30 BOrAXICAL BULLETIN. 



into the very solid vertically niut'li compressed (transversely elongated) indistinct 

 ones of the rim itself. I have examined many specimens of F. hijgrnmetrica from 

 all parts of N. America, and find the capsule in all to be similar in shape and texture, 

 and only when merging into the foi-m known as "Var. patida'" do 1 find spreading 

 leaves; but these are broader with the costa less strongly excurrent. 



Bryum Clintoni, Aust. Mss 1869. Ab. Br. cydophijUo simillimo distinctum; 

 statura multum majore foliis cochleariformi-concavis minus patentibus hand mar- 

 ginatis, cellulis multum crassioribus vesciculosis, costa valde incrassata, etc. Wet 

 places along Caledonia Creek, Western New York, (1SG5) Clinton. < 



Rhynchostegium Nov^-C.esare.e, Aust. — Ilt/pnum viicans, Wils. ; not of 

 SWARTZ ; — Htjpninn Xova'-Ccesarece, Aust. JMiisc. Appalach, n. 440; — Chrnsohryinn 

 micans, Lindb. Sulliv. Icones Suppl. p. 91, t. 67. Tiiis species is quite frequent 

 in the Alleghany mountains of Pennsylvania, where it was found fertile by Mes- 

 srs. WoLLE and Rau in 1874. Some of the capsules are too old, but thev are suf- 

 ficiently well preserved to show the hj'pnoid character of the peristome; while 

 there are a few of the capsules sufficiently developed to show, — when taken in 

 connection with this character, with the habit of the plant, shape and reticulation 

 of the leaves, etc., that its proper place is in the Baphidosterjium section of the genus 

 (or subgenus) Rhynchostegium. Calyptra smooth, slightly twisted, fugacious, • 

 Capsule small, subcernuous or horizontal, oval or obovate, (when old obconic and 

 wide-mouthed,) nearly regulai-; operculum, shortly but very distinctly rostrate; 

 annulus not seen; peristome hypnoid, processes as long as the teeth, more or less 

 split in the keel, ciliolas not seen. Pedicel verj' slender, about one inch long, cyg- 

 neous, smooth, dark red. Perich.-eth densely radiculose at the base from the axils 

 of the leaves, few-leaved ; its leaves small, erect, hyaline, ecostate, straight, lance- 

 olate-ovate, acute, distantly dentate-serrate above the middle; vaginula usually 

 longer than the leaves, herbaceous, dark red and copiously rooting at the mouth. 

 Pistillidia 2-8, paraphysate ; the paraphyses deep yellow. The plant is dicecious. 

 The male infiorescence, etc., is described and figured in the Icones Suppl. referred 

 to above. I have seen no diagnosis of Dr. Lindberg's "C/ic?/so6?\iyw'«j" but have 

 no hesitation in pronouncing the genus superfluous so far as this plant is concern- 

 ed. It grows only upon rocks which are frequently Inundated, in mountain rivu- 

 lets; and, although, sometimes is abundant, it is also often nearly exterminated 

 from the same ravine hx heavy freshets. 



Rhynchostegium micans (Swartz). — Htipnum micans, Swartz Adnot. Botan. 

 (1829). Il.fulv.nm, H. Untie and //. suhsimplux. H. & ^\.—H. allmlum C. Mull. — H. al- 

 hitlum and H.fulvum, Sulliv. IcoN.(I.)tt. 112 and 125, etc. Tlieonly difterence there 

 is between the so-called varieties of this plant is in their size. What are supposed 

 to be its two extremes in this respect ai'e figured in tlie Icones, referred to above, 

 under the names of IIiip. albulum and IIii[i. fulcum. The operculum is frequently 

 shortly rostrate at least when dry. Tlie mode of growth is the same as in Bhyn- 

 chostegiiim serrulatum and B. geophilum; but as the plant is subaquatic the stems are 

 often more elongated than in either of these. 



Bhiinchostegium delicaiulum, James; Sulliv. Icon. Suppl. p. 93, t. 69, is only a 

 starved form of Ht/pniim recunans, Schwgr. ; Sulliv. Icon. I. p. 177, t. 111. In fact 

 the figures in the Suppl. give a better representation of this most common Ameri- 

 can Hypnum, as it has generallv occurred to me, than do the figures in the first 

 volume; particularly those Avhich represent the rather long-rostrate operculum, 

 the strongly serrated apex of the leaf, and the much inflated cells at its basal 

 angles (almost precisely as in Ili/pnum nemorostim). However, the species varies 

 not a little in all these respects, (chiefly in the length of the operculum and in the 

 serratures of the leaf — both strongly serrated and entire on the same stem. In 

 my judgment neither Hypnum recurcans nor H. cylindricarpum are true Bhynchoste- 

 gia; but rather a sort of connecting link between between them and the Stereo- 

 dontes. And I have generally found it diflicult to distinguish small forms of the 



