﻿Mosses of Northern India. 



By E. G. Britton. 



In a recent publication entitled " Contributions to the Bry- 

 ological Flora of the Northwestern Himalayas " (Acta Soc. Sci. 

 Fenn. 24: 46, pp. 1898) V. F. Brotherus enumerates the mosses 

 collected in various parts of the Himalaya mountains, especially 

 in Sikkim and the valley of Kashmir. A brief account of the , 

 region is given by Mr. Duthie, director of the Forest Department 

 of northern India, from which it appears that the whole region is 

 a mountainous one, the average elevation above the sea being 

 6,000 feet, the main ranges extending from northwest to southeast 



000- 



»6,ooo feet high, which 

 give rise to some of the largest glaciers in the world. Yet owing to 

 its latitude, 35 N., agreeing with that of the southern boundary of 

 North Carolina, the sun's rays are too hot for the growth of mosses 

 on the southern slopes, and the bryological vegetation comes near- 

 est to that of Central Europe. It is surprising to find that out of the 

 total number listed, 49 genera and 96 species are found in North 

 America as well, and in many genera all but two or three species 



are identical. 

 Brvum. Mni 



iypU 





Pterigynandrum, Pseudoleskea, Pylaisea, Brachythccium and Am- 

 blystcgium. Dr. Venturi has named the Orthotrichums and has 

 determined one of the species to be the same as one of our re- 

 cently discovered Rocky Mountain ones, O. Schlotthaiuri. ^ L ' 

 note with particular interest also that Fissidens grandifrons was 

 collected only sterile, so that Falconer's station still remains the 

 only one from which this moss is known in fruit. Several other 

 species which are common to the Rocky Mountains or our high- 

 est Alleghanies are Dicranoweisia citrate, Oncophorus virens, D*' 

 tichium capillaceum, Barbida rubella, Desmatodon latifolius, &' 1 '"' 



mia commutata, Amphidium lapponicum, Lcptobryum pyf c 

 Neckera pcnnata, Myurclla jidacca, Thuidium abictinum and 

 thccmm intricatum. A few common, cosmopolitan mosses 



purpureas, Funaria hygrometrica, Pldlonotis fontana 



ai 



Polytrichum j 11 ni peri num. Two North American species o( fW 

 mm, Stereodon Haldamanum and 5. reptile (Michx.) BrotherU" 

 the latter a new combination, it appears, are also notable. 



(398) 



