The Genus Riccardia in Chile. 159 



surface of the inflorescence being thus sHghtly roughened. The 

 writer has seen no female plants of R. coiiifnifra. According to 

 Stephani's description the female branch is very short and shortly 

 lobulate along the margin, while the "calyptra" is smooth, 

 subcylindrical, and tipped with a large corona. This structure, 

 which gives the name to the species, is further described as being 

 smooth, conical, obtuse, and composed of large connate cells, 

 radiately disposed. 



In the preceding description the attempt has been made to distin- 

 guish various kinds of vegetative branches. It should be under- 

 stood, however, that these are connected by all possible intergrada- 

 tions. The large cells on the upper surface of the thallus, which 

 represent one of the most distinctive features of R. conimitra, 

 were emphasized by Stephani, although he made the error of refer- 

 ring them to the lower surface, rather than to the upper. On the 

 slender branches these cells tend to be especially distinct. Unfor- 

 tunately they are not always clearly differentiated. The stolons 

 do not show them at all, and the ordinary flat branches sometimes 

 exhibit a very slight contrast in width between the cells. Another 

 feature which deserves emphasis is found in the narrow partitions 

 between the antheridial chambers ; even at the mouths these parti- 

 tions are usually only one cell across, although in most species they 

 are two cells across or more. 



It will perhaps be sufficient to compare R. conimitra with 

 R. fuscohninnca and R. olciconiis. It is a far more flaccid plant 

 than either of these species, owing perhaps to the much larger cells 

 of which it is composed. The large cells on the upper surface, 

 conspicuously wider than the other cells, afford another important 

 distinction. In R. fuscobninnea and R. alcicornis the contrast in 

 width between the cells is very slight ; and, if any contrast at all is 

 present, it is the surface layer which shows the narrowest cells. 

 The long and slender attenuate branches, which R. conimitra 

 develops so freely, likewise deserve mention. Such branches are 

 rarely or never produced by the other two species, where the 

 ultimate branches are blunt and usually short. 



15. Riccardia autoica (Steph.) comb. nov. 

 Aneiiro autoica Steph. Bull. Herb. Boissier 7: 691. 1899. 



Specimens examined: on rotten logs, valley of the Rio Aysen, 

 western Patagonia, 1897, Dusen 2p8 (U., type of A. autoica). 



