13 '* ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



23rd, 1894, now before rae ; the notes are by 3[r. Todd, and accompanied 

 the si)ecimens : 



1. Sphagnum cuspidatum. Edge of bog in drain. 



2. Sphagnum mediuvi. Edge of bog in drai. 



'S. Sphagnuvi fuscuvi. ^ These two are most abundant and make 



4. Sphagnum imbricatum crispattmi f up the bulk of the bog. 



5. Sphagnum tenellum ? Edge of bog. 



6. Sphagnum recurvum. Edge of bog. 



7. Sphagnum tenellum ruhellum. Mixed with -i and 4 in the mass of the bog. 



8. Hypnum Schreiberi. Dry edge of bog. 



9. Dicranum spuriuni. In tufts of No. 7 and not plenty.^ 



Another set was collected by m^'self in 1896 in the Lepreau bog and 

 sent to Herr Karl Warnstorf, of Neurippen, G-ermany, the most distin- 

 guished living student of Sphagnacea3, and he has had the great kindness 

 to identify them for me. The notes are my own made on the spot : 



1. Sphagnum fuscum, KXxn^^r. The species which makes up the bulk of the 



drier parts of the bog. 



2. Sphagnum tenellum, var. rubellum (Wils.) f. dasyclada, W. The species 



which occupies tlie wetter places on the high part of the bog. 

 'A. Sphagnum Imbricatum (Hornsch) Russ. On dry parts with S. fusrum but 

 much less abundant. 



4. Sphagnum acut if ollum{^hv\\.)'R\iiiii et W. Occasional clumps near margin 



of the bog. 



5. Sphagnum medium, Limpr. Near edge of bog. 



6. Sphagnum subnitens var. flavicomans (Ren. et Card.) Near edge ot bog. 



7. Sphagnum tenellum, Klinggr. Near edge of bog. 



8. Sphagnum recurvum (P. B.), Russ et Warnst., var. mucronatum, Russ. On 



edge of bog. 



9. Sphagnu)n recurvum, var. parviflorum (Sendt.) W. On edge of l)og. 



10. Sphagnum Lindbergii, Schpr. Extreme edge of bog. 



11. Sphagnum Girgensohnii, Russ. Extreme edge of bog. 



The exact part played by each of the moi*e important species in the 

 bog-building will be explained later in the discussion of the mode of 

 growth of the bogs. 



Of other mosses the most important is Polytrichum strictum, Banks, 

 rather common on the drier knolls, and Polytrichum commune, L., near the 

 extreme edge of the bog. These species have been identified for me by 

 Mrs. E. C. Britton. 



In the descriptions of the European bogs, some of these species are 

 mentioned, and others in addition. Friih (7^) gives Sphagnum cymbi- 

 folium as the principal species, and *S'. acutifolijim as of second import- 

 ance, Avhich is also the statement of Christ (4). Lists of the species are 

 given in most papers dealing with the bogs, but the whole subject of 

 comparison is so difficult, both because of the great number and small 

 differences of the species, and also from the involved nomenclature, that 

 only a specialist in Sphagnaceœ can treat it. 



1 Professor Eat jn states in another letter <of April :Wth, 1893) : " In our bogs 

 here [i. e. in Connecticut] the most abundant species are S. quinquetarium and 

 S. medium. S.fuscum is very rare, and S. teneUxun is not very common." 



