The lax character of the leaves, their homotropous tendency, as well as 

 the departure in the character of the spores seem to justify the making our 

 plant a variety, and the most appropriate name would be Seligeria tristicha 

 laxa, n. var. If Ivindberg's revival of Bridel's name is followed the plant 

 becomes Seligeria trifaria laxa. 



P. S. — Since writing the above, Dr. G. G. Kennedy kindly loaned some 

 material of this plant in unusually good condition, from which a pocket lens 

 inspection furnishes the following additional data: i — The lid remains over 

 the mouth of the capsule, attached to the long collumella, as in Schistidium 

 and Gymnostomum, the latter projects as a whitish stalk after the lid falls, 

 2 — The mouth of the deoperculate capsule widens, and the dark-red peris- 

 tome teeth become revolute. 3 —The capsule below the mouth shrinks 

 slightly but shows even now no appreciable neck at the junction with the 

 seta. Its dark green color persists, and forms a pretty contrast with the 

 color of the peristome. 



NOTES ON RARE OR LITTLE KNOWN HOSSES. 



Bryum capillare flaccidum B. «&; S. 

 Sterile plants of this species were collected by me near Taylor's Falls, 

 on the St. Croix River, Minn., August 15th, 1896. It was not possible to de- 

 termine it till recently, when Mr. Schliephacke sent me a plant collected by 

 him near Naumburg a/d Saale, Germany, named as above. The Minnesota 

 plant is exactly identical with it. Both are sterile, yet both Limpricht (Laub- 

 moose II. p. 377) and Boulay (Muscinees de la France, p. 263) describe the 

 fruit. The plants seem very different from Bryznn capillare being dark 

 green and of a succulent-brittle texture, and one gets a strong impression 

 that it is really well worthy of specific rank. Of course intermediate forms 

 may be known. Lesq. & James' Manual, p. 236, credits the plant to the East- 

 ern States and the White Mountains, but I have not seen any other American 

 specimens, John M. Holzinger. 



Cynodontium schisti (Wahlenb.) Lindb. 

 Plants of this species with both old and immature fruits were collected 

 near Taylor's Falls, Minn. The undivided teeth of the peristome and the 

 texture and appearance of the plant led me to refer it to Rhabdoweisia ; but 

 it evidently agreed with neither of the two species which occur in our terri- 

 tory. The structure and areolation of the leaves as well as the slightly 

 strumose capsule bring the plant under Cynodontium. The leaf sections 

 show strong papillae on both sides of the cell walls. Limpricht says the 

 spores measure 10-14/^, but I find that spores from Scandinavian plants com- 

 municated by Dr. Bryhn measure 14-16/^, while those from the Minnesota 

 plants measure i6-20/i. The fruits of the latter were fully ripe and this may 

 account for the discrepancy in spore dimensions. The plant is known from 

 Greenland, Newfoundland, and the Rocky Mountains, Siberia and Europe. 



John M. Holzinger. 



