﻿104 Dixon: New and rare Australasian 



desired that it should be refound. It has nothing in common 

 with Bryum hlandum except the obtuse apex of the concave leaves. 

 It is very distinct in the densely crowded tightly imbricated small 

 rounded leaves, the character of the areolation, and the imperfect 

 peristome. 



Philonotis australis surculigera Dixon, var. nov. 



Caules stricti, condensati, basi haud tomentosi, 4-5 cm. alti, 

 simplices, foliis patentibus haud falcatis; per totam longitudinem 

 inter folia surculis gemmiformibus minutis foliosis dense conjertis 

 omnino ohtecti. 



Habitat: Otago, New Zealand, D. Petrie. 



This plant was received from Mr. Petrie with a note in the 

 hand of W. Bell indicating that he considered it a Bryum, "prob- 

 ably new, and may stand near Wahlenbergii." In spite of its 

 resemblance to this species, however, it is a Philonotis, of a very 

 striking appearance, but the structure of the leaves shows it to 

 be too near to P. australis (Mitt.) Jaeg. to be specifically separated. 

 The stems are densely clothed, so as to be almost hidden, nearly 

 from the very base, with innumerable brood-bodies, in the form 

 of minute ramuli, of the nature of dwarf plantlets, each composed 

 of a short stem with numerous ovate-lanceolate sharply denticulate 

 nerveless leaves. 



Somewhat similar forms occur in several of the European 

 species of Philonotis, but in those I have seen the branchlets are 

 usually almost normally formed, but small, numerous and very 

 caducous; here they are much specialized and more distinctly of 

 the nature of "brood-bodies." In size they bear about the same 

 proportion to the leaves as do the gemmae of Pohlia proligera 

 Lindb. to its leaves. 



Thamnium baculiferum Dixon, sp. nov. 

 Plate 9, figure 10 

 Rohustum, caulis secundarius rigidus, 7 cm. longus vel ultra, 

 curvatus, supra sub-pinnate ramosus, frondem percomplanatam 

 instruens; inferne simplex vel hie illic surculum tenuem perfecte 

 strictum, teretem baculiformem gerens. Rami inaequales, com- 

 planato-compressi, hie illic divisi, ad 3 cm. longi, 4-5 mm. lati, 

 virides, nitentes. Folia complanata, paullo decurva, subconcava. 



