CHILEAN SPECIES OF METZGERIA. 307 



Specimens examined: near Arique, no date, Lechler 633 (B., as 

 M. furcata var. violacea, and listed as M. furcata by Stephani, 19, p. 

 941); Corral, 1896, Dusen, mixed with 82 (U.); valley of the Aysen 

 River, 1897, Dusen 324 (Moll., St., as M. hamata, and listed under 

 this name by Stephani, 20, p. 20); Quellon, Chiloe, 1908, Halle & 

 Skottsberg 29 (St., as M. chilcnsis, and listed under this name by 

 Stephani, 24, p. 10) ; Punta Arenas, 1895, Dusen 5 (XL, as Metzgeria 

 sp.); same locality and date, Dusen, no number (Moll., X. Y., as M. 

 angusta, and listed under this name by Stephani, 21, p. 10); same 

 locality, 1905-06, Thaxter 159 (H., Y.); same locality, 1907, Von 

 Schrcnk (B., type of M. antarctica) ; Isla di Navarino, Tierra del 

 Fuego, 1902, Skottsberg (St.) ; Provenir, Tierra del Fuego, 1895, Dusen 

 23 (U., as M. angusta, and listed under this name by Stephani, 21, 

 p. 10). The following specimens collected outside the boundaries of 

 Chile may likewise be cited: without definite locality, Peru, Lechler, 

 mixed with another species of Metzgeria (N. Y., as M. furcata var. 

 violacea) ; San Carlos, Lake Nahuelhuapi, Argentina, 1897, Dusen 456 

 (St., XL, as M. angusta, and listed under this name by Stephani, 20, 

 p. 19); Dusky Bay, New Zealand, 1773, Sparrmann (Y., Type of 

 Jungermannia violacea, specimen received from the Acharius Her- 

 barium at Lund). 



Specimens of Metzgeria showing a bluish or purplish coloration have 

 long been familiar to students of the Hepaticae. As long ago as 1785 

 Dickson described the color of his Riccia fruticulosa, now known as 

 Metzgeria fruticulosa (Dicks.) Evans (see 4, p. 293), as "aeruginosus 

 seu viridi-subcaeruleus," and Acharius, in 1805, stated that the present 

 species had a "schone Veilchenfarbe." The older writers evidently 

 regarded these unusual hues as natural to the living plant, and Hiib- 

 ener, in 1834, associated the color with the presence of iron in the sub- 

 stratum (9, p. 47). A few years later, however, Funck showed that 

 these ideas were untenable. In a letter addressed to Nees von 

 Esenbeck (see 15, p. 492) he discussed the blue color of M. fruticulosa, 

 which he had found at Gefrees, in the Fichtel Mountains of Germany. 

 His specimens grew on the young trunks of the Norway spruce and 

 were distinctly green when he collected them. About six months after 

 they were dried most of them had assumed a blue color. The soil 

 where the trees grew was a disintegrated gneiss, without a trace of iron, 

 and he suggested that there might be some connection between the 

 color and the tannin in the bark. His opinion regarding the post 

 mortem nature of the blue coloration has recently been confirmed by 

 Miss Herzf elder (7, pp. 392-397), who worked mainly on M. fruticu- 



