-84- 



never been done, Bridel founded the genus Octodiceras in 1806 on Hed- 

 wig s plate, concluding that the peristome had only eight teeth, as Fig. 6 

 showed half the peristome with only four teeth, but he overlooked the fact, 

 since noted by Montague, that Fig. 7 has at least twelve. Mitten has per- 

 petuated this mistake in his Musci Austro-Americani, by citing in his key, 

 two species with eight teeth, F. semicompletus and F. Mexicanus, but the 

 latter is known only from sterile specimens. To remedy this mistake, Mon- 

 tagne founded the genus Conomiiriuui, including C. Juliannm and three 

 South American species, which he named for Dillenius. Hedwig and Bertero, 

 referring F. semicompletus Hedw. to C. Hedwigii. Jaeger and Sauerbeck 

 recognized both genera in the Adumbratio, including several species of Fis- 

 sidens under Conomitrium, notably F. osmundioides and F. hyaliiium, and 

 five South American and three North American species under Octodiceras. 

 Schimper in the Bryologia and Limpricht in the Laubmoose used Octodiceras 

 for O. fiilianum but Limpricht does not make clear the priority of the speci- 

 fic name, as he omits the original place of publication. Lindberg by mis- 

 take took up the name of O. fonatum as will be seen by the following 

 synonymy : 



Octodiceras Julianum (Savi) Brid. Bryol. Univ. 2: 678. 1827. 

 Fontinalis Juliana Savi, Fl. Pis. 2: 414. 1798. 



Skitophy llumfontanum La. Pyl. Journ. Bot. Desv. 5: 52,t.34, Fig. 2, 1813. 



Fissidens debilis ^Q\i'^a.Q%r. Suppl. 2: 11. 1816. 



Co7iomitrium Julianum Mont. Ann. Sci. Nat. 8: 246. t. 4. 1837. 



Fissidens Juliamis Sch. Flora 21: i. 271. 1838. 



Octodiceras fontanum Lindb. Bidrag Moss Syn. 23. 1863. 



Our other species, O. Hallianum, is much smaller and more slender, 

 with a more perfect peristome, and has been found growing with O. 

 Julianum by Hall, on the stems of Cephalanthus occidentalis in a sunken 

 hole at Athens, Illinois, the type locality. A note in Austin's herbarium 

 shows that the habitat given by Austin, " in wells" is incorrect. It has also 

 been collected on rocks moistened by spray at Little Falls and Ogdensburg, 

 N. J., by Austin. At Caloosa, Florida, it was collected on the under side of 

 logs in a Cypress swamp by J. D. Smith, and it grows on rocks at the water 

 line in Lake Pend d' Oreille, Idaho, where it was collected by J. B. Leiberg. 

 It is evident that it has almost as great an Eastern range as our more com- 

 mon species, and on account of its size, may have been often overlooked. 

 Its synonymy is as follows: 



Octodiceras Hallianum (Sull. &Lesq.) Jaeg. & Sauerb. Adumb. 1.33. 1874. 



Conomitrium Hallianum Sull, & Lesq., Aust. Musci App. p. 20, no. 

 108 b. 1870. 



Fissidens Hallianum Mitt. Journ. Linn. Soc, 21: 551. 1885. 



Bryum proltgerum (Lindb.) Kindb. 



The study of this moss at Chilson Lake. Essex Co., N. Y., was brought 

 to a sudden close in 1901 by the " wet crumbling roadside bank" giving way 

 during a heavy rainfall, burying our treasure as we feared for all time, as 



