-96- 



repens with flagella, Brachytheciiiin populetnn, B. velutinum, Porella 

 platyphylla (L.) Lindb., Radiila complanata (L.) Dum., Cephalozia sp. 



All of the studies except the first two were made in the town of New- 

 fane, Vermont. The names are the same as those in my Vermont Mosses- 

 unless the authorities are given. 



BUXBAUMIA APHYLLA L. 



In the September Bryologist Mr. Chamberlain mentions the finding of 

 Buxbanmia aphylla on the Maryland bank of the Potomac, near Washing- 

 ton, D. C. I also have this species from the vicinity of Washington. 

 Among a lot of fresh mosses collected for me by a young friend, on Decem- 

 ber ist, 1900, were seven or eight plants of Buxbaumia aphylla, with cap- 

 sules not quite mature. They had been found on the ground, in woods near 

 Capitol View, Md. — about ten miles north of the city. 



Mary F. Miller, 

 Washington, D. C. 



DR. BEST'S REVISION OF LESKEA. 



In the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club for September, 1903, Dr, 

 G. N. Best publishes a " Revision of the North American Species of 

 Leskea," which is a notable contribution to the literature o£ North American 

 bryology. Dr. Best makes two new species and two new varieties. He also 

 publishes two other varieties not new but with new names. These descrip- 

 tions we give below in full. 



Dr. Best describes two other species not included in the Manual of 

 Lesq. and James, L. gracilescens Hedw. and L. lector urn (A. Braun) 

 Lindb. We print also his notes on these two species but not his descriptions. 

 As a help to the understanding of the relationship between the new and old 

 species we publish Dr. Best's Key. The text is accompanied by two excel- 

 lent plates drawn by Miss Alexandrina Taylor. 



It is a pleasure to see a work like Dr. Best's ; it is conservative, but not 

 too much so. New species are not founded on mere scraps, a la Kindberg 

 (and some other European writers that might be mentioned), but are founded 

 on plants representative of a large series of widely distributed forms. In 

 nomenclature he recognizes the claims of usage, and also that names are 

 made for science and not science for names. 



If Dr. Best were to accept the principles lately laid down and followed 

 by our foremost fern students it would not be Leskea at all. Heaven only 

 knows what it might be, but Dr. Best says "The usually accepted type of 

 Leskea is L. polycarpa, and since both the name and the type bear the sanc- 

 tion of all recent authorities, the author of the Revision feels constrained 

 likewise to accept them." A. J. Grout. 



