Correspondence of G

Correspondence of Charles Peck and G. W. Clinton
Edited by P. M. Eckel
Res Botanica
Missouri Botanical Garden

February 22, 2011
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The Correspondence of

Charles Peck (1833-1917) and

George William Clinton (1807-1885)

1865 Part 2

Vol. 1. (110) [I 105]

Rochester July 31, 1865

Dear Sir,

At Mr. Holzer's suggestion I send you a list of my plants, and a list of those which Mr. Fish has and I have not. If you wish specimens from them they are at your service, any of which I have more than two specimens.

Shall not you be in Rochester again this summer? I don't know that there is anything particular here to pick up, but who knows what your experienced eyes might find in the way of new species. I am sorry you could not go to Bergen with us the 4th. We had a very pleasant time. Have not you found enough new plants in the last year to get up any additions to your catalogue? I think we can get together a thousand species of Rochester plants between Mr. Holzer, Mr. Fish, Mr. Fuller & myself.

Hoping to hear from you if I can be of any service. I remain

Yours truly

C. M. Booth [M.D.]

Received Aug. 1. Answered.

Vol. 1. (117) [I 97]

Sand Lake Aug. 7th 1856 [sic]

My Dear Sir.

Yours of the 1st and 3d inst. are both at hand, together with packet of mosses. These I would name thus.

x1 Drummondia clavellata Hook.

2 Barbula caespitosa & sterile Hypnum polymorphum

3 Barbula caespitosa & sterile Hypnum polymorphum

4 Bryum bimum Schreb.

5 Hypnum adnatum Hedw.

6 Hypnum polymorphum Bryol. Europ.

7 Tetraphis pellucida Hedw.

8 Same as 5

9 Dicranum flagellare Hedw.

10 Bryum caespiticium L.

x11 Bryum roseum Schreb. (sterile)

12 Ceratodon purpureus Brid.

13 Aulacomnion palustre Schimpr. (as you name it.) There is a single stem of Polytrichum juniperinum in it.

14 Hypnum denticulatum L. Fine specimens Fissidens grandifrons and Hypnum filicinum mixed. Most certainly I should not entertain the notion that Fissidens grandifrons does not fruit at all; but that it does not fruit everywhere is quite probable. I think it has been found in no locality in the United States except about the Falls of Niagara. It is possible that it may fruit there and that that those who have occasionally collected it there may not have been in the proper time for it. The Manual speaks of the female flowers but says "male flower and fruit unknown." Sullivant & Lesquereux' Catalogue also gives it as "sterile". The specimens sent me have female flowers, but I have detected no male flowers. Of course without these there would be no fruit. If it fruits with you, the fruit must be scarce else there would be traces of the old capsules and pedicels at almost any season. It would be well for you to look pretty closely after the fruit, say in Nov., at which time all the other species known to me are in fruiting condition, though some do not ripen until the following spring. We have several species of moss which have never been found in fruit within our limits. Two species of Campylopus, C. viridis and C. leanus are followed in the Catalogue above quoted, by the words "semper sterilis." But of course this is not intended to be taken without limitation, else we would go against both Revelation and the laws of Nature. Of the former species, C. viridis, if I remember rightly Mr. Lesqx. wrote me, that it had been found in fruit in CCanada but not in the United States. It is not an uncommon species with us and probably (so far as we are concerned) "semper sterilis" is true. And yet I do not suppose that it forms any exception to the rules of its family economy, but is propagated by spores the same as other mosses. The spores are so light they may be carried by the winds or other agencies hundreds of miles from the spot where they are produced. They appear to float in the air as easily as vapor. I have seen Sphagnum cuspidatum just when its fruit was ripening and the spores under process of dissemination. The capsules burst the lid from their top and emitted their spores with a distinctly audible report, the spores floating away in the air exactly like a little volume of smoke, thus affording a beautiful miniature of the firing of a gun. There may be, away up on the shores of Lake Superior or perhaps about the head waters of some of the streams that flow into it, a locality where Fissidens grandifrons grows and fruits and the spores being brought down by the water at length find a suitable lodging place on the moist rocks of Niagara ‑ where they grow and thrive, but, for some unknown reason, do not fruit. I have observed in some species of moss that the more thrifty plants seem less likely to fruit, or perhaps they are thrifty because they do not fruit ‑ which is it? But perhaps I have theorized enough. There are many most interesting points in regard to the propagation, dissemination and peculiar circumstances of growth of these little fellows, but there is much mystery about them yet to be investigated.

