SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE. 
NEREIS 
BOREALI-AIERICANA: 
OE, 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO A HISTORY OF THE MARINE ALGA! 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
BY 
WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY, M.D., M.R.I.A., 
KEEPER OF THE HERBARIUM OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN, AND PROFESSOR OF BOTANY TO THE "R. D. S. 
IN THREE PARTS, WITH FIFTY COLORED PLATES. 
WASHINGTON CITY: 
PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 
MAY, 1858. 
NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND CO. COMMISSION 
TO WHICH THIS PAPER HAS BEEN REFERRED. 
Prof. J. W. Bailey, 
Dr. John Torrey, 
Dr. Asa Gray. 
Joseph Henry, 
Secretary S. 1. ADVERTISEMENT. 
This work has been prepared at the request of the Smithsonian Institution, by 
Dr. W. H. Harvey, Professor of Botany of the University of Dublin. An invi- 
tation a few years ago to deliver a course of lectures on the Algm before the Lowell 
Institute of Boston, gave him an opportunity to study the marine botany of the 
coast of the United States bordering on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. He 
subsequently made a tour around the shores of the Pacific, and has thus been 
enabled to describe the sea-plants of Oregon and California. 
The work consists of three parts. The first, on Melanospermese, was published 
as a memoir in the third volume of the Smithsonian Contributions; the second 
part, on Rhodospermese, in the fifth; and the last, on Chlorospermese, in the tenth 
volume of the same series. 
Copies of these have been distributed to all the principal Libraries and Insti- 
tutions of the world; and in order to diminish the expense of publication as well 
as to render the work more generally useful, a number of extra copies have been 
struck off and the three parts bound together in one volume, to be sold to indi- 
viduals and institutions which do not fall within the classes of those to whom the 
Smithsonian Contributions are presented. 
The principal object of the Smithsonian Institution, as is clearly indicated in 
the will of its founder, is the prosecution and publication of scientific researches, 
and the present work is considered to be strictly in accordance with this design. 
Without the assurance on the part of the Institution that it would be published, 
it would not have been undertaken, and the results of the generous devotion to 
science of the author, in this line, could not have been given to the world. 
In reference to the character of the work, and in justice to the Institution as 
well as the author, we may be permitted to copy the following remarks from a 
paper published by the late Prof. Forbes, of the University of Edinburgh. “A 
more proper person than Prof. Harvey could not have been selected for the elabora- 
tion of a ‘ Nereis Boreali-Americana,’ and most honorable is it to the directors of 
the Smithsonian Institution of North America, that they should have selected this ADVERTISEMENT. 
gentleman for the task of which we have now the first fruits. The trustees of that 
establishment are pursuing a course which is sure to do much towards the whole- 
some development of science in the United States. In the present instance they 
have done what is both wise and generous, and in seeking the best man to do the 
difficult work they require done, have recognized nobly the truth that science 
belongs to the world, to all mankind, laboring for the benefit of all regions and 
races alike.” 
JOSEPH HENRY, 
Smithsonian Institution, 
Secretary S. I. 
May 21, 1858. GENERAL INDEX TO THE THREE PARTS. 
[The asterisks refer to the page of description, the Roman figures to the part to which the particular page belongs.] 
Acanthocladia, n, 182. 
Acanthophora, i, 21; it, 11, 15, 
11*. 
Acetabularia, i, 21; in, 35, 39*. 
Acrotylus, n, 161, 196*. 
Actinococcus, n, 129. 
Agal-Agal, i, 31. 
Agar-Agar, i, 33. 
Agarum, i, 83, 95*. 
Aglaiophyllum, n, 92, 103. 
Ahnfeldtia, in, 19. 
Ahnfeltia, in, 159, 161*. 
Alaria, i, 33, 83, 81*. 
Aloe, i, 82. 
Alsidium, i, 21; n, 11, 14*. 
Amansia, i, 21; n, 11, 12*. 
Amphiroa, n, 82, 85*. 
Anadyomene, i, 11; n, 42, 48*. 
Anadyomene®, hi, 41. 
Apophl®a, ii, 81. 
Arctic Alg®, list of, in, 132. 
Arthrocardia, ii, 86*. 
Arthrocladia, i, 15*. 
Arthrosiphon, hi, 99. 
Asparagopsis, n, 68. 
Asperococcus, i, 102, 111*. 
Badderlocks, i, 88. 
Bangia, m, 52, 54*. 
Barilla, i, 36. 
Batrachosperme®, n, 131, in, 1, 
61*. 
Batrachospermum, n, 225; in, 
63*. 
Blodgettia, in, 42, 46*. 
Bonnemaisonia, n, 68, 69. 
Bonnemaisonie®, ii, 69*. 
Bostrychia, i, 21; n, 12, 54*. 
Botryocladia, ii, 181, 191*. 
Botryoglossum, n, 90, 99*. 
Bryopsis, I, 11, 12, 31*. 
Bryothamnion, n, 15. 
* 
Calliblepliaris, n, 91, 105*. 
Callithamnie®, n, 208*. 
Callithamnion, ir, 208, 229*; m, 
130*. 
Callophyllis, n, 159, 110*. 
Caloglossa, n, 98*. 
Calothrix, i, 1, 98, 104*. 
Carrageen, i, 33. 
Carrigeen, i, 11. 
Catenella, i, 21; n, 161, 201*. 
Caulacanthus, n, 114. 
Caulerpa, i, 11; hi, 11, 12*. 
Caulerpe®, i, 1 ; m, 9, 11*. 
Centroceras, n, 208, 211*. 
Ceramiace®, n, 8, 206*. 
Ceramie®, n, 208. 
Ceramium,i, 11, 25; n, 208,212*. 
Ceylon Moss, i, 33; n, 90. 
Ch®tangium, n, 114. 
Ch®tomorpha, in, 69, 84*. 
Ch®tophora, in, 69*. 
Ch®tophore®, in, 69*. 
Ch®tophoroide®, in, 61. 
Ch®topteris, i, 134, 136*. 
Cham®doris, i, 21; in, 42*. 
Champia, n, 68, 69, 15*. 
Chanvinia, in, 19*. 
Chlorodesmis, m, 12, 29*. 
Clilorosperme®, i, 45; in, 1*. 
Chlorosperms, i, 25. 
Chnoospora, i, 15, 19*. 
Chondria, ii, 12, 19*, 10; in, 
125*. 
Cliondroclonium, ii, 114. 
Chondrus, n, 160,180*; i, 11,12, 
33. 
Chorda, i, 83, 91*. 
Chordaria, i, 122, 123*. 
Chordariace®, i, 41, 121. 
Chordarid®, i, 121. 
I Chordarie®, i, 13, 121. 
Chorde®, i, 80, 99. 
Chrysimenia, i, 26; n, 69, 161, 
181*. 
Chyloeladia, n, 69, 160, 185*. 
Chylocladia, n, 68, 15, 11. 
Cladhymenia, n, 69. 
Cladophora, m# 69, 12*. 
Cladostephus, i, 134*. 
Claudea, i, 9. 
Coccotylus, ii, 164. 
Codie®, n, 9, 12*. 
Codium, i, 11; hi, 12, 28*. 
Compsoteia, n, 59*. 
Conferva, i, 5 ; n, 48 ; hi, 86. 
Confervace®, hi, 1, 61*. 
Constantinea, i, 21; n, 160, 113*. 
Corallina, n, 82, 83*. 
Corallines, i, 21. 
Corallinaceae, n, 1, 80*. 
Corallinae®, n, 81, 82*. 
Corallopsis, n, 91, 111*. 
Cordylecladia, n, 141, 155*. 
Corsican Moss, i, 36 ; n, 68. 
Costaria, i, 83, 89*. 
Crouania, n, 208, 225*. 
Cruoria, n, 129. 
Cryptarachne, n, 181, 189*. 
Cryptonemia, n, 160, 184*. 
