195 
self, have been accessible through the kindness of V. F. Brotherus. 
The costa of the upper branch leaves was often found ending in 
a spine, and the cilia were also appendiculate. I have thus far 
been unable to differentiate B. curtum from B. Starket in either 
American or European material. All the characters given as dis- 
tinctive are quite variable, even on the same plant in many cases. 
The majority of the specimens of B. Starket from northeastern North 
America are more loosely intricate and straggling than the typical 
European plant, they are also markedly complanate foliate and the 
costa often ends in a spine and is toothed on the back above. 
These forms are probably referable to var. complanatum Limpr. l. c. 
24. BRaAcHYTHECIUM NovaAE-ANGLIAE (Sull. & Lesq.) Jaeger & 
Sauer. St. Gall. Nat. Gesell. 1876-1877 : 328. 
Hypnum Novae-Angliae Sull. & Lesq. Musc. Bor. Am. (Ed. 1) 
338. 1856. Sull. Mosses of U. S. 76. 1856. 
Eurhynchium Novae-Angliae Kindb. Can. Rec. Sci. 1894: 23. 
1894. 
Gametophyte in wide loosely intricate mats, bright green on the 
outside, dirty brownish-green below, stems decumbent ; secondary 
stems sub-erect, about 5 cm. long, subpinnately branching ; 
branches erect-ascending, terete-foliate, subjulaceous, not attenuate, 
5-10 mm. long; branch leaves erect-open, loosely appressed- 
imbricate when dry, ovate, decurrent, 0.8 X 0.4-0.5 mm., serru- 
late, very concave, not plicate, long acute to short acuminate ; 
apex twisted Z4 turn to the right; costa thick, extending beyond 
the middle of the leaf ; median leaf-cells oblong-hexagonal, 5:1; 
alar and basal cells little differentiated ; each leaf-cell with a small 
papilla at one end; stem leaves broadly ovate to triangular-ovate, 
I X 0.8 mm., longer acuminate; leaf-cells shorter: dioicous; 
male branches gemmiform ; antheridia oblong ; perigonial leaves 
oblong-ovate, gradually long-acuminate: perichaetium about 2 
mm. long; the leaves with sheathing bases and squarrose points ; 
inner leaves oblong, long filiform-acuminate, somewhat serrulate 
above, costate. Sporophyte 1-2 cm. high; seta dark red-brown, 
very rough with broad low papillae; capsule dark red-brown, al- 
most black when old, oblong cylindric, 3-3.5 mm. long, 4-5 : 1, 
somewhat arcuate, horizontal to suberect ; operculum long-conic, 
subrostellate; annulus large; segments nearly as long as the 
