112 NEW GENERA OF PLANTS. [October: 



work, we were soon assured of its distinction; the same 

 ambiguity respecting this plant, and the 71 aquatica of Eu- 

 ^ rope, 1 have not been able to solve with equal satisfaction; 

 hdt as the T, aquatica and 7. prostrata^ are considered 

 the same species; after an illustration by Schkuhr, in Us- 

 teri's Annals of Botany, .(vol. 2. plate 3,) we are inclined 

 tx) believe the American plant a distinct species. 



Nearly in the same moment of finding the Tillcea ap- 

 peared a second unnoticed plant, in this very peculiar soil 

 and situation, and still more minute than the first; it was a 

 species of Limosella^ and so nearly related to the X. tenu- 

 ifolia of Germany, as lo admit of no specific distinction, 

 deciding at the same time without either plate or speci- 

 men. In general habit, however, it approaches so near 

 to what we have seen of the L. aquatica as to leave but 

 little doubt of its affinity to that species, of which the i, 

 tenmfolia is considered by Persoon only a variety, but in 

 America no other plant than tliil5 supposed variety has 

 yet been discovered. 



Amongst the numerous specimens of Tillcsa that I 

 had collected, appeared something which I sui)posed to 

 be creeping shoots of that plant; I did not in consequence 

 take any further notice of it, but revisiting the place a day 

 ©r two after, 1 met with this plant in exclusive masses, 

 and in such abundance as instantly to convince me of its 

 distinction from the Tillcea, It is perhaps the minutest 

 phasnogamous plant in North America, if we except the 

 Lithophila muscoides of the West Indies, to which it also 

 bears some affinity. Greatly as it differs from the genus 

 Peplis, I have been led to suppose that it might be the 

 P. Americana of Mr. Pursh; but it belongs neither to the 

 same class nor order iiji any existing system of Botany. 



