SULTli Al-Rir.\.N HEI'ATIC.E. 4^1 



nient varies considerably. BuL in many cases there is a third 

 row, consisting of small leaves (^foliolesj placed on the under- 

 surface of the stem, nearly opposite every second leaf, thus 

 completing a normal tristichous leaf-arrangement, although 

 species occur in which 'these are irregularly present, and this 

 sometimes happens in regard to different branches of one plant. 



These folioles, characteristic, of many Hepatic?e, are pre- 

 sent in very few cases among the mosses. 



The hepatic capsule is usual!}- a tender hyaline structure, 

 which at maturity bursts almost or (juite to the 'base, either 

 inegularly or into four or eight valves, in 'which latter case it 

 somewhat resembles that of the Andreaeace'ae among tlie mosses; 

 indeed, in the earlier systematic works, the s]:)ecies of Andresea 

 were included in the hepatic genus jungermannia. 



But the HepaticcC have a hyaline seta also ( wlien a seta is 

 present), and have the habit of retaining the capsule in the 

 perianth till the spores are mature, at which stage the' delicate 

 seta develops rapidly — often in one day — to its full length, 

 which may be up to an inch or more ; then the capsule bursts, 

 disperses its spores, and then disai)pears as rapidly as it arrived. 



In view c^f this Ijeing the usual case in nature, it is worthy 

 of mention that in carefully dried specimens the l)urst capsules 

 are as easily preserved as the foliage, and I have man}- South 

 African specimens 25 years old, and some European specimens 

 50 years old, in which the burst capsules, as well as the spores 

 and elaters. are in good form, and as ht for examination to-day 

 as when alive. 



1 have already referred to the spiral elaters foutid in the 

 capsule among the spores, and would only add that either these 

 elaters, or in the lower forms sterile cells, are i)resent in ever\' 

 case in the Hepatic^e except Riccia, and never in the mosses. 



In their early stages the\- are shortly cylindrical cells, often 

 loose, in each of which either one or two S])iral bands are closely 

 coiled. 



Before maturity of the spores the cell-wall of the elater 

 entirely breaks down, releasing the coil, which lengthens out, 

 but still retains its spiral or two-s]:)iral form, these respective 

 conditions holding good through large orders, which are evi- 

 dently homogeneous, quite ai)art from this minute character. 



The function of the elater is still undecided, some claiming 

 that its contents aid the nutrition of the young spores ; others 

 that it aids spore distribution. Probably it has its use in both 

 these directions. 



What has been said so far has been culled from South 

 African examples, though, of course, much of it applies to 

 Hepaticc'e in general. 



But in regard to the Hepatic^e of South Africa it may be 

 further stated that the list attached hereto shows that the local 

 flora is fairly representative of the Hepatic flora of the whole 

 world. Tn a general way it may be said that almost all the 



