INTRODUCTION. 
farinosos globules gerunt, vel sessiles, vel pediculatos, quarum istos Linnaeus Mniis 
accenset. Cum tamen veram vaginam cavam, vcrumque florem quadrifidum, non capsulam 
calyptratam gerant, melius utique cum Jungermannia manent.” [Hall. Helv. hi. p. 57.) 
Yet, on the other hand, he takes in Riccia Jiuitam, whose fructification, however, it should 
lie acknowledged, is to this day unknown. 
Hedwig has studied, with his accustomed accuracy, this genus, confirmed many of 
the observations of Schmidel, and made known other new and important facts relating to 
the organs of fructification : among them is that alluding to the vegetation of the seeds 
of Jungermanniae, which completely controverts the opinion of those botanists who have 
supposed the capsules to contain the farina peculiar to the male flowers. 
The generic character, given in the Appendix to the Species Muscorum of this author, 
stands thus : 
“Jungermannia. Perigonium monophyllum vel nullum. Calyptra fissa persistens. 
Sporangium quadrivalve, sporarum fila linearia, torta. 
Spermatocystidia ovata vel globosa, cingulo pellucido simplici vel articulato vel nullo 
munita, solitaria vel gregaria, sessilia vel pedunculata, superficiei trunci superiori 
vel inferiori adnata, vel substantia; iminersa,^nuda vel folio perigoniali cincta. 
Perigonia feminea vari;e figurae, compresso-truncata transversa et incurva, vel com- 
presso-cristata margine deutato, vel campanulato-undulata. In speciebus perigonio 
destitutis, perigonii vices gerit calyptra fissa:” and he adds, that, by characters 
taken from the perigonia and the spermatocystidia, the Jungermannias may perhaps 
be divided into many genera. 
The author that next merits our consideration is Sclireber, who, having industriously 
selected the most striking characters from the writings of preceding botanists, has thus 
defined the genus : 
Masculi Flores sessiles in caule, foliis, frondibus glomerati. 
Cal. vix ullus. 
Cor. nulla. 
Stam. Filamenta vix ulla. Jntherae ovata;, uniloculares, apice dehiscentes. 
Feminei Flores in eadem vel distincta planta. 
Cal. Perianthium e rectum, tubulosum, truncatum, crenatum s-laciniatum. 
Cor. Calyptra sessilis, perianthio minor, subglobosa, undique clausa, mem- 
branacea, ten era, stylo coronata, tandem apice rumpens. 
Pist. Germen oblongum, calyptra obvolutum, sessile; Stylus brevis, rectus, 
per verticem calyptrae transiens ; Stigma simplex. 
Peric. Capsula setae longae tenerrimae insidens, globosa, uniloeularis, tandem 
longitudinaliter dehiscens in Valvulas quatuor, aequales, patentes, persistentes. 
Sem. plurima, globosa, adh®rentia //& tortis, elasticis, valvulis in fundo, apice, 
disco vel margine adfixis. 
He likewise alludes to the Jungermanniae acaules, which, he says, have their anthers 
buried in the substance of the frond, and want a perianthium to the female flowers ; on 
which account he doubts if they ought not rather to be considered a distinct genus. 
