The Japanese species belonging to the genus Frullana (Fam. Frullaniaceae) are studied. In this paper, two species of subgenus Homotropantha, one species of Diversitextae, one species of Fusiorielligerae, five species of Diastaloba, and seven species of Frullania are recognized. F. sackawana var. minor is reduced to the synonym of F. sackawana. Illustrations and brief descriptions for these species are given, The remaining subgenus Trachycolea and Australes are scheduled to be mentioned in the second volume.

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Aconitum nagarum STAPF and its allied species are taxonomically revised and two species, A. nagarum and A. duclouxii H.LÉV., are recognized and redescribed here. The Aconitum nagarum group is characterized by having subscapose habit, narrower nectary blades, and saccate nectary spurs. It is distributed in the region from the Naga Hill, Assam, India to the southern part of the Hengduan Mountains, southwestern China.

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Reproductive effort in Cirsium purpuratum population growing on lapilli desert was examined. Cirsium purpuratum is the largest thistle in Japan. An experimental quadrate, 50 m × 55 m, was set on the southeast slope of Mt. Fuji at about 1700 m alt. There was a close relationship between the total leaf area in a rosette (rosette size) and the largest leaf size (length × width)in the rosette. The reproductive effort was determined by the change of each rosette size from 1997 to 1998，the numbers of produced daughter rosettes and capitula of each rosette in 1997 and 1998, and the population dynamics of seedlings from 1997 to 1999. There was a threshold for flowering in the rosette size. However the threshold for producing daughter rosettes was not determined. Our results show that this population is maintained by asexual reproduction.

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Four dominant species of scleractinian coral, Acropora gemmifera, A. digitifera, A. millepora and A. hyacinthus were investigated on the reef front of Mizugama reef, Okinawa Island, Japan. Recovery processes involving tissue pigmentation and polyp formation were characterized for each colony. The broken surface area was smaller and the rate of axial polyp formation was faster for A. hyacinthus than for A. gemmifera. Furthermore, some branches of A. gemmifera formed a mound-like shape in the central lesion area, which seemed to delay the formation of an axial polyp. The mound was formed when sediment accumulated on the lesion, prior to tissue coverage. This study indicates that the differences in polyp formation and polyp recovery varies among species, which in turn are affected by environmental factors but also inherent, species specific, constraints.

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Symbiocladius rhithrogenae is an ectoparasitic chironomid on mayfly larvae. The larvae of this chironomid attach between the fore and hind wing pads of hosts, and suck the host's hemolymph. In this study, field samples were taken at approximately monthly intervals for 2 years from the Takatoki River, Japan, in order to understand the seasonal changes in host availability, incidence of parasitism, and host-parasite body size relationship. The effects of parasitism on host mayflies were also examined in the laboratory by comparing the survival and growth rates of parasitized and unparasitized larvae. Adult S. rhithrogenae emerged during the warm season between spring and autumn, and the incidence of parasitism increased during this period. There were no cases in which more than one parasite was found on a single host. The mayfly Ecdyonurus kibunensis was the main host species, and larger individuals were parasitized selectively. S. rhithrogenae infecting smaller hosts had smaller body sizes in the adult stage. The length of the wing pads of parasitized hosts was greatly reduced. In the laboratory, all parasitized hosts died in the larval stages, while approximately 40 % of unparasitized hosts eclosed to the subadult and adult stages. Such a serious effect on the host probably causes this relatively large and less mobile ectoparasite to select an appropriate host with respect to species and size, so as not to damage the host too severely before the parasite matures. Severe damage to the host results in a smaller size at maturation of the parasite, thereby reducing its reproductive success.

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This paper reports the occurrence of a crustacean fossil, which was referred to the Thalassinidea, from the Pliocene Kume Formation of Kuji-gun, Ibaraki Prefecture, central Japan. It closely resembles Eucalliax sp. known from the Middle Miocene Chichibumachi Group of Saitama Prefecture, central Japan.

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In this paper, a continuation of six previous papers, 32 taxa belonging to the genera Caloneis and Pinnularia are reported with light and scanning electron microscope photographs. Some comments are made mostly on the taxonomy and morphology of each taxon.

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On the basis of about 1,100 specimens collected from the Yatarou-gawa (river), central of Kanagawa, 196 species are recorded. Taxa of phytogeographic interest include Bryoerythrophyllum gymnostomum, Tuerckheimia angustifolia, Cyathophorella hookeriana, and Archilejeunea planifolia.

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Investigation on the moss flora was made of Mt. Toyoguchi and the periphery, one of the calcareous areas in the Akaishi mountain range, Nagano, Japan. Among approximately 1100 specimens collected from 1996 to 1999, 239 species, 5 subspecies, and 11 varieties are recognized in 129 genera of 42 families. Phytogeographical interests reside in Seligeria brevifolia, S. calcarea, Alonia obliquifolia, Encalypta vulgaris, and Neodolichomitra yunnanensis.

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Morphology and habitat of Cordyceps entomorrhiza are briefly noted basing upon the specimens collected in Tokyo. All of the nine hosts of the present materials were identified as adult Carabus insulicola. Among the ascomata, the four numbers were sterile after experimental conditioning in moistened container at about 20 ℃, under natural light, for three months. The germination of secondary ascospores obtained from five mature ascomata were not observed either on plane agar or on four kinds of nutrient media at 20-25 ℃.

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Prunus ssiori trees were totally defoliated with an outbreak of Yponomeuta evonymellus during the early summer of 1996 at Dohdaira on Mt. Tanzawa of Kanagawa Prefecture, central Honshu. The trees were covered with webbed tents produced by the larvae. This is the first report on an outbreak of Y. evonymellus in Japan. The life cycle and biology of Y. evonymellus on Mt. Tanzawa are also briefly described.

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A photographic report is presented on the morphologic and behavioral characteristics of the brown hawk owl (Niox scutulata).

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