Ant/wceros.-] HEPATIC^. 217 



somewhat dichotomously divided into short, rounded segments, 

 which are waved and broadly notched at the margin, some- 

 times even laciniated, the segments, however, always obtuse. 

 The texture is between fleshy and membranaceous, j inclining to 

 the former, generally of a darkish green colour, paler at the 

 margins. The cellules are distinct, oblong, and furnished with a 

 pore in the centre ; there is no midrib, and the fibrous radicles 

 spring from various parts of the under surface of the fronds ; 

 the male and female fructification generally abundant on the 

 same individual. The anthers are exactly sphaerical, shortly 

 pedicellated, of a yellowish orange colour, included in cup- 

 shaped receptacles on the upper surface of the fronds, and these 

 receptacles are deeply and sharply laciniated. The female 

 fructification, of which there are several on each frond, make 

 their first appearance in the form of conical tubercles of the 

 same colour and texture as the frond itself ; and, indeed, formed 

 of the epidermis. In a short time, these, which we have called 

 the perianths, reach to the height of about two lines, become 

 cylindrical, opening at the mouth with a truncated, rather 

 jagged orifice ; whence proceeds a linear-subulate, slightly 

 curved capsule, which, reaching to the height of about two 

 inches, and elevated upon a succulent fruitstalk scarcely longer 

 than the perianth, bursts, from the extremity, into two narrow 

 linear valves which are partially twisted round each other. 

 The opening of the capsule presents a central filament or 

 columella, equal in length to the capsule, and covered with 

 numerous roundish, opaque, brown seeds, each of which is 

 marked by lines, indicating its being composed of three or four 

 smaller bodies ; these are attached by means of short simple 

 or forked, rather flat, brownish, semipellucid stalks, which have 

 no appearances of a double spiral helix, as figured by Schmidel. 



Besides the two organs of fructification described above, we 

 find imbedded in the surface of the frond, oval or elliptical, 

 compactly granulated, dark green bodies, similar to what have 

 been observed in Jungermannia Blasia. 



We have been surprised to find an increased difficulty, as our 

 investigations proceeded, in discriminating between the A. punc- 

 tatus and A. lavis, two species which have been adopted by all pre- 



