Fegahdk.] HEPATIC^. 51 



p. 221. Michel, Gen. pi. t. 2, f. 1. DUlen. Muse. t. 75, /. 1. 

 Schmidel Icones, t. 31. //erfw. 2%eo7-. erf, 2, *. 28. Fegatella offi- 

 cinalis, Ruddi in Op. Scient. di Bologna, II. 356. 



In wet and shaded situations, at low elevations ; common. Flower- 

 ing at Dunkerron, County of Kerry, in February and March. Fronds 

 sometimes six to eight inches long, especially the barren, their margins 

 eremite, undulate. Buds appear in winter, between the terminating 

 lobes, their margins involute, the entire ascending, recurved, at length 

 opening into sinning light-green fronds. The scales beneath are sub- 

 rotund, oblique, slightly emarginate. The Male Receptacle is hoemis- 

 pherical and smooth below, nearly flat above, immersed in a cavity of 

 the frond, but not adhering to it except by a central point at the bot- 

 tom : the upper surface is rough, with conical elevations, the tops of 

 whitish anthcriferous vesicles ; the anthers are lineari-oblong, coming 

 to maturity the summer previous to the ripening of the seeds. Female 

 Receptacles fully formed in October remain sessile on the fronds until 

 the following February, when at length the peduncle rises ; but I have 

 observed where, during the winter, the seeds were devoured by 

 insects, the elevation of the peduncle never took place. Loculi one 

 to nine ; one-flowered, very rarely two-flowered. No calyx is present ; 

 a horizontal section of the receptacle may cause the inner membrane 

 of the loculus to be so separated as to assume the appearance of one ; 

 but this is deceptive, as is the inferior portion of the calyptra remain- 

 ing about the base of the full-grown capsule. The calyptra is 

 oblong, bursting at the top into Infinite. The capsule also is oblong, 

 its ruptured segments at length revolute. The seeds nearly round, 

 greenish, at length smooth, dark brown : the filaments enclosing two 

 spiral lines. The peduncles subangulate, below thicker, and slightly 

 purplish, above pellucid with the faintest tinge of green, having a single 

 groove containing a bundle of fibres similar to the rootlets ; fibres of 

 the same nature are also found at the base of the receptacle, where it 

 is joined to the peduncle. The indusium of the young receptacle is 

 rather flat, consisting of a few round or lunulate scales, folded back 

 upon the margin of the frond, between its terminating lobes ; it is not 

 to be recognised after the elongation of the peduncle. 



2. F. hemispherica, Female Receptacle subhemispherical, cut 

 at the margin into 4— 6 lobes; the capsules sessile (not ex- 

 serted). Marchantia hemispherica, Linn. sp. pi. 1604. Sprengcl 

 Syst. v. 4, p. 234. Micheli Gen. pi. t. 2,/. 2. DUlen, Hist. t. 75, 

 f. 2. Rebouillia hemispherica, Raddi in Opusc. Scient. di Bolonga 

 II. 357. Grimmaldia hemispherica, Liudenberg Syn. Hep. Europ. 

 p. 106. 



On a calcareous soil chiefly; on banks rather dry. Flowers at Dun- 

 kerron, County of Kerry, in March and April. Fronds one or two 

 inches long, slender, broader at the top ; their margins crenulate, 

 raised, scariose, brownish-purple ; their pores formed of a whitish 

 cuticle raised, with an irregular opening at the top, whose edges are 

 not thickened. Beneath, besides the whitish simple rootlets along the 

 axis, there are purplish, flat, imbricated scales placed in a pinnate 

 manner on each side of the nerve ; they are roundish, broader at the 

 base, and terminating in two acuminated teeth. There are no scyphi, 

 yet Micheli figure^ them : this can only be explained by supposing 



