— 69 — 
27 X 2 i*i, while those of the inner layer measure 30-60*1 in length and 9-13*1 in 
width. The spores and elaters are likewise very similar in the two species. 
8. Nardia subelliptica Lindb. Meddel. Soc. F. et FI. Fenn. 9 : 182. 1883; 
Kaalaas, Nyt Mag. f. Naturv. 33 : 386. 1893. Eucalyx subellipticus Breidler, 
Mitt. Naturw. Ver. Steiermark 30 : 291 1893. [Text figs. 8-15.] 
Collected in the summer of 1915 at the following two stations on Cape 
Breton Island, Nova Scotia, by G. E. Nichols: valley of the Barrasois (Nos. 
1269 & 1478)-, mountains west of Ingonish (No. 1725). These specimens have 
already been reported by their collector under the name N. obovata. 1 The present 
species was based on material collected by its author at Bleseback near Kongs- 
vold, Dovre, Norway. Breidler extended its known range by recording it from 
several localities in Styria, and it is now known in addition from Germany (Harz 
Mountains and Bavaria), the Voralberg, Switzerland, Tirol, Lower Austria, 
France, Italy, Scotland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. It grows on damp or 
wet rocks and prefers relatively high altitudes, except in the northern part of its 
range. 
When Lindberg first proposed N. subelliptica he compared it with slender 
forms of Jungermannia pumila With., but pronounced it a true Nardia, most 
closely allied to N . obovata. Its relationship to N. obovata is indeed so close 
that certain European writers refuse to recognize its validity altogether, while 
others regard it as a “small” species. The latter view is held by Muller, accord- 
ing to whom it is distinguished from N. obovata by its small size and yellowish 
green color and also by differences in the shape of the leaves and in the cuticle 
of the cells. He describes the leaves of N. subelliptica as elliptical from an almost 
transverse base and the cuticle as smooth or minutely verruculose (“punkt- 
formig papillos”), while he states that the leaves of N. obovata are broadly ovate 
to circular and that the cuticle is covered with distinct linear warts. One reason 
which he gives for recognizing the species is that N. subelliptica and N. obovata 
seem never to occur in the same locality. This mutual exclusion was first noted 
by Schiffner 2 but is not absolutely constant; both species are known to occur, 
fairly close together, in France, in the Faroe Islands and also in Nova Scotia. 
In both N. obovata and N. subelliptica the following characters are present: 
a cespitose habit; intercalary branches, some of them differentiated as stolons; 
numerous rhizoids, usually more or less pigmented with purple; entire leaves, 
rounded at the apex; leaf cells of about the same size with distinct trigones and 
a more or less striolate-verruculose cuticle; a paroicous inflorescence; a well- 
developed perigynium; and a short plicate perianth, contracted but not rostrate 
at the mouth. 
Although N. subelliptica seems to be invariably small, the difference in 
size which Muller emphasizes is not always present, since forms of N. obovata 
sometimes occur as small as N. subelliptica. The differences in color are like- 
wise to be used with caution. Although N. subelliptica is usually yellowish 
1 Bryologist 19 : 41. 1916. 
2 Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 58: 4. 1908. 