Cryptonemiace®, n, 8, 156. 
Cryptoneme®, n, 160*. 
Cutleria, i, 100. 
Cymopolia, i, 21; n, 35*. 
Cystocloninm, n, 159, 169*. 
Cystophyllum, hi, 122. 
Cystoseira, i, 56, 65*. 
Dasya, i, 10 ; n, 12, 59*; III, 126. 
Dasyclade®, hi, 1, 33*. 
Dasycladus, i, 21 ; m, 35, 38*. 
Delesseria, i, 21; n, 90, 93*. 
Delesserie®, n, 90*. 
Delisia, n, 68. GENERAL INDEX TO THE THREE PARTS. 
Dcsmarestia, i, 75, 76*. 
Desmidiaceae, i, 3 ; in, 7. 
Desmiospermeae, ir, 7*. 
Desmodium, i, 16. 
Devil’s Apron, i, 82, 90. 
Diatomaceae, i, 3, 18, 21; in, 7. 
Dictyosiphon, I, 102, 113*. 
Dictyosphaeria, i, 27; in, 42, 50. 
Dictyota, i, 102, 107*. 
Dictyotaceae, i, 47, 99*. 
Digenia, i, 27 ; n, 12, 29*. 
Dillisk, i, 33, 34. 
Dracaena, i, 82. 
Draparnaldia, m, 69, 71*. 
Dulse, i, 33; n, 148. 
Dumontia, i, 25. 
Durvillaea, i, 11, 20. 
Ecklonia, I, 82. 
Ectocarpaceae, i, 47, 132*. 
Ectocarpeae, i, 134*. 
Ectocarpus,i, 134,138*; iii, 125*. 
Edible Bird Nest, i, 33. 
Eel Grass, i, 31. 
Elachista, i, 123, 131*. 
Endocladia, n, 160, 182*. 
Endocladieae, n, 160*. 
Enteromorpha, i, 131 ; iii, 52, 
56*. 
Eubostrychia, ii, 55*. 
Eucheuma, n, 113, 115, 118*. 
Eugigartineae, n, 160*. 
Euthora, n, 146, 150*. 
Fucaceae, i, 47, 49*. 
Fucodium, i, 67. 
Fucus, i, 19, 24, 34, 35, 56, 67*, 
68*. 
Furcellaria, n, 127, 161, 195*. 
Gastrocarpeae, n, 160*. 
Gelidiaceae, n, 7, 112*. 
Gelidieae, n, 115. 
Gelidium, i, 12; n, 113, 115*, 
197. 
Gigartina, i, 12; n, 160, 174*; 
iii, 129. 
Gigartineae, n, 159*. 
Gloiocladeae, n, 132*. 
Gloiopeltis, n, 160, 183*. 
Gloiosiphonia, n, 161, 202*. 
Gongylospermeae, n, 8*. 
Gracilaria, i, 36; ii, 91, 106*. 
Gratcloupia, i, 26; n, 161, 197, 
198*. 
Griffithsia, n, 208, 227*. 
Grinnellia, n, 90, 91*. 
Gulfweed, i, 53, 60. 
Gymnogongrus, n, 159, 165*. 
Halichrysis, n, 187*. 
Ilalidrys, i, 56, 63*. 
Ilaligraphium, in, 44*. 
Halimeda, i, 27 ; hi, 12, 22*. 
Halipsygma, iii, 64*. 
Ilaliseris, i, 101, 102*. 
Halocaelia, n, 194*. 
Halochloae, I, 49. 
Halosaccion, n, 161, 193*; in, 
130*. 
Halurus, n, 208, 225, 226*. 
Halymenia, n, 161, 192*. 
Helminthocladeae, n, 8, 131*. 
Helminthora, n, 132, 133*. 
Hemineura, n, 92. 
Henware, i, 88. 
Hildenbrandtia, n, 129. 
Himanthalia, i, 56, 71*. 
Honeyware, i, 88. 
Hormotrichum, in, 69, 89*. 
Hydroclathrus, i, 102, 119*. 
Hydrocrocis, i, 176. 
Hydrodictyeae, in, 7, 94*. 
Hydrodictyon, i, 9 ; in, 95*. 
Hydrurus, iii, 118*. 
Hymenena, n, 91, 101*. 
Hypnea, i, 27 ; n, 113, 115, 122. 
Hypneaceae, n, 115*. 
Hypoglossum, n, 96*. 
Iridaea, i, 12, 20; n, 160, 178*, 
129*. 
Irish Moss, i, 11, 33. 
Jania, ii, 82, 83*. 
Kallymenia n, 159, 171*. 
Kallymeuieae, n, 159*. 
Kelp, i, 35. 
Laminaria, i, 7, 83, 90*. 
Laminariaceae, i, 47, 80*. 
Laurencia, i, 22; n, 19, 68, 69, 
70*. 
Laurenciaceae, n, 7, 67. 
Leathesia, i, 123, 129*. 
Lemna, i, 14. 
Lemanea, iii, 63, 66*. 
Lemanieas, iii, 63*. 
Lessonia, i, 11, 20, 83, 87*. 
Lessoniae, i, 82. 
Liagora, n, 133, 137*. 
Liagoreae, n, 133*. 
Liebmannia, i, 123, 128*. 
Lomentaria, n, 68, 69, 75, 77*. 
Lomentarieae, n, 69*. 
Lophothalia, n, 64*. 
Lyngbya, hi, 98, 101*. 
Macrocystis, i, 7, 11, 21, 83, 84*. 
Mannite, i, 36 
Mastocarpus, n, 175*. 
Mastophora, it, 81. 
Melanospermeae, i, 45. 
Melobesia, ii, 83, 87*. 
Mesogloia, i, 123, 125*. 
Microcladia, n, 208, 209*. 
Microcoleus, hi, 98, 108*. 
Mougeotia, i, 13. 
Murlins, i, 88. 
Myrionema, i, 123, 131*. 
Myriotrichia, nr, 124. 
Nemalion, n, 132, 134*. 
Nemastomeae, n, 161*. 
Nereocystis, i, 11, 83, 85*. 
Nigger hair, ii, 41. 
Nitophylla, i, 25. 
Nitophyllum, it, 91, 102* ; hi, 
128. 
Nostoc, m, 113*. 
Nostochaceae, i, 18. 
Nostochineae, in, 7, 110*. 
Nulliporeae, ii, 81, 83*. 
Nullipores, i, 21. 
Oarweeds, i, 82, 90. 
Odonthalia, i, 25; n, 11, 13*. 
Oligosiplionia, ii, 31*. 
Oscillatoria, i, 17 ; in, 98, 107*. 
Oscillatoriae, i, 5, 7. 
Oscillatoriaceae, hi, 7, 96*. 
Padina, i, 101, 103*. 
Palmella, i, 5. 
Palmellaceae, I, 4,18; hi, 7,116* 
Penicillus, i, 27 ; in, 42, 44*. 
Pepper Dulse, n, 68. 
Petalonema, hi, 98, 99*. 
Petrocelis, n, 129. 
Peyssonnelia, n, 129*. 
Phacelocarpus, n, 81. 
Phycodrys, n, 93*. 
Phyllacantha, i, 67. 
Phyllerpa, hi, 16*. 
Phyllophora, n, 159, 164*. 
Phyllospora, i, 56, 61*. 
Pikea, n, 246*; in, 131. 
Plocamium, i, 12, 22, 25 ; n, 145 
146, 152*. 
Polyides, n, 128*. 
Polysiphonia, i, 8; n, 12, 30*. 
Porphyra, i, 34; in, 52, 53*. 
Protococcus, i, 4. GENERAL INDEX TO THE THREE PARTS. 
Ptilerpa, in, 16*. 
Ptilota, i, 25, 26. 
Punctaria, i, 100, 102, 114*. 
Ralfsia, i, 123, 130*. 
Red snow, i, 4. 
