﻿10 Britton and Rollick: New American fossil moss 



Plagiopodopsis Scudderi gen. et sp. nov. 

 Plants cespitose, matted together by basal radicles: stem 

 about I cm. high, erect, simple or branching; leaves crowded, 

 spreading, about 2 mm. long by 0.5 mm. wide, lanceolate-acu- 

 minate, costate to apex; perichaetial leaves longer extending to 

 or beyond the capsule; seta terminal, 2-3 mm. long, erect and 

 partly exserted; capsule ovoid, 1.5 mm. long by 0.75 mm. broad, 

 erect or inclined, rugose or plicate; mouth 0.5 mm. broad, too 

 indistinct to show any traces of peristome; calyptra and lid 



Named in honor of Mr. Samuel H. Scudder, by whom it was 

 collected about the year 1875, in the Tertiary (Miocene) shales 

 of Florissant, Colorado. Type specimen in U. S. National 

 Museum. 



It resembles the living species Plagiopus Oederi (Gunn.) Limpr. 

 of the Bartramiaceae in size, habit, etc., but is too poorly defined 

 for anything more than identification of its close relationship to 

 the genus Plagiopus, as indicated in the generic name adopted 

 for it. 



