136 BRYOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND. 
simply, due to the more or less complete 1 immersion of the capsules from time to 
time in sea-water. In support of this there are the following considerations : 
Up to a late stage in its growth the capsule developes in a normal Pottioid 
manner, and until dehiscence takes place there is nothing to indicate any 
abnormal condition Now, in truly cleistocarpous mosses the capsule is as 
often as not apiculate, but the quasi-operculum is rarely longly-beaked as it 
is in this case. Moreover, all the capsules I have examined at the stage of 
dehiscence bear ail the aiieirsnse of having the exothecium in an unhealthy, 
-not to say thoroughly rotten condition ; and it is evident re the particular 
zone chosen for dehiscence is only a ‘fortuitous one, not morphologically 
differentiated, from the fact that the capsule-wall continues to break away 
farther and farther in a more or less horizontal outline, so that overmature 
tufts show the bulk of the capsules nearly entirely disappeared, only a 
small truncate soars of each left remaining on the seta, like miniature 
champagne-glass 
On the shies hail if the fruit were normally stegocarpous one would 
certainly expect the mature but intact capsule to show at the base of the 
lid a circle of more or less differentiated cells marking the line where the 
lid should normally separate, but in the examples | have examined there is 
scarcely a trace of this. e exact morphological value a the structure 
will probably only be settled by careful examination in the A kno 
ledge of the exact conditions under which the two allied plants P. disrumpens 
(C. M.) and P. splachnoides (Hornsch.), were found would also assist in 
sintesting the problem. 
spores measure 30-36 ». The superficial cells are often markedly 
turgid aie pellucid. 
Roth (Aus ae gts rors Laubm., i, 217) gives See the synonymy of 
eee species “ Phascum ©. M. in Hedw., 1898, p. ” The reference, 
however, is & aie 0 one, and I am unable ‘to male 
do not know that P. maritima has been found elsewhere since Bro 
collected it in Heathcote Estuary, near Christchurch, in 1896, and Searell 
in the same year. 
2. Pottia zealandiae (R. Br. ter.) Par., Ind. Suppl., 1, p. 
Syn. ee zealandiae R. Br. ter. in Trans. N. 3 last, vol. 30, 
p. 413 (1898). 
A sca species, distinct from the other New Zealand species hitherto 
recognized in having a rudimentary, often fragmentary pale consisting 
principally of a short, pale, papillose basal membrane, as also e very 
shortly conical lid. The leaves are minute, widely oval; shorty: apiculate, 
with the margin narrowly recurved. It is closely allied to the edt 
P. minutula Fiirnr. and its allies, scarcely indeed separable from P. comm 
tata Limpr. in most characters, see in one marked particular it is Geek 
nearer to P. Starkeana C. M.— the spores, which are from 16-22 p in 
size, coarsely tuberculate like thin 4 bags filled with apples,” as Venturi has 
remarked. 
Brown collected it on sandy soil in the Christchurch Domain; I have 
- not seen it except in his herbarium 
3. Pottia Heimii (Hedw.), Bry. eur.., fasc. 18-20, p. 12 (1843). 
‘Sy Deser., i, 80 (1787). Pottia 
‘ 3. 
The oilty I icine I should have felt about identifying R. Brown’s 
— exists in his herbarium—with the eerie ae the Northern 
