-36 — 



nearly grown. On May 6 they had lost the opercula in many cases and were 

 freely shedding their spores. This early fruiting during the moisture of spring 

 is an advantage to a moss growing under conditions so xerophytic. Yet the 

 empty capsules persist far into the summer, as is shown in examples of those 

 first found at Lockport, August 2, 1904. The urn was quite well preserved but 

 the long rugulose neck and smooth or smoothish upper part, as well as the leaves, 

 served to identify it. On some capsules even a few teeth remained. 



FUNARIA FLAVICANS MiCHX. 



Several years ago I had a station for this species at Pine, Lake County, 

 Indiana, close to the south end of Lake Michigan. This has now been destro^^ed 

 by the encroachments of railway tracks and industrial works, which have so 

 greatly multiplied in this region. The moss was first detected June 3, 1898. 

 It grew in moist sands bordering a shallow slough. Such sloughs are common 

 in this part of the dune area. Some capsules were ripe and were shedding their 

 spores, others still retained the opercula, one occasionally even the calyptra, 

 but the mass of them was full grown. The time of ripening can, therefore, be 

 placed in the latter part of May and the first half of June, or one or two weeks 

 earlier than that of F. hygrometrica in this latitude. The stems, 2-6 mm. high, 

 formed little tufts or were loosely caespitose. The seta was shorter than the aver- 

 age in the common Cord-moss, being 2-3 cm. high, and it was not mixed with 

 that species. The nearly horizontal or slightly nodding capsule, the urn less 

 furrowed and with a less oblique mouth, the low, barely apiculate lid, the larger 

 smooth spores, 22-28.U in diameter, served to distinguish it from F. hygrometnca, 

 with which it is most likely to be confounded. The spores of the latter I find 

 14-18^1, finely granulose or warty. Those of F. americana are about the size of 

 those of F. flavicans, but are finely papillose. Though the operculum of F. 

 flavicans is smaller than that of F. hygrometrica, its narrower capsule when old 

 and de-operculate often presents a relatively wider and more open mouth than 

 that of the latter. 



There is also a character of the peristome which, if as common as in these 

 I studied, must serve as a good distinction. The inner peristome in all that 

 were examined was found but partly developed, as high as the teeth, 



each part forming a blunt process opposite a tooth. In the description in SuUi- 

 vant's "Icones Muscorum," page 87, nothing is said of the extent of their de- 

 velopment, "processibus dentibus oppositis luteis," being the characterization, 

 color and position only being mentioned. In the illustrative plate. Table 53, 

 Fig. 14, they appear to be shown about as I find them, being seen in the figure 

 by the margins of the teeth at their base. This is quite in contrast with the 

 corresponding parts of F. hygrometrica, in which they are well developed, long 

 and pointed or lanceolate-subulate, and about % the height of the teeth. 



Funaria jiavicans is a species mainly of southern range, and the station at the 

 head of Lake Michigan must be well towards its northern extension. This is 

 somewhat further north than Bedford Park, New York City, mentioned by R. 

 S. Williams in The Bryologist (4:9. 1901.) or Closter, N. J., where it is said 



