair-cap mosses, take their name from a word meaning a 

 beard. Indeed, when you first discover one of the Pogonatums 

 you will wonder what new hair-cap you have found. Dr. Robert 

 Braithwaite, in his superb British Moss-Flora, has included the 

 Pogonatums in the hair-cap mosses, but to most American 

 students it has seemed^ better and much more cfnivenient to keep 

 them separate. So nearly alike are the two that we shall need no 

 figure of tlie Pogonatums. Thej^ have the hairy calyptra, the 

 lamellate costa, and the general habit of the hair-caps. They 

 are. however, readily distinguished by the fact that the capsules 

 are round instead of square and there are 32 teeth instead of 64. 

 As in Polytrichum, the species aredioicious. that is. the male and 

 female reproductive organs, antheridia and archegonia. are borne 

 on separate plants. 



There are four species of Pogonatum found in New England 

 and the North Central Stales. The one most likelv to be met 



