8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. ']2 



BRYUM ARGENTEUM L. 



Nos. 3752, 3752b, c. fr. These plants afford rather more interest 

 than it usually falls to the lot of this ulnquitous species to present. 

 They show in the same gathering a form with the leaves widely 

 rounded at summit and obtuse, without any trace of apiculus or 

 hair-point, and others with long hyaline hair-points, practically identi- 

 cal with var. lanafiim B. & S. ; and all transitions between these 

 extreme forms occur, even (with the exception of the form with the 

 longest hair-points) within the limits of a single tuft. 



It was gathered at an elevation of 12,000 ft., on the roofs of the 

 mud huts of the Ratmen. The Ratmen or Molemen — as their name 

 " Mese " signifies — are a small tribe of very primitive savages 

 inhabiting the extinct crater of this mountain. 



BRYUM ALPINUM Huds. 



Nos. 239id, 3422, 3444b; No. 3422b (sparingly fruiting). These 

 plants were — a very unusual thing for this species — epiphytic, on tree 

 heaths. They differ somewhat from our northern B. alpimun in 

 being robust, with the nerve very stout, excurrent in a short, acute 

 or obtuse point, the leaves usually acute, subdenticulate at apex ; 

 these characters however are not constant and are not correlated, 

 while some of the tufts are quite ordinary B. alpimun. The fruit 

 also agrees exactly. I have no hesitation, therefore, in placing them 

 under B. alpinum, which occurs also in South Africa, where, as in 

 the Northern Hemisphere, it shows considerable variation. 



BRYUM BREVINERVE Dixon, sp. nov. 



(PI. 2, fig. 8.) 

 § RosuLATA. E rohiistiorihus generis, habitu B. spinidentis Ren. & 

 Card., vel B. pcrspinidcntis Broth. Caulis validus, usque ad 10-12 cm 

 alius, infeme tomentosus, sat dense rcgiilaritcr foliosus, vi.v, nisi sub 

 tioribus, comosus; flexuosus vel hie illic geniculatus ; folia erecto- 

 patentia, sicca flexuosa, contracta ; 6-7 mm. longa, e basi angusta 

 dccurrente, late ohovata, ohtiisa, apicido perbrcvi plerumque reUexo; 

 marginibus in feme anguste refiexis, superne sat conferte inter- 

 rupteque et breviter acuteque dentata; costa ad basin valida, rubra, 

 raptim angustata, supra perangiista, infra apiceni sat longe desinens, 

 rarissime percurrens. Areolatio densa, e cellulis superioribus anguste 

 hexagonis circS 60 fi longis instructa, infimis elongatis, angustis. 

 hexagono-rectangularibus, nee valde laxis ; marginalibus supra serie- 



