to Sagina, to be far removed from that genus, while the habit is not that of any of this Order. The present plant differs from its congeners in being rigid and somewhat pungent; the structure of the flower however entirely agrees with that of the previously described species. All the specimens I have examined from this locality have a 5-sepalous perianth, which in the South American state of the plant is as invariably 4-sepalous. It is also apt to assume here a monstrous state, the central axis of the capsule becoming proliferous and sending out from the position of the placentæ (in the natural state) two foliaceous shoots, each with two pairs of leaves, projecting beyond the perianth, and the ovules (abortive) arranged round the bases of these shoots.
2. Colobanthus muscoides, Hook. fil.; densissime compactus carnosus, ramis confertis foliosis, foliis arete imbricatis patentim recurvis lineari-subulatis obtusis supra planis basi lata connatis, pedunculis brevissimis solitariis terminalibus superne incrassatis, perianthio herbaceo parvo compresso, sepalis 4 erectis lanceolatis obtusis concavis exterioribus majoribus dorso obscure carinatis, staminibus 4 per paria approximatis ex annulo perigyno incrassato ortis.
Hab. Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island; on wet rocks especially near the sea, and immediately above high-water mark.
The smallest species in regard to size of leaves and flower with which I am acquainted, and yet perhaps most nearly allied to the finest of the genus, a Kerguelen's Land species. The whole plant is densely matted and fleshy, forming compact tufts. Stems 3–4 inches long. Leaves 2 lines. The flowers are much compressed, very minute and inconspicuous, 1 line long, sunk among the leaves. Perianth of four erect sepals, of which the lateral are larger, more concave, and keeled at the back. Perigynous ring very conspicuous, and swollen into two large yellow fleshy glands between the bases of the stamens.
3. Colobanthus Billardieri, Fenzl, Ann. Wien. Mus. l. 48, in not. Spergula apetala, Lab. Fl. Nov. Holl. vol. i. p. 112. t. 1S2. DeC. Prodr. vol. i. p. 395. Hook. fil. in Bot. Journ. vol. ii. p. 410. Stellaria uniflora, Banks and Sol. MSS. in Mus. Banks.
Hab. Campbell's Island; on banks near the sea, scarce.
This species was originally discovered by Banks and Solander at Totarra nui, in the Northern Island of New Zealand, during Captain Cook's first voyage, and an excellent drawing of it, by Parkinson, is preserved in the Banksian collection. Labillardière afterwards detected it in Tasmania, whence Mr. Gunn sent beautiful specimens, in describing which I had occasion to notice its near affinity with the genus Sagina. Fenzl (l.c. according to Walper's Repert. vol. ii. p. 249) quotes the Sagina crassifolia, D'Urv., as a synonym of his C. Billardieri, and reduces the original plant of Labillardiere to a variety, under the name of β. procerior. What I take for the plant of Admiral D'Urville, whose description (Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris, vol. iv. p. 617) is very characteristic, is much larger, of a different habit, and with truly linear very fleshy leaves, and is common in the Falklands, as well as the C. Quitensis, Bartl., which is closely allied to the C. affinis (Spergula affinis, Hook. Icon. Plant, vol. iii. t. 266). Labillardière says of the stamens of C. Billardieri, "sub pistillo inserta," but this is not the case with the specimens I have examined. They are clearly placed at the exterior of a membranous disc which surrounds the perianth, remote from the base of the ovary. The Campbell's Island specimens are very small, scarcely an inch high, whereas the Tasmanian are twice or thrice that size.