Rhabdonia, i, 26; n, 121, 145, 
146, 153*. 
Rhizoclonium, hi, 69, 91*. 
Rhodomela, i, 8; n, 12, 23*; in, 
126*. 
Rhodomelaceae, ii, 7, 9*. 
Rhodonema, ii, 60*. 
Rhodophyllis, n, 146, 151*. 
Rhodospermeae, ii, 1*; i, 45. 
Rhodymenia, i, 23, 25; n, 146, 
147* ; in, 128. 
Rhodymeniaceae, ii, 8, 144*. 
Riband-weed, i, 90. 
Rivularia, nr, 98, 109*. 
Rytiphlaea, ii, 12, 28*. 
Sargasso, i, 53. 
Sargassum, i, 27, 55, 56*. 
Sargazo, i, 53. 
Scinaia, ii, 133, 135*. 
Scinaieae, n, 133*. 
Scytonema, in, 98, 100*. 
Sea-colander, i, 82. 
Sea grape, i, 60. 
Sea lentils, i, 53. 
Sea-otter’s cabbage, i, 86. 
Sea-otter Kohl, i, 86. 
Sea-wrack, i, 35. 
Seirospora, i, 26. 
Siphoneae, i, 1; in, 1, 9*. 
Sole-leather-kelp, i, 90. 
Solieria, n, 113, 115, 120*, 154. 
Soranthera, i, 102, 111*. 
Sphacelaria, i, 134, 136*; in, 
124*. 
Sphacelarieae, i, 134.* 
Sphaerococceae, n, 91*. 
Sphaerococcoideaea, n, 1, 88*. 
Spongiocarpeae, n, 1, 126*. 
Sporochnaceae, i, 47, 73*. 
Spyridia, n, 204*. 
Spyridiaceae, n, 8, 203*. 
Squamarieae, n, 8, 128*. 
Stenogramma, n, 159, 162*. 
Stichocarpus, n, 66*. 
Stictosiphonia, ii, 57*. 
Stilophora, i, 101, 112*. 
Striaria, hi, 123*. 
Suliria, ii, 114. 
Tangle, i, 82, 80. 
Taonia, i, 101, 101*. 
Tetraspora, in, 52, 60*. 
Thalassiophyllum, i, 83, 96*. 
Thorea, n, 131. 
Thysanocladia, n, 69. 
Trichodesmium, i, 11. 
Trumpet weed, i, 82. 
Tuomeya, hi, 63, 64*. 
Turbinaria, in, 121*. 
Tylocarpeae, n, 159*. 
IJdotea, i, 21; hi, 12, 26*. 
Ulva, i, 5; m, 52, 58*. 
TJlvaceae, hi, 1, 51*. 
Yaloniaceae, in, 1, 41*. 
Yaucheria, i, 16; hi, 12, 30*. 
Yancheriae, i, 5. 
Yolvox, i, 4. 
Wormskioldia, ir, 93, 145. 
Wrangelia, n, 141, 142*. 
Wrangeliaceae, n, 8, 141*. 
Wurdemannia, n, 245*. 
Zonaria, i, 101, 105* ; in, 123*. 
Zostera, i, 31. 
Zygnema, I, 13. 
Zygnemaceos, in, 1, 93*. REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
V 
REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
PART I. 
Plate I. A.—Sargassum Montagnei, Bailey, p. 58. 
B.—Cystoseira expansa, Ag. p. G6. 
II. Halidrys osmundacea, Harv. p. 64. 
III. A.—Fucus fastigiatus, J. Ag. p. 68. 
B.—Phyllospora Menziesii, Ag. p. 62. 
TV. A.—Arthrocladia villosa, Duby, p. 15. 
B. —Desmarestia aculeata, Lamour. p. 18. 
C. —Chnoospora fastigiata, J. Ag. p. 19. 
V. Agarum Turneri, Post. & Rupr. p. 96. 
VI. Laminaria longicruris, Dela Pyl. p. 93. 
VII. A.—Haliseris delicatula, Lamour. p. 103. 
B. —Padina pavonia, Lamour. p. 104. 
C. —Zonaria lobata, Ag. p. 106. 
VIII. A.—Dictyota ciliata, J. Ag. p. 110. 
B. —Dictyota fasciola, Lamour. p. 108. 
C. —Dictyota Bartayresiana, Lamour. p. Ill 
IX. A.—Ilydroclathrus cancellatus, Bory, p. 121 
B. —Stilophora rhizodes, J. Ag. p. 112. 
C. —Asperococcus sinuosus, Bory, p. 118. 
X. A.—Mesogloia zosterse, Aresch. p. 128. 
B.—Mesogloia virescens, Carm. p. 121. 
O.—Leathesia tuberiformis, Gray, p. 129. 
XI. A.—Ghordaria divamcata, Ag. p. 125. 
B. —Elacliista fucicola, Fries, p. 131. 
C. —Gladostephus verticillatus, Ag. p. 135. 
XII. A.—Ectocarpus lutosus, Harv. p. 141. 
B. —Ectocarpus viridis, Harv. p. 140. 
C. —Variety of same species as in B. 
D. —Ectocarpus Landsburgii, Harv. p. 143. 
E. —Ectocarpus Hooperi, Harv. p. 144. 
F. —Ectocarpus Durkeei, Harv. p. 142. 
G. —Ectocarpus Mitchillse, Harv. p. 143. REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
PART II. 
Plate XIII. A.—Alsidium triangulare, J. Ag. p 15. 
B. —Bhodomela Rocliei, Harv. p. 27. 
C. gracilis, Kiitz. p. 26. 
D. —Digenia simplex, Ag. p. 30. 
XIY. A.—Acantlxophora Thierii, Lamour. p. It. 
B. —Bostrychia Montagnei, Ilarv. p. 55. 
C. calamistrata, Mont. p. 56. 
D. rivularis, Harv. p. 5t. 
E. Tuomeyi, Harv. p. 58. 
XV. A.—Dasya Gibbesii, Harv. p. 59. 
B. —Alsidium Blodgeltii, Harv. p. 16. 
C. —Dasya Wurdemanni, Bail. p. 64. 
XVI. A.—Polysiphonia ramentacea, Harv. p. 42. 
B. breviarticulata, J. Ag. p. 36. 
C. Pecten Veneris, Harv. p. 46. 
D. the same, var. j3. p. 46. 
XVII. A. Harveyi, Bail. p. 41. 
B. Olneyi, Harv. p. 40. 
C. nigrescens, var. Durkeei, Harv. p. 50. 
XVIII. A.—Chondria Baileyana, Mont. p. 20. 
B. —Laurencia gemmifera, Harv. p. 73. 
C. cervicornis, Harv. p. 73. 
D. implicata, J. Ag. p. 72. 
E. —Chondria atropurpurea, Harv. p. 22. 
F. tenuissima, Ag. p. 21. 
G. sedifolia, Harv. p. 19. 
XIX. A.—Lomentaria ovalis, var. Coulteri, Harv. p. 78. 
B. —Champia salicornoides, Harv. p. 76. 
C. —Stenogramma interrupta, Mont. p. 163. 
XX. A.—Chrysymenia Halymenioides, Harv. p. 188. 
B. uvaria, J. Ag. p. 191. 
C. — Chylocladia Baileyana, Harv. p. 185. 
XXI. A.—Botryoglossum platycarpum, Kiitz. p. 100. 
B.—Grinnellia Americana, Harv. p. 92. 
XXII. A.—Delesseria involvens, Harv. p. 97- 
B. tenuifolia, Harv. p. 97. 
C. Leprieurii, Mont. p. 98. 
XXIII. A.—Solieria chordalis, J. Ag. p. 121. 
B.—Bhabdonia Coulteri, Harv. p. 154. 
