250 Armitt : Cordiilia cenea, etc. , at Amhleside. 



the capsule-wall breaks up, not coming off as a coherent lid, 

 as it does in foreign liverworts allied to Reboidia. Sometimes 

 nearly half of the capsule-wall becomes detached in this manner, 

 leaving the lower portion behind as a hemispherical cup contain- 

 ing the spores and elaters. Then the elaters, as they become 

 dry, twist about and thus help to loosen the mass of spores, 

 which fall out and may be carried away by air-currents, or may 

 reach the ground and be washed away by rain. 



The SPORE is usually nearly spherical, but shows three ridges 

 meeting in a point on one side, whilst the opposite side is more 

 rounded. The average diameter is about 60 /x, but this varies con- 

 siderably, owing chiefly to the varying thickness of the epispore, 

 which is thrown into irregular folds and has the outer surface 

 usually covered with a fine network of granules (Fig. 6, D., E.). 



The ELATERS vary in length from 200 /x to 350 /x, and are 

 occasionally branched ; each contains 2 spiral fibres, or some- 

 times 3. 



The spores germinate readily on damp soil. The coat breaks 

 open and two tube-like processes grow" out ; one is colourless, 

 growing down into the soil (root-hair), the other is green, and 

 grows towards the light, either taking the vertical direction or 

 growing along the surface of the soil (germ-tube). Very soon 

 the germ-tube shows a large terminal cell, cut off by a cross- 

 wall, and this cell then becomes divided up to form a small 

 cell-mass, from which arises the growing-point of the thallus. 

 The germ-tube and its terminal swelling (^germ-disc') may be 

 regarded as representing the 'protonema' of a moss, but here, 

 as in liverworts generally, the protonema is much reduced. 



The writer has been materially assisted in research on the 

 Hepatic^ by a Government grant allotted to him by the Royal 

 Society. 



NEUROPTERA. 



Cordulia aenea, etc., at Ambleside. — A batch of water-born 

 flies, taken in Rydal from the neighbourhood of the river and 

 mere, during early June, have been kindly identified for me by 

 Mr. G. T. Porritt. Amongst these were the Dragon-fly {Coi'dulia 

 CBnea\ and he suggests that a note of this might be interesting 

 to readers of 'The Naturalist,' as it seems not to have been 

 recorded hitherto for the north of England. Dictyopteryie 

 vu'croccphahi was also among those named. — Mary L. Armitt, 

 Rydal, Westmorland. 



Naturalist, 



