Colenso. — Description of new Cryptogamic Plants. 249 



Lobes large, 4-5 lines long, 2-3 lines wide, nerveless, not ex- 

 tending to midrib, very close and sub-imbricate, sub-orbicular 

 and broadly elliptic, thin, transparent, finely papillose, studded 

 with pale yellow dots, most so on basal margins ; margins 

 entire ; the large apical portion of the lobe smooth, flat, and 

 spreading laterally, the basal portion concave with margins 

 raised above midrib, sub-erect, and transversely corrugated 

 almost regularly, thickened and recurved, and having a deeply 

 lacunose appearance ; in each posterior axil of those lower cavi- 

 ties on the upper surface is a small cluster of reddish-tipped 

 antheridia (immature) with green paraphyses intermixed. Cells 

 of lobes numerous, large, irregular sizes, sub-quadrangular. 



Hub. Scattered in small patches on wet shaded banks, 

 sides of streams and watercourses, among other Hepatic® ; low 

 woods, Seventy-mile Bush, County of Waipawa, 1880-85 : W.C. 



Ohs. This is a very striking plant, resembling no other 

 known to me among all our numerous endemic plants of this 

 order. Its large size, remarkable fresh and regular semi-ribbed 

 appearance, and dark colour, arrests the eye at once. It has 

 caused me " a world of trouble," extending over several years, 

 in my endeavouring to obtain it in fruit ; hitherto, however, I 

 have failed, although I have diligently visited its marked habitats 

 at all seasons of the year, save mid-winter, when I suspect it 

 bears fruit. Not having detected it in fruit, I am not certain of 

 its proper genus ; but of all the known genera of Hepatic® this 

 plant is more closely allied to Xoteroclada, in which I have pro- 

 visionally placed it ; also, though more distantly, to Fossow- 

 bronia, a cognate genus ; from which genus, however, its round 

 leaves or lobes exclude it; It is by no means plentiful, only 

 occurring here and there and at distant spots in single small 

 patches, but always presenting a uniform healthy, strong, 

 flourishing appearance. Having sought it so long and so fre- 

 quently in the fruiting state, without success, I now make it 

 known in its barren form. 



Genus 26. Petalophyllum, Gottsche. 

 1. P. macrocalyx, sp.nov. 



Plant gregarious, minute, 2-3 lines diameter, 1-2 lines high ; 

 stem stout, very short scarcely any, dark-red-black, with many 

 fine short red spreading rootlets. Leaves few, sub-rotund, 

 waved and crumpled, margins entire ; cells large, sub-quadrate. 

 Perianth large, sub-campanulate, erect, 2 lines long, 1J lines 

 broad, whitish, margin entire. Fruit-stalk 12-14 lines long, 

 slender, capsule globular, brown, splitting irregularly into four 

 divisions, each sub-cuneate, obtuse, 2-3 lobed. 



Hab. Among mosses and small frondose Hepatic®, damp 

 sides perpendicular cuttings on the roadside, Norsewood, County 

 of Waipawa ; 1885 ; W,C. 



