1912] Evans,— Notes on New England Hepaticae,— IX 15 
they acquire their characteristics while still close to the growing point, 
the underleaves secured in this way will give a better idea of their 
true structure than the weathered underleaves dissected from the 
older parts of a shoot. 
The male plants of O. elongatum have not yet been observed, but 
the inflorescence is evidently dioicous. The female branches are 
sometimes ventral and sometimes lateral. 'They are usually very 
short but are occasionally somewhat elongated. "Their leaves, how- 
ever, are always more or less modified. The bracts proper are in 
two or three pairs. "Those next the perianth, which are of course the 
most characteristic, are typically ovate and bifid for one third to one 
half their length, showing a narrow sinus and acute lobes. Their 
margins are irregularly crenate or dentate, and sometimes one or two 
basal lobes or divisions are present. The corresponding bracteole 
is much like the bracts, except that its divisions are blunter and 
less definite. Deviations from these typical conditions are not infre- 
quent, the lobes of the bracts being sometimes short and blunt and 
the bracteole sometimes showing little or no indication of an apical 
sinus. 'The tendency to vary in this way becomes even more ap- 
parent in the other bracts and bracteoles, several of which may be 
quite undivided at the apex. Unfortunately mature perianths of O. 
elongatum. are still unknown. In the very immature perianths found 
in unfertilized flowers the mouth is slightly and irregularly lobed and 
the margin is finely crenulate from projecting cells. "These peculi- 
arities doubtless persist until maturity. 
Gemmae are comparatively rare in the present species, and many 
tufts fail to show them altogether. The gemmiparous shoots are 
suberect and much resemble those of O. denudatum, except that 
they are usually shorter, the development of the gemmae leading 
more rapidly to the limitation of their growth. In most cases the 
transition between normal leaves and gemmiparous leaves is very 
abrupt, but it is sometimes more gradual and a few cases have been 
observed in which a shoot recovered from the tendency to form gem- 
mae and developed new normal leaves. The gemmae themselves, 
which measure about 25 X 33 y, are oval, two-celled bodies with 
delicate walls. 
One of the closest allies of O. elongatum is O. Macounii (Aust.) 
Underw., and it is possible that Austin did not distinguish clearly 
between them when he published his description of the latter plant. 
