The structure of terrestrial moss communities and various environmental factors were investigated by the belt-transect method, and the relation between them were discussed. It is clear that leaf-fall and human trampling are major environmental factors for mosses in the investigated site, and that each moss species also reacts to them and finds the most favorable circumstance through its growth-form.

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The pH value of a water extract from soil can be determined by means of a pH meter with air dried soil, using a water : soil ratio of about 2.5:1. This soil may be from the field as well as from herbarium packets. Soil moisture content is roughly estimated by the amount of water that can lost from the soil upon air drying. It is expressed in terms of the dry weight of .the soil.

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In order to investigate some of the factors which control distribution of Entodon rubicundus (Mitt.) Jaeg., the author observed the water conduction of this moss. The results are : (1) Under 75% atmospheric humidity, internal conduction was not detected old stems, but slow conduction in the central strand was found in younger stems. (2) Under the same humidity condition, external conduction was observed both in old and young leafy stems (up to 1 cm in 12 hours). This amount, however, is insufficient for plant life. (3) Only when well watered, can the plant absorb very much water by external conduction. In nature, this supply of water results from precipitation in the form of fog, dew or rain (Anderson and Bourdeau, 1955). However, it seems that there is no close relationship between annual rainfall and the distribution of E. rubicundus. The fog and dew are deposited under relation between humidity and temperature change. The distributional area of E. rubicundus well coincides with the region where the daily difference of maximum and minimum temperature is above 9℃, which may be the critical value to cause the fog or sufficient morning dew for the plant in Japan.

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The writers found that mature cell walls of mosses could be stained with acetoorcein solutions, but that liverwort cell walls could not. The walls of juvenile moss cells in moss are not stainable, but become stainable when the cell reaches a certain age. The stainablity of moss cell walls were observed universally in all of more than 150 species used in this study, although the degree of staining varied from taxon to taxon. To clarify the chemical feature of moss cell walls, the classical techniques, e.g. colour reactions through treatment of various reagents and digestion with the enzymes, were employed. However, these tests showed no charatceristic colour reactions for various wall substances.

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The following facts suggest that monoecism is an advanced condition derived from dioecism in the evolutionary history of bryophytes. 1. In many species, the strain with a haploid chromosome number is dioicous, while the diploid one is monoicous. 2. Monoicous species sometimes show limited distribution in spite of their high frequency of fruiting, which is seen, for example, in members of Hypnum. 3. Bryophytes growing on trunks, decayed wood or living leaves of vascular plants include many species of monoicous sexuality. 4. Species with small gametophytes are apt to be monoicous ; examples are given by the genera Fissidens, Thuidium and Hypnum. 5. Most annual bryophytes, which are usually nitrophilous, are monoicous. Species of the families Ephemeraceae, Funariaceae and Splachnaceae are examples. 6. The Marchantiales, which show more differentiated thalloid structure, and the Anthocerotae, which are, in the progressive theory of evolution, considered to be most highly advanced, include many monoicous species. 7. Monoicous species have several functions to prevent self-fertilization, and have possibly evolved by outbreeding.

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With reference to taxonomic revisions of the subfamily Bryoideae in S to SE Asia, Australasia, Africa, Central and South America, an attempt to classify the distributional patterns of mosses has been made, just as in Table 1. "a. Temperate" of the type II means that the mosses are distributed in the temperate areas of both N and S hemispheres, and such a usage of the term may be a new proposal in bryology.

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Hypnum plumaeforme and Racomitrium canescens have been frequently used for gardening in the Hata district. These two species seem to be suitable to such gardens which are recently established and not deeply shaded by trees. Weeding and sprinkling water are indispensable of these gardens.

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