XXIV. Eucheuma isiforme, J. Ag. p. 118. 
XXV. Chrysymenia acanthoclada, Harv. p. 191. 
XXVI. Grateloupia Gibbesii, Harv. p. 199. 
XXVII. A.—Pricmitis lanceolata, Harv. p. 197. 
B. —Endocladia muricata, J. Ag. p. 182. 
C. —Gigartina canaliculata, Harv. p. 174. 
XXVIII. A. microphylla, Harv. p. 176. 
B. spinosa, Kiitz. p. 177. 
XXIX. A.—Ilalosaccion ramentaceum, J. Ag. p. 194. 
B. — Catenella pinnata, Harv. p. 201. 
C. —Nemalion mulfifdum, J. Ag. p. 135. REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
Plate XXX. A.—Chrysymenia Agardhii, Harv. p. 189. 
B. ramosissima, Harv. p. 190. 
XXXI. A.—Liagora valida, Harv. p. 138. 
B. pinnata, Harv. p. 138. 
C. leprosa, J. Ag. p. 139. 
D. —Crouania attenuata, J. Ag. p. 226. 
XXXII. A.—Ptilota hypnoides, Harv. p. 220. 
B. densa, Ag. p. 219. 
XXXIII. A.—Microcladia Coulteri, Harv. p. 209. 
B. —Ceramium arachnoideum, var. patentissimum, Harv. p. 2It. 
C. — Centroceras clavulatum, Ag. p. 211. 
XXXIY. A.—Spyridia filamentosa, var. refracta, Harv. p. 205. 
B.— Wrangelia penicillata, Ag. p. 143. 
XXXY. A.—Griffithsia corallina, var. globifera, Harv. p. 228. 
B.—Callithamnion Baileyi, Harv. p. 231. 
XXXYI. A. Americanum, Harv. 238. 
B. Pylaissei, Mont. p. 239. 
PART III. 
Plate XXXVII. A.— Caulerpa Mexicana, Sond. p. 16. 
B.—Caulerpa Lycopodium, Ilarv. p. 19. 
XXXYIII. A.—Caulerpa Ashmeadii, Harv. p. 18. 
B. — Caxderpa prolifera, Lamour. p. 16. 
C. —Caulerpa plumaris, Ag. p. It. 
XXXIX. A.—Caulerpa ericifolia, Ag. p. 20. 
B.—Caulerpa cupressoides, Ag. p. 21. 
XL. A.—Halimeda Tuna, Lx. p. 25. 
B. —Halimeda Opuntia, Lx. p. 23. 
C. — Udotea congluiinata, Lx. p. 2t. 
D. —Chlorodesmis vaucheriseformis, Ilarv. p. 30. 
XLI. A.—Cymopolia barbata, Lx. p. 36. 
B.—Dasycladus occidentals, Ilarv. p. 38. 
■ XLII. A.—Acetabularia crenulata, Lx. p. 40. 
B.— Chamsedoris annulata, Mont. p. 43. 
XLIII. A.—Penicillus dumetosus, Dne. p. 44. 
B. —Penicillus capitatus, Lamk. p. 45. 
C. —Penicillus Phoenix, Lamk. p. 46. 
XLIY. A.—Anadyomene jlabellata, Lamour. p. 49. 
B. —Dictyosphseria favulosa, Dne. p. 50. 
C. —Halimeda tridens, Lx. p. 24. 
XLY. A.—Bryopsis plumosa (vars.) Ag. p. 31. 
B. —Cladophora Morrisise, Harv. p. t8. 
C. —Blodgettia confervoides, Harv. p. 48. 
XLYI. A.—Chsetomorpha brachygona, Harv. p. 8T. 
B. —Chsetomorpha tortuosa, Dillw. p. 88. 
C. —Chsetomorpha Piquotiana, Mont. p. 85. 
D. —Chsetomorpha Olneyi, Harv. p. 86. 
E. —Chsetomorpha longiarticulata, Harv. p. 86. VIII 
REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
Plate XLVII. A.—Lyngbya majuscula, Ilarv. p. 101. 
B. —Lyngbya ferruginea, Ag. p. 102. 
C. —Lyngbya confervoides, Ag. p. 103. 
I).—Lyngbya, nigrescens, Ilarv. p. 102. 
E. —Lyngbya pusilla, Harv. p. 103. 
F. —Lyngbya fulva, Ilarv. p. 102. 
G. —Lyngbya byalina, Ilarv. p. 104. 
XLVIII. A.—Petalonema alatum, Berk. p. 99. 
B. —Microcoleus corymbosus, Ilarv. p. 109. 
C. — Calothrix pilosa, Ilarv. p. 106. 
D. —Calothrix dura, Ilarv. p. 101. 
XLIX. A.—Bangia vermicalaris, Ilarv. p. 55. 
B.—Pikea Californica, Suppl. p. 131. 
L. A.—Dasya Harveyi, Ashm. Suppl. p. 127. 
B.—Chondria nidifica, Harv. Suppl. p. 125 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE. 
NEREIS 
BORE ALI-AMERICAIA: 
OR, 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO A HISTORY OF THE MARINE ALGA2 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
by 
WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY, M.D., M.R.I.A., 
KEEFER OF THE HERBARIUM OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN, AND PROFESSOR OF BOTANY TO THE R. D. S 
PART I. —MELAN0SPERMEA2. 
ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION 
BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 
JULY, 1851. COMMISSION 
TO WHICH THIS PAPER HAS BEEN REFERRED. 
Prof. J. W. Bailey, 
Dr. Asa Gray. 
Joseph Henry, 
Secretary S. I. INTRODUCTION. 
Among the plants which constitute the ordinary covering of the ground, whether 
that covering be one of forests, peopled by vegetable giants, or of the herbage and 
small herbaceous plants that clothe the open country, we observe that the greater 
number—at least of those which ordinarily force themselves on our notice—have 
certain obvious organs or parts: namely, a root by which they are fixed in the 
ground, and through which they derive their nourishment from the fluids of 
the soil; a stem or axis developed, in ordinary cases, above ground ; leaves 
which clothe that stem, and in which the crude food absorbed by the roots and 
transmitted through the stem is exposed to the influence of solar light and of the 
air ; and, finally, special modifications of leaf buds called flowers, in which seeds 
are originated and brought to maturity. These seeds, falling from the parent plant, 
endowed with an independent life under whose influence they germinate, attract 
food from surrounding mineral matter ; digest it ; organize it, that is, convert it 
from dead substance into living substance ; form new parts or organs from this 
prepared matter; and, finally, grow into vegetables, having parts similar to those of 
the parent plant, and similarly arranged. 
This is the usual course of vegetation: seeds develope roots, stems, and leafy 
branches ; the latter at maturity bear flowers, producing similar seeds, destined to go 
through a like course; and so on, from one vegetable generation to another. But, 
with a perfect agreement among seed-bearing plants in the end proposed and 
attained, there is an endless variety of minor modifications through which the end 
is compassed. All degrees of modification exist between the simplest and most 
complicated digestive organs ; in some, the root, stem, and leaves are so blended 
together, that we lose the notion of distinct organs, and in others the leaves are 
reduced to scales or spines, while the stem and branches are expanded and become 
not merely leaf-like, but actually discharge the functions of leaves. In the repro- 
ductive organs or flowers, too, we find equal variety ; from the most elaborate 
and often gorgeous structures to the simplest and plainest, till at last we arrive at 
flowers, whose organization is so low that not only have calyx and corolla disap- 
peared, but the very seed-vessel itself is reduced to an open scale or is wholly 
absent. Yet in all these modifications it is merely the means that are varied ; the 
YOL. III. ART. 4. 2 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
end proposed is as efficiently attained by the simplest agency as by the most com- 
plex ; as if the Creator had designed to show us plainly how it is the same to 
Him to act by many or by few, by the most elaborate arrangement when He wills 
it, and by the simplest when that is His pleasure. 
