MR. W. MITTEN ON AFRICAN MUSCI AND HEPATICE. 147 
standing the remarkable difference in the position of the nectary, 
every part of the flower, by the aid of very slight modifi- 
cations, has become neatly coordinated to ensure fertilization 
through the agency of insects. 
The Disa carpets with its narrow lanceolate leaves the margins 
ofthe almost dry watercourses on the southern spur of the Table 
Mountain. In February its superb flowers expand. When I ex- 
amined the plants, most of the ftowers were partially withered ; but 
in the greater number, even in those quite withered, both pollinia 
were still in their cases ; in not one instance had both been removed ; 
but in several flowers one had been carried away. In some of the 
withered flowers the pollinia protruded from the anther-case ; and in 
a few instances the upper sepal, in curling inwards, had touched 
the disc and had drawn out the pollinium: but I saw no case in 
which the pollen-grains had thus reached the stigma. Consider- 
ing how well stored the nectary is with honey, it is surprising that 
the flowers are not more regularly visited; but as the nectar 
fills the lower part alone of the nectary, only insects with a long 
proboscis could reach it ; and perhaps the larger moths are rare at 
the elevation at which this plant grows. The remarkably brilliant 
colours, however, of the flower probably indicate that it is attractive 
to some day-flying Hymenopterous or Lepidopterous insect. How- 
ever this may be, the infrequency with which the pollen-masses 
are removed offers a nearly parallel case to that described by 
Mr. Darwin, of the extremely imperfect fertilization of the Ophrys 
muscifera in England. 
On the Musci and Hepatice from the Cameroon Mountain and 
from the River Niger. By WıurraĮm Miren, A.L.S. 
[Read June 18, 1863.] 
TuE species here enumerated appear to represent a Moss vegeta- 
tion similar to that of tropical America; in a few instances they 
are apparently identical, but for the most part they are rather 
cognate forms; with those found at the Cape they appear to have 
but a small affinity. On the higher parts of the Cameroons Moun- 
tain the species are absolutely identical with those from the moun- 
tains of Abyssinia, intermixed with a few hitherto only known 
from the Island of Bourbon. 
