BRITISH HEPATICiE, 41 



Spores dark-brown, ■^^" in diameter, roundish, 

 ^tos bi-spiral, ^" to T^" long, by xAo" broad. 

 ^ Male snoots more slender and divided. Ferigonial leaves ter- 

 minal on the ultimate shoots, scarcely differing from the rest, 

 except in their more connivent lobes, whicli embrace the antheridia 

 like the fingers of a hand. 



_ Antheridia unusually large, solitary, globose, the outer wall dis- 

 tinct, composed of tabular translucent cells ; contents of a deep- 

 green colour; pedicel slender, jointed. 



Obs. — One of the noblest and most interesting of our native Hepaticse, reminding 

 us of some tropical types, and not likely to be confounded with any local species. 



Considering the characteristic figures of both species in the Historia Muscorum, it 

 seems, indeed, astonishing that British authors, such as Hudson and Withering, should 

 have confounded T. tomentella with J. ciliaris, the fronds of which are of a rich purple- 

 brown colour, and with incubous leaves, which are ciliated at the margins only. 



The description of Dillenius is very accurate, but he seems to have thought the 

 amphigastria intended to attach the plant to the ground, having, probably, overlooked 

 the rootlets at their base. 



" Rami secundarii (he writes) nervos tenues habent, et foliolis frequentissimis 

 vestiuntur, primarii verb, seu caule^, pro plantss ratione crassi sunt, foliis non sequi 

 crebris cincti supernS et per margines, infern§ autem geniculati sunt, foliis latisculis 

 vUlosis, quibus humi figitur, tecti." 



Pl. X. Fig. 32. — 1. Portion of fertile shoot natwml size. 2. Stern-leaf x 8. 3. 

 Fart of one of the lobes more highly magnified. 4. Scale detached from apex of im- 

 matv/re perichcetium, and abortive pistillidium. 5. Amphigastrium x 60. 6. Involucre 

 longitudinally divided, showing the included capsule. 



V. ACROBOLBUS, N. ab U. 



' Acrobolbus, N. ab E. in G. L. N; Syn. Hep. p. 5, n. iii. (1844). 

 Gymnanthe (ex parte), Taylor, in Hook. Lond. Journ, Bot. iii. p. 377 (1844), et 

 Hook. fil. Crvp. Antarct. p. 41, n. 7 (1845) ; Lehm. Pugill. viii. p. 1 (1844) ; Gottsche, 

 in Nov. Act. Acad. Cses. Leop. xxi. P. II. p. 425, t. 32, f. 22. 27 (1845); G. L. N. 

 Syn. Hep. p. 192, n. xvi. (1845). 



Involucre terminal, obovate, seated at right angles with the stem, 

 bulbous and rooting on the ventral aspect. Colesule wanting. 



Calyptra attached to the bulbous base of the receptacle, sur- 

 rounded by, and concrete with, the entire portion of the involucre, 

 and bearing around the apex the abortive pistillidia. 



Antheridia terminal on separate shoots. 



Fronds small, creeping, semi-parastic, with the habit of Jung. 

 capitata, Hook. 



Leaves succubous, ascending, bi-lobed. Amphigastria absent 

 from the ordinary stems. 



Derivation — uxpog, summit; and ^oT^^og, a bulb. 



Obs. — Acrobolbus differs from Gymnanthe, with which it is generally united, by 

 the less perfect metamorphosis of the " torus genitalis," so that it is simply bulbous at 



