ON AJSrOMOCLADA. J 31 



thau the Pi/iguicula, with no probable benefit to the Fern. Vast numbers 

 of tropical plants are (apparently) as uselessly insecticidal as that 

 fern. Some of the viscid Nyctaginea3 would be so stuck over and dis- 

 figured with dead flies that I have had difficulty in selecting present- 

 able specimens. Of some large trees, every pedicel is a "limed 

 twig," set to catch the little " winged souls." Even the consideration 

 of the almost limitless reproductivity of Nature does not reconcile one 

 to the wanton cruelty of this massacre of the innocents. In some 

 cases, however, the capture of insects may subserve the fertilisation 

 of the flowers. I have often seen flies, and even large moths, ensnared 

 on the large peltate, or radiate, and very viscid stigma of the Guttifers 

 (Clusiacece), and I have thought that possibly no female flower of a 

 dioicous species of that family, especially of the genus Clusia, was ever 

 fertilised without the immolation of one or more insects. 



The remarkable mucosity of Anomoclada set me on the watch for 

 other Hepatics similarly aff'ected ; but although I went on collecting 

 for many years afterwards, I never met with another instance. It is 

 common to see on many of the Jungermannice of our heaths and rocks 

 (e.g., ventricosa, exsecta, attenuata, &c.) — less frequently on those of the 

 tropics — the apical cells of the young upper leaves breaking up into 

 what are called gemmcB {gonidia, Lindberg) — not, however, pouring out 

 their contents in the shape of crude mucus, but previously so far 

 organising them that when the gemmaj after awhile fall away they are 

 capable of giving birth to a new plant. Free mucus is, indeed, found in 

 many species at the base of the growing calyptra, both externally and 

 internally ; in the latter case it probably goes to the nourishment of the 

 young capsule, and plainly originates in protoplasm, liberated, in the 

 first instance, by the dissolution of the axial cells of the pistillidium, 

 whereby the antherozoids obtain access to the interior of the latter and 

 efl'ect its fertilisation. In Hepatics which have no perianth, but only 

 a large naked calyptra, this is often seen suff'used with mucus up to 

 the maturation of the fruit, as is particularly noticeable in Symphyo- 

 gxjna. My specimens of S. Brongniartii, Mont., have the mucus per- 

 sistent even in the dried state, making the calyptra appear coated with 

 thin parchment, and when moistened swelling out into a thick gela- 

 tinous coat, which hides the numerous minute papillae that stud the 

 surface of the calyptra and have probably exuded the mucus. In most 

 tropical Aneurm there is a similar mucous covering to the calyptra. 

 which makes it difiicult to separate the specimens from the drying- 

 paper, and usually remains adhering to the calyptra in the form of 

 shreds, which look at first sight like an exfoliating cuticle. I have 

 no evidence of similar mucosity in European Aneurce, but it pro- 

 bably exists, and I invite the aid of botanists to determine the actual 

 fact. 



If I found no more mucous Hepatics, I came on several which had 

 an extraordinary power of retaining the water of rains. With the 

 exception of a few species, all leafy Hepatics absorb moisture rapidly ; 

 but there are two groups, or subgenera, of Lejeunea, the species of 

 which are nearly always seen saturated with moisture, notwithstanding 

 that a few consecutive days of hot sunny weather — which is the 

 nearest approach to a dry season they ever experience — may have 

 shrivelled up most other Hepatics and Mosses in their neighbourhood. 



K 2 



