ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 325 



This species was probably imported with Cattleyas from tropical 

 America, and is of affinity with S. Wriglitii and *S'. Baileyi, but is dis- 

 tinguished from all other members of the genus by having a pre- 

 peristome — a series of projecting hyaline cells subtending the peristome 

 teeth, one to each tooth, on its outer side and near its base. The 

 author gives a detailed comparison of the structure of the peristome 

 in this new species with the typical structure described by Philibert 

 for S. Boivini. The preperistome of S. delicatulum is nearly homologous 

 with what is found in some species of Orthotricham. Other species of 

 Splachnohryum which have been introduced into Europe with stove- 

 plants are : S. Wrightii C. M., at Glasnevin, Dubhn (1872), a West 

 Indian Species ; and S. Gorhleri Ren. et Card, at Cherbourg (1902). 



Mosses of Essex.* — F. J. Chittenden publishes a list of about 

 200 species and sub-species of Essex mosses, exclusive of Sphagnacese. 

 The total would be larger but for the following reasons : that only 

 a few parts of the county have been thoroughly explored, and much 

 of the northern, eastern, and southern parts require to be carefully 

 searched ; that the surface of the countrji lacks elevation and the soils 

 are insufficiently diversified ; and that the rainfall is small and often 

 contaminated by London smoke. In connection with this poor rain- 

 fall, the author notes that in Essex the species produce fruit far less 

 abundantly, and are less luxuriant in their vegetative growth, than 

 is the case in the moist western counties of England. The two chief 

 rarities recorded for the county are Zygodon Forsteri and Grimmia 

 commutata. 



Scottish Mosses. t — -J. Stirton publishes notes on some West High- 

 land mosses, and reflections upon the problems which they suggest. 

 The specimens were gathered at Arisaig, on the west coast of Scotland. 

 Myurium hebridarum has only once before been found on the mainland. 

 It occurs in the Faroe Islands, along the whole chain of the Outer 

 Hebrides, in the Azores, and, it is reported, from the Canaries and St. 

 Helena, and nowhere else in the world. It has never been found in 

 fruit, and hence its capacity for spreading is very limited. Its distribu- 

 tion argues strongly in favour of a former land connection of all these 

 islands. Remarks are added on the distribution of Hediolgidium 

 imberbe and on Dicranum Fergussoni, which the author thinks to be 

 clearly in process of evolution and differentiation from D. Scottianum. 



North American Muscinese. — N. C. KindbergJ gives lists of 80 

 mosses collected by N. L. T. Nelson, mostly in Missouri and Minnesota. 

 Six species and two sub-species are described as new. E. G. Britton § 

 has made a study of Rhacopllum tomentosum, a tropical American species 

 which has also been found in the United States, in Louisiana. This plant 

 and the type she figures, and also provides a new description for the 

 species. A. Lorenz || records the discovery of Lescurcmfriyida on Mount 



* Essex Naturalist, xiv. No. 7 (1906) pp. 204-35. 



t Ann. Scott. Nat. Hist., 1907, pp. 42-5. 



: Rev. Bryol., xxxiv. (1907) pp. 25-9. 



§ Bryologist, x. (1907) pp. 32-3 (1 pi.). ^ Tom. cit., pp. 84-5. 



