300 Alexander IV. Evans, 



species into Brazil and stated that it occurred abundantly at the 

 bottom of moist and mossy rocks on the "Montagne d'Estrella." 

 According to his account M. chenopoda is distinguished from 

 all the other species of Marchantia by its receptacles, which are 

 truncate on one side. He adds that in the male receptacle the 

 upper surface is plane and that the four parts or lobes are unequal 

 in length, and he criticises Plumier for comparing this receptacle 

 with a goose's foot; in his opinion it is more like the foot of a 

 pigeon. Of course this criticism has no weight, since Plumier 

 drew his account entirely from female receptacles. According 

 to Raddi the disc of the female receptacle is strongly convex 

 and either entire or very shortly divided, bearing on the lower 

 surface four fleshy or rib-like swellings, between which are borne 

 the capsules, much as in M. polymorpha. He notes further that 

 the upper surface of the thallus is areolate and perforated by 

 white vesicles and that the lower surface is violet except along 

 the margin, where it is green. Although Raddi's specimens have 

 not been available for study it is evident that he had the true 

 M. chenopoda before him. Not only is his description unusually 

 clear, but the species has since been collected in other Brazilian 

 localities. 



In 1835 Taylor published an account of the Marchantiaceae 

 which had come under his observation. In his description of 

 M. chenopoda'^^ he comments on the inaccuracies of Plumier's 

 figures and quotes them doubtfully, although it was upon 

 Plumier's work that the species was primarily based. Accord- 

 ing to Taylor the female receptacle is hemispherical and divided 

 into from eight to ten truncate laciniae, each bearing underneath 

 a single involucre with ciliate or serrulate margins. He notes 

 further that the stalk of the receptacle has two rhizoid-furrows 

 and adds interesting statements about the scales on the vegetative 

 thallus and about the cupules. The scales, in his words, have an 

 entire and broadly ovate base, then a deep constriction at about 

 the middle, and then a broadly ovate and ciliate expansion (the 

 latter being what is now known as the appendage). In the 

 cupules he speaks particularly of the serrate margin. It will 

 be seen at once that Taylor's account of the female receptacle 

 is very different from that of his predecessors, and the speci- 

 mens in his herbarium show that it was drawn from M. domin- 



« Trans. Linn. Soc. 17 : 379- pl- ^2, f. 2. 1835. 