Mr. Lesqx.' address is "Leo Lesquereux, Columbus, Ohio."

I did not collect the Sparganium you mentioned which grows on the Catskills. My stay was necessarily brief owing to the expense of living there (school teachers almost always are poor) and I was so intent on the smaller things, while I did stay, that I neglected the greater. I collected only Mosses, Liverworts, and Insects. Owing to sickness since my return, I have not yet examined all the things I got, but I fear I have not added many new species to our Catalogue of N.Y. mosses. I found several which were new to me, but many of these Mr. Lesqx. had previously found and given me their names. There is yet a wide field for research there and among the Adirondacks and future years alone will reveal the extent of our botanical treasures. I ascended the highest peak of the Catskills, the summit of which is one vast bed of moss, mostly Hypnum splendens. I found there, a little Dicranum montanum. This species grows on rotten wood and trunks on Goat Island, and is now in good condition. Also several Hepaticae and one or two mosses not yet examined rewarded my toilsome ascent. I found fine fruiting specimens of Dichelyma falcatum a water moss, I believe, not yet found elsewhere in the state and so far as I am informed, found there by no other.

Mr. Adee has sent me no mosses for a long time. His work, so well begun, has been temporarily suspended on account of certain business matters requiring all his time and attention. I think I had better defer the correspondence with the Wisconsin lady, for the present. I contemplate writing out some things on entomology this Falls and Winter and shall have to be a little chary of my time, and the season is now so far spent that she will not be likely to collect much, before another spring. I would like a few specimens of Gymnostomum curvirostrum with new fruit. The species grows near Albany, but it is a small form and quite different in appearance from the one you sent. Please look a little for Anomodon viticulosus. In appearance it is much like Anomodon apiculatus which you sent me some time ago. It is said to have been found within the U. S. only on wet rocks on Goat Island and, as might be expected of a fellow so exclusive, without fruit.

Your truly

C. H. Peck

Received Aug. 10

Vol. 1. (121) [I 93]

Sand Lake, Aug. 14th /65

My Dear Sir.

Your of the 10th inst. is received. Of the mosses you send "No 1 Dry rock Niagara Falls" is especially interesting. At first sight it appears much like small Barbula unguiculata but it is not that species. I think it is Didymodon luridus but the fruit is yet so young I can not get the character derived from the peristome. If you can get some of it say about Sept. 1st it will remove all doubt. The species is described in the Manual and said to have been found at Niagara Falls by Drummond, but it is not given in the Catalogue of the "Musci exsiccata" whence I conclude it is very scarce and a most desirable acquisition. Please look after it a little two or three weeks hence.

No 2 Dicranum interruptum Br. & Sch.

3 Leucobryum vulgare Hampe

4 Hypnum adnatum Hedw.

5 Hypnum denticulatum L.

6 Tetraphis pellucida Hedw.

7 Same as 5

8 Dicranum flagellare Hedw.

9 Bryum roseum Schreb.

Many thanks for the fine specimens of Gymnostomum curvirostrum, also for the Fourth of July pamphlet, the receipt of which I forgot to acknowledge in my last.

I am well again. My sickness was only a temporary derangement of the digestive organs.

If Anomodon viticulosus can be found in fruit at all, it will probably be in Nov.

Permit me to send you Sphagnum compactum. Without care it might be mistaken for a starved growth of Sph. cymbifolium, but the short, more erect branches will serve as a distinguishing mark. The apex of the leaf is toothed in this, in S. cymbifolium it is not.

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

Vol. 1. (124) [I 89]

Sand Lake

Aug 16th 1865

My Dear Sir

The specimens of Aug. 10th I would name thus

x1 Neckera pennata Bryol. Europ.

x2 Hypnum rivulare Brucyh.

x3 Madotheca platyphylla Dumort. (It is in fruit)

4 Hypnum adnatum Hedw. Also a Barbula which appears to be Barbula convoluta, but I am not quite satisfied about it. Will compare it with my specimens when I return to Albany. I also found 2 plants with short capsules and short conical operculum mixed with the barbula. One I used in trying to ascertian its characters, the other I return. It is unknown to me and very desirable that you should look after the little fellow some. He may be of some importance.

I return also the H. adnatum and a part of the doubtful Barbula.

