BY B. CAEKINGTON', M.lD., F.E.S.,E. AKD W. H. PEARSON, ESQ. 5 



Habitat. — New Zealand, Dr. Buchanan (Herb. Leitgeb) ; 

 304, St. Crispin's Well, Mount Wellington, Hobart, Tas- 

 mania. E. A. Bastow. 



Balls-bead Bay, Sydney, N.S.W., T. Wbitelegge, June, 

 1885, 5 and $ cum per. 



Obs. — Prof. Leitgeb, of Graz, in tbe course of his valuable 

 researches tipon the structure of the Hepaticse, mentions 

 (Uber Zoopsis Mittheil. des ISTaturw., ver fiir Steiermark, 

 1876, p. 9) that he had found amongst a collection of 

 Hepaticse received from Dr. Buchanan, New Zealand, a tuft 

 which, according to his view, was a Zoopsis with perfectly 

 developed leaves, a portion of a stem of which he figures (fig. 

 10). A glance showed at once that our plant was identical 

 with it. 



Further on in this interesting paper Prof. Leitgeb con- 

 siders its relationship to the other species belonging to 

 this group, Z. argentea (Tayl.) Hook. f. and Z. setulosa 

 (Leitg.), without raising it to the rank of a species. The 

 large perfectly distinct succubous bifid leaves induce us to 

 do so, for whatever doubts there may have been prior to the 

 researches of Lindberg, Spruce, and Leitgeb as to the 

 including of Zoopsis amongst the foliose hepaticse, there can 

 be none in this interesting plant, to which, with Prof. 

 Leitgeb's permission, we attach his name. 



Geplialozia (Zoopsis) Leitgehiana is more slender and of a 

 less silvery aspect than the two known species and shrinks 

 more when dry. 



It supplies a connecting link between Zoopsis and Gepha- 

 lozia. 



In Zoopsis argentea the only trace of leaf structure consists 

 of very narrow oblong cells, which are placed longitudinally 

 on alternate tubercules at the sides of the main stems, while 

 in Zoopsis setulosa (Leitg.) the lateral tubercules each bear a 

 sharp terminal seta like the claw of a crab, the large cortical 

 cells of the stem giving it a vertebrate appearance, like the 

 backbone of a cartilaginous fish (ray or shark) are present 

 in all the species, as well as the simple binate underleaves. 

 The structure is very carefully described in Prof. Leitgeb's 

 paper, Uber Zoopsis, Graz, 1870, with figures. Prof. Leitgeb 

 appears to consider the three forms as modifications of one 

 species, and this view may be accepted in a Darwinian sense. 



Description of PI. III. — Fig. 1, plants nat. size; 2, ditto X 

 16 ; 3-4, cross section of stern X 85 ; 5, leaf, antical view X 

 85 ; 6, leaf, postical view X 85 ; 7-8, under leaves X 85 ; 9, 

 bract X 24 ; 10, bracteole X 24 ; 11, perianth X 24 ; 12, cross 

 section of perianth X 24 ; 13, pistillidium X 85; 14, perigonial 

 leaf X 85 ; 15, antheridium X 85. 



