— 16— 
At five feet or more above the base of the trunk also occur the robust mats ot 
Leucodon brackypus, Leucodon scturoides, and Leucodon julaceus, according lo 
whether the locality is north or south. The stems of these mosses are several 
inches in length, with hooked ends, and in alternating moisture and drynes.-, 
present very different aspects, as does the beautiful Ntickera pennata, which 
grows with Leucodon, but is complanately flattened and paler green, shelving 
out from the tree-trunk in graceful curves. The capsules of these species, except 
Leucodon julaceus, are immersed. I recall a certain sunny morning after heavy 
rains, in a glen of the Catksill Mountains when the bolls of the venerable mon- 
archs of the forest, resplendent in all their mossy dress of Leucodon and Neckera, 
have never appeared to me more beautiful. 
One of the less. common tree-loving mosses is Anacamptodott splachnoides^ 
which was so named because the teeth of the peristome bend backward and be- 
cause the species resembles that odd genus Splachnum. This moss is found about 
clefts and knotholes of living trees throughout a wide range. I have collected 
it in central Pennsylvania, in southern New Jersey, and in the mountains of 
New York, but it is never common and the search for it is generally a long but 
always an interesting one. In color this slender member of the Fabronia family 
is dark green, the ovate slenderly acuminate leaves have clearly marked cells and 
the capsules, on setae quarter-inch nigh, are dark brown and exhibit those char- 
acteristic backward-turning teeth. For this and for nearly all the ;>pecies des- 
scribed, one of the best collecting grounds in my experience is a grove of old sugar 
maple trees at Haines' Falls, in the Catskills. There more than one summer's 
afternoon has been indeed well spent in carefully scrutinizing the rich old mossy 
trunks, and wonderful collections for future study have been brought back from 
this pleasant retreat, so redolent of woodsy scents and "far from the maddening 
crowd" which, too often, makes some of our resorts places to be avoided rather 
than sought by the lover of Nature. 
6620 Germantown Ave., 
Pelham, Philadelphia, Pa. 
GRIMMIA BRANDEGEI AUST. 
John M. Holzinger 
The authors of Lesquereux and James' Manual record, on page 138, that they 
have seen only a sterile plant of this species; and, since from the original descrip- 
tion the fruit characters are exactly like those oiGrimmia plagiopodia, they have 
referred this species to their variety pilifera of the Manual. It is not quite clear 
from the Manual whether Austin's species is the type of var. pilifera : if it is, then 
Grimmia plagiopodia pilifera L. & J. is a synonym for Grimmia Brandegei Aust. 
Paris's Index accepts the view of the Manual. Bat Dr. Brotherus, in 
Natiirliche Pllanzenfamilien, Musci, p. 449, cites Austin's species as distinct. 
This view is borne out by plants collected in 192 1 in Los Angeles County, Cali- 
