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TORTULA PAGORUM (MILDE) DeNOT. 
William Edward Nicholson. 
I was interested in the record in the July, 1904, number of The Bryol- 
ogist by Dr. Grout of Tortula pagorwn from Georgia, and, as shortly after 
receiving it, in company with Mr. H. N. Dixon, visited Milde’s original local- 
ity for this species I have thought that a few notes on its occurrence there 
might not be without interest. I am a little surprised that Dr. Grout should 
predict a wide and more northern distribution, for this species, since in 
Europe it has a very limited and southern distribution, being apparently 
confined to Milde’s original locality at Meran in the South Tyrol, where it is 
found in the same district as Timmiella anomala DeNot. , Fabronia octo- 
blepharis Schwgr., Thuidium pule he llum DeNot., Braunia sciuroides Bry. 
Eur. and other southern mosses. It is mostly found on dry exposed rocks 
and only occasionally on trees. We noticed it principally on a dry vineyard 
wall in the neighborhood of Algund, a village close to Meran, where it pre- 
sented a very dusty and dried-up appearance. 
In all probability T. pagorum is only a specialized form of T. Icevipila 
DeNot. adapted to xerophytic conditions and it is connected with the type by 
the subspecies or variety T. Icevipilceformis DeNot. This form has a wide 
distribution in Europe and extends to England. I find it not infrequently in 
my own neighborhood. Several characters have been predicated of this form 
as separating it from typical T. Icevipila , but these seem to be rather 
unstable, with the exception of that derived from the presence of brood- 
leaves in the center of the terminal rosettes. These brood-leaves are 
well described by Prof. Correns in his “ Untersuchungen iiber die Vermehrung 
der Laubmoose durch Brutorgane und Stecklinge” (p. 85 et seq.) and are 
most interesting, as they throw light on the origin of the somewhat similar 
bodies in T. pagorum. In T. Icevipilceformis they are obviously modified 
leaves. Intermediate stages oecur between them and the true leaves, and in 
fact they never entirely lose their leafy character. In T. pagorum the spec- 
ialization has proceeded much further ; their appearance is very different 
from that of the true leaves and they are much more uniform. 
It is probable that T. Icevipilceformis will also be found in North Amer- 
ica, as it probably follows the greater portion of the distribution of T. laevi- 
pila, though it seems to be rather more frequent in the southern portions of 
the area inhabited by that species. 
In the first volume of his work (Laubmoose, &c. , Vol. I. p. 683) Lim- 
pricht hazards the suggestion that T. pagorum may be a forma propaguli- 
fera of T. alpina Bruch., which is common at Meran, but our observations on 
the spot did not at all give color to this view, which Limpricht apparently 
withdrew subsequently, since in his supplemental note on T. Icevipilce. 
formis (Laubmoose, &c., Vol. Ill, p. 707) he expressly compares the brood- 
leaves of this species with those of T. pagorum. 
Lewes, Sussex, England. 
