THE SULLIVANT MOSS CHAPTER 



OF THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. 



— The Sullivant Moss Chapter starts out with a charter mem- 

 bership of over thirty, a very promising beginning indeed. 



— A list of members and a draft of the constitution will have 

 reached each member before this issue of the Bryologist. 



— The committee announced in our last issue have appointed 

 the following officers for 1899: President, A. J. Grout; vice-pres- 

 ident, J. Franklin Collins, of Providence, R I. ; secretary and 

 treasurer, Mrs. Annie Morrill Smith, 78 Orange St., Brooklyn, 

 N. Y. It was deemed best to appoint officers for the first year 

 until a constitution should be adopted and the organization per- 

 fected. All communications with reference to membership, dues, 

 etc., should be addressed to Mrs. Smith. 



— The president proposes that for their Chapter work the mem- 

 bers try to obtain new facts concerning the distribution of the 

 Dicranums by collecting and studying all the species to be found 

 in their localities. To assist in this we publish an entirely new 

 key, and Dr. True has very kindly given us the known ranges. 

 The extension of the known range of any species should be noted 

 and note and specimen forwarded to the secretary. In case any 

 of the species Dr. True has noted as rare should be collected, it 

 should also be forwarded with full notes. 



— On account of the snow we may not be able to accomplish 

 much except to become familiar with our specimens already col- 

 lected. It is hoped that enough notes may be received by the 

 first of March to enable the secretary to give a very creditable ac- 

 count of work accomplished, and that before the year is over we 

 may make a valuable addition to the knowledge of the distribution 

 of this and other genera. 



— The president is strongly of the opinion that the concentrated 

 study of a single genus is much the best way, for the beginner at 

 least, to study the mosses. One learns to recognize species and 

 to distinguish closely related species to a degree that is otherwise 

 impossible. The president himself while studying Dicranums for 

 the Bryologist found right at home three species that he had 

 never collected before. 



