Rocks was producing capsules freely in December, 1877, these being stated in 'Brit. Jung.' to be "extremely rare." The conspicuous yellow gemmæ and the involute margins of the leaves distinguish this species from J. excisa, Dicks, which is not a good species. Dr. Gottsche states that the J. ventricosa may be distinguished from its allies by the violet colour of the cortical layer of the stem.

J. CAPITATA, Hook. J. intermedia var. capitata, Nees.

In small pale green patches on turfy soil and among rocks; rare. Spring. Brit. Jung. t. 80.

Hungershall Rocks; Jenner Fl. Tunbr.

Has the pale green colour of J. incisa, but differs in the segments of the leaves not being jagged, and in the leaves having cellules as large as those of C. bicuspidata.

J. INCISA, Schrader.

In dense pale green patches, having a crisped appearance, at the foot of sand-rocks and in bogs. November to April. Brit. Jung. t. 10. Cooke Brit. Hepat. fig. 82.

Hungershall Rocks, abundantly in one spot.

Has some resemblance to Fossombronia pusilla, which however differs in having purplish radicles, a capsule dehiscing irregularly, and echinulate spores.

J. INFLATA, Huds.

In wet places on heaths and in heathy woods. January to April. E. B. 2512. Brit. Jung. 38.

Keston Common.

The erect leaves, the blackish colour of the tufts, and the small cells of the leaves, distinguish this from J. Wilsoniana, Nees; and the presence of but few bifid bracts from the genus Cephalozia. NARDIA EMARGINATA, Gray. Jungermannia emarginata, Ehrh. Sarcoscyphus Erhardti, Corda.

On damp rocks and banks in subalpine districts; rare. April to June. E. B. 1022. Brit. Jung. 27.

Rusthall Common, on exposed rocks; Jenner Fl. Tunb.

N. SCALARIS, Gray. Alicularia scalaris, Corda.

On damp clayey banks in woods, &c. March, April. Brit. Jung. 61.

Keston; Chiselhurst.

Known from all those species of Jungermannia which resemble it, by the presence of stipules and the immersed calyx, and by the nucleate bodies, generally consisting of two to four granules arranged in a line, contained in the leaf-cells.

FOSSOMBRONIA PUSILLA, Nees. Jungermannia pusilla, L.

On moist places in woods and sides of ditches; not common.
November to March. Br. Jung. 69. Cooke Brit. Hepat.
fig. 164.
Banks of Woolwich Heath, in moist places, Dillenius; Bot.
Guide. In the lanes on the left-hand of the road from
Langton to Speldhurst, near the Dropping Spring; Forster

Fl. Tunbr. Swanscombe Wood, near Greenhithe, in fruit.
Joyden's Wood, in fruit in November.

BLASIA PUSILLA, L. Jungermannia Blasia, Hook.

On wet sandy ground occasionally inundated, and on the sides of pools on heaths. March, April. Brit. Jung. t. 82-84. In plenty in the lane on the left-hand side of the road leading from Langton Green to Speldhurst Church, near the Dropping Spring; scarce. Forster Fl. Tunbr. "I gathered it in 1841, in the wet part of the lane near the buryingground, between Langton Green and Ashurst;" Jenner Fl. Tunbr.

With regard to this plant, Forster makes the following curious remark in a foot-note in Fl. Tunbr.' p. 141. "The duration of this plant being so short, not lasting a month from the time of its first appearance to its fading away, may be the cause of its fancied scarcity." The duration of the fructification must be here intended, as the plant is a perennial. In the barren state this may be recognized by its fleshy narrow fronds and the striated appearance of their upper surface, also by the toothed scales on the under surface of the nerve and within the incurved tips of the fronds. The capsule differs from that of Pellia epiphylla in being brown.

PELLIA EPIPHYLLA, Raddi. Jungermannia epiphylla, Mohr.

In shady wet places and banks of rivulets. February, April. Brit. Jung. 47. Cooke Brit. Hepat. f. 171.

About Woolwich; Fl. Metr. Near Speldhurst; Forster Fl. Tunbr. Southborough; Fawcett! Canterbury; Sandwich; Dover.