5 Marchantia polymorpha L.

6 Barbula unguiculata? I am not sure of this either. The leaves are rather pointed for B. unguiculata and it is pretty early for it to be in fruit. Should you meet with it 2 or 3 weeks later please send a little more of it. I will look at it again.

7 Hypnum delicatulum L.

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

Vol. 1. (134) [I 79]

Sand Lake, Aug 26th /65

My Dear Sir.

The three specimens of Aug. 14th I should call thus,

1 and 2 Anomodon obtusifolius Br. & Sch.

3 Riccia fluitans L.

Anomodon viticulosus I suppose to be somewhat larger than A. obtusifolius and grows on wet rocks. A. obtusifolius grows mostly on trees, but sometimes on rocks.

I regret very much to say that my hopes of a new species have been again disappointed. "No 8, July 11, Smoke's Creek{" which I so confidently asserted was new to me, and not described in Sullivant, Mr. Lesquereux writes me is a small form of Hypnum riparium Hedw. I was aware that this is an exceedingly variable species, but thought your specimen had too many differences to be that. I have recently found a larger form of it fruiting in a peculiar manner, the same tuft having capsules which were apparently mature a month ago, capsules just maturing, and capsules just shooting up from the pericheth. [? sp.?] So that in this species not much dependence can be placed upon the time of fruiting although it usually matures its fruit in June.

After Thursday next I shall be in Albany again.

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

P. S. If you have Riccia fluitans plenty I would like a few specimens. I have not found the species here.

Received Aug. 19

Vol. 1. (140) [I 72]

Albany, Sept. 1st

My Dear Sir,

The Hepat. from Bergen Swamp is Trichocolea tomentella Nees.

It occurs in our swamps, but I have never found it fruiting. Mr. Austin has found it in fruit in N.J.

I must take a run upon the plains west of the city to‑day, and look for the Onosmodium though I fear I may now be too late to find it in flower

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

Received Sept. 2 Wrote him 4th

Vol. 1. (141) [I 71]

Columbus O Aust. 31st /65

Hon G. W. Clinton

My Dear Sir.

It is very little indeed that I can do to be agreeable to you and such a kind letter as you wrote me on the 26th [...] is worth to me much more than any amount of plants you could send me. Please do not believe that I can be troubled in any way by any amount of specimens of mosses you can send for determination. The communication of specimens of even the most common species of mosses is ofter valuable especially considering geographical distribution. It is the case with the two of the specimens you sent me.

No. 4 is right, Hypnum adnatum

No. 4B is Desmatodon arenaceus Sull. & Lesq.

No. 4C is probably a deformation of the same species, it differs only by shorter inflated capsule, probably a result of local influence. Nevertheless, if you should find more of the same, I would be much obliged for the communication of some specimens. Now, please, where does this No. 4B come from? You will much oblige me in making on every package you send me for determination the locality where the moss has been found and the month of the year if possible. H adnatum is found everywhere and is abundant at Goat Island. Maybe these specimens come from this place. But it is a cold station for such a moss as Desmatodon arenaceus.

I hunted this morning in my garret for some package of phaenogamous plants but could find nothing. I sent last fall a large bundle to Toronto and put in it everything I found around loose. My house is becoming too small for the amount of specimens of natural history which I like to colllect and it has been a question sometimes put forward by my wife, which should leave the place either ourselves or the collections? I had put aside a few species from many collected in 1862 in a journey to Mt. Marcy and other parts of the Adirondacs. These plants which have not been claimed may have some interest for you as New Yorkers. I have no time to look if they are well named and just put the name from memory. Please correct anything wrong. As the P. O. would not accept the package except as mail matter I must send it per express and to render it a little more valuable to you, I have put in it a copy of my report on [A. K..?Arkansas?] where you will find a catalogue of plants of that country which may be acceptable to you. I am indeed very sorry to put you to some expense for so little value. As soon as I can find the other plants I will send them to you.

And please do not believe that you owe me anything; on the contrary, be well assured that the more you put me in the way of being agreeable to you, the more you will oblige.

Yours very respectfully

L. Lesquereux

Received Sept. 2. Wrote him Sept. 4

Vol. 1. (142) [I 70]

Albany, Sept. 5th 1865

My Dear Sir:

Yours of yesterday is received. The moss you send, being rather damp and slimy, entirly obscured the writing on the paper containing it, so that I can not make it out. Neither can I name with certainty the moss. The leaves are quite like Hypnum riparium when examined under a microscope, but the general appearance of the plant and its ramification are different from any form of that species yet seen by me. I send you as large a form of this variable species as I have yet found, but yours is still coarser with closer leaves and shorter, more numerous branches. It may possibly be Hypnum fluitans L. but as that species is unknown to me I can not satisfactorily determine it without the fruit.

