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A NEW HABITAT FOR SCHISTOSTEQA. 



Like Mr. Huntington I have always longed to find Schistostega. Several 

 years ago I found a few bits of the protonema and one or two scattering- 

 sterile plants in a cave known as the ' ' Devils Den " at the top of Mt. Prospect 

 in Holderness, N. H. Since then I have looked in every dark hole in the 

 woods with the hope of seeing it again, but in vain. 



This summer I was greatly surprised and delighted to find this rare 

 moss in an entirely unexpected place, on the soil and stones of the under- 

 pinning of an old shed in Newfane, Vt., on the farm adjoining the one where 

 I spent my youth and childhood, and in the very place where I had often 

 played hide and seek. The shed is open on the south side, and the floor 

 is several inches lower than the soil on the north side, so that the earth and 

 soil of the underpinning on this side is kept moist. Here were square inches, 

 almost square feet, of the gleaming protonema, whose brilliancy could only 

 be seen by stooping until one looked in upon it at the same level as the 

 entering rays of light. Here also were an abundance of sterile plants but 

 no capsules. 



The protonema reproduces itself rapidly as spots from which collections 

 were made were again covered in two or three weeks. Under the microscope 

 the protonemal filaments were seen to end in flask-shaped cells, a character 

 not shown in any illustrations with which I am familiar. The New Hamp- 

 shire plants also had this character. 



The question now is, where in the country round is the original habitat 

 of this moss ? The place where the shed stands has been dug over within 

 my memory. The shed itself was built about twenty-five years ago. The 

 country around is more familiar to me than any other place in the world, 

 yet I have never seen any other indications of this moss in that part of 

 the state. A. J. Grout. 



NECROLOGY. 



It is our sad duty to record the death of Professor Albert G. Wetherby, 

 at Magnetic City, North Carolina. February 15th, 1902. He was known by 

 correspondence to many readers of The Bryologist, as a collector of mosses 

 and lichens and as a generous friend in the matter of exchanges. He was 

 identified with the Sullivant Moss Chapter from the beginning, and when 

 the lichen department was added joined most heartily in its work. 



Prof essor Wetherby was born at Pittsburg, Pa., in 1833. He received his 

 early education in Cleveland, Ohio, and after his college graduation he spent 

 some years in farming during the summer and teaching a country school in 

 winter. In 1861 he removed to Cincinnati and was appointed principal of 

 the Woodburn public school. In 1870 he was elected to the Chair of Natural 

 History in the Cincinnati University and served for a term of six years, add- 

 ing geology and botany to his other subjects. The work in the new univer- 

 sity was too heavy for his strength though backed by wonderful enthusiasm, 

 and he was obliged to resign his position, thus ending his strictly pedagogic 

 work. He engaged in business, and in 1886 it took him to North Carolina 



