262 American Midland Naturalist Monograph No. 6 



striolate at base, hyaline and papillose above; segments about as long as teeth, 

 carinately cleft between the articulations; cilia usually 2, articulate, slightly 

 shorter than the segmeints; annulus large, compound; spores rather strongly 

 incrassate, yellowish-brown, papillose, about .014-.017 mm, mature in mid- 

 summer; usually fruits abundantly. 



On bases of trees, roots, logs, etc., in dense woods, especially in spruce 

 woods and mainly confined to hilly or mountainous regions; Europe, Asia, 

 and from Canada south in the mountains to North Carolina and in the West 

 to Arizona. 



Erie Co.: Eight collections on Presque Isle. Nelle Ammons, various dates summers 

 of 1933 and 1935. McKean Co.: Several collections of D. A. Burnet, in various locali- 

 ties of northern McKean Co., 1895-1897. Somerset Co.: On tree root, hemlock woods, 

 near Buckstown, Oct. 7, 1934, and on logs and tree base, Shafer Run and Clear Run, 

 Sept. 14, 1946, and Oct. 6, 1935. C.M.B.; on base of dead tree, near Bakersville. C. 

 M. Hepner. Oct. 21, 1933. Warren Co.: Bark of sugar maple, near Big Bend. 

 C.M.B. Sept. 2, 1935. Washington Co.: On rotten wood, Snake Woods. Linn and 

 Simonton. Nov. 1892. 



2. Stereodon pallescens (Hedwig) Lindberg 



{Leskea pallescens Hedwig; Rhynchostegium Jamesii Sullivant; Hypnum 

 pTOtuberans Brotherus; Hypnum pallescens Bryologia Europaea) 



Slender, in thin silky mats, more or less pinnate; stem-leaves weakly 

 falcate, loosely arranged, from an ovate somewhat decurrent base narrowly and 

 long acuminate, about 1 mm long, plane, weakly apically serrulate; costa short 

 and double or none; a few of the alar cells quadrate and at least the marginal 

 hyaline: seta 6-10 mm long, reddish; capsules about 1.5-2x0.5 mm, castane- 

 ous, nearly symmetric, not shrinking below the mouth when dry and empty; 

 lid reddish yellow, slightly rostrate; spores ripe in mid- to late summer. 



Mostly on trunks and roots of coniferous trees, or on rotten wood; Europe, 

 and south in the mountains from Canada to Tennessee. Not yet found in 

 western Pennsylvania, but to be expected. 



3. Stereodon fertilis (Sendtner) Lindberg 



(^Hypnum fertile Sendtner) 



Plate XLIX 



Yellowish-green, lustrous, usually darker below, densely interwoven: stems 

 prostrate or ascending, from 3-10 cm long, scarcely branching, castaneous, 

 densely and rather regularly, complanately and somewhat plumosely pinnate 

 with short branchlets; stem-leaves 1.5-2.0 mm long, concave, falcate-secund, 

 scarcely complanate, from an oblong-ovate base slenderly acuminate, the base 

 not decurrent, sub-auriculate, somewhat excavate, the margin plane, entire 

 below, serrulate ibove; costa usually bi-furcate or double, rarely none; branch- 

 leaves similar to stem-leaves but smaller and narrower, strongly falcate to 

 circinate-secund; inner perichaetial leaves lance-acuminate, plicate, faintly bi- 

 costate, serrulate above; median leaf-cells linear-vermicular, about 1:15-20, 

 rather incrassate, sub-acute, median basal cells strongly incrassate, castaneous- 



