288 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
tioned. In the Synopsis Hepaticarum the species is placed in the subgenus 
Brachyblepharis, being accepted without question, and no specimens except 
Sellow’s are listed. Two years later, however, Lindenberg’ reported it from 
Java, and this record was accepted by other writers on Javan liverworts, in- 
cluding Gottsche, Zollinger, and Sande-Lacoste. In 1898, Schiffner? still ac- 
cepted this Javan record, expressing the opinion that Fimbriaria khasiana 
(Griff.) Mitt. and F. leptophylla Mont. of India might be synonyms of F’, venosa, 
The following year Stephani, in his monograph, separated the Javan specimens 
from fF. venosa and described them as a new species under the name F. zollingeri. 
Schiffner* soon accepted this new species, changing the name to Hypenantron 
zollingeri and transferring to it as probable synonyms the two Indian species 
mentioned above. The range of the true F. venosa was thus again restricted 
to Brazil, and its discovery in Mexico marks an interesting extension. The 
Mexican plants have been carefully compared with the two Brazilian speci- 
mens in the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden and agree in all 
essential respects. 
The original description of A. venosa says little or nothing about the his- 
tological features or the spores and elaters, but emphasizes the usual green 
color and the extreme delicacy of the thallus, stating that the surface is cov- 
ered over with anastomosing veins, visible to the naked eye. It notes also the 
orbicular disk of the female receptacle and the short pseudoperianths, these not 
reaching the margins of the disk. Perhaps the most serious errors are those 
connected with the male inflorescence, which is said to be on a distinct plant, 
the inference being that the species is dioicous. The receptacle is said further 
to be borne on a short peduncle and to be provided below with white follicles, 
It is, of course, obvious that these statements must have been based either on 
young female receptacles or on plants belonging to some other genus. In the 
Synopsis the male inflorescence is said to be unknown, but the description re- 
peats most of the other statements made by the original authors. It gives 
additional details, however, about the size of the plant, the occasional lobing 
of the receptacle, the yellowish green, margined and reticulated spores, and 
the bispiral elaters. 
Stephani supplies many other details and corrects the earlier statements 
about the inflorescence, showing that the antheridia are situated close to the 
peduncle of the female receptacle. His account of the epidermal pores, which 
states that the surrounding cells are in only 4 or 5 series, with 2 cells in each 
series, does not agree with the writer’s observations, and the entire disk which 
he describes is evidently not a constant feature of the species. At the same 
time his description is trustworthy in most respects. The Javan Fimbriaria 
zollingers is certainly a close relative of A. venosa, rivaling it in delicacy. The 
spores, however, will at once serve to distinguish it. In addition to a fine and 
delicate reticulum the spherical face shows a coarse reticulum, with meshes 
20 to 30 uw across, formed by high ridges similar to the marginal wings. 
Lehmann and Lindenberg compare their F. venosa with F. tenella and state 
that it differs sufficiently in its more delicate thallus, green both above and 
below and veiny on the upper surface; in the presence of slender paleae at the 
apex of the peduncle; and in the shorter divisions of the pseudoperianth, co- 
herent at the apex. It might be added that the dorsal air chambers are sub- 
divided, that the epidermal pores have more radiating series of cells around 
them, that the appendages of the ventral scales are smaller and apparently 
* Meissner, Bot. Zeit. 6: 463. 1848. 
*Consp. Hep. Arch. Ind. 43. 1898. 
*Fl. Buitenzorg 4: 23. 1900. 
