4 — 
P. canina that they are often confused. The thallus of P. rufescens is not 
so downy as P. canina , it is more rigid and the lobes are narrower and more 
crowded, they are elevated and crisped. In color it is a greenish gray, 
becoming a dark reddish brown. The under surface has brown reticulated 
veins and dark brown fibrils. 
The apothecia are usually large, oblong and finally revolute; the disk is 
a dark chestnut. This species, like most of the Peltigeras, is found on rocks 
and earth with mosses. 
Peltigera canina (L,) Hoffm. Plate I. Thallus rather large, some- 
times very large, is thin and tough, but soft and limp, is downy and often 
furrowed. In some specimens the thallus is smooth, except at the margins 
of the flat, rounded lobes, where it is wavy. In color it is grayish or brown- 
ish green. The under surface is a very light brown, almost white, with 
vertical veins and fibrils of the same color ; these are short and thick giving 
a sponge like appearance. 
The apothecia are quite large, at first are round and flat, but soon are 
somewhat revolute and elongated. 
P. canina is a common species, is found on moist earth and on rocks. 
When pressed its color changes more than that of any other species of Pelti- 
gera; it loses all traces of green and becomes a reddish or russet brown. It 
is a widely distributed species, growing in Europe from Lapland to Switzer- 
land, and throughout North and South America. 
Peltigera canina (L.) Hoffm. var. spongiosa Tuck. This variety, which 
is subalpine, corresponds to P. canina in general characteristics, the thallus 
is thinner, more brittle, and the under surface is covered with a close nap of 
white fibrils, which changes toward the center to darker reticulated veining. 
In some specimens these nap-like fibrils are quite long. A large mat of P . 
spongiosa was collected by Dr. and Mrs. N. L. Britton at Rifle Notch, Essex 
Go., New York, which when fresh had fibrils a quarter of an inch long. The 
upper side of the thallus was a delicate gray green, the lobes were long and 
hroad. 
POCjONATUM URNIGERUM (L.) BEAUV. 
Mary F. Miller. 
There is a railroad embankment near Shandaken, N. Y., where this 
moss is very abundant. This summer, on the 14th of July, I found 
thousands of the young sporophytes just making their appearance (Fig. 1). 
The blackened setae and capsules of the previous year were still attached to 
many of the plants. It was nearly two months, Sept. 9th, before the cap- 
sules were matured (Fig. 2 ). While collecting some of these fertile plants I 
noticed that a number of calyptras seemed to be turned inside out. and 
to stand straight up from the tips of the opercula. Examining the plants, 
I found calyptras in all stages of departure. It seems as though the calyptra 
makes ready to depart by an upward movement of all except its top (Fig. 1 3), 
that seems to sink in, or rather, the upper portion of the calyptra is so bunched 
