HygrophUa."] 



HEPATIC. K. 53 



as in the other Marchantiece, on the under surface are found scales 

 whitish, scariose, scymitar-shaped, stretching across from the axis 

 nearly to the margins ; such, however, are obsolete in aged fronds. 

 Male receptacle sessile, only immersed in the frond, but not adhering 

 to it, except by a point at the base, situated at the top of the sinuses, 

 oblong, concave above, the margin raised, scariose, undulate ; the upper 

 surface lias minute elevations open at their tops, out of which a viscid 

 liquor flows, found to be originally contained in ovate immersed 

 anthers. The anthers perform their' functions in winter. The female 

 receptacle, which is found only in the summer, is at first covered with 

 the indusium, and is nearly globular, but oblong at the period when the 

 peduncle is about to rise ; when risen from its central disc, tubulose 

 processes are elongated — these are the loculi, varying in number, 

 usually four, whence the cruciform appearance long ago noticed. The 

 loculi, contrary to what occurs in Fegatella, open by a horizontal 

 fissure. The young indusia are found at the deepest recess of the 

 lateral sinuses" of the frond, and whose margins are so little separated 

 that the fructification appears to be epiphyllous, or seated on the 

 surface of the frond, as Dillenius figured it, and after him Sprengel 

 and other authors have described. This, however, never occurs in 

 the Marchantiece. The young indusium is found in a cavity partially 

 covered behind by a projecting portion of the frond. Its exterior 

 scales, six or more, are broadly ovate, very concave, very obtuse, en- 

 tire, reticulated, whitish ; intermediate ones are split at the tops, while 

 the innermost are linear, jointed, many of them adhering to the lower 

 part "of the peduncle. The peduncle is succulent, white, pellucid. 

 Fertile loculi from one to six, but four is the commoner number ; they 

 are tubulose, whitish, pellucid, one — , more rarely two-flowered. Calyx 

 none. Calyptra spherical, bearing a style, at length ruptured, and 

 remaining in the bottom of the loculus. The capside is oval, blackish, 

 longer than in the other genera of the Marchantiece, with a consider- 

 able pellucid pedicell as in Jungermmannia. The capsule is four- 

 valved, and the valves often bifid. The seeds are numerous, dusky, 

 minute, sub-rotund, mixed with filaments, marked with a double spiral 

 line. The scyphi occur on male, female, or neuter fronds, at all seasons 

 of the year ; they are lunulate, whence the generic name. In the 

 bottoms of the scyphi, among gelatinous and cellulose matter, occur 

 lentiform bodies, slightly lobed, from the bottom of the sinus connected 

 to the cellulose portion by a filiform process. These are plainly buds, 

 as their axillary situation would indicate, and their expansion into per- 

 fect fronds proves. The peduncle of the female receptacle has a 

 single groove ; it is less substantial than in the congeners, and decays 

 in a very few days, which, I suppose, is one reason of the fruit being 

 rarely observed. I have succeeded in causing plants, brought from a 

 distance of several miles, to bear perfect fruit under glasses at Dun- 

 kerron. This species is constantly dioicous, although Micheli's figure 

 represents it otherwise. 



4. Hygrophila. 



Male Receptacle pedunculated, hirsute, with short scattered 

 hairs. Female Receptacle pedunculated, hirsute with short 

 scattered hairs. Calj/x none. Loculi univalved, carnose, 

 opening at the top with a vertical short fissure. (Frond with- 

 out pores.) 



