152 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANt 



HoMALiODENDRON MoNTAGNEANUM (C. M.) Fleisch. Sikkim, 

 comm. W. E. Sherrin (No. 4), st. Det. Cardot. 



H. LiGUL^FOLiUM (Mitt.) Fleisch. Nuwara-Eliya, Oeylon, 

 March, 1898, leg. J. H. Darrell (No. 147), st. Det. Fleischer. I 

 am very loath to import any fresh difficulties into the problems 

 of this very troublesome genus, more especially as I cannot 

 suggest any solution of the point at issue; but I feel compelled 

 to refer to Mitten's opinion on the matter of H. ligulcefolium. 

 Fleischer, it may be recollected (Hedwigia, xlv. 97, and Musci . . . 

 von Buitenzorg, iii. 911), has separated the Homalia ligulcsfoUa 

 of the Bry. javanica from that of Mitten, and described it as a 

 new species, Homaliodendron squarrulosum Fleisch. In the latter 

 publication he has a note on H. ligulcefolium (Mitt.), comparing 

 it v^ith H. scalpellifolnim, and adding, *• ferner sind die Stengel- 

 blatter deutlich querwellig." This undulation of the stem-leaves 

 is marked in No. 191, Max Fleisch. Muse. Fr. Arch. Ind., Ser. iv., 

 H. ligulcefolium (Mitt.) Fleisch. from Ceylon, and also in Darrell's 

 Ceylon plant, determined by Fleischer. But Mitten, to whom I 

 sent a specimen of Darrell's plant (as N. ligulcBfolia Mitt.), wrote 

 of it: "I do not see any undulation, as in yours, in any of my 

 Ceylon or Indian specimens. I send you a stem of what I have 

 marked as the original of N. ligtdcefolia, as to outline ; no two 

 stems are alike, and I think the form of the leaves on the 

 attenuated ramuli varies as they are more or less prolonged ; all 

 this set are difficult to discriminate . . . now I should place all 

 these Indian species in Porotrichum. ... I have looked at the 

 small specimen I have of Thwaites's collecting and I see no 

 undulation, otherways I should think your moss to be a state of 

 P. ligulcefolitcm." 



The specimen (leg. Gardner) sent by Mitten as the original of 

 his species certainly shows no trace of undulation in the stem- 

 leaves. As Mitten himself was unable to detect any differences 

 between the two Ceylon plants, beyond the undulation, it may be 

 that they should be looked upon as two forms of the same species ; 

 but in any case the facts above stated must be held to modify the 

 description of H. ligulcsfolium given by Fleischer. Apart from 

 the undulation of the leaves, there are other differences of more or 

 less value, though certainly not great, between the Javanese plant 

 and the Ceylon forms, and I do not venture to suggest that 

 Fleischer is wrong in keeping them specifically distinct, at any 

 rate, while so many species are retained in this group differing 

 from one another by perhaps even less important characters. 



Pinnatella calcutensis (G. M.) Fleisch. In large masses, pendu- 

 lous from branches of trees, Mahableshwar, Western Ghats, alt. 

 4-5000 ped., Jan., 1909, leg. Sedgwick (No. 26), c. fr. A fine 

 plant, the fruit of which has not been found before. Its stems 

 reach to 8 or 9 in. in length, with mostly simple, distant, irregular 

 branches, which are more or less curled when dry. I have 

 compared it with a part of the type specimen determined by 

 C. Miiller (kindly sent to me by the late Dr. E. Levier) as 

 " Urocladium calcutense " (I have adhered to the original spell- 