In all the cases of which we have as yet spoken, seeds are the result of the vege- 
table cycle ; a seed being a compound body, containing an embryo or miniature 
plant, having stem, root, and leaf already organized, and enclosed with proper 
coverings or seed coats. But some plants do not produce such seeds. At least 
one-sixth of the vegetable kingdom, perhaps more, are propagated by isolated cells 
(or spores) cast loose from the structure of which they had formed a portion, and 
endowed thenceforth with independent powers of growth and development. Such 
are the reproductive bodies of the Ferns, the Mosses, and all plants below them in 
the vegetable scale, concluding with the large class to which our attention will now 
be confined—the Algee—which of all are the lowest and simplest in organization. 
The framework of every vegetable is built up of cells, little membranous sacs of 
various forms, with walls of varying tenacity, empty, or containing fluid or 
granular, organized matter, from which new cells may be developed. Among 
more perfect plants there is, in different, parts of the same individual, consi- 
derable variety in the form and substance of the cells ; those of the wood and 
of the veins of the leaves being different from those of the soft part of the 
leaves, and these again different from those of the skin which is spread over 
the whole. But as we descend in the scale of organization, greater and greater 
uniformity is found. Below the Ferns, no vascular tissue and no proper wood- 
cells occur; and at last in the Algae, no cells exist differing from those of ordinary 
parenchyma or soft cells, such as compose the pulp of a leaf. Algae, then, together 
with Mosses, Lichens and Fungi, are termed cellular plants, in contradistinction to 
Ferns and Flowering plants, which are denominated vascular. Among the most 
perfect of the Algae, however, though the cells are all of the same substance and 
nature, all parenchymatic, they are of various forms and arrangement in different 
portions of the vegetable, often keeping up a very perfect analogy with the double 
system of arrangement—the vertical and horizontal, or woody and cellular sys- 
tems—of higher plants. Thus the cells of the axis of the compound cylindrical 
Algce are arranged longitudinally, like the wood-cells of stems, while those of the 
periphery or outer coating of the same Alga3 have a horizontal direction. 
In the most perfect of such Algas the frame still consists of root, stem, and 
leaves, developed in an order analogous to that of higher plants. Passing from 
such, we meet with others gradually less and less perfect, until the whole vegetable 
is reduced either to a root-like body, or a branching naked stem, or an expanded 
leaf; as if Nature had first formed the types of the compound vegetable organs 
so named and exhibited them as separate vegetables ; and then, by combining 
them in a single framework, had built up her perfect idea of a fully organized 
plant. But among the AlgaB, we may go still lower in vegetable organization, and 
arrive at plants where the whole body is composed of a few cells strung together ; 
and finally at others—the simplest of known vegetables—whose whole framework is 
a single cell. These are the true vegetable monads: with these we commence the IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
3 
great series of the Algse at its lowest point, and proceeding upwards we find, 
within the limits of this same series, all degrees of complication of framework short 
of the development of proper flowers. It is this progressive organization of the 
Algae, which renders the study of this portion of the vegetable world especially 
interesting to the philosophical botanist, because it displays to him, as in a mirror, 
something of that general plan of development which nature has followed in con- 
structing other and more compound plants, in which her steps are less easily traced. 
From its first conception within the ovule to its full development, one of the higher 
plants goes through transformations strictly analogous to stages of advancement 
that can be traced among the Algae from species to species, and from genus to genus, 
from the least perfect to the most perfect of the group. Each Alga-species has its 
own peculiar phase of development, which it reaches, and there stops; another 
species, passing this condition, carries the ideal plan a step further; and thus 
successive species exhibit successive stages of advancement. 
While their gradually advancing scale of development renders the study of these 
plants more interesting, it also increases the difficulty of constructing a short and 
yet definite character, or diagnosis, which will include every member of the 
and exclude species more properly referable to the kindred groups of Lichens and 
Fungi. I shall not here attempt any such critical definition, but proceed to trace 
the gradual evolution of the frond and of the organs of fructification in the Algas, 
assuming that with the are to be classed all Thallophytes (or Cryptogamic 
plants destitute of proper axes, in the more restricted view of that term) which 
are developed in water, or nourished wholly through the medium of fluids, while 
all Thallophytes that are aerial and not parasitic are Lichens, and all that are aerial 
and parasitic are Fungi. 
Commencing then with Algae of the simplest structure, a large part of them, 
belonging to the orders Diatomacece and Desmidiacece, consist almost entirely of 
individual isolated cells. Each plant, or frond, is formed of a single living cell ; 
destitute therefore of any special organs, and performing every function of life in 
that one universal organ of which its frame consists. The growth of these simple 
plants is like that of the ordinary cells of which the compound frame of higher 
plants is composed. Nourishment is absorbed through the membraneous coating of 
the young plant (or cell), digested within its simple cavity, and the assimilated 
matter applied to the extension of the cell-wall, until that has reached the size 
proper to the species. Then the matter contained within the cavity gradually 
separates into two portions, and at the same time a cell-wall is formed between 
each portion, and thus the original simple cell becomes two cells. These no 
longer cohere together, as cells do in a compound plant, but each half-cell separates 
from its fellow, and commencing an independent career, digests food, increases in 
size, divides at maturity, &c., going again and again through a similar round of 
changes. In this way, by the process of self-division, and without any fructifi- 
cation, a large surface of water may soon be covered with these vegetable monads, 
from the mere multiplication of a single individual. 
These minute plants, (Diatomacece and Desmidiacece) from their microscopic size 
and uniform and simple structure, are justly regarded as at the base of the vegeta- 4 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
ble kingdom. Notwithstanding which lowly position in the scale of being, they 
display an infinite variety of the most exquisite forms and finely sculptured 
surfaces ; so that their study affords as much scope for the powers of observation as 
does that of the creation which is patent to our ordinary senses. These tribes are 
however omitted from this essay, because they have been made the objects of special 
enquiry by Professor Bailey of West Point, whose memoir in the second volume 
of the Smithsonian Contributions is referred to for further information. 
But Desmidiacece and Diatomacece are not the only Alg83 of this simple structure. 
The lowest forms of the order Palmellacece, such as the Protococcus or Red snow 
plant, have an equally simple organization. The blood-red colour of Alpine or 
Arctic snow which has been so often observed by voyagers, and which was seen to 
spread over so vast an extent of ground by Captain Ross, in his first arctic journey, 
is due to more than one species of microscopic plant, and to some minute infusorial 
animals which perhaps acquire the red colour from feeding on the Protococcus 
among which they are found. The best known and most abundant plant of this 
snow vegetation is the Protococcus nivalis, which is a spherical cell, containing a 
carmine-red globe of granulated, semi-fluid substance, surrounded by a hyaline 
limbus or thick cell-wall. At maturity the contained red matter separates into 
several spherical portions, each of which becomes clothed with a membranous 
coat; and thus forming as many small cells. The walls of the parent whose whole 
living substance has thus been appropriated to the offspring, now burst asunder, 
and the progeny escape. These rapidly increase in size until each acquires the 
dimensions of the parent, when the contained matter is again separated into new 
spheres ; giving rise to new cells, to undergo in their turn the same changes. And 
as, under favourable circumstances, but a few hours are required for this simple 
growth and developement, the production of the red’ snow plant is often very 
rapid : hence the accounts frequently given of the sudden appearance of a red 
colour in the snow, over a wide space, which appearance is ascribed by common 
report to the falling of bloody Tain or snow. In many such cases it is probable 
that the Protococcus may have existed on the portion of soil over which the snow 
fell, and its developement may have merely kept pace with the gradually deepen- 
ing sheet of snow. That this plant is not confined to the surface of snow is well 
known ; and Captain Ross mentions that in many places where he had an opportu- 
nity of examining it, he found that it extended several feet in depth. It has been 
found both in Sweden and Scotland on rocks, in places remote from snow deposits; 
and it probably lies dormant, or slowly vegetates in such cases, waiting for a supply 
of snow in which it grows with greater rapidity. 
