294 Boodle . — The Monoecism of Fun aria hygrometrica , Sid Ik, 
Bruch and Schimper 1 state that the primary stem is terminated by 
a male flower, and that it subsequently gives rise to fertile [female] 
branches. Wilson 2 describes the stem as ‘at first simple, terminated by 
a barren [male] discoid flower ; subsequently branched, the branches 
bearing terminal fertile flowers.’ Lesquereux and James 3 give the flowers 
as monoecious and terminal, the male on the primary stems, the fertile on 
the innovations. Sullivant 4 and Brotherus 5 also describe the male flowers 
as terminal, and the female as borne on innovations. Limpricht 6 describes 
F. hygrometrica as monoecious, but does not mention the relative position 
of the male and female organs. According to Braithwaite 7 the plant is 
autoicous [monoecious], and the male inflorescence terminal on a short 
basal branch, and Dixon and Jameson’s 8 description is similar: (Fun aria) 
‘ Autoicous in all the British species, male flower discoid, terminal on a 
lateral branch.’ We see then that in all these bryological works F. hygro- 
metrica is described as monoecious, though different opinions are given as 
to whether the male or the female flower is terminal on the primary axis. 
As it seemed possible that the divergent statements on the distribution 
of the sexes might be due to local differences, plants from several localities 
were examined, but no evidence confirming this view was obtained. The 
specimens were collected in the following places : Royal Botanic Gardens, 
Kew, Richmond (Surrey), Seaford (Sussex), Wye (Kent), and near York. 
The material from York was supplied by the British Botanical Association, 
Holgate, York, and was accompanied by a letter from Dr. A. H. Burtt, in 
which the writer mentions that ‘ of the several thousand hitherto examined 
during the past few years, by far the larger majority of antheridia-bearing 
plants had young female branches attached to them. I am indebted to 
Mr. E. S. Salmon, F.L.S., for the material from Wye. 
In a sod of F. hygrometrica it is often no easy matter to separate the 
individual plants, owing to the interwoven growth of the rhizoids borne by 
the stems. In tearing the rhizoids apart, one is liable to break the con- 
nexion between a stem and its branch. Out of 102 specimens I was able 
to determine that seventy-seven were monoecious, the male and female axes 
being clearfy attached to one another. In sixty-five of these it was evident 
1 Bruch and Schimper, Bryologia europaea, vol. iii (1836-51). Funaria is described as agreeing 
with Physcomitrium , in which the position of the male and female flowers is described. 
2 Wilson, Bryologia Britannica (1855), p. 268. 
3 Lesquereux and James, Manual of the Mosses of North America (1884), pp. 200 and 199. 
Details are given for Entosthodon , and Funaria is described as similar. 
1 Sullivant, leones Muscorum (1864), p. 87. 
5 Brotherus, in Engler and Prantl, 1. Teil, 3. Abt. (1903), p. 521. 
® Limpricht, Die Laubmoose Deutschlands, in Rabenhorst’s Kryptogamen flora, vol. iv, 2. Abt. 
(1895), p. 199. 
7 Braithwaite, The British Moss-Flora, vol. ii (1888-95), p. 136. 
8 Dixon and Jameson, The Student’s Handbook of British Mosses, 2nd ed. (1904), p. 300. 