Miss W. has found Barbula mucronifolia for us.

And you too have added a name to our list. The Desmatodon arenaceus, which I thought might be a small form of Barbula convoluta, is new to our state, so far as I am informed. Can you spare me a little more of it?

And I too have not been entirely forsaken by fortune. I recently found in Sand Lake Schistostega Osmundacea Web. & Mohr, which Mr. Lesqx tells me is a new discovery for this country ‑ it not having been before detected in America. I send a specimen to you, it being exceedingly rare and very interesting ‑ the capsule very minute. Please bear in mind the little moss from Rocks of Niagara, which I thought might be Didymodon luridus. It must now be nearly mature. The peristome will settle the question I think.

There are many mosses yet to perfect their fruit. November is one of the best months in the year to find mosses in good fruiting condition. Several species of Fissidens, Trichostomum tortile, Barbula unguiculata, Pottia truncata, two or three Anomodons, a Leskea, thress species of Pylaisaea, two of Cylindrothecium, Climacium, Platygyrium, Homalothecium, many species of Hypnum and others not mentioned are then good.

I send Riccia natans, I have plenty of it.

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

Received Sept. 7

Vol. 1. (143) [I 69]

Albany, Sept. 7th 1865

My Dear Sir,

The mosses from Salamanca or Rock City seem to me thus:

No 1 Pogonatum brachyphyllum Michx.

2 Orthotrichum crispum Hedw.

3 Hypnum serrulatum Hedw.

4 Fontinalis gigantea.

Mr. Lesqx. regards this as a good species, but Mr. Sullivant thinks it only a variety of F. antipyretica and would name it Fontinalis antipyretica var. gigantea

5 Have all your specimens the capsule so nearly erect and did you find it on rocks or in crevices of rocks? If so, I sm inclined to regard it as Bryum crudum; and yet it does not exactly meet the description of that species, which is unknown to me otherwise. Should the capsule be pendulous and the habitat the ground it is probably Bryum nutans Schreb.

6 Hypnum strigosum Hoffm.

7 Atrichum angustatum Beauv.

8 Polytrichum formosum Hedw.

9 Hypnum brevirostre Ehrh.

10 Mastigobryum trilobatum Nees.

11 Hypnum laetum Brid.

Thanks for the fine Riccia fluitans.

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

Received Sept. 7

Mastigobryum trilobatum (L.) Nees = Bazzania trilobata (L.) Gray. (Marchantiaceae; Hepaticae).

Vol. 1. (147) [I 64 and I 65 ‑ this letter is composed of two pieces of paper]

Albany, Sept. 11th 1865

My Dear Sir,

The mosses located, in Sullivant's Mosses U.S., at Niagara Falls including Goat Is. are

Dicranum montanum

Fissidens grandifrons

Didymodon luridus

Orthotrichum cupulatum

Bryum turbinatum

Anomodon viticulosus

In the Catalogue of the "Musci" these also are placed there: Gymnostomum curvirostrum var.

Barbula tortuosa

Trichostomum rigidulum

Orthotrichum anomalum

Hypnum abietinum

In James' Catalogue of New Mosses are also Encalypta streptocarpa (sterile)

Hypnum sprucei

Of these you have already sent Dicranum montanum, Fissidens grandifrons, Gymnostomum curvirostrum, Barbula tortuosa and Hypnum abietinum. Perhaps also Didymodon luridus, though of this I am not yet quite certain.

Mosses last sent:

1. Dicranum heteromallum. Hedw.

This is a species subject to many varieties. You have here one rather taller and more strict than the common ones, but not differing in any essential particular.

x2 Pogonatum brevicaule Brid.

I do not know what strange inadvertency made me write this species down in my last as P. "brachyphyllum". Your specimens are both, most certainly P. brevicaule. P. brachyphyllum is not found here, but in the Southern States, and is at once distinguished, even at a glance, by the inclined capsule. A marked peculiarity connected with P. brevicaule is the green conferva that always covers the surface of the ground where the species grows.

