414 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
diam. The index gives the derivations and meanings of the plant- 
names, as well as a brief biographical note of everyone whose name is 
commemorated. A. G. 
Notes on North American Hepaticse. — Alexander W. Evans 
( Bryologist , 1922, 25, 25-33, 1 pi.). In his ninth contribution the 
author corrects various previous records, reducing some of the species 
to synonymy, and describes and figures a new species of Diplophyllum 
find the perichsetial bracts and perianth of Ptychocolms heterophyllus ; 
he also confirms the identification of Gymnomitrium varians (Lindb.) 
Schiffn. as a North American species ; this hepatic was described by 
three different authors about forty-three years ago, and has a long 
synonymy. A. G. 
West Indian Hepaticae. — W. H. Pearson ( Journal of Botany , 
1922, 60, 217-28). An account of the Hepaticas gathered by Miss E. 
Armitage in the West Indies, mostly in Dominica, in 1896, and now 
deposited in the Manchester Museum. They have been through the 
hands of F. Stephani, with some of whose determinations Pearson 
disagrees. Three new species are described : — Odontolejeunea Armitagei , 
Herberta Armitagei , Metzgeria Armitagei ; and interesting critical notes 
are given about Lejeunea Sieberiana G., L. chserophylla Spruce, and other 
involved species of Lejeunea , as well as of Herberta , Plagiochila and 
Metzgeria. A. G. 
Hepatics from the Cameroons, West Coast of Africa. — William 
H. Pearson {Mem. Proc. Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soc., 1921, 65, 
No. 1, 6 pp., 2 pis.). An account of some hepatics found among mosses 
in pockets of earth on logs of ebony brought to Liverpool from the port 
of Duala in the Cameroons. Six plants were detected, two of which are 
insufficient for more than generic determination ; and two are new to 
science and are described and figured — Aneura Travisiana and Geratole- 
jeunea Saxbyi. The latter was also collected on the Gold Coast by 
H. H. Saxby. A. G. 
Experiments in the Capacity of Mosses to withstand Desic- 
cation. — N. Malta {Acta Universitatis Latviensis , 1921, 1, 125-9, 
5 figs. ; see also Bryologist , 1922, 25, 38). Many xerophilous mosses 
after long years in a herbarium are capable of reviving. Such growth 
occurs from dormant buds, and results in rhizoids with brood bodies, 
secondary protonema, or even vegetative shoots. Species of Grimmiaceae 
and Orthotrichacese retain this power. Of the samples tested most 
were 1-6 years old, but Ancectangium comyactum revived after 19 years 
of desiccation. Spores retain vitality longest ; some spores of Grimmia 
pulvinata germinated after being preserved in dryness for nearly 70 
years. It is essential that the samples should have been dried naturally. 
A. G. 
Cellular Index in the Muscineae. — J. Amann {Revue Bryologique, 
1921, 33-8). A character of great value for distinguishing certain 
closely allied moss species is the sizes of the cells in the leaf areolation : 
for example, in Timmia , Rhabdoweisia , and Fissidens. Though of little 
