— 6o — 



tion. It will be impossible now, to go into the details of this question of 

 nomenclature, but it seems certain that Eleutera is untenable, and that 

 Lgskia, the first species of which is Neckera compianata, would have to be 

 used if Neckera were rejected. 



It will be evident in looking through Neckera as treated in the Manual, 

 that N. Floridana, N. Ludoviciana and N. cymbifolium are not congeneric 

 with the other species described. This may be seen at once by the subgen- 

 eric names prefixed to these species, Pilotrichum and Orthostichella. In 

 Renauld and Cardot's Check- list, N. Ludoviciana is reduced to Pilo- 

 trichella cymbifolia. In this species alone we have the choice of three gen- 

 eric names. Two originated as subgenera of Neckera given by Carl Miiller, 

 and Paris fails to give any reference to their first use as generic names. 

 Pilotrichum dates back to 1805, in Beauvois' Prodomus, two pages beyond 

 Eleutera, and the first species named under it are Neckera pennata and 

 undulata. This matter of nomenclature is also much involved, and cannot 

 be taken up at length here. 



Pilotrichella cymbifolia (Sull.) Ren. and Card. Muse. Am. Sept. 44. 1895. 

 Pilotrichum cymbifolium Sull. Mosses U. S. 681. 1856. Icon. Muse. 122, t. 76b.' 

 1864. 



This species has also been found sterile in Florida, and is conspicuous 

 for its pinnately branched stems, and its leaves in regular ranks, they are 

 also remarkably boat-shaped or keeled, as the specific name implies. It has 

 been distributed by Austin as no. Musci App. Suppl. from Florida, collected by 

 John Donnell Smith; and by Cardot from Louisiana, collected by Langlois, 

 It has also been collected at Caloosa and Jupiter Inlet, Florida, and in Ala- 

 bama by Sullivant. 



Meteorium nigrescens {S^.) Mitt. Journ. Linn. Soc. 12:441; 1869. 

 Hypnu7n nigrescensSvj, Prod. Fl. Ind. Occ. 141, 1788. 



This species grows entangled with Octoblepharum and Vittaria, both at 

 Miami and St. Augustine, and is conspicuous for the defoliation of the young 

 branches, having the aspect of reproducing by flagellae. As in all other 

 species of this genus the fruit is very rare. Austin distributed it as var, 

 Donne llii {no. 533 Musci App.) on account of the peculiar flagellae, which 

 have also been seen in specimens from Jamaica. 



The Manual states that the species has been collected at " Lake Huron 

 Todd, in fruit, and in Canada West, by Emery." I wrote to Prof. Macoun 

 for further information and he suggested that Mitten might be able to throw 

 some light on this very improbable statement. From the reply received, I 

 am still inclined to believe that there must be some mistake in crediting this 

 tropical genus to the Flora of Canada. Mitten says : 



" I send you a fragment of the Meteoriujn from Lake Huron. The speci- 

 men is a single stem with many branches and one old capsule, with a small 

 piece of paper on which is written in a plain handwriting quite unknown to 

 me, ' Lake Huron, Dr. Todd.' It came to me with a small number of United 

 States mosses, which from various notes on the waste paper in which they 

 were wrapped I refer to the time of Torrey and Greene, both of whom sent 