3 Schistidium apocarpum Br. & Sch.

4 & 13 Appear to me to be the same thing and do not differ from my specimens from the Helderberg rocks and named by Mr. Lesqx. "Anomodon apiculatus." I had previously supposed them (mine) to be A. viticulosus. I have a drawing of A. viticulosus and have seen one in "Icones" of Sullivant, of A. apiculatus. From these and the descriptions I conclude they are not easily separated without close scrutiny.

I will transcribe the descriptions in Sullivant "1 A. viticulosus Hook. & Tayl. Branches 2' ‑ 2 1/2' high, often geniculate; leaves secund, larger as they ascend, linear‑lanceolate from an oblong‑ovate base, obtuse, of a thick compact structure, minutely papillose on both surfaces; costa pellucid, ceasing near the apex; annulus double, persistent. Shaded rocks, Niagara Falls; without fruit.

2 A. apiculatus Br. & Sch. Very near the preceding, rather smaller; leaves linear‑obling from a cordate‑ovate base, apiculate; cellules with longer papillae, those of the basal margins slightly ciliate; costa shorter, ofter forked.

On old logs, Alleghany Mts."

I suppose the larger size and secund leaves will constitute the chief features in A. viticulosus, by which to separate it with the eye from A. apiculatus.

To resume:

5 Barbula caespitosa Schwaegr.

6 Anomodon attenuatus Hube.

7 Hypnum orthocladon Beauv.

8 Barbula unguiculata Hedw.

9Bryum intermedium Brid.

10 This is the same as the one I supposed might be Didymodon luridus Hornsch. This has the appearance of a Didymodon and agrees in all the characters observable, with the diagnosis of D. luridus, but even these specimens are not so mature as to admit the separation of the operculum from the peristome; so that this character and the annulus are yet "incognito" I have moistened a little and set it out to mature, and hope to be able in a few days to satisfy myself in every respect concerning it.

x Orthotrichum speciosum Nees. Sent for the first time and new to our state and to me. It is rather old but if you can, please spare me a specimen or two.

12 Funaria hygrometrica Hedw. (small)

14 Hypnum rutabulum L.

Both this and Barbula unguiculata will be good to collect in Nov.

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

Received Sept. 13 & answered

Vol. 1. (153) [I 56]

Albany Sept. 16th 1865

My Dear Sir,

The specimens of Orthotrichum speciosum are received. They are not Schistidium, which species has the capsule immersed in the leaves. I hope you do not rob yourself to satisfy my exorbitant demands. I ask for extra specimens of things new or rare that I may be prepared for future exchanges, but in no case should you send all you have, nor reduce your stock below a fair quantity. Orth. speciosum, in the manual, is accredited to "Trees on the banks of the St. Lawrence River". Which side or what part is not stated, hence I shall regard you as its first discoverer in our state, until I find the truth to be otherwise. The small moss, with the specimens of O. speciosum (marked A.) is undoubtedly a Leskea, but what species I am unable to say. Probably Leskea microcarpa or L. nervosa. The former is said to be southern; of the latter I find only this remark ‑ "Leskea nervosa Myrin. Sterile specimens collected on the White Mountains by the late Mr. Oakes, and at Trenton Falls, New York, by Mr. James, appear to belong to this species."

I have a figure of L. nervosa with which your specimen agrees in appearance and leaf, but of course without the fruit we can not be certain of the species, especially when two resemble each other as closely as do L. nervosa and L. microcarpa.

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

Received Sept. 17

Vol. 1. (163) [I 46]

Albany, Sept. 19th 1865

My Dear Sir,

Your letter and packet of mosses were received yesterday. The specimens I regard as thus:

x1 Bryum argenteum L.

2 Hypnum laetum Brid.

x3 Hypnum minutulum Hedw. This is said to be a common species; but with us it is quite scarce. I have found but little of it and no good specimens. 4 Hypnum riparium Hedw. (small form)

5 barbula caespitosa Schwaegr.

6 Thelia asprella Sulliv.

7 Pylaisaea intricata Hedw. Lest you should not have much of this I send a specimen with mature fruit.

8 Anomodon attenuatus Hub. (Sterile)

x9 Leucodon brachypus Brid (Sterile)

x10 Leptodon trichomitrion Mohr (Sterile)

11 Hypnum adnatum Hedw. with some Hypnum radicale Brid. intermixed. It is not easy to separate the two ‑ they are so similar and so entangled.

x12 Pylaisaea velutina? We have three species of Pylaisaea which are so closely related that without good specimens with mature fruit it is difficult to distinguish them with certainty 13 Same as 12

14 Orthotrichum crispum Hedw.

15 Desmatodon arenaceus Sull. & Lesq. with some Hypnum radicale

16 The minute moss, which you have separated from Desmatodon arenaceus, is truly distinct, but I am not quite satisfied what it is. It is certainly an addition to the species known to me, and is probably Seligeria tristicha or S. pussila It would be well to send a little to Mr. Lesqx. for his opinion. I fancy there is a little disagreement between the description and the costa of the leaves.

