120 American Midland Naturalist Monograph No. 6 



when old, usually more or less horizontal but the upper part of seta often vari- 

 ously bent and curved and strongly hygroscopic; mouth about 0.6-0.8 mm 

 wide, annulus revoluble, deep castaneous; operculum low-convex; peristome- 

 teeth castaneous-pellucid, papillose, strongly trabeculate, spirally twisted, 

 united at apex; segments about three-fourths as long, papillose; spores smooth, 

 round, about .014-.017 mm; mature in May or June; calyptra cucullate, long- 

 rostrate, early deciduous: autoicous. 



Widely distributed over the earth; throughout North America. Common 

 in our region on earth, burnt-over spots, etc. (Quite variable in size and leaf- 

 characters but we have not been able to recognize any of the several described 

 varieties in our region.) 



Known from the following counties: Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Crawford, 

 Erie, Fayette, Greene, Huntingdon, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Somerset, Union, Venan- 

 go, Washington, and Westmoreland. It probably occurs in every county. Specimen fig- 

 ured: Ligonier to Donegal, Westmoreland Co., June 23, 1904. O.E.J. 



Family 13. Schistostegaceae 



This family consists of only the genus Schistostega whose characters are 

 those of the family. 



1. Schistostega Mohr 



Dioicous: inflorescences gemmiform, terminal, paraphyses none: minute 

 and slender mosses in holes in earth, in caves, etc.: annual, gregariousi on an 

 abundant persistent protonema, which is more or less luminous by reflected 

 light; sterile stems from the middle upwards with distichous, basally confluent 

 leaves; fertile stems with a terminal 5-seriate tuft of leaves; leaves entire, uni- 

 stratose, ecostate; cells prosenchymatous, lax-rhombic, sparsely chlorophyllose : 

 seta thin, erect, almost hyaline; capsule minute, 0.5 mm long, erect, symmetric, 

 globose, without stomata, annulus, or peristome; operculum small, convex and 

 with a red border; calyptra very small and fugacious, mitrate, covering only 

 the operculum, smooth, and naked; propagation often by brood-bodies on the 

 protonema. 



One species only, in crevices and caves in non-calcareous districts, in 

 Europe, and, in North America, from Ontario, New England, New York 

 and Ohio to British Columbia. 



1. Schistostega pennata [Hedwig] Hooker and Taylor 



{Gymnostomitm pennatum Hedwig, Schistostega osmundacea Mohr) 



The Luminous Moss 

 With characters as given for the genus. Not vet known in our region. 



Family 14. Bryaceae 



Dioicous, autoicous, paroicous, or synoicous, sometimes heteroicous; an- 

 theridial inflorescences with paraphyses; cespitose, persistent, mostly on soil 

 or rocks, sometimes on trees or rotting wood; stem usually rounded-pentagonal. 



