44 FOSSOMBRONIA MITTENII. 



var. Sadleri would perhaps be better) in honour of the botanist who 

 first brought it to light. 



Sir J. D. Hooker (Student's Flora, 3rd ed. p. 463) observes of 

 C.fn'f/ida, ''a rare instance of an alpine Scotch plant not being 

 Scandinavian"; a remark which may still be true, but not in 

 reference to C. frif/ida Allioni. It is not unlikely that C. Sadleri 

 will be found to be an endemic form. 



The description of 0. fru/ida by Dr. Boswell-Syme (quoted in 

 Journ. Bot. 1875, 34, from ^^av^v. Boyal Bot. Soc. Edhib., with 

 plate 159) is drawn from descriptions or specimens of C. frU/ida 

 Allioni, some few particulars of Mr. Sadler's plant being appended. 

 The former part ends with a quoted definition of the nut: — "nut 

 brown, longly stipulate (sic), elliptical-trigonous, punctate." The 

 only specimen in the Boswell Herbarium of Sadler's collecting is 

 very immature ; and if, as is likely, Boswell had no better specimen 

 by him when he wrote the account of it in the Journal of Botafiy 

 (1. c), this may account for so acute an observer having made no 

 remark on the discrepancy between the description of the nut of 

 C.frigida Allioni and the nut of Sadler's plant. The fruit, however, 

 must have been collected fairly ripe on some of the original speci- 

 mens to account for the drawing of the nut in tab. 159. This 

 represents a mature specimen ; but the artist has drawn it upside 

 down, omitted the mucronate tip, and unduly sharpened the sub- 

 stipitate base, which should be short, stout, and truncate. 



I would take this opportunity of thanking Mr. Charles Bailey 

 for the loan of his fine series of C. J'rigida All. and continental 

 C. hinervis Sm. 



Explanation of Plate 382a. — 1. C.frigida All,, rootstock. 2,3. Ditto, 

 nut exposed. 4 a. Ditto, perigynium, immature. 4&. Ditto, mature. 5. C. hi- 

 nervis Sm. var. Sadleri, rootstock. 6. Ditto, perigynium. 7. Ditto, nuts. 

 8. C. hinervis Sm., rootstock. 9. Ditto, perigynium. 10. Ditto, nuts. 



FOSSOMBRONIA MITTENII, n. sp. 



By Ella M. Tindall. 



(Plate 382 b.) 



Plant small, bright yellowish green, slightly larger and less 

 delicate than Fossombronia cristata Lindbg., but smaller than 

 F. pusilla L. Stem 4-5 mm. in length, ^ mm. in width, simple, 

 prostrate, creeping, fragile. Rootlets numerous, of medium length, 

 bright reddish purple in colour, giving the stem the appearance of 

 being purple throughout. Leaves overlapping each other by about 

 one-third of their breadth, more crenulate than lobed, much crisped, 

 slightly angled, the breadth being greater than the height in the 

 proportion of one to three-fourths, very pellucid, consisting of only 

 one layer of cells throughout the leaf, the cells at the base being 

 irregularly elongated and much larger than those at the edge of the 



