Vol. XIII] EVANS— HEPATICA? OF CALIFORNIA ^\9 



attention. Some of the specimens collected by Mrs. Sutliffe 

 in Mill Valley conform pretty closely to these numbers, one 

 having spores with 24 to 27 projections, another with 21 to 24, 

 and still another with 18 to 24. In other Calif ornian material, 

 however, the spores show from 16 to 20 projections; this is 

 the case, for example, in Howe's No. 6 from Mt. Tamalpais 

 and in Abrams' specimen from Spencer Valley. In still other 

 material the spores have from 26 to 32 projections, as in one 

 of Mrs. Sutliffe's Mill Valley specimens and in Miss East- 

 wood's specimens from lone. These variations in the number 

 of ridges are shown clearly in Howe's figs. 16, 18 and 19. 



In Europe the two best known species with cristate spores are 

 F. pusilla (L. ) Dumort. and F. wondraczeki (Corda) Dumort. 

 In F . pusilla the number of peripheral projections is given as 

 16 to 18 by Muller and as 16 to 24 by Macvicar. In F. 

 wondraczeki the numbers are 30 to 32 and 28 to 36, respec- 

 tively. There is no evidence that these species intergrade, and 

 F. wondraczeki seems to be perfectly constant in eastern North 

 America, where F. pusilla is apparently unrepresented. It 

 will be noticed that the Californian specimens include forms 

 with just as few spore-ridges as F. pusilla, others with as 

 many as F. ivondraczeki, and still others with an intermediate 

 number. It might therefore at first appear as if three species 

 were present, F. pusilla, F. ivondraczeki and a species between 

 them, for which the name F. longiseta could be retained. It 

 would, however, be difficult, if not impossible, to tell where 

 F. longiseta ended and the other species began, owing to the 

 fact that the number of ridges in the intermediate type of 

 spore tends to vary toward both extremes. 



In view of these facts it seems advisable to search for dif- 

 ferential characters in the gametophyte. It is well known 

 that the leaves in the various species of Fossombronia are 

 unfortunately very inconstant in size, in shape and in the 

 character of their lobing, and that the pseudoperianths are 

 equally inconstant in their features, so that little can be hoped 

 for here. Differences in habit, however, seem to be more 

 trustworthy and apparently these can be utilized in the present 

 instance. In northern Europe, for example, F. pusilla and 

 F. ivondraczeki seem to be definitely annuals, producing their 

 spores in the late summer and early autumn and presenting 