17 Hypnum adnatum Hedw.

18 Contains Hypnum rutabulum (the largest) Hypnum polymorphum, Hypnum radicale and a little of the supposed Seligeria, all mixed in the one piece.

19 Hypnum radicale Brid. A little of the supposed Seligeria is mixed with this also.

20 Hypnum adnatum and Hypnum radicale

21 Hypnum adnatum with sterile Dicranum whose species I can not assert positively.

22 A Pylaisaea a plant of Madotheca platyphylla and a fungus. 23 Orthotrichum Hutchinsiae Smith

24 Dicranum interruptum Br. & Sch.

25 Bartramia pomiformis Hedw.

26 Hypnum delicatulum L.

27 Hypnum serrulatum Hedw. (Sterile)

28 Dicranum flagellare Hedw.

29 or Not numbered Ceratodon purpureus Brid. As you [h...]

The Spongilla? is unknown to me, hence I can not say whether it occurs with us or not, probably not plentifully else I should have observed it. I do not find any in your letter. Mr. Lesqx. was to be absent from home during the first part of Sept. which will account for his delay in answering your communication. When at home he is very prompt. Not so with Mr. Sullivant. I have never received any answer from him to my communication concerning Hypnum Blandowii ‑ but no matter, I am perfectly confident that you have added that species to our state flora.

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

Received Sept. 20

Vol. 1. (168) [I 41]

Albany, Sept. 22d /65

My Dear Sir,

The specimens of Sept. 19th I should name thus:

1 2 3 & 6 Orthotrichum strangulatum Beauv. 4Thelia asprella Sulliv.

5 Orthotrichum canadense Br. & Sch.

7 Orthotrichum crispum Hedw. with some sterile Dicranum

8 Pylaisaea intricata Hedw.

9 I return, having separated and named as well as I could. The species are much commingled.

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

Received Sept. 24

Vol. 1. (171) [I 38]

Albany, Sept. 22d 1865

My Dear Sir,

Yours of yesterday with specimens is received. I am glad that Mr. Lesqx. has settled some of those doubtful fellows that were puzzling me. His determinations I have never known to be wrong save in a single instance, and then he corrected his error immediately upon receiving better specimens.

The Didymodon I supposed might be D. luridus both because of its lateness in fruiting and of its apparent dioecious inflorescence. You say he calls it D. rubellus. "The moss which you thought might be is Didymodon rubellus". Have you confused the two names or was I wrong in my supposition. I am a little anxious about this, because if it is D. luridus it will add one to our catalogue of N.Y. mosses. If D. rubellus, it will not, for I had already found that species.

Of Bryum acuminatum I have no description (it is not mentioned in the Manual) and have not seen the species except the two individuals you sent me.

Hypnum aduncum is described in the Manual but I have never met with the plant and think it rare with us. If you have a good supply of these two species, please spare me a specimen of each; but do not send them unless you have plenty, for I shall get them in the "Musci exsiccati" of which I intend to secure a copy.

I have separated the Conomitrium Julianum from the Hypnum riparium and return them in separate papers, retaining a part of the former, as I have never found it, and have only a miserable little scrap of it which Mr. Austin sent me. I did not observe the C. Julianum in the paper you formerly sent me, i.e. if you sent me this plant from Smoke's Creek.

In the paper marked "Hyp. gracile" I find that species and Hypnum laetum separated and returned.

The other paper marked "Jungermania barbata" contains Mastigobryum triblobatum Nees. I send you a large and unmistakable specimen of M. trilobatum from the Catskill Mts. Also two specimens (of different form ‑ one sterile and prostrate, the other ascending and partly fertile) of Jungermannia barbata Schreb. As you will see it is a very variable species but the leaves, though toothed at the apex much like those of M. trilobatum, are different in form from those of M. trilobatum [little leaves drawn marked J. barbata, M. trilobata].

These are best examined when moist and a common hand lens is then sufficient to show this difference. The smaller species of Hepaticae are especially fond of mixing together in growth, so that great care is necessary in collecting and determining them. It is more common for them to grow thus than it is for mosses.