P. CALYCINA, Taylor. Lichenastrum capitulis rotundis e foliorum medio evascentibus, Ray Syn. iii. Jungermannia epiphylla, var. y. furcigera, Hook.

In dripping places and on sides of ditches; not observed in fruit. February, March. Brit. Jung. t. 47, fig. 18. Cooke Brit. Hepat. fig. 172.

About Woolwich; Ray Syn. iii. p. 110, n. 3. Hungershall Rocks; Jenner Fl. Tunbr. Southborough; Fawcett! Damp spot in a lane between Dunk's Green and Rats Castle, near Hadlow; Bexley.

A narrow form is abundant in the springs by the roadside between Aylesford and Maidstone, and at Tovil, near Maidstone.

METZGERIA FURCATA, Dumort. Jungermannia furcata, L.

On trunks of trees, bushes, and on shady rocks; very common. October to March. Not observed in fructification. Brit. Jung. t. 55, 56. Cooke Brit. Hepat. fig. 180, 181.

Knockholt; George!

Southborough; Fawcett. Penshurst; Ightham; Dover. In Great Stockham Wood, on Dunton Green, with gemmæ, abundantly.

Usually fruits on the shady side of trees in damp localities.

RICCARDIA MULTIFIDA, Gray. multifida, Dum.

Jungermannia multifida, L. Aneura

On damp clayey banks and on the sides of ditches; frequent. January to March. Brit. Jung. t. 45. E. B. 186. Charlton Wood; Fl. Metr. Near the Dropping Spring in the lane on the left-hand side of the road from Langton Green to Speldhurst Church; Forster Fl. Tunbr. Charlton, near the quarry; Crofton Wood, near Orpington; Sandwich; Dover; Tunbridge Wells; between Tunbridge Wells and Speldhurst, in fruit.

R. PINGUIS, Gray. Jungermannia pinguis, L. Aneura pinguis, Dum. Wet marshy spots and places inundated in winter. February, March. Brit. Jung. t. 46. Cooke Brit. Hepat. fig.

174.

Charlton Wood; Fl. Metr. In a wet part of the large quarry near Charlton Station, abundantly in fruit; in company with Pellia epiphylla.

Easily distinguished from Pellia epiphylla, which has a spherical green capsule, by its black oblong capsule and long tubular calyptra; from P. calycina by the absence of a nerve.

ANTHOCEROS PUNCTATUS, L.

In damp fallow fields and on ditch-banks, &c. July, August. E. B. t. 1537. Cooke Brit. Hepat. fig. 194.

Banks of Woolwich Heath, in moist shady places (Dillenius); Bot. Guide. In the little lane from Rusthall Common to the High Rocks; Forster Fl. Tunbr.

A. LEVIS, L.

On damp clay-banks, often growing with A. punctatus. July, August. Cooke Brit. Hepat. fig. 193.

On the rocks in the lane leading from Rusthall Common to Speldhurst Church; Forster Fl. Tunbr.

A. punctatus may be distinguished by the papillose surface of the frond and by the darker spores from A. lavis, which has fronds smooth on the upper surface and yellowish spores. The lobes of the thallus in the latter species are also rather thicker and more rounded in outline.

(To be continued.)

SHORT NOTES.

POLYGALA CALCAREA IN BUCKS. - In the collection of British plants presented by Miss Chandler to the British Museum Herbarium there is a well-marked specimen of this plant on the same sheet with P. vulgaris, collected at Hughenden in June, 1865. The species has not previously been recorded for the county.JAMES BRITTEN.

66

RICCIA SPURIA, Dickson. The correct determination of this plant has long been a desideratum, as no specimens were known to be in any collection; and the figure in Dickson's work (fasc. iv. tab. xi. fig. 16) represents a form of fructification so curious and distinct from that of Riccia that it became a matter of great interest to identify the plant. Guided by this figure, and by his knowledge of foreign species, Prof. Lindberg, in his paper " Hepatica in Hibernia m. Julii, 1873, lecta" (pp. 479, 480), published his opinion that it was probably referable to the same genus as Synhymenium aureonitens, Griff. The acquisition of Dickson's herbarium by the British Museum having afforded an opportunity of examining the original specimen, he is enabled fully to confirm the accuracy of his previous conjecture. Griffith's plant is congeneric with Cyathodium cavernarum, Kunze, only known hitherto from the West Indies and Cape Verd Islands; Riccia spuria, Dicks., is this species, and although Dickson merely says, "in paludibus turfosis montium Scoticarum," Prof. Lindberg considers it quite possible that it is a native, as the western coasts of Great Britain and Ireland have several Cryptogams in common with the West Indies. He states that the plant is smaller and more scattered and the spores less perfectly developed than in the Cape Verd specimens.

