98 ERYTHEA. 



ty Calif i 



Hepaticse" is published a diag- 

 ' Mr. Austin at his death, of a 



Hepat 



bryophyte. 



Americanse, issued under the name Fnillania Nisquallensts ^ 

 Sulliv., was this plant, and the F. iamarisci (?) and F. unci- 

 flora^ yar, Calif ornica^ Gottsche MS. are mentioned, with 

 doubt, as synonyms. This is sufficient to indicate that every- 

 thing is not clear concerning the limits of this variety and its 

 synonomy. Two years' study of the Frullanias of California 

 has served to convince the writer of these notes that con- 

 fusion and uncertainty in regard to their specific limitations 

 should excite no wonder. The hepatic partially covered by 

 Mr. Austin's description presents itself in many forms, some 

 of which would make good species, as species go, if one 

 could decide just how to lay down the lines of demarcation. 

 Two of its phases, in my opinion, deserve to be distinguished 

 by varietal names. They may be characterized as follows: 



Frullania Asagrayana, Mont., var. Californica, Austin, 

 (emendata). 



From brown to nearly black, usually very densely matted; 

 irregularly pinnate, branches short; leaves orbicular to 

 obliquely ovate, mostly obtuse, horizontal or decurved, with 

 a few. cells of a deeper color scattered or very rarely in a 

 short median line; auricles oblong-galeate or sometimes 

 clavate, close to the stem; amphigastria subquadrate to 

 obovate, from once to thrice the width of the stem, emar- 

 ginate or bifid, sinus obtuse, segments acute, margins plane 

 or recurved at sides. 



Common in the San Francisco Bay region, growing in 

 dark, compact crusts upon rocks among mosses. Od logs it 

 occurs less densely matted and of a lighter color. Also col- 

 lected at Pacific Grove, Monterey Co., California. This 

 variety I have always found in a sterile condition. It differs 

 from specimens of F. Asagrayana from the eastern United 

 States in color, dense habit of growth, shape of amphigas- 



