Proskauer (1948) described three types of tubers in European material of Phaeoceros laevis. Although there have been no previous reports on tubers in Japanese P. laevis, I have found those three types in Japanese material. Phaeoceros miyakeanus is a Japanese species generally distinguished from P. laevis by the presence of ventral tubers However, I question the reliability of this character. Spore ornamentation appears to be the more important character in the separation of these two species.

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A well-moistened piece of chalk can be used as an atmometer. Chalk can also be used as a hyetometer, because when dry, it will absorb mist, rainfall, etc. Evaporation or rainfall is estimated by the weight difference before and after distribution of the chalk on the moss.

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Some biological activity of sesquiterpenes and diterpenes isolated from bryophytes, particularly, from the liverworts are described. The pungent compounds isolated from Trichocoleopsis sacculata and Pellia endiviaefolia (3) , from Plagiochila species (4), from Conocephalum conicum (5), and from Chiloscyphus polyanthus (10)-(12) show inhibitory activity against germination and root elongation of rice in husk at ca. 50-200 ppm. The sesquiterpene lactones, (1), (5), and (10) indicate cytotoxicity against KB cell. The compounds, (6)-(9) also show inhibitory activity toward germination of rice in husk at 100-200 ppm.

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With respect to the evolution of bryophytes, there are two major divergent theories : the progressive and the reduction. These are, respectively, associated with the antithetic and the homologous theories concerning alternation of generations. Many eminent bryologists support the reduction theory, in which bryophytes are considered to have arisen from the primitive, vascularized Psilophytales during the Devonian. I believe, however, that the progressive theory is more reasonable in several respects. A heteromorphic green alga like Coleochaete is considered a possible ancestral type for bryophytes. This alga is an oogamous freshwater epiphyte with complex reproductive structures suggestive of the possible origin of the archegonium and the simplest of bryophyte sporophytes.

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