BEITISH HEPATICiE. 33 



^ mi/nor. Shoots crowded, erect, i" in length, by t^" to ■^" ; 

 leaves ovate, sub-squarrose, tipper ones saccate ; capsule sph^* 

 rical. 



Carring. Irish Cryptog. p. 21, PJ. II. f. 1. 



7 flagellifera. Fertile stems only ascending ; flagellse numerous, 

 very slender, creeping, radiculose. 



Hab. Gam precipice, near Snowdon, Mar. 1830, W. Wilson ! Guthrie -woods. 

 Glen Esk, A. Groall ! Wet rocks, Kentmere, Oct. 1872, G. Stabler! Llanberis, 

 G. E. Hunt. Killamey, Tore Mountain, 1823, W. Wilson ! /3 Cromaglan, fr. June 

 1861 ! Kildale, North York, W. Mudd ! Banks of Forfar Burn, fr. 1862, A. Croall ! 

 y near Romach, Murray, 1848, A. Croall. Strachan, Aberdeen, Nov. 1872, J. Sim ! 



Met with in various parts of Northern and Central Europe. 



Forming compact tufts on damp rocks, of a deep green colour, and producing 

 abundant fructification in early summer. 



Primary stems rather stout, herbaceous, radiculose, creeping. 

 Fertile shoots (f. 35, 2) erect, simple, or innovant from below the 

 apex, -J" to 1" long, by -^" to -^" in diameter, clothed on the under- 

 side with purple or claret-coloured rootlets. 



Flagella at first very slender, arising either from the primary 

 stems, in which case they are prostrate and rooted to the ground, 

 at length ascending, or from below the apex of the fertile shoots, 

 normally from their inferior aspect. 



Leaves (f. 35, 4, 5) rather distant, about ^" in length, subver- 

 tical, distichous, patent or patent-reflexed, round, roundish-ovate, 

 or ovate, upper half plane or recurved, from a ventricose or sub- 

 vaginate base ; margin entire, rarely retuse or undulate, incumbent 

 in tlie upper leaves, lower ones more obliquely amplexicaul, less 

 saccate at the base, and decurrent for a short space. On the inno- 

 vant stems the leaves are much smaller. From the contraction and 

 convexity of the base, the upper part appears relatively broader than 

 it really is (f. 35, 4), and the form may be mistaken for obovate, 

 whereas only in the involucral ones is it truly so. 



Texture firm, not much altered when dry, less thick and undu- 

 late than in N. hyalina, and wanting the peculiar frosted lustre of 

 that species. 



Colour deep green, sometimes tinged with brown or purple, 

 turning nearly black when dry. When recent, the plant gives out 

 an aromatic smell like LopJiocolea heterophylla, but fainter. 



The leaf -cells (f. 35, 6) are well defined, with thin walls, and 

 distinct trigones at the angles ; within the cells are numerous green 

 chlorophyll granules. Marginal cells pretty uniform in size, sto'j 

 quadrate, the walls thicker ; those of the upper third hexagonal, 

 ■880^" ^y 70^" > basal cells more elongate, yot ' broad by -g^" long. 



Dr. Gottsche (in Hep. Eur. Ex. n. 266) states " that the cuticle 

 of the leaves is delicately striate-papillose {gestrichelt-blattrig), which 



