132 ON ANOMOCLADA. 



One of these groups {Ht/grolejetmea, mihi) consists of fine large-leaved 

 species, such as L. cerina, L. et L., L. rotimdifolia, llitt., &c., which 

 inhabit cliiefly the slopes of the Anrles, up to a great elevation, 

 although one or two species descend into the plains ; hut the most 

 curious species is one that I have called Lejeunea Spongia. n.sp , whose 

 densely-packed bipinnate stems form round balls, two inches in dia- 

 meter, pale-green without, white within, on the twigs of trees on 

 Mount Tunguragua, at 2500 to 3000 metres. These vegetable sponges 

 are so constantly full of water that I have occasionally slaked my 

 thirst by squeezing one into my mouth ; for along nearly the whole 

 northern slope of Tunguragua there is no visible stream of fresh water, 

 nor has thci-e been since the great eruption of 1773, when the 

 streams all sunk into the earth, and now burst forth at once— some- 

 times in consideralde volume — from the cliff at the base of the moun- 

 tain into the river Pastasa, which rushes down the gorge of Bafios, 

 into the forest of Canelos, and thence emerges with a placid course on 

 the Amazonian plain. 



The second hygrophorous group of Lejeunea: is confined entirely to 

 the plain, where it abounds on prostrate rotting trunks. The two 

 groups are widely distinct in character, even the cellular structure 

 being different, and have only in common the very pale colour when 

 fresh — often changing to lurid brown when dry — and the densely- 

 stratified mode of growth ; the latter peculiarity being the only 

 one I can find to account for their unwonted rettntiveness of mois- 

 ture. 



In treating of a family which has already been elaborately studied, 

 and has acquired a literature of its own, it is felt to be desirable to 

 conform to the terminology sanctioned by usage, even when not always 

 so correct and expressive as it might be ; but there are cases where a 

 departure from this principle becomes imperative, as, for instance, 

 where the meaning attached to any term is opposed to what it bears 

 Avhen applied to other families of j>lants. The terms dorxal and ventral, 

 as applied to Hepaticnc, is a case in point, the former having been 

 used (first, I believe, by Nees ab Escnbeck) for the upper surface, the 

 latter for the under surface of the stem or of the frond, in accordance 

 with some fancied resemblance to a crawling insect. The postical 

 leaves, which were called stipules by Hooker and the older authors, 

 have been called, in conformity with this new way of looking at the 

 plant, amphigastria — a notable example of the modern practice of 

 giving a complex Greek name to a thing, and then fancying we have 

 proved it qiiite distinct from whatever bears a merely vulgar name, 

 Long years ago I pointed out to the late Dr. Taylor, of Dunkerron, 

 how inconvenient it was to find authors speaking of dorsal Ferns — 

 meaning thereby Ferns which bore their fr<iit on the back, or tinder 

 surface, of the frond — and of the hack of the stem of a Jtingermannia, 

 or of the dorsal\6hc of the leaf, when they meant the u}oper snriace, or 

 vpper lobe. He replied, " You rightly complain of this ambiguity, and 

 the man who first called the stipules belhj-hands (amphigastria) has 

 much to answer for." To the end of his career he never willingly 

 called them anything but " stipules." To take another instance of 

 the mischief caused by this tergiversation, I have before me a large 