The synonymy of the two species which constitute the genus will stand as follows::

1. CYATHODIUM SPURIUM, Lindb.

Riccia spuria, Dicks. Plant. Crypt. Brit. fasc. iv. p. 20, and tab. xi. fig. 16 (1801).

Cyathodium cavernarum, Kunze in Lehm. Pugill. Plant. vi. p. 17 (1834).

Figured also in Montagne, Ic. Plant. in Flor. Cub. Descript. t. xix. fig. 4 (1863).

Hab. Scotland, Cape Verd Islands, Cuba, Mexico.

2. CYATHODIUM AUREONITENS, Lindb.

Synhymenium aureonitens, Griffith, Notulæ ad Plant. Asiat. i. p. 344 (1847), and t. lxix. D, fig. 2.

Hab. India.

Attention is called to this very interesting plant in the hope that botanists will search for it in Scotland, and that it will be again detected there.-R. BRAITHWAITE.

Notices of Books and Memoirs.

Die Parthenogenesis der Calebogyne ilicifolia. Von JOHANNES HANSTEIN. (Hanstein's Botanische Abhandlungen, dritter Band, drittes Heft). Bonn, 1877.

THE whole tendency of this memoir is to support the supposition of parthenogenesis. Every possible precaution was taken to isolate the

plants under examination, and to ascertain whether there was any pollen produced by any of the flowers. In no instance was a trace either of anther or of pollen-grain found. Copious details are given of the thirty flower-buds examined, and from which seventeen fruits were obtained. Considerable difference was observed in the period of swelling of the ovary, which commenced sometimes four days after maturation of the stigma, but sometimes not until after twenty-five, thirty-eight, or thirty-nine days; the time elapsing between commencement of swelling and perfect maturity also oscillated between fourteen and thirty-eight days. Nineteen embryos were found in the seventeen fruits of these five were solitary in one cell of five fruits, a sixth and a twin-pair occurred in two cells of a sixth fruit, a triplet in one cell of a seventh, and quadruplets in one cell of an eighth and ninth fruit. All these embryos are figured: they vary considerably in their size and shape, and in the degree to which their perfection is carried. The author enters somewhat minutely into the philosophy of parthenogenesis, and gives a full list of plants in which this method of reproduction has hitherto been found, omitting Cannabis and Mercurialis however. The investigation was conducted conjointly with Alexander Braun, who thus returned, quite at the close of his career, to a subject in which he had formerly taken such deep interest.

S. M.

Acetabularia mediterranea. Von A. DE BARY und E. STRASBURGER. (Botanische Zeitung,' Nov. 1877.)

It was only the other day that we drew attention to the discovery of another case of conjugation of zoospores, viz., in Botrydium granulatum. We have now to mention a similar discovery in the case of the curious alga mentioned at the head of this notice. The authors set themselves the task of finding out wat becomes of the spore, the subsequent history of which has hitherto remained unknown. The ripe spore is about ninety-five micro-millimetres long by about seventy broad, and it is provided with a lid. On the inner side of the wall is a thick layer of protoplasm, containing a great number of starch-grains coloured green by chlorophyll. The central space is filled with water-like fluid, in which lies an accumulation of small red pigment-grains collected always close to the inner side of the layer of protoplasm. The starch afterwards dissolves, and the now homogeneous plasma divides simultaneously into numerous nearly equal polyhedral portions arranged in a single row except perhaps near the lid, which latter after a while bulges outwards, and in this movement is closely accompanied by the contents. Suddenly the lid is uplifted, and the contents immediately project, surrounded by a swollen enveloping membrane. The lid usually remains, as it were, hinged to the spore, and seldom is quite cast off. The portion of the contents which has escaped from the spore usually