The structure and developement which I have described as characterizing 
Protococcus, are strikingly similar to those of what are commonly considered 
minute infusorial animals, called Volvox ; the chief difference between Protococcus 
and Volvox being that the latter is clothed with vibratile hairs, by the rapid 
motion of which the little spheres are driven in varying directions through the 
water. Many naturalists, and some of high note, are now of opinion that Volvox 
and its kindred should be classed with the Algas, and certainly (as we shall after- 
wards see) their peculiar ciliary motion is no bar to this association. I do not IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
5 
pronounce on this question, because it does not immediately concern our present 
subject, and because, in all its collateral bearings, it requires more attentive exami- 
nation than it has yet undergone. 
In Protococcus the cell of which the plant consists is spherical or oval; in other 
equally elementary Algae the cell is cylindrical, and sometimes lengthened consider- 
ably into a thread-like body. Such is the formation of Oscillator ice. In Vaucherice 
there is a further advance, the filiform cell becoming branched without any inter- 
ruption to its cavity ; and such branching cells frequently attain some inches in 
length, and a diameter of half a line, constituting some of the largest cells known 
among plants. 
In all these cases each cell is a separate individual : such plants are therefore 
the simplest expression of the vegetable idea. But even in this extremest sim- 
plicity we find the first indication of the structure which is to be afterward evolved. 
Thus in the spherical cell we have the earliest type of the cellular system of a com- 
pound plant developing equally in all directions; and in the cylindrical cell, the 
illustration of the vertical system developing longitudinally. These tendencies, 
here scarcely manifest, become at once obvious when the framework begins to be 
composed of more cells than one. 
Thus in the genera nearest allied to Protococcus, the frond is a roundish mass 
of cells cohering irregularly by their sides. From these through Palmella and 
Tetraspora we arrive at Ulva, where a more or less compact membranous expan- 
sion is formed by the lateral cohesion of a multitude of roundish (or, by mutual 
pressure, polygonal) cells originating in the quadri-partition of older cells ; that is, 
by the original cells dividing longitudinally as well as transversely, thus forming 
four new cells from the matter of the old cell, and causing the cell-growth to pro- 
ceed nearly equally in both directions. Starting, therefore, from Protococcus, and 
tracing the developement through various stages, we arrive in Ulva at the earliest 
type of an expanded leaf. 
In like manner the earliest type of a stem may be found by tracing the Alga3 
which originate in cylindrical cells. Here the new cells are formed in a longi- 
tudinal direction only, by the bipartition of the old cells. Thus, in Conferva, 
where the body consists of a number of cylindrical cells, strung end to end, these 
have originated by the continual transverse division of an original cylindrical cell. 
Such a frond will continually lengthen, but will make no lateral growth ; and con- 
sisting of a series of joints and interspaces, it correctly symbolizes the stem of one 
of the higher plants, formed of a succession of nodes and internodes. And the 
analogy is still further preserved when such confervoid threads branch; for the 
branches constantly originate at the joints or nodes, just as do the leaves and 
branches of the higher compound plants. 
We have then two tendencies exhibited among Algae—the first, a tendency to 
form membranous expansions, the symbols or types of leaves ; the second a ten- 
dency to form cylindrical bodies or stems. Among the less perfect Algae the whole 
plant will consist either of one of these foliations, or of a simple or branched stem. 
But gradually both ideas or forms will be associated in the same individual, and 
exhibited in greater or less perfection. We shall find stems becoming flattened at INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
their summits into leaves, and leaves, by the loss of their lateral membranes, and 
the acquisition of thicker midribs, changing into stems ; and among the most highly 
organized Algas we shall find leaf-like lateral branches assuming the form, and to a 
good degree the arrangement of the leaves of higher plants. Not that we find 
among Algae proper leaves, like those of phaenogamous plants, constantly deve- 
loping buds in their axils ; for even where leaf-like bodies are most obvious (as 
in the genus Sargassum), they are merely phyllocladia or expanded branches ; 
as may readily be seen by observing a Sargassum in a young state, and watching 
the gradual changes that take place as the frond lengthens. These changes will be 
explained in the systematic portion of this work. 
I shall now notice more particularly the varieties of habit observed among the 
compound Algoo, and first, 
OF THE KOOT. 
The root among the Algae is rarely much developed. Among higher plants which 
derive their nourishment from the soil in which they grow, and in Fungi which 
feed on the juices of organized bodies, root-fibres, through which nourishment is 
absorbed, are essential to the development of the vegetable. But the Alga? do not, 
in a general way, derive nourishment from the soil on which they grow. We find 
them growing indifferently on rocks of various mineralogical character, on floating 
timber, on shells, on iron or other metal, on each other,—in fine, on any substance 
which is long submerged, and which affords a foothold. Into none of those substances 
do they emit roots, nor do we find that they cause the decay, or appropriate to them- 
selves the constituents, of those substances. They are nourished by the water that 
surrounds them and the various substances which are dissolved in it. On those 
substances they frequently exert a very remarkable power, effecting chemical changes 
which the chemist can imitate only by the agency of the most powerful appa- 
ratus. They actually sometimes reverse the order of chemical affinity, driving out 
the stronger acid from the salts which they imbibe, and causing a weaker acid to 
unite with the base. Thus they decompose the muriate of soda which they absorb 
from sea-water, partly freeing and partly appropriating the chlorine and hydrogen ; 
and the soda is found combined in their tissues with carbonic acid. 
A remarkable instance of the action of a minute Alga on a chemical solution was 
pointed out to me by Prof. Bache, as occurring in the vessels of sulphate of copper 
kept in the electrotyping department of the Coast Survey office at Washington. 
A slender confervoid Alga infests the vats containing sulphate of copper, and 
proves very destructive. It decomposes the salt, and assimilates the sulphuric acid, 
rejecting (as indigestible !) the copper, which is deposited round its threads in a 
metallic form. It sometimes appears in great quantities, and is very troublesome ; 
but the vats had been cleaned a few days before I visited them, so that I lost the 
opportunity of examining more minutely this curious little plant. Most probably 
it is a species of Hygrocrocis, * a group of Algos of low organization but strong diges- 
* Perhaps the Hygrocrocis cuprica, Kiitz, or some allied species; but I had no opportunity of examining a recent 
specimen, and the characters cannot be made out from a dried one. IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
7 
tive powers, developed in various chemical solutions or in the waters of mineral 
springs. All the Alga? however which are found in such localities are not species 
of Hygrocrocis, for several Oscillatorice and Calothrices occur in thermal waters. 
Species of the former genus are found even in the boiling waters of the Icelandic 
Geysers. Of the latter, one species at least, Calotlirix nivea, is very common in 
hot sulphur springs, and I observed it in great plenty in the streams running from 
the inflammable springs at Niagara. 
But on whatever substance the Alga may feed, it is rarely obtained through the 
intervention of a root. Dissolved in the water that bathes the whole frond, the food 
is imbibed equally through all the cells of the surface, and passes from cell to cell 
toward those parts that are more actively assimilating, or growing more rapidly. The 
root, where such an organ exists, is a mere holdfast, intended to keep the plant fixed 
to a base, and prevent its being driven about by the action of the waves. It is ordina- 
rily a simple disc, or conical expansion of the base of the stem, strongly applied and 
firmly adhering to the substance on which the Alga grows. This is the usual form 
among all the smaller growing kinds. Where, however, as in the gigantic Oar-weeds 
or Laminarice, the frond attains a large size, offering a proportionate resistance to 
the waves, the central disc is strengthened by lateral holdfasts or discs formed at 
the bases of side roots emitted by the lower part of the stem ; just as the tropical 
Screw-pine (Pandanus) puts out cables and shrouds to enable its slender stem to 
support the weight of the growing head of branches. The branching roots of the 
Laminaria, then, are merely AWws-discs become compound : instead of the conical 
base of a Fucus, formed of a single disc, there is a conical base formed of a number of 
such discs disposed in a circle. In some few instances, as in Macrocystis, the grasp- 
ing fibres of the root develope more extensively, and form a matted stratum of con- 
siderable extent, from which many stems spring up. This is a further modification 
of the same idea, a further extension of the base of the cone. 
