— 94 — 



Radula Bolanderi Gottsche. (R. spicata Aust.) 



Plants slender, becoming caespitose. Stems are short, with short, pin- 

 nately-arranged branches. The leaves are loosely imbricate, obovate, with 

 obtusely rounded apex. Lower lobes the size of the upper, inflated, rhom- 

 boid ovate, with apex usually appressed to upper lobe. Antheridial spikes 

 numerous, linear, and directed downward. 



The perianth isobconic, bilabiate, with margin of lips entire. R. Boland- 

 eri \^ found in the Coast Range Mountains from San Francisco to Vancouver 

 Island. Dr. M. A. Howe states (Mem. Torr. Bot. Club, 7:i59, 1899,) that 

 there seems to be little or nothing in the description or figure of R. arctica 

 Steph. to distinguish it from young plants of R. Bola7ideri. 



The species is figured in Pearson's List Can. Hep. 4.//. 4. 1890, as R. 

 spicata. 



Radula obconica Sulliv. 



This is a Northern species, occurring rarely from Ohio to New Jersey, 

 on trees in cedar swamps. The stems branch undeterminately ; the leaves 

 are distant, round-ovate. The perianth is rather obconic to clavate, with 

 mouth obliquely truncate and entire. The genus Radula occurs more abun- 

 dantly in the tropics than in temperate regions. Schiffner (Conspectus Hep. 

 Arch. Indici, 1898) reporting twenty species from the islands of Java and 

 Sumatra alone. Much work needs to be done in collecting American forms 

 and determining the range of species. 



Sayre, Pa. 



THE PERISTOriE. IV. 



By a. J. Grout. 



So much space in this issue is taken by the concluding article on nomen- 

 clature that only a few additional notes on species previously treated will 

 be given here. 



Prof. F. E. Lloyd, of the Teachers' College, New York Citj'-, showed 

 the author an unusually pretty experiment with the spore distribution of 

 Polytrichum. He took a fully matured capsule from which the operculum 

 had recently fallen and which was still nearly filled with spores; holding 

 this up to the light with the mouth of the capsule toward him and the lower 

 end of the seta grasped in the left hand, he twanged the seta a la guitar so 

 as to give the capsule short, sharp shakes. The epiphragm then appears as a 

 translucent membrane and the mass of spores can be seen rolling up against 

 its lower edge like sawdust in a drum, while they escape in clouds from the 

 openings between the teeth. 



With respect to spore distribution in the Buxbaumiaceae, Prof. Lloyd 

 calls attention to the statements of Prof. Goebel that in Webera sessilis the 

 flattening of the capsule on the dorsal side is useful, not alone for light ab- 

 sorption but also for spore dispersal. Drops of rain strike this flattened 

 upper surface and by their impact force out a puff of spores from the nozzle- 

 like peristome. The capsules are really minute powder guns all set for ac- 

 tion. If a fresh mature deoperculate capsule be given a slight tap with 



