218 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



Subfam. Erismaturinm. — As in Fuligulince\ but the rectrices rigid, lance-linear, 

 acute, the coverts extremely short. Nail of bill chiefly inferior. Genera : 

 Eriamaiura (et Biziura alior.) ; and Thalnssornisl 



A group of one, perhaps two, genera, and upwards of a dozen species, like 

 ordinary sea-ducks, but differing in the curious condition of the tail, which 

 corresponds to that of the Cormorants in their order. 



Subfam. Merffince. — Bill long, slenderer and narrower, more nearly cylindric 

 in its coutinuity, than in either of the foregoing. The nail narrow, forming 

 a true hook. Upper mandible with a double series of lamiuffi on each side, 

 set obliquely backwards like saw-teeth, the single row in the under mandible 

 fitting between them. Otherwise much as iu Fulu/ulinm. Mostly crested. 

 Sexes dissimilar. General habitus as iu the sea ducks. Genera : Mergus, 

 Aleryanetta, Lophodytes, Mergellus. 



A small group, well characterized by the bill. It offers the most conspicu- 

 ously crested members of the family. The habits of the " fishing-ducks," as 

 they are called, are much the same as those of the sea ducks. 



Characters of some new HEPATICa; (mostly North American), together with 

 Notes on a few imperfectly described Species. 



BY COE F. AUSTIN. 



SCAPANIA PeCKII, AuSt. 



S. minuta, compacte cfEspitosa, valde surculosa ; caule subsimplici serpen- 

 tino-erecto vel adscendente 3 — 4 lin. longo sursum accrescenti laxe vel sub- 

 imbricante foliato ; foliis integerrimis obtuse complicatis bilobis, lobis sub- 

 conformibus late ovatis plerumc{ue obtusis apiculatisque, dorsali parce miuori; 

 surculis sursum subdecrescentibus dissite foliatis, foliis subditformibus acute 

 bilobis varie modo directis complicatisque suberectis vel plerumque e basi 

 erecto patuli-recurvis nonnullis interdum explan.atis ; perianthio parvo sub- 

 cuneato terminali et laterali sessili valde compresso, ore truncato integerrimo 

 saepe subreourvo ; foliis involucralibus conformibus nonnullo subdenticulatis ; 

 rete foliorura e cellulis minutis subrotundis hyalinis poriformibus, iutersticiis 

 latissimis fulgido-pellucidis confluentibus instructo. — llep. Bor. Amer. Exsic. 

 ined.. No. 20. 



On old logs in woods, near Belleville, Canada West, John Macoun (1865). 

 Adirondack Mountains, New York, Prof. C. H. Peck (1867) ; also about Jor- 

 dansville, N. Y. (Austin, 1868). 



Remarkable for its minute size (being about the si^e of Jung ermannia llel- 

 lerianu), obtusely complicate leaves with the upper lobe sometimes small and 

 tooth-like, at other times nearly equalling the lower one ; and for the great 

 number of surculi, which are extremely variable in size, and clothed with 

 smallish leaves, which resemble very much those of Jungermannia Ilelleriaiia, 

 or J. mhiuta, and are very different from those of the main stems. The 

 gemmre bearing leaves occupy the middle of the stem, which is interrupted 

 on account of them ; they are usually ovate, subentire and subtruucate at the 

 apex, and closely wrapped about the stem. 



Resembles small forms of S. exsecta (Schmid), but is readily distinguished 

 by its compressed perianth, never tridentate leaves, &c. 



S. brevicauUs, Tayl., with which it may be possible to confound our species, 

 is larger, with much more condensed stems and vertical leaves, and is desti- 

 tute of surculi. Moreover, the perianth is very different, being scarcely more 

 compressed than in S. obtusifoUa. 



ScAPANIA BOLANDERI, A.U3t. Mst. 1865. 



S, caule subdichotomo-ramoso caespitoso subadscendente ; foliis acute 

 complicatis grosse ciliato- vel subinciso-dentatis siccate non mutantibus, loUo 



[Dec. 



