MOSS ALLIES. 125 



burning of the wood small plants of this Marchantia 

 appear upon the ashes, and put up a number of small 

 heads, on short footstalks ; the next year the fronds 

 cover the ashes, and a forest of stems rise, twice the 

 length of those of the former year. The head becomes 

 quite flat before the seeds ripen, and the numerous 

 segments are connected for part of their length by a 

 thin membrane. The Bell Marchantia (M. hemispheric a) 

 does not spread so widely, its footstalks are shorter, and 

 the heads are bell-shaped, and cut into fewer segments. 

 Our specimens were sent to us from the New Forest, 

 Hants. The Cone Marchantia (M. conica) I gathered on 

 Eudd Heath in Cheshire, its fronds were tipped with 

 crimson, and its heads were cone-shaped. There are 

 some curious plants included in the Hepatica order, which 

 are very rare, and very unattractive. 



The Riccias are floating plants, with minute fronds, 

 fringed or lobed ; they are found in ponds among 

 Duckweed. 



The Anthoceros has somewhat the habit of a cup- 

 lichen, but bears its spores in a kind of sheath, a 

 continuation of the footstalk ; its habitat is clay banks. 



The Targonia has an expanded frond cleaving to the 

 earth, and having the seeds in a round or oval sac, situ- 

 ated on the margin of the lobes. 



The Nardoo belongs to this order. Its foliage is 

 divided into leaflets, and the spore cases are saucer- 

 shaped, and situated upon long footstalks. It grows 

 upon ground that has been inundated, ripens its seeds 

 and sheds them, and when the floods return, they ger- 

 minate and secure a fresh crop for the succeeding 



