ERYOPHYTA OF S. RHODESIA. 325 



The long, curved, terete branches, having the leaves very 

 regularly and closely imbricate, not spreading, when dry, gives 

 them a characteristic appearance, but the main character is the well 

 developed peristome, unique in the sub-family, and — with the 

 single exception of Cleistostoma ambiguum — in the family of Hed- 

 wigiaceae. The widely elliptic capsule and the perichaetium 

 reaching half-way up the seta, are also marked characters. 



• Neckeraceae. 



Papillaria africana (CM.) Jaeg. — Zimbabwe, alt. 3,000 feet 

 (Sim, 8791, 8795) St.; Umtali, in trees in mountain bush, alt. 

 5,000 feet (Eyles, 1721) St, 



General distribution : South Africa generally, East tropical 

 Africa, Madagascar. 



Trachupodopsis serrulata (P. Beauv.) Fleischer. — In web 

 forest, Inyanga, alt, 6,000 feet (Henkel. 2630, in herb Eyles) St, 



General distribution: Fernando Po, East tropical Africa, 

 Comores, Madagascar, Bourbon. The present record is a rather 

 interesting extension of its range. 



Calyptothecium brotheri (Par.) Dixon comb. nov. 



Syn. Neclcera brotheri Par. Ind. Ed. I, Suppl. p. 254 (1900). 

 Calyptothecium subacutifolium Broth, in Engl. Bot. Jahrb., 24 

 (1897), p. 254; (nee C. subacutifolium (Geh. and Hampe) Broth.; 

 Neckera subacutifoli Geh. and Hampe in "Flora," 1881, p. 379) ); 

 Caluptothecium beyrichii Broth, in Engl, and Prantl. Pflanzen- 

 fam., Musci, II, 839 (1906). 



Victoria Falls, alt. 3,000 feet (Sim, 8910, 8922; Wager, 914); 

 Victoria Falls, Palm Grove, alt. 2,500 feet (Sim, 8913); Victoria 

 Falls, Palm Kloof, on Phoenix (Brunnthaler), Brotherus (2). 



The synonymy above appears rather confusing, but is really 

 simple. Brotherus in 1897 described a plant collected by Beyrich 

 in Pondoland as Calyptothecium subacutifolium sp. nov., having 

 overlooked the Brazilian species Neckera subacutifolia Geh. and 

 Hampe, which belongs to Calyptothecium. Later, in the "Musci" 

 and elsewhere, he has replaced this name by C. beyrichii Broth. 

 But in the meantime Paris in the Sppl. to Index, ed. I, had given 

 the African plant the name Neckera brotheri; and this name ante- 

 dates C . Beyrichii by some years. The plant must therefore stand 

 as I have given it above, so long as its specific rank is maintained. 

 The specimens, however, that I have seen from the localities cited, 

 and one or two other allied plants from South Africa, vary con- 

 siderably, and I am strongly of opinion that the plant of conti- 

 nental Africa will have to be united with the Bourbon C. acuti- 

 folium (Brid). Neckera pseud o-crispa C.M. from Van Reenen is 

 certainly identical with C. acuti folium, and this greatly reduces the 

 probability of the present plant being anything more than a race- 

 form . 



General distribution : Pondoland. 



