NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 231 



Remarkable forthe somewhat lamellated surface of the frond and involucre ; 

 the latter with a very broad, abrupt, subcontracted, scarious margin, which 

 usually forms nearly half its length. 



CRYPTOCARPUS, (gen. nov.) Aust. MSS., 1864. 



Frons laxe spongioso-reticulata. irregulariter subpalmatim lobata, tenuis, 

 epidermide baud distincta. Costa nulla. Radices intus non papillosi (ut in 

 jS'^A«rocar;7o),longissimi, intertexti. Fructus in frondis substantia immersus 

 (ut in Ricciu), Sporangia depresso-globosa, singulatim nata, non libera. 

 Calyptra stylo nigro persistente coronata. Sporse 4-jugse (ut in Sphairocarpo), 

 vix solutiB, in aspectu singular et profunde quadrilob*. 



A genus intermediate between Riccia and Sphxrocarpus, having the char- 

 acters of vegetation and spores of the latter, while the fruit is immersed in 

 the frond as in the former genus. Represented by a single species, Avhich 

 occurs both in the Southern States and in France. 



Cryptocarpus Ccrtisii, Aust. MSS., 1864. 

 Riccia Curtisst, James, in Herb, (fide Curtis). 



Fronde caespitosa valde imbricata fibroso-papulata, laciniis inciso-lobulatis 

 margine crenatis ; sporangiis raaximis in statu siccati latentibus sed Irondes 

 humefactas sunt in substantia earum ut maculis nigris apparentibus ; sporis 

 fusco-nigris valde muricatis. 



On moist ground, South Carolina, Ravenel (in Herb. SuUiv., 1849). North 

 Carolina, Curtis (1. c, 1853). " Montand apres Marseille " (Herb. Lanning, 

 '• ex Herb. Torrey "). 



To the naked eye the dried specimens look like little heaps of some fila- 

 mentose conferva. In this state the frond is very brittle, and, on account of 

 its loose texture, appears to be deeply pitted and fibrose and papulose above. 

 Upon moistening the specimens the fronds become tough (much as in the 

 Anthocerotece), the upper surface looses its pitted appearance, and the inter- 

 stices (apparent fibres) between the large cells close up ; and the fruit, which 

 was completely hidden before, now appears as a black spot in the substance 

 of the frond. Upon re-drying the specimens the fronds become much thinner 

 than they were at first, and the fruit remains visible, protruding from the 

 upper surface. The frond is larger than in Sphcerocarpus 3Iichelii, from the 

 Southern States, but lobed and reticulated in the same manner. The extreme 

 apices of the lobes are often suddenly contracted and subsolid (much as is 

 often seen in the Anlhocerotece.) The base of the divisions are contracted 

 and subsolid, and the rootlets are smooth on the interior surface as in Sphiero- 

 carpus. The divisions are flabelliforra, and palmately or incised-lobed, and 

 lie so closely over one another as to be separated with difficulty, the upper ones, 

 by their numerous long rootlets, knitting firmly to the pitted surface of those 

 immediately beneath them. The lobes are crenate and obtuse, not emargi- 

 nate, extremely thin and hyaline. Spores firmly united in fours into a sort of 

 coccus which is deeply 4-iobed, and very beautiful under the lens, — more 

 deeply lobed than in Sphsxrocarpus terrestris and more finely reticulated and 

 papillose. [From narrowed places in the divisions (as it were sinuses) there 

 appears to arise young plants, folded over on the back of the parent frond in 

 such a manner that they seem to arise out of its back near the margin. 

 Whether this is really the case, or only apparent, can only be determined 

 by fresh specimens.] 



Riccia albida, Sulliv., in Herb., 1853. 



R. fronde solida albida alternatira bifurcatimve divisa ; lobis (J — J lin. lat.) 

 oblongis creberrimis anguste profundeque sulcatis, apice rotundatis sub- 

 emarginatis, subtus subsquemosis valde radiculosis ; epidermide superiore 

 (nisi in canalis fundo) spongioso-papulosa profunde foveolata quam frondis 

 substantia crassiori ; fructu ignoto. 



Texas, Dr. Charles Wright. 



1869.] 



