also aid in dispersal of spores. Another decided advantage which Funaria has 

 over many other mosses is that in many regions it is an annual^ maturing its spores 

 not only in one season but during the early part of the season. Mature capsules 

 were found in Chicago and Milwaukee in June and in Oregon in May. 



All of these characters tend to make Funaria a species of wide distribution, 

 and enable it to take entire possession of many barren areas. Its economic 

 value lies in its pioneer character. It holds possession only until, by accumulation 

 of waste and change in chemical content of the soil, other plants are able to exist 

 in places previously wholly unsuited to their needs. 



Elliott, Iowa. 



BUXBAUMIA INDUSIATA BRID., FROM BRANDON, VERMONT 



D. Lewis Dutton 



In the latter part of January, 1916, I found a capsule of a moss that was a 

 Buxbaumia without any doubt, but did not look like anything that I had col- 

 lected before. Upon looking up the genus Buxbaumia in "Mosses with Hand- 

 lens and Microscope" I found that I had a rare moss, Buxbaumia indusiata 

 Brid. 



No amount of search then brought any more specimens to light, and not 

 until April, 1920, did I find any more capsules. At that date I found five or 

 six good specimens which have since been verified by Dr. Grout. 



Brandon, Vermont 



SOME WAR BRYOLOGY 



The two following publications are so unlikely to be generally accessible 

 that brief notice of them as illustrations of the triumph of science over warfare 

 may not be out of place. 



I 



N. Malta: Beitrage zur Moosflora des Gouvernements Pleskau, 



MIT BESONDERER BeRUCKSICHTIGUNG DES KaLKSTEINGEBIETES DER WeLIKAJA- 



mundung. Riga, 1919. 



This is a booklet of 78 pages, dealing both from the systematic and oecologi- 

 cal point of view with the bryophyte vegetation of a limited area in Russia in 

 the province of Pskov (Pleskau, Pleskow), just east of the former Baltic Prov- 

 inces. The author was forced by "circumstances of war" to spend the years 

 19 1 6 and 19 17 in Pskov and made use of this opportunity to study intensively 

 the moss-vegetation especially of the dolomitic limestone area about the mouth 

 of the Velikaya ("Great River") which empties into Lake Pskov. The im- 



3 Campbell, D. H. Mosses and Ferns, p. 166. 



