CoLuURO-LEJEUNFA. 307 
subrectangulari-areolatis confectee. Elateres sub 20 (16-24), }™™ 
longi, 2 vel 3 utrique valvularnm lateri subapicali adfixi, persistentes, 
lineari-tubulosi, apice dilatati, fibram planam linearem sinuosam sed 
non spiraliter tortam includentes. Spores magne, plus minus 
oblongo-globose, pressione mutua polyheedre, asperulz. 
Obs. The habit of this plant is very peculiar, and unlike that of any 
other hepatic. From a short, prostrate caudex—adhering firmly by 
numerous long white radicles to twigs of small shrubs that grow on the 
rocky margin of the river Topo, a tributary of the Pastasa, and are per- 
petually moistened by the spray of its furiously-rushing waters—arise 
stout rootless stems, rarely much exceeding an inch in length, that are 
clad with large, distichous, transversely-inserted, obovate leaves, with 
crisped margins, entirely destitute of any trace of lobule, but accompanied 
by minute underleaves narrower than the stem and entirely concealed 
by it. From the base of each leaf (except a few of the lower leaves), and 
external to it springs a short branch, bearing a globose head of from 40 to 
60 minute whitish perianths. Anything more alien from the aspect of a 
Lejeunea cannot well be imagined, and great was my astonishment, on 
examining the perianths and fruit, to find them almost exact counter- 
parts of those of the subgenus Taxilejeunea. The inflorescence, however, 
is essentially different not only from that of every Lejewnea but from all 
other Jubulew, and it is only in the very young and still unrolled flowers 
that its nature can be accurately made out, for the male organs speedily 
fall away after fertilisation. A solitary convolute bract encloses not only 
several (4 to 7) antheridia but also the smaller postical bract (or bracteole), 
which in its turn involves the rudimentary perianth and its solitary 
pistillidium. The antheridia, by their globose form and slender arcuate 
stipes, recall the fruit of Phascum (Spherangium) triquetrum; and in the 
unopened bracts they are in direct contact with the stigmatic orifice of 
the pistillidium: an arrangement which apparently ensures self-fertilisa- 
tion. But the flower terminating each lateral axis of the capitulum is 
usually subtended by the bracteole alone, without any lateral bract or 
any trace of antheridia; yet it is always fertile and mostly larger than 
any of the other flowers. 
P.S.—On page 81, an important character of Stictolejeunea has been 
inadvertently omitted. After the description of the leaves should follow: 
“Folia axillaria (ad ramorum originem) cordata—haud exacte eequalia, 
auriculaé autem posticé paulo minore—neque solum semicordata, ac in 
ceteris foliis caulinis. Rami intra (nec extra) folii basin posticam inserti, 
quo caractere a ceteris omnibus Lejewneis discrepat et ad Jubulam proprius 
accedit. Folium axillare tamen pro more rami basin solum obvelat, 
rarius eodem leniter insidet.” 
By all essential characters of inflorescence and fruit Stictolejeunea agrees 
exactly with other Lejeunew Holostipe, viz., the monogynous ¢ flowers, 
the pedicel of 20 cells in each tier, the pale tender capsule, &e.—If any 
subgenera of Lejewnea merit more than others to be raised to the rank of 
genera, they are Myriocolea and Stictolejeunea. Nearly 30 years ago, after 
examining freshly-gathered specimens of the latter, and noting the ano- 
malous insertion of the branches, the symmetrically dotted leaves, and 
the curious flattened perianths, I entered it in my MS. as a distinct 
genus, and sent it to correspondents under the name Diotianthus Argus 
nov. gen. et sp. Finding later that the plant had already been enumerated 