In all these cases the roots extend over flat surfaces, to which they adhere by a 
series of discs. They show no tendency to penetrate like the branching roots of per- 
fect plants. The only instances of such penetrating roots among the Algae with 
which I am acquainted, occur in certain genera of Siphonece and in the Caulerpece, tro- 
pical and sub-tropical forms, of which there are numerous examples on the shores 
of the Florida Keys. These plants grow either on sandy shores or among coral, 
into which their widely extended fibrous roots often penetrate for a considerable dis- 
tance, branching in all directions, and forming a compact cushion in the sand, 
reminding one strongly of the much divided roots of sea-shore grasses that bind 
together the loose sands of our dunes. But neither in these cases do the roots 
appear to differ from the nature of holdfasts, and their ramification and extension 
through the sand is probably owing to the unstable nature of such a soil. It is not 
in search of nourishment, but in search of stability, that the fibres of their roots are 
put forth, like so many tendrils. We shall have more to speak of these roots in 
the proper place, and shall now proceed to notice some of the forms exhibited by 8 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
THE FROND. 
The frond or vegetable body of the compound Alga? puts on a great variety of 
shapes in different families, as it gradually rises from simpler to more complex 
structures. In the less organized it consists of a string of cells arranged like the 
beads of a necklace; and the cells of which such strings are composed may be 
either globose or cylindrical. In the former case we have a moniliform string or 
filament, and in the latter a filiform or cylindrical one. The term filament (in 
Latin, filum) is commonly applied to such simple strings of cells, but has occasionally 
a wider acceptation, signifying any very slender, threadlike body, though formed 
of more than one series of cells. This is a loose application of the term, and 
ought to be avoided. By Kiitzing the term trichoma is substituted for the older 
word filum or filament. Where the filament (or trichoma) consists of a single series 
of consecutive cells, it appears like a jointed thread ; each individual cell consti- 
tuting an articulation, and the walls between the cells forming dissepiments or nodes, 
terms which are frequently employed in describing plants of this structure. 
Where the filament is composed of more series of cells than one, it may be either 
articulated or inarticulate. In the former case, the cells or articulations of the minor 
filaments which compose the common filament are all of equal length ; their 
dissepiments are therefore all on a level, and divide the compound body into a 
series of nodes and internodes, or dissepiments and articulations. In the latter, the 
cells of the minor filaments are of unequal length, so that no articulations are 
obvious in the compound body. In Polysiphonia and Bhodomela may be seen 
examples of such articulate and inarticulate filaments. 
By Kiitzing the term phycoma is applied to such compound stems; and when the 
phycoma becomes flattened or leaf-like, a new term, phylloma, is given to it by the 
same author. These terms are sometimes convenient in describing particular struc- 
tures, though not yet generally adopted. The cells of Avhich compound stems 
(or phycomata), are composed are very variously arranged, and on this cellular 
arrangement, or internal structure of the stem, depends frequently the place in the 
system to which the plant is to be referred. A close examination, therefore, of the 
interior of the frond, by means of thin slices under high powers of the microscope, 
is often necessary, before we can ascertain the position of an individual plant whose 
relations we wish to learn. Sometimes all the cells have a longitudinal di- 
rection, their longer axes being vertical. Very frequently, this longitudinal 
arrangement is found only toward the centre of the stem, while toward the circum- 
ference the cells stand at right angles to those of the centre, or have a horizontal 
direction. In such stems we distinguish a proper axis, running through the 
frond, and a periphery, or peripheric stratum, forming the outside layer or cir- 
cumference. Sometimes the axis is the densest portion of the frond, the filaments 
of which it is composed being very strongly and closely glued together ; in other 
cases it is very lax, each individual filament lying apart from its fellow, the 
interspaces being filled up with vegetable mucus or gelatine. This gelatine differs 
greatly in consistence ; in some Alga? it is very thin and watery, in others it is IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
9 
slimy, and in others it has nearly the firmness of cartilage. On the degree of its 
compactness and abundance depends the relative substance of the plant; which 
is membranaceous where the gelatine is in small quantity ; gelatinous where it is 
very abundant and somewhat fluid ; or cartilaginous where it is firm. 
The frond may be either cylindrical or stem-like, or more or less compressed and 
flattened. Often a cylindrical stem bears branches which widen upwards, and 
terminate in leaf-like expansions, which are of various degrees of perfection in 
ditferent kinds. Thus sometimes the leaf, or phylloma, is a mere dilatation ; in 
other cases it is traversed by a midrib, and in the most perfect kinds lateral nerve- 
lets issue from the midrib and extend to the margin. These leaves are either 
vertical, which is their normal condition, or else they are inclined at various angles 
to the stem or axis, chiefly from a twisting in their lamina, the insertion of 
the leaf preserving its vertical position. They are variously lobed or cloven, and 
in a few cases (as in the Sea Colander of the American coast) they are regularly 
pierced, at all ages, with a series of holes which seem to originate in some portions 
of the lamina developing new cells with greater rapidity than other parts, thus causing 
an unequal tension in various parts of the frond, and consequently the production of 
holes in those places where the growth is defective. Such plants, though they form 
lace-like fronds, are scarcely to be considered as net works. Net-like fronds are, 
however, formed by several Algte where the branches regularly anastomose one 
with another, and form meshes like those of a net. Most species with this 
structure are peculiar to the Southern Ocean, but in the waters of the Caribbean 
Sea are found two or three which may perhaps yet be detected on the shores of 
the Florida Keys. In one of the Australian genera of this structure (Claudea) 
the net-work is formed by the continual anastomosis of minute leaflets, each of 
which is furnished with a midrib and lamina. The apices of the midribs of one 
series of these leaves grow into the dorsal portion of leaves that issue at right 
angles to them, and as the leaves having longitudinal and horizontal direc- 
tions, or those that form the warp and weft of the frond, are of minute size and 
closely and regularly disposed, the net-work that results is lace-like and delicately 
beautiful. 
In the Hydrodictyon, a fresh water Alga, found in ponds in Europe and in 
the United States, where it was first detected by Professor Bailey near Westpoint, 
a net-like frond is formed in a different manner. This plant when fully 
grown resembles an ordinary fishing-net of fairy size, each pentagonal mesh being 
formed of five cells, and one cell making a side of the pentagon. As the plant 
grows larger, the meshes become wider by the lengthening of the cells of which 
each mesh is composed. When at maturity, the matter contained within 
each cell of the mesh is gradually organised into granules, or germs of fu- 
ture cells, and these become connected together in fives while yet contained 
in the parent cell. Thus meshes first, and at length little microscopic net- 
works, are formed within each cell of the meshes of the old net; and this 
takes place before the old net breaks up. At length the cells of the old net 
burst, and from each issues forth the little network, perfectly formed, but of very 
minute size, which by an expansion of its several parts will become a net like that 
YOL. III. ART. 4. 10 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
from which its parent cell was derived. Thus, supposing each cell of a single 
net of the Hydrodictyon were to be equally fertile, some myriads of new nets 
would be produced from every single net, as it broke up and dissolved. In this 
way a large surface of water might be filled with the plant in a single generation. 
