I9I4. 
Iris J I Societies. 
49 
Prof. G. H. Carpenter showed a species of Eosentomon, one of the 
genera of Protura, an order recently founded by Prof. Silvestri, of Naples, 
for the reception of some wingless insects probably allied to the Collem- 
bola and Thysanura. Several forms of these interesting creatures have 
been found in Great Britain, but they have not yet been observed in 
Ireland. The specimens shown were due to the kindness of Mr, C. B. 
Williams, of Merton, Surrey, who has lately published a useful summary 
of our knowledge of the Protura {Entomologist, 1913)- 
D. M'Ardle showed the leaves of Orthotrichttm Lyellii from the margins 
of which protruded numerous brown septate gemmae, some of which were 
forked or branched ; these were known to the old bryologists as " Con- 
ferva Orthotrichi," and they resemble some of the Conferva such as 
Stigonema mimtta and others. Recent researches prove them to be 
adventitious protonema, and simply the asexual mode of reproduction in 
a moss which is rarely found in fruit on account of its dioecious character. 
The specimens were collected recently in the Co. Wicklow, at an eleva- 
tion of more than 1,000 feet, growing on the bark of Oak trees. The exhibit 
under a high power showed the early stage of cell-division ; the cells are 
mostly bi -nucleated, and growth takes place outwards from the margin 
of the leaves into broad tubes which become septate as they grow-. A 
further stage was shown where the gemmae were more matured, some 
of them forked in the first stage of branching, and highly coloured ; 
these, under favourable conditions, would produce young plants with leafy 
stems, which in their turn might bear either male or female fruit, or revert 
again to the asexual mode, and so carry on the life -history. Two ex- 
cellent micro-photograplis were shown of the specimens exhibited, taken 
by Mr. Gunn, and mounted specimens of the moss to show the growth of 
the plant. Though evenly distributed in this country, it is rarely found 
in fruit ; once it has been seen in that state at Westaston, Co. Wicklow. 
It is also found in Great Britain, Germany, and North America ; curious 
to relate the American plants are almost always without the remarkable 
protonemoid gemmae so characteristic in British and Irish plants. 
NOTES. 
BOTANY. 
Leptoglossum robustum, an American fungus new to 
Europe. 
On December 14, on the top of Montpelier Hill, Co. Dublin, a few 
hundred yards south of the ruined .shooting-lodge (1.200 feet elevation), I 
found several patches of a Geoglossum, which in its shape, robust tufted 
habit, and brown colour looked unfamiliar. I sent the plant to Mr. 
A. D. Cotton, of Kew, who replies : — " It is Leptoglossum robustum Sacc, 
( =; Corynetes rohiistiis, Durand) described by Durand in 1908 from several 
localities in U.S.A. It differs from L. atropnrpitreum in its more robust 
