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SPECIES OF HEPAT1CAE KNOWN TO OCCUR IN WEST VIRGINIA. 
John L. Sheldon. 
In so far as I have been able to find out, no one has made an intensive 
and systematie study of the bryophytic flora of West Virginia. Several per- 
sons have collected a number of species, for the most part at odd times or 
while engaged in regular duties. This State ought to be, and probably is, 
very rich in species of this group of plants. The variation in altitudes, the 
different geological formations, the abundance of springs and small streams, 
and the extent of virgin forest make conditions favorable for the growth of 
hepatics. 
In several parts of the State that I have visited, they were abundant. 
Even on the campus at the university there are a number of species. Just 
under the windows on the north side of Woodburn Hall there is a large patch 
of Marchantia polymorpha , possibly introduced in waste material from the 
biological laboratories. In the ravine are Frullania Asagrayana, Porella 
platyphylla , and other species less abundant. Conocephalum conicum 
grows in large mats under the -falls of Falling Run, a small stream passing 
through the campus. These plants of Conocephalum have the odor referred 
to by Dr. Grout in a recent number of the Bryologist. (Grout, A. J. Notes 
on Recent Literature. Bryologist, 10 : 3. 47. May, 1907.) It was the odor 
and the prominent stomata that interested me most when I first found this 
species growing on stones and earth along the edge of a little brook in Con- 
necticut. Later, when I found it fruiting in the ravines along the Missouri 
River in Nebraska, the fruits added new interest. Since then, I have found 
it many times, but the odor was always the same, the one peculiar to Cono- 
cephalum conicum. Often the odor has been mixed with the odor of mud 
and decaying vegetables, but I have not yet had the pleasure of associating 
it with brook trout. 
And not only are there several species of hepatics on the university 
campus, but in the vicinity of Morgantown, where the university is located, 
there are many others, To the east, within walking distance, up Decker's 
Creek, “over Cheat,” in the Tibb’s Run region, and on to Pisgah and 
Cranesville there are still others, so that botany students in the university 
can study a fairly good number of species of hepatics in their habitats with- 
out much trouble. Professor Andrews (A. LeRoy Andrews, Additions to the 
bryophytic flora of West Virginia. Bryologist, 8 : 4. 63. July 1905.) has 
already reported a number of species from some of these localities and 
donated specimens to the Agricultural Experiment Station. 
It is a common practice among farmers in the limestone districts to burn 
the lime they use for fertilizing purposes. At Pisgah, Marchantia poly- 
morpha and Funaria hygrometrica were found growing around the edge of 
the refuse from one of these lime-piles. The luxuriant growth of the plants 
and the abundance of fruit suggests that they are both lime lovers. This 
may be a hint to those who have tried to grow Marchantia for laboratory 
use. At Cranesville, a few miles east of Pisgah, Marchantia grew so 