The manner of growth of the frond is very various in the different families. In 
some, the body lengthens by continual additions to its apex, every branch being 
younger the further removed it is from the base ; that is, the tips of the branches 
are the youngest parts. This is the usual mode of growth in the Confervoid 
genera, and also obtains in many of those higher in the series, as in the FucaceaB 
and many other Melanosperms. In the Laminariae, on the contrary, the apex 
when once formed does not materially lengthen, but the new growth takes place at 
the base of the lamina, or in the part where the cylindrical stipe passes into the 
expanded or leaflike portion of the frond. In such plants the apex is rarely found 
entire in old specimens, but is either torn by the action of the waves, or thrown off 
altogether, and its place supplied by a new growth from below. In several spe- 
cies this throwing off of the old frond takes place regularly at the close of each 
season ; the old lamina being gradually pushed off by a young lamina growing 
under it. There are others, among the filiform kinds, in which the smaller branches 
are suddenly deciduous, falling off from the larger and permanent portions of the 
trunk, as leaves do in autumn from deciduous trees. Hence specimens of these 
plants collected in winter are so unlike the summer state of the species, that to a 
person unacquainted with their habits they would appear to be altogether different 
in kind. The summer and winter states of Rliodomela subfusca are thus different. 
In Desmarestia aculeata the young plants, or the younger branches of old plants, 
are clothed with soft pencils of delicate jointed filaments, which fall off when the 
frond attains maturity, and leave naked, thorny branches behind. Similar delicate 
hairs are found in many other Algae of very different families, generally clothing the 
younger and growing parts of the frond ; and they seem to be essential organs, 
probably engaged in elaborating the crude sap of these plants, and consequently 
analogous to the leaves of perfect plants. This is as yet chiefly conjectural. The 
conjecture, however, is founded on the observed position of these hair-like bodies, 
which are always found on growing points, the new growth taking place imme- 
diately beneath their insertion. In most cases these hairs are deciduous, but 
in some, as in the genus Dasya, they are persistent, clothing all parts of the frond 
so long as they continue in vigour. They vary much in form, in some being long, 
filiform, single cells ; in others, unbranched strings of shorter cells, and in others 
dichotomous, or, rarely, pinnated filaments. 
Three principal varieties of 
COLOUR 
are generally noticed among the Algce, namely, Grass-green or Herbaceous, Olive- 
green, and Red ; and as these classes of colour are pretty constant among otherwise 
allied species, they afford a ready character by which, at a glance, these plants may 
be separated into natural divisions ; and hence colour is here employed in classifi- IY. 
INTRODUCTION. 
11 
cation with more success than among any other vegetables. In the subdivision of 
Alga; into the three groups of Chlorosperms, Melanosperms, and Rhodosperms, the 
colour of the frond is, as we shall afterwards see, employed as a convenient diag- 
nostic character. It is a character, however, which must be cautiously applied in 
practice by the student, because, though sufficiently constant on the whole and 
under ordinary circumstances, exceptions occur now and then ; and under special 
circumstances Algce of one series assume in some degree the colour of either of the 
other series. 
The green colour is characteristic of those that grow either in fresh water or in the 
shallower parts of the sea, where they are exposed to full sunshine but seldom quite 
uncovered by water. Almost all the fresh water species are green, and perhaps 
three fourths of those that grow in sunlit parts of the sea ; but some of those of 
deep water are of as vivid a green as any found near the surface, so that we cannot 
assert that the green colour is owing here, as it is among land plants, to a perfect ex- 
posure to sunlight. Several species of Caulerpa, Anadyomene, Codium, Bryopsis and 
others of the Siphonese, which are not less herbaceous or vivid in their green colours 
than other Chlorosperms, frequently occur at considerable depths, to which the 
light must be very imperfectly transmitted. 
Algae of an olivaceous colour are most abundant between tide marks, in places 
where they are exposed to the air, at the recess of the tide, and thus alternately 
subjected to be left to parch in the sun, and to be flooded by the cool waves of the 
returning tide. They extend however to low water mark, and form a broad belt of 
vegetation about that level, and a few straggle into deeper water, sometimes into 
very deep water. The gigantic deep-water Algos, Macrocyst is, Nereocystis, Lessonia, 
and Durvillcea, are olive coloured. 
iM-coloured Algae are most abundant in the deeper and darker parts of the sea, 
rarely growing in tide pools, except where they are shaded from the direct beams of 
the sun either by a projecting rock, or by over-lying olivaceous Algae. The red 
colour is always purest and most intense when the plant grows in deep water, 
as may be seen by tracing any particular species from the greatest to the least depth 
at which it is found. Thus, the common Ceramium rubrum in deep pools or near 
low-water mark is of a deep, full red, its cells abundantly filled with bright car- 
mine endochrome, which will be discharged in fresh water so as to form a rose- 
coloured infusion; but the same plant, growing in open, shallow pools, near high water 
mark, where it is exposed to the sun, becomes very pale, the colour fading through 
all shades of pink down to dull orange or straw-colour. It is observable that this 
plant, which is properly one of the red series (or Rhodosperms) does not become 
grass-green (or like a Chlorosperm) by being developed in the shallower water, but 
merely loses its capacity for forming the red-coloured matter peculiar to itself. So 
also, Laurencia pinnatijida, and other species of that genus, which are normally dark 
purple, are so only when they grow near low water mark. And as many of them 
extend into shallower parts, and some even nearly to high water limit, we find 
specimens of these plants of every shade of colour from dull purple to dilute yellow 
or dirty white. Similar changes of colour, and from a similar cause, are seen in 
Chonclrus crispus, the Carrigeen or Irish Moss, which is properly of a fine deep 12 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
purplish reel, but becomes greenish or whitish when growing in shallow pools. 
The white colour, therefore, which is preferred in carrigeen by the purchaser of the 
prepared article, is entirely due to bleaching and repeated rinsing in fresh water. 
Many Algae, both of the olive and red series, and in a less perfect manner a few of 
the grass-green also, reflect prismatic colours when growing under water. In some 
species of Cystoseira, particularly in the European C. ericoides and its allies, these 
colours are so vivid that the dull olive-brown branches appear, as they wave to and 
fro in the water, to be clothed with the richest metallic greens and blues, changing 
with every movement, as the beams of light fall in new directions on them. Similar 
colours, but in a less degree, are seen on Chondrus crispus when growing in deep 
water; but here the prismatic colouring is often confined to the mere tips of the 
branches, which glitter like sapphires or emeralds among the dark purple leaves. 
The cause of these changeable colours has not been particularly sought after. The 
surface may be finely striated, but it does not seem to be more so than in other 
allied species, where no such iridescence has been observed. In the Chondrus the 
changeable tints appear to characterize those specimens only which grow in deep 
water, and which are stronger and more cartilaginous than those which grow in 
shallow pools. 
Fresh water has generally a very strong action on the colours as well as on 
the substance of marine Alga? which are plunged into it. To many it is a strong 
poison, rapidly dissolving the gelatine which connects the cells, and dissolving also 
the walls of the cells themselves ; and that so quickly that in a few minutes one of 
these delicate plants will be dissolved into a shapeless mass of broken cells and 
slime. Many species which, when fresh from the sea, resist the action of fresh 
water, and may be steeped in it without injury for several hours, if again 
moistened after having once been dried, will almost instantly dissolve and decompose. 
This is remarkably the case with several species of Gigartina and Iridcea. The first 
effect of fresh water on the red colours of Alga? is to render them brighter and more 
clear. Thus Dasya coccinea, Gelidium cartilagineum, Plocamium coccineum, and others, 
are when recent of a very dark and somewhat dull red colour ; but when exposed 
either to showers and sunshine on the beach, or to fresh water baths in the studio 
of the botanist, become of various tints of crimson or scarlet, according as the 
process is continued for a less or greater length of time. At length the colouring 
matter would be expelled and the fronds bleached white, as occurs among the 
specimens cast up and exposed to the long continued action of the air ; but if 
stopped in time and duly regulated, the colours may be greatly heightened by fresh 
water. Some plants which are dull brown when going into the press, come out a 
fine crimson ; this is the case with Delesseria sanguinea, though that plant is not 
always of a dull colour when recent. Others, which are of the most delicate rosy 
hues when recent, become brown or even black when dried. This is especially the 
case in the order Rhodomelacece, so named from this tendency of their reds to 
change to black in drying. The tendency to become black, though it cannot be 
altogether