NOTES ON NOMENCLATURE. II. 



By Elizabeth G. Britton. 



It is surprising when we compare the various references to American 

 species, what contradictions and mistakes we encounter! The following is 

 as good an illustration as could well be selected: 



Hypnum revoluttim (Mitt.) Lindb Hedwigia 7:108. 1868 (1858). 



Stereodon revoliiius Mitt. Journ. Linn. Soc. 4: Suppl. I. 97. 1859. 



Hypnum Heitfleri ]\xx. Verh. K. K. Zool. Bot. Ges. 11. 431. 1861. 



Stereodon plicatile Mitt. Journ. Linn. Soc. 8:40. 1864. 



Hypmiin plicatile Lesq. and Jas, Man. 394. 1884. 



HyP?iuin lVa/so7ii Lesq. and Jas. Man, 886. 1884. 



In tracing back the history of this species the following references should 

 also be consulted: Jaeger and Sauerb. Adumb. 316, 321, 325, — 1877-78; Aus- 

 tin, Bull. Tor. Bot. Club, 7:6. 1880; Rau and Herv. Cat. 46. 1880; Macoun 

 Cat. 6, 237. 1892; Ren. and Card. Musci Am. Sept. 61. 1893; Paris Index, 668 

 and 675. 1894: Kindb. Bryin. Eu. and N. A. 1:136. 1897; Limpr. Laubm. 3:479 

 and 498. 1899; and R. S. Williams Bull. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 2:141. and 379. 

 igoi-02. 



This is the opinion that Austin expressed before the Manual was written : 

 " Hypnum Watsoni. L. and J., Hab. Utah, Watson. There is a more ac- 

 curate description of this species in the Bryology of the Forty-ninth parallel, 

 by Mitten, under the name of Hyp. plicatile (1864). It is undoubtedly Hyp. 

 Heiifleuri, Juratzka (r86i) (compared with a specimen fromSchimper kindly 

 furnished by Mr. James). It is also H. revohttinn, Lindb., Ms. and H. 

 recurvo-marginatum, n. sp. Aust Ms. I have many specimens of it from 

 Colorado, Oregon and British Columbia. It also occurs in the high latitudes 

 and alpine regions of Europe. The most striking feature of the species is the 

 (usually) broadly revolute margin of the leaf, from base to point. The cap- 

 sule is curved in the middle from an erect base, the operculum is shortly 

 conic and very obtuse. The leaves are often serrulate at the apex, shortly 

 bicostate, and furnished with a larger or smaller, usually not well defined 

 patch of very short and minute, more or less obscure cells at the basal angles. 

 In mode of growth, ramification, and in the reticulation of the leaves it is 

 variable. I have what appears to be a form of this species also from 

 Monterey. Mexico." 



In order to determine if Austin was right, I have endeavored to see type 

 specimens and authentically named material, and have been favored with a 

 portion of the type of Stereodon plicatile Mitt, collected by^Taylor at Davis' 

 Straights, and also with specimens collected in the Rocky Mountains by 

 Bourgeau, with drawings of the leaves. Besides the specimens mentioned 

 by Austin, which are preserved in his Herbarium, we have an authentic speci- 

 men of Hypnum Watsoni, named by James (No. 1474 of the U. S. Geol. Surv. 

 of the Fortieth Par ), from Bear River Canyon, Utah, Alt. 9,000 ft., collected 

 by S. Watson. We also have two specimens named Hypnnm Heufleri ^wx. 

 {H. revolutum Lindb.) from Gray's Peak, Colorado, collected by Hooker and 



