16 BRITISH HEPATIC JE. 



Occasionally more tlian one capsule is found in tlie same in- 

 volucre. This variation is figured in Brit. Jung. t. xxvii. f. 11. 



Spores round, fulvous, r^g-o" in diameter. Maters shorter than 

 in the last species, bi-spiral, x^" to xlo" ^ou^ by x^so " broad. 



AndrcBcium spicate, terminal on distinct plants, sometimes in- 

 terrupted from the growth of innovations. Perigonial leaves closely 

 imbricated (f. 7, 10), gibbous at the base, the lobes acute, connivent. 



Antheridia 2 or 3, axillary, oval or obovate, olive-green, seated 

 on a slender 4- to 6-jointed pedicel (f. 7, 11). 



Gemma: are occasionally met with at the apex of the stem and 

 terminal leaves ; their form is elliptic, 2- or 3 -septate, and they are 

 of a pale brown colour. 



Na/rdia ema/rginata is one of the most easily distinguished of our common 

 Hepaticse. Ehrhart compared the form of leaf to a heart cut out of paper, and 

 although somewhat vague, this description is not inapt. When occurring in mass 

 on the face of some waterfall, or covering with its warm tints the rocks by a mountain 

 stream, it is one of the most beautiful and conspicuous of species. To me it bears the 

 greeting of an old friend, since it was the first Jungermannia I learnt to name, on my 

 only visit to the Clova district. 



N. rohusta, Lindberg, seems to me only a stouter variety, with nearly black stems 

 and more distant cordate leaves, which are seated at right angles with the stem, less 

 concave, sometimes plane or slightly convex, and of firmer texture. The colour is an 

 obscure Lndigo-green, turning black, but otherwise scarcely altered when dry. I have 

 received specimens of this form from Braemar, Mr. A. Groall ! Micklefell, /. G, Baker! 

 TwU Dhu, and Snowdon, G. E. Runt I It appears common in Finland. I feel doubtful 

 whether this is the /3 grandis, N. ab E. 



Some of the small forms from the Clova Mountains, &c. have a very distinct 

 appearance ; the stems in these seldom exceed half an inch. In yjvlacea, N. ab E., the 

 barren shoots are prostrate or ascending, and nearly terete ; the fertile ones are 

 shorter, and the involucre ovate, for the greater portion of its length immersed 

 (t. 7, 8). Another var. from Allen Water {R. Spruce, 1835) is repeatedly and fasci- 

 culately innovant, the terminal branches very slender and terete, and the leaves minute 

 obovate, deeply and obtusely lobed, erect, and closely imbricated. This approaches 

 Nardia densifolia y fasdcularis (G. & R. Hep. Eur. Ex. n. 458. c. icone) ; but in 

 that species the leaves are roundish-ovate, with shallow acute segments j and the 

 margins decidedly reflexed. 



Z picea (f. 7, 7) looks like a distinct species, as Dr. Gottsche, undoubtedly 

 our first authority on all matters relating to the Hepaticse, has determined. I 

 have not received the last part of the Hep. Eur. Ex., where it is published (n. 535). 

 My late Mend G. E. Hunt collected it by Loch Kandor, Aberdeen ! and Mr. A. Groall 

 on rocks near the Moraine Glen Esk. The fronds are intensely black, a warm brown 

 by transmitted light, barren shoots (^ in.) prostrate at the base, with pectinate-pinnate 

 leaves, exactly round, inflexed obtuse lobes, and acute sinus, equal to ^rd or \\h. of the 

 length, very convex, and narrowed at the base ; fertile shoots stouter, with large 

 involute involucral leaves, which nearly hide the short roundish involucre ; leaf-cells 

 smaller than in y minor ; the marginal ones more minute ; the perigonial leaves are 

 fewer in number and terminal. 



