234 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



NOTES ON SCOTTISH HEPATIC^. 

 By SYMERS M. MACVICAR. 



IN the ' Census of Scottish Hepaticae ' which appeared in the 

 " Annals " for this year, p. 45, it was stated that notes would 

 be given on the following species : 



Gymnomitriwn adustum, Nees. I placed Marsupclla 

 olivacea, Spruce, as a variety of this species. In an exhaustive 

 account of these minute plants in " Oester. Bot. Zeit.," Prof. 

 Schi finer shows from an examination of Spruce's original 

 specimen that the plant is undoubtedly a Gymnomitrium. 

 In one of the plates are figures showing this. He examined 

 many plants of the specimen which Spruce had isolated, and 

 in no instance did he find a true perianth. In all the 

 specimens from Scotland which I have examined, I have 

 also found the plant to be a Gymnomitrium. There does 

 not appear to be much difference between the two plants, 

 but, for the present, I retain Spruce's as a variety. 



Marsnpella Sprucei (Limpr.) differs from Mars, ustulata, 

 Spruce, in its larger leaf cells, bracts not cordate at base and 

 with acute lobes. 



Marsupclla erytJirorhiza (Limpr.). This is generally 

 given as a variety or synonym of Mars. spJiacelata (Gies.), 

 but as they bear the same relation to each other as Mars, 

 emarginata does to Mars, aquatica, I follow Schiffner in 

 treating them as distinct species, though they are doubtless 

 closely related. Mars. spJiacelata, of which I have seen a 

 Scottish specimen since the "Census" was published, is a larger 

 plant than M. erythrorhiza and very flaccid, growing in large 

 swelling tufts, in streams and wet places. It is an aquatic 

 plant, and is typically of a dull green colour with the tips of 

 the uppermost leaves brown. Mars, erythrorhiza occurs in 

 places which are only moist, and is of a dark brown colour, 

 and rather shining. Notes on the differences between the 

 plants are given by Limpricht in Cohn's "Krypt. Flor. Schles." ; 

 but too much weight must not be given to the purple colour 

 of the rhizoids. 



