Musci Exoric:.—Menzesiant. 
FABRONIA AUSTRALIS. 
Fabronia caule repente ramoso, foliis erectis lanceolatis 
longe acuminatis reticulatis subserratis, nervo brevi, 
capsula elliptica, operculo planiusculo. (Tas. CLX.) 
Fabronie spec. Menz. MSS. 
Has. In sinu King George dicto, in Nova Hollandia. D. Men- 
zies, 1791. 
Planta minutissima oculo nudo conferve simulans. Caules czxs- 
pitosi, repentes, vage ramosi. Folia luteo-viridia, erecta, ap- 
pressa, lanceolata, longe acuminata, parum concava, areolis ob- 
longis angustis reticulata, margine subserrata, nervo obscuro 
ante medium evanescente instructa. Perichetialia breviora, 
magis concava. Se/@ vix duas lineas longe, erecte, curvate, 
pallide fuscescentes, incrassate. Cupsula erecta, exacte ellip- 
tica, fusca, senectute hyalina, ore paululum contracto. Calyp- 
tra dimidiata. Opercudum planum, centro umbonatum. Pe- 
ristomium 8-dentatum, dentibus obtusis, transversim striatis, 
horizontalibus, incurvatis, rufo-fuscis, singulo linea media lon- 
gitudinali notato. 
cr a 
So nearly does ‘the present species approach to the F. poly- 
carpa (Tas. III.), that I for some time hesitated whether or 
not it should be considered as a variety of it. Their size is nearly 
the same, and they may be numbered among the minutest of the 
mosses. In the £. australis, however, the leaves are erect and 
appressed, not in the least patent, as in the F. polycarpa, of a 
narrower figure, much more acuminated, and subserrated, with 
narrower reticulations. The capsule is elliptical, not at all turbi- 
nate, and the operculum is almost flat. eee 
r. Menzies judged very rightly in calling this a Fabronia in 
his Herbarium ; it having precisely the habit of those European 
ones figured by Schwaegrichen. Neither in this nor in F. poly- 
carpa have we seen the 8 teeth split down the middle; but there 
is a strong line, which thus makes in reality 16 teeth united in 
pairs, or 8 double ones, Each of them again has a fainter line 
down the centre. 
Fig. 1, tuft of plants, nat. size. Fig. 2, single plants. Fig.3, 
leaf. Fig. 4, perichetial leaf. Fig. 5, capsule. Fig. 6, operculum. 
Fig. 7, calyptra, Fig, 8, peristome, Fig. 9, teeth of ditto.— 
magn. 
