NEW HEPATIC^E. 413 



the frond, each containing a whitish semi-fluid pollen. The 

 capsule rises through the ruptured cuticle of the frond. The 

 calyptra, as in A. punctatus, L., remains broken within the 

 frond at the base of the peduncle. Columella filiform. Seeds 

 subrotund, punctate, accompanied by shreds of placental 

 membrane, which are not to be confounded with true elateres, 

 of which this genus is destitute. 



26. Podanthe, Tayl. 



Char. gen. Dioica. Frons basi prostrata, porosa, apice 

 squamosa, squamis imbricatis, recurvis. Receptaculum 

 fcemineum descendens, lineare vel elongate conicum ra- 

 dices demittens. Calyx nullus ? Indusium squamosum, 

 terminale. Frondis masculinae squamce basi ventricosse ; 

 antherae majusculee, concolores, rotundato-oblongee, pedi- 

 cellate. 

 1. P. squamata, Tayl. Riccia squamata, Tayl. in Drummond's 



Swan River Crypt. 

 Hab. Swan River. Mr. James Drummond. 



Plants aggregate, 2-3 lines long, tawny-olive when dry, 

 greenish and hyaline when moistened. The lower half is a 

 frond, from a narrow base, linear or oblanceolate, slightly 

 channelled, the surface with a few whitish scattered elevations 

 of the cuticle or pores ; the upper half which first rises and 

 then reclines is singularly scaly, the scales roundish, their 

 margins recurved, their structure punctate ; between the ter- 

 minal and largest pair are found 2-6 minuter and narrower 

 scales, clustered and a little incurved, which are supposed to 

 constitute the indusium, but no pistils have been observed : 

 from the extremity of the scaly part is a prolongation of the 

 mid-rib, radicating, in structure and position analogous to 

 the descending receptacle of Gymnanthe, Tayl. The anthers 

 are sometimes obviously clustered over the midrib, and again 

 may be found lying each within the ventricose base of the 

 perigonial scales. 



