HANDBOOK OF BRITISH HEPATIC^. 209 



bifid ; segments acute ; bracts larger than the 

 leaves, innermost free, or sometimes con- 

 fluent. 



Sarcoscyphus confertus, Limpr. Jahres. 

 Schles. Ges., 1880, p. 313. Gymnomitrium 

 confertum, Limpr. Flora, 1881 ; Marsupella 

 conferta, Spruce Journ. Bot., Sept., 1892, t. 

 327 ; Revue Bryol., 1881, p. 95. 



In Alpine situations. 



Autoicous,caespitoseorstragglingamongst mosses, 

 pale yellowish green to reddish brown. Stems 

 simple, ^ to i inch long, or branched, prostrate, 

 flexuous, filiform, terete, denudate at the base, 

 branches short, ascending, cortical cells with slightly 

 firmer walls, radiculose, rootlets fasciculate, short. 

 Leaves closely imbricate, bifarious from a vaginate 

 base, appressed, erect, on fertile stems gradually ac- 

 crescent, oval, bifid to about one-fifth, sinus and 

 segments acute. Cells minute, or very minute, 

 indistinctly 5-6 angled. Female flowers terminal 

 on short branches, or on main stem, bracts larger 

 than the leaves, oval or oval rotund, innermost bracts 

 free (or sometimes united into a tube), small, tender, 

 margin irregular. Archegonia five to ten, dispersed 

 over the calyptra. Pedicel long, thick, capsule dark 

 brown, almost spherical. Spores yellowish-brown, 

 granulate. Elaters three to four spired, sometimes 

 furcate. Andraecia spicate on the main stem or 

 short branches. Male bracts ovate, a little swollen 

 at the base. Antheridia solitary, stipitate. (Plate 5, 

 fig- 63) 



