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Rh CRYPTO GAM! A. 383

and the synonymy of cadi species is given. The systematic part of the work is preceded by some general remarks on the soil, on the influence of light, warmth, moisture, &c„ on the difference between North and South Tyrol with regard to the presence of certain species, on the relation of the Tyrolean Moss-Mora to that of other countries, and on the probability of the discovery of further species. Loeextz. — Beitrage zur Biologie u. Geographie der Laubmoose. Eine Abhandlung zur Erlangung der philosophischen Doetor- wiirde ron Paul G-tmther Lorentz. Munchen, 18G0. 4.

This work contains details of the ranges of altitude of upwards of 300 Mosses observed by the author in Bavaria, the Black Forest, the Austrian Alps, and in Switzerland, with notices of the chemical nature of the soil in many localities. The author also speaks of the changes which different mosses undergo under diffe- rent circumstances. Notabis (J. de) Musei Napoani, siye Muscorum ad flumen Napo in Columbia a clariss. Osculati lectorum recensio. Tur. Mem. xviii.

Appunti per im nuovo censimento delle Epatiche italiane.

Tur. Mem. xviii. Rabeshobst. — Hepaticae europaeae. Die Lebermoose Europa's unter Mitwirkg. mehrerer namhafter Botaniker gesammelt u. hrsg. Decas 13 u. 14. gr. 8. (20 Bl. m. aufgeklebten Pflanzen.) Ebd. 1860, cart. Eeichabdt. — Ueber das Alten der Laubmoose von Dr. H. W. Eeichardt. Wien. Z. B. V. Band x. p. 589.

The following is a short account of the contents of this paper. Botanists acknowledge two methods of determining the age of a plant. 1st, the anatomical, founded upon peculiarities of struc- ture, as in the case of annual rings. 2ndly, the morphological, founded upon the nature of the growth of the plant, especially the regular succession of certain axes, as in the case of the scars on the rhizome of Convallaria Polygonatum. The second method alone is applicable to mosses. The age of a moss is always deter- minable when there is a regular succession of axes, each of which has a limited growth lasting for a year ; otherwise there is no certainty. Therefore the age of the stems of acrocarpous mosses is determinable, but not that of pleurocarpous mosses.

The author gives five methods of arriving at the age of the stem of the acrocarpous moss.

1. By observing the number of whorls of branches standing one above another, a method applicable to most acrocarpous mosses which grow in thick tufts.

2. By observing the number of capsules. This method is applicable in cases where the growth of the stem is carried on, year by year, from axillary buds beneath the terminal fruit, and where the new stem-growth pushes aside the fruit of the preced- ing year, and forms an apparent continuation of the principal

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