Haynes : The genus Sphaerocarpos 223 



1899. — Stephani, Bull. Herb. Boiss. 7 : 657. 1899. — K. Miiller, 

 in Rabenh. Krypt.-Fl. Deutschl. Oesterr. & Schweiz 6: 317. 

 /. ig2. 1907. — Douin, Rev. Bryol. 34: 105-112. f. 4-10, 12, 

 ij, 14. 1907; 36: 37-41- /. 4, 7, 10. 1909. 



SpJiaerocarpus Mickelii Under w. p.p. Bull. Illinois State Lab. 

 Nat. Hist. 2 : 30. 1884. 



SpJiaerocarpus Miclielii calif amicus (Aust.) Undervv. /. c. 



Archegonial thallus suborbicular or somewhat cuneate, 3—5 

 mm. x 4—8 mm., densely cespitose, bright green when living, dingy 

 green or sometimes light olive-green when dried, forking several 

 times, the leaf-like unistratose lobes almost entirely concealed by the 

 overcrowding of the involucres, marginal cells generally quadrate, 

 averaging 45 ft ; archegonial involucres 1.2—2.6 mm. high, sessile, 

 long-cylindrical, fusiform-clavate, very rarely subpyriform, more 

 or less acuminate, cells at small orifice usually creniform, 45-60 ft : 

 antheridial thallus oblong to orbicular, 2 mm. in diameter, forking 

 several times, the lobes more conspicuous than those of the arche- 

 gonial plant ; antheridial involucres 270—360 ;i high, purplish : 

 capsule averaging 675 // in diameter, the bulbous foot remain- 

 ing in thallus on detachment of capsule; spores permanently 

 united in tetrads, these 72-171 /i in diameter, golden-brown to 

 dark opaque-brown, regularly areolate, minutely granulate, 

 meshes 13-30/^ in diameter, each, in rare cases, with a single 

 median papilla or tubercle, the ridges finally high, sinuous, crenu- 

 late, or deeply and irregularly dissected, occasionally forming 

 obtuse spines at the points of intersection. [Plates 26 and 27.] 



Habitat : On flat compact commonly lightly shaded soil in 

 meadows and orchards and beside paths. 



Type locality : San Marco, Texas. 



Distribution : United States, Uruguay, England, France, 

 Germany, Sardinia, and Northern Africa (Tangier). 



Exsicc : Hep. Bor.-Am. no. ij8, as 6". Berterii (in herb. New 

 York Botanical Garden). — Hep. Brit. no. 215, as .S. terrestris (in 

 herb. Underwood). — Hep. Europ. no. 21, as 6". terrestris (in 

 herb. Underwood). 



An examination of mature specimens of Sphaerocarpos from 

 various parts of the United States leads to the conclusion that the 

 plant described by Austin as 6". tcxamts in 1877 cannot be satis- 

 factorily distinguished from the plant that he described as S. cali- 

 fornicus two years later. The latter name is therefore considered 

 a synonym of the former. Austin himself seems at first to have 



