A new Californian liverwort. 
DOUGLAS HOUGHTON CAMPBELL. 
WITH PLATE Il, 
In March of last year the writer received from San Diego 
a liverwort, which on examination seemed to differ very much 
from any described form, and was therefore subjected to a 
somewhat careful study. An investigation of the structure of 
the plant showed such marked peculiarities that it could not 
be satisfactorily referred to any described genus, and there- 
fore it seemed necessary that a new genus should be estab- 
lished to contain it. For this the name Geothallus is pro- 
posed. 
The plants were growing in company with Ophtoglossum 
nudicaule, and were collected by Mrs. Brandegee, to whom 
am also indebted for additional specimens which made it pos- 
sible to determine the most important points of structure, and 
the systematic position of the plant. 
When the specimens of Ophioglossum were received, they 
were not examined immediately, but the clods of earth upon 
which they were growing were watered, and placed under bell- 
jars, where they were left undisturbed for a week or more. 
When they were examined, at the end of this time, my atten- 
tion was at once drawn to a number of bright green, palm- 
ately lobed little plants which had not been noticed when the 
Specimens were first received. They were evidently thallose 
liverworts of some kind whose growth had been stimulated by 
the moisture under the bell-jar. A careful examination of 
Schiffner’s Hepaticze! failed to throw any light upon the sys- 
tematic position of the plant, and specimens were then sent 
to Dr. L. M. Underwood, who reported that it was a form 
quite new to him. There were no sporogonia found in the 
first lot of specimens, but later these were obtained when it 
Was evident that the plant belonged to the group of anacrog- 
ynous Jungermanniacee to which Goebel* gives the name 
Anelaterez, owing to the absence of perfect elaters. As at 
Present but a single genus belonging to this group, Sphero- 
ee and Prantl, Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien 90, oT. 
el, Die Muscineen. Schenk’s Handbuch der Botanik 2: 363. 
[9] 
