GENERAL NOTES ON THE FLORA 7 
quadrilobus, S. exsectus, Acrobolbus Wilsonii, Pedinophyl- 
lum wnterruptwm, Leptocyphus cuneifolius, Lophocolea 
spicata, Geocalyx graveolens, Prionolobus — striatulus, 
Cephaloziella Limprichtii, Adelanthus decipiens, Caly- 
pogera suecica, Radula Carringtonit, Cololejewnea Rosset- 
tiana, Leyeunea Macvicari, Drepanolejewnea hamatifolia. 
GENERAL NOTES ON THE FLORA 
As Hepatic usually form only a small part of the vege- 
tation of a country and are mostly confined to localities 
or habitats where there is a considerable amount of per- 
manent moisture, which must generally also be combined 
with shelter, their occurrence is local and is much less 
general than is the case with mosses. For ecological classi- 
fication they must be taken in conjunction with other 
Bryophytes to form subordinate communities or small 
patches of mixed vegetation. To this there is one excep- 
tion, where hepatics may be considered as dominant, namely 
about the summits of some of our highest mountains, of 
which Ben Lawers is the most distinctive. Here we have 
what Warming terms “ fell-field,” where the mean tempera- 
ture of the warmest month is low, rain and mist abound, the 
soil is cold and is never completely covered with vegetation. 
We find that near the summit of such a hill, hepaties, 
though occurring as scattered patches, form the dominant 
vegetation, and that we have thus an_hepatic-formation. 
The patches are low, flat, or cushion-like, the plants beng 
densely compact, the stems usually deeply buried in the 
soil, with only a small part above the surface; the leaves 
are nearly always imbricated and are mostly brown in 
colour. As most of the patches are formed by species 
belonging to the genus Marswpella and to the Marswpella- 
like section of Gymnomitrium, it may be named the 
Marsupella association. The species forming this associa- 
tion are Marsupella ustulata, M. condensata, Gymno- 
mitrium varians, G. crassifolium, G. adustum, G. con- 
cinnatum, G. corallioides, Nardia Breidleri, N. scalaris, 
Anthelia Juratzkana, A. julacea, Plewroclada albescens, 
