HANDBOOK OF BRITISH HEPATIOE. 257 



Capsule four-valved, coriaceous, valves bear- 

 ing elaters at their apex. Elaters terminal, 

 solitary, naked, persistent. Raddi. Jung. 

 Etrusc., p. 45, 1820. 



Plants without leaves, frondose, fronds costate. 



Metzgeria furcata, Linn. 



Frond creeping, linear, dichotomous, mar- 

 gin ciliate, nerve villose. 



Jungermannia furcata, Linn. Sp. 1602 ; 

 Hook. Br. Jung. t. 55, 56; Eng. Bot. 

 t. 1632. Metzgeria furcata, Dum. Rev. Jung, 

 p. 26 ; Gott. and Rab. Exs. No. 31, 119, 120, 

 I 79, 2 74> 357 ; Carr - and Pears. Exs. 72, 73 ; 

 Cooke Hep. figs. 179, 180, 181, 182. 



On trunks and on the ground. (Fr. Spring.) 



var. y ceruginosa, Hook. Fronds broader, 

 dilated at the apex, quite obtuse. Jung. 

 fruticulosa, Eng. Bot. t. 2514. 



Growing in dense patches, closely pressed to the 

 surface. Fronds i to i inch long, creeping, horizontal, 

 overlying each other in an imbricated manner, 

 linear, thin, membranaceous, slightly waved, mar- 

 gins entire, always branched in a furcate manner, 

 with the branches forked for the most part at the 

 extremity, apices obtuse, upper surface smooth, 

 margin and under surface beset with stout ^white 

 hairs. Colour pale and pleasant green. Through- 

 out the frond and its branches runs a distinct central 



