Ingham : A New Hepatic. 367 



species, can only be determined by the use of chemical re-agents. 

 The great drawback to the last mentioned method is the 

 necessity for knowing accurately the birthday of the fungus 

 to be tested, as the substances yielding the required re-actions, 

 are only present at a certain stage in the growth of the fungus. 



From, the above account it will be gathered that the myco- 

 logist of the modern school, has of necessity to create more 

 new species, in working from a single, fixed type, than the older 

 fraternity, who, rightly or wrongly, admit that there is a lati- 

 tude of variation in practically every species. Finally, I am 

 not aware that any one has demonstrated that in the Basidiomy- 

 cetes, microscopic characters are less variable in form and 

 dimensions, etc., than are the macroscopic characters. The 

 invariable size of spores in a given species, upon which so 

 much stress has been laid by certain observers, was questioned 

 many years ago by Dr. M. C. Cooke, and his views have been 

 corroborated b\^ some striking observations recently made by 

 my colleague, Mr. A. D. Cotton, of Kew, who, in due course, 

 will give an account of his discovery in this matter. 



Which of the above systems is more in accordance with 

 nature, time alone will prove, perhaps the mean will commend 

 itself to most. 



A NEW BRITISH HEPATIC 



(QEPHALOZIELLA PULOHELLA C. JENS.). 



WM. INGHAM, B.A. 



On 28th September, igo8, I found on the moist bed of a ditch 

 on Skipwith Common, E. Yorkshire, a very small hepatic 

 which I knew to be a Cephaloziella. It was unlike any known 

 British species of the above genus. I sent a specimen of it to 

 Mons. Douin of Chartres, France, an acknowledged expert on 

 the difficult genus Cephaloziella. On the gth November, 

 1912, he replied, ' The plant you kindly sent me is a very fine 

 form of Cephaloziella ptilchella C. Jens., much better character- 

 ized than the original gathering of Jensen.' 



The plant was first found in 1893 by C. Jensen, near Skagen, 

 at the extreme North of Denmark, and also on the bed of a 

 ditch. It is described as a new species, accompanied by a fine 

 full paged plate in the Revue Bryologique, for 1893. The 

 existence of this plant on opposite sides of the North Sea 

 is of interest. 



: o : 



From the Report of the Curator of the Stockport Museum, recently- 

 issued, it appears that the usefulness of the museum is increased by visits 

 of children from the Schools. There is also a table on which the local 

 wild flowers are exhibited. 



1913 Dec. I. 



