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New York. The following stations may also be quoted from the 
literature : Mt. Albert, Gaspe County, Quebec (J. A. Allen); Belle- 
ville and Ottawa, Ontaria (J. Macoun); Springfield, Ohio (Spence). 
In Europe it is known from various localities in Germany, Austria, 
Switzerland, and Italy, and it has also been reported from Japan. It 
seems to be largely if not wholly confined to calcareous regions. 
The close relationship between N. rupesiris and the preceding 
species has recently been emphasized by Schiffner. Both gameto- 
phyte and sporophyte, however, yield a few differential characters of 
importance. The thallus of N. rupestris, for example, is even looser 
in texture than that of N. pilosa and the delicate epidermis tends to 
break down completely and to leave the air-chambers exposed, very 
much as in Ricciella crystallma. The postical scales, moreover, are 
small and inconspicuous, and the lanceolate scales on the stalk of the 
carpocephalum are very sparingly developed. The spores are very 
much like those of N. pilosa and average about 60 in diameter when 
well developed. The reticulations on the spherical face, however, 
are usually less distinct and fewer, measuring perhaps five across 
the face of the spore ; on the triangular faces there are sometimes 
two ridges between the border and the apex of the spore. Instead of 
one as in N. pilosa, but these ridges are often very indistinct and ir- 
regular. The elaters measure about 9 in diameter, and the two or 
three spirals are more or less united to one another, an important 
peculiarity first noted by Schiffner.^ 
The genus Neesiella is so closely allied to Grimaldia that many stu- 
dents do not consider them distinct and include the species of 
Neesiella under Grimaldia. Schiffner has shown, in fact, that the dif- 
ferential characters drawn from the carpocephala do not deserve the 
emphasis which has been placed upon them and that the only sharp 
distinctions between the genera are those derived from the vegetative 
structure of the thallus. At the same time he considers these differ- 
ences sufficient to keep the genera apart. In Neesiella, as he points 
out, the basal tissue of the thallus is thin and the much more abun- 
dant photosynthetic tissue is exceedingly loose in texture, as already 
noted under N. pilosa. This condition is due to the fact that the air- 
chambers increase in size as the thallus matures without becoming 
subdivided to any great extent by secondary cell-layers which grow 
out from those originally laid down. In Grimaldia, on the other hand, 
the basal tissue of the thallus is thicker and the relatively less abun- 
dant photosynthetic tissue is much denser, the air spaces being very 
small, a condition produced by the abundant development of sec- 
ondary cell-layers within the original chambers. On account of these 
differences in development each superficial chamber in Neesiella is 
1. Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 56 : 24. 1906. 
