234 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



portant contributions to a difficult subject but a number of ques- 

 tions were left open that if now settled would add immensely to 

 their value. 



The same critical writer in Vol. XXII., pp. 452-458 of the 

 Torrey Bulletin, discusses the genus Leersia (Encalypta) and more 

 particularly the species, E. Macounii, Austin, and E. ciliata,, Hedw. 

 Without entering into the controversy I may say that before 

 Austin described E. Macounii I thought it was a young state of 

 E. ciliata. After many years in 1887 I sent specimens collected 

 at Wellington mine near Nanaimo to Dr. Kindberg, and these he 

 named E. Macounii, and later, eastern specimens were sent him, 

 all of which he pronounced E. Macounii. At the date of the pub- 

 lication of Part VI. of my Catalogue of Canadian Plants, in 1892, 

 he decided that up to that time he had seen no true E. ciliata 

 from America, 



In the article cited Mrs. Britton takes the ground that our 

 eastern Encalypta which Kindberg has referred to E. Macounii is 

 identical with authentic specimens of E. ciliata received from 

 Europe, cited and examined by Limpricht. 



Dr. Kindberg in European and North American Bryineae, 

 published in 1897, seems to stand by what he wrote in 1892. In 

 giving the range of E. Macounii and E. ciliata on page 297 

 of the work referred to he credits E. Macounii to both Europe and 

 America, while E. ciliata is only cited from Europe and Green- 

 land. 



Without prejudice I may observe that from the standpoint of a 

 layman we in America have been making two species out of one 

 while our friends in Europe were making one species out of two. 



56 ENCALYPTA, Schreb. 



362. E. commutata, NEES & HORNSCH. 



E. alpina, Smith, 1805; Kindb., Bryol. N. Am. & Eur. 296. 



On earth at the " Gap," Crow's Nest Pass, Rocky Mountains, 

 Alta., Aug. 1 3th, 1897. (Macoun.} 



364. E. rhabdocarpa, SCHW^GER. 



Leersia rhabdocarpa, (Schwaeg.) Lindb. 



On earth along Bragg's Creek, Rocky Mountains, Alta., June 

 28th, 1897. (Macoun.) On earth at Dawson, Yukon, 1899. 

 (Williams.) 



