WEST INDIA X IIEPATIC.F, 219 



is therefore probabl}^ dioicous ; whereas I have never seen L. chcdro- 

 phylla without perianths ; nor is any mention made of the cordate 

 base of the stipules, so conspicuous in the latter." 



The next reference to the subject is the note under O. Sieheriana 

 by Evans, /. c. 189 : " Lejeunea clicBropliyUa is here reduced to 

 0. Sieberiana on the authority of Schiffner, who is supported in his 

 statements by Stephani. Both of these writers examined Sieber's 

 type. According to Stephani, Spruce himself at one time acquiesced 

 in the reduction ; but apparently he changed his mind later, as in 

 Hep. Elliottianae — published shortly after his death, it is maintained 

 that both species are distinct. The specimens of L. cliceropliylla 

 distributed in Hep. Spruceanie have entire underleaves and perichietial 

 bracteoles, and to this extent differ from many of the West Indian 

 forms of O. ^ieheriana, but as the denticulation of these parts is 

 always variable, this slight difference can hardly be considered 

 sufficient to separate the species." 



L. Sieheriana was published in Syn. Hej). p. 828 : ** Habitat in 

 Memecylo cordaio^ Insula? St. Mauritii (Sieber, Floi-a mixta n. 170)." 

 Evans (/. c. p. 189) says ** The tj^pe-specimens are said to have been 

 collected on the island of Mauritius, but Stephani looks upon this 

 statement as an error due to the mixing of labels and concludes that 

 Sieber's specimens also came from Tropical America. At all events 

 the species has not recently been collected in Africa." 



Mr. Gepp, to whom we owe the editing and publication of Hep. 

 Elliottianae, writes : *' In reply to your letter about O. clicdropliylla 

 & O. Sieheriana, I see that Stephani sa^^s in Hedwigia (xxxiv. 1895, 

 pp. 238-9), very distinctly, that he sent part of the type of L. Sieher- 

 iana to Spruce several years before his death, and that Spruce at once 

 recognised in it his L. clicerophylla, but changed his views later in 

 Hep. Elliottianae ; that L. cli(propliyUa is a Tropical American 

 species, and that L. Sieheriana is alleged to have come from 

 Mauritius, but that he [Stephani] has already put that right (I do 

 not know where) ; it does not grow in East Africa, the place of 

 origin is false, since Sieber on his journey let his Hepaticae get 

 mixed ; both plants belong therefore to the Tropical American flora 

 and are doubtless identical: therefore Spruce's name cA^ro/^ 7/ y/Z/« is 

 struck out." 



Sieber never went to South America ; but he did go to Mauritius, 

 New South Wales and the Cape, in his voyage in 1822-24. 

 According to Urban (Symb. Antill. iii. 126) he financed other 

 travellers, viz. : — F. Kohaut to Martinique (1819-21) ; Hilsenberg & 

 Bojer to Mauritius and Madagascar (1821-3); F. Kohaut & Jos. 

 Schmidtto Senegal (1822) ; F. Wrbna to Trinidad (1822) ; C. Zeyher 

 to the Cape (1822). 



Urban says that the " Flora Mixta " contains some Martinique 

 plants ; I have never found out why it was called *' Flora Mixta " ; 

 possibly it was because it contained specimens from more than one 

 country and from more than one collector. 



The fact that the original type of i. Sieheriana was growing on 

 leaves of Ilemecylon cordatuin, a Melastomaceous plant onlv recorded 