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

Received Sept. 24, answered.

[Note: Mastigobryum trilobatum (L.) Nees = Bazzania trilobata (L.) Gray. (Marchantiaceae; Hepaticae).]

Vol. 1. (173) [I 35]

Albany, Sept. 25th 1865

My Dear Sir:

Yours of the 22d inst. with mosses from Canada shore opposite Buffalo, was duly received.

Also your note of the 23d is at hand.

Of the mosses my opinion is given thus:

1 Pylaisaea intricata Hedw.

2 Orthotrichum strangulatum Beauv. & O. Canadense Br. & Sch. Rem. Orth. strangulatum has a narrow capsule much constricted under the mouth when dry and empty, and inclining to a reddish brown color above. Orth. Canadense, as I understand it, has a pale yellow or straw colored capsule not constricted under the mouth. It is possible I may be in error inregard to the last species as the specimens are too old for me to get at the characters of the peristome and I have not seen authenticated species of this plant which so closely resembles O. strangulatum as ofter to be confounded with it.

3, 6, & 8 are all one thing Drummondia clavellata Hook. 4 Pylaisaea intricata probably

5 Orthotrichum strangulatum and Drummondia clavellata. Separated and returned, as is also No. 2.

7, 11 & 13 also 12 in part contain an Orthotrichum which has every appearance of O. strangulatum, but the capsule is not constricted ‑ neither does it seem to me to be O. canadense because of the darker color of the capsule. I cannot determine it with absolute certainty.

x9 Pylaisaea velutina Bryol. Europ.

10 Pylaisaea intricata mixed with the doubtful Orthotrichum 12 in part Leucodon brachypus Sulliv.

14 Fissidens adiantoides Hedw. But I must say of this as of a former specimen you sent, it fails to meet the description and to agree with our F. adiantoides in not having the margin of the leaves somewhat transparent. In other respects it appears to agree, whence I conclude it is only a variety of that species.

I found the new moss, Schistostega osmundacea Web. & Mohr in Sand Lake. Just before the close of my vacation. About three weeks ago or during the first week in Sept. I wrote you, informing you of the discovery and enclosed for you a fine specimen of the moss in question. Did it miscarry? I judge so from the tone of your letter and will send another specimen if that does not soon come to light.

Of course I am as anxious as you, to have the Catalogue of the Mosses of our State correct and creditable to all concerned and shall so endeavor. I believe I have another (just found) to add to our Muscological flora. It is Physcomitrium immersum Sulliv. from the low alluvial banks of the Hudson. For Anomodon viticulosus, look on wet rocks Goat Island near the Falls. Mr. Lesqx writes me that that is the only locality where it has been found in the United States.

Yours truly

Charles H. Peck

Received Sept. 26

Vol. 1. (177) [I 31]

Albany, Sept. 27th 1865

My Dear Sir,

Thanks for Hypnum aduncum. The specimen sent with it, from sidewalk is Leucodon brachypus Brid. Sterile.

Specimens of Sept. 25th.

1 Leucobryum vulgare Hampe (rather small)

L. minus is quite as small or smaller than this form and matures its fruit in May and June; L. vulgare in Nov. and Dec. The fruit in yours is not yet quite mature.

2 Hypnum adnatum Hedw.

3Barbula tortuosa Web. & Mohr It appears then that its habitat is not always rocks.

4 Barbula caespitosa Schwaegr.

5 The capsules appear to belong to very poor Pylaisaea intricata, but there are two other fellows here both sterile which I dare not attempt to make out.

6 Hypnum hispidulum Braith. with some sterile Thelia asprella Sulliv.

7 This is what I before called Orthotrichum speciosum Nees. But O. speciosum is said to grow on trees. You give "Rocks" as the habitat of this, which throws a doubt on my former determination. The capsule is not immersed in the leaves, else it would come near Orth. cupulatum. I think we had better have Mr. Lesqx's opinion on this, as both O. speciosum and O. cupulatum are unknown to me.

It would give me great pleasure to explore the region about Buffalo and Niagara for mosses, in which it is manifestly so rich, had I the time; but you are certainly giving it a pretty thorough search and have no reason to complain of being unsuccessful. You have detected more species this summer than I did with my younger but inexperienced eyes, during the first season of my muscological explorations.

Your truly

Charles H. Peck

Judge G. W. Clinton

Received Sept. 28