ANTHOCEROS. 



[ 49 ] 



ANTHOPHORA. 



are the branches; fibrous and feather^' at the 

 summit; solitary; from 1-2" to l"high; turn- 

 ing blackish when dried. The spores sepa- 

 rate very readily when the specimens are 

 placed in water for examination, 



BiBL. Purton, iii. t. 18; Nees and 

 Henrv, System der Pilze, 183/, t. 6. 



ANTHOCEROS, Mich.— A genus of An- 

 thocerotese (Hepaticacese). Fruits scattered. 

 Perichffite produced by the thrusting-up of 

 the substance of the frond, truncate or some- 

 what lobed round the mouth ; 

 perigonenoue; epigone conic- 

 al, bm'sting below, fugacious ; 

 sporange pod-shaped, two- 

 valved, pedicellate, \Adth a 

 central, persistent, filiform 

 column; elaters with spiral 

 fibre absent or rudimentary; 

 antherids surrounded by a 

 toothed, cup- shaped peri- 

 chsete. 



The forms found in Britain 

 are regarded by Hooker as 

 varieties of one species. By 

 the continental botanists thev 

 are divided into two : A.punc- 

 tatiis, with the frond dotted 

 and divided at the margin ; 

 and A. Icevis, with the frond 

 smooth (fig. 26). 



These plants are found in veiy moist situ- 

 ations, at the sides of ditches, &c., fruiting 

 in spring. The ovate-oblong fronds are 

 from ^ to f of an inch long, Ipng flat, and 

 often forming round patches, overlapping 

 one another, radiating from a centre, and 

 more or less divided at the margin. The 

 textureisbetween membranaceous and fleshy, 

 inclining to the latter; the colom- deep green, 

 lighter at the margins. The antheridia and 

 archegonia are usually abundant on the same 

 individual. The antheridia are spherical, 

 "with short stalks, of a yellowish-orange co- 

 lour, included in cup-shaped, deeply toothed 

 receptacles on the upper face of the fronds. 

 The young archegonia difi^er from those of 

 any other Hepaticaceae in their structure, 

 since, instead of free, flask-like cases, they 

 are tubular cavities iTinning do\\Ti from the 

 upper face of the frond, with an embryonal 

 cell at the bottom, which increases by de- 

 grees into a conical bod}', and finally emerges 

 on the surface, surrounded by a perichsete 

 continuous \^ith the epidermis of the frond. 

 The conical body by degrees grows up into 

 the narrow pod-like sporange, which attains 

 a length of about 2 inches, and is supported 



Anthoceros l8e\is 

 Nat. size. 



on a short pedicle, 2 to 3 lines high, almost 

 concealed in the perichaete. The sjjorange 

 splits down the middle into two valves, which 

 become slightly twisted, and leave in the 

 centre a thread-like column, to which adhere 

 for a time many of the spores and elaters. 

 The spores, — the development of which has 

 been a subject of much study, and is very 

 instructive, — from the long sporange con- 

 taining specimens of successively older form- 

 ation from one extremity to the other, — are 

 of the ordinary character of these tribes, 

 having a reticulated outer coat, marked by 

 ridges indicating the mutual pressure of the 

 four spores formed in each parent-cell. The 

 elaters are much simpler than usual, consist- 

 ing merely of membranous tubes, not very 

 long, but sometimes irregularly cm'ved or 

 branched, without any spu'al fibre in their 

 interior. Gemmae also occm* on the frond of 

 Anthoceros. 



BiBL. Dev. of the Fruit generally: Hof- 

 meister, Vergleich. Unters. Hbhern Krypto- 

 gamen, Leipsic, 1851 ; Schacht, Entw. die 

 FrucJit uiid Spore von Anthoceros Icevis, Bo- 

 tanische Zeitunff, 1850. Spores: Mohl, Lin- 

 ncea, 1839; Vermischte Schrift, Tiibingen, 

 1846; Nageh, Memoir on Vegetable Cells, 

 translated in Ray Society's Reports and 

 Papers on Botany, IM6 (p. 229), from Schlei- 

 den and Nageli's Zeitschr.f'dr Wiss. Botanik. 



ANTHOCEROTE.E.— A tribe of Liver- 

 worts or Hepaticaceae (which see), containing 

 the single genus Anthoceros. 



ANTHOPHORA, Latr.— A genus of In- 

 sects, of the order Hymenoptera, and family 

 Apidae. 



Char. Wings \^^th three complete sub- 

 marginal cells of equal size ; labial palpi with 

 the third joint affixed obliquely; maxillary 

 palpi 6"jointed ; intermediate legs of male 

 with long brushes of hair. 



There are two species, A. retusa and A. 

 Haworthana. 



A. retusa is commonly seen flying about 

 sunny and sandy banks in March, April, May 

 and the beginning of June. Its head and 

 trophi are represented in PI. 26. fig. 24. 



The antennce {a) are inserted in the centre 

 of the face, not approximating, short, geni- 

 culated, and 13-jointed in the male; basal 

 joint (scapus) very pubescent, second (pedi- 

 cella) globose, third as long as the first, 

 fourth shorter than any of the following, 

 which are oblong; they are similar in the 

 female, but a little longer, and 12-jointed. 

 Labrum (e) deflexed, convex, with two black 

 spots at the base, anterior margin a little 



E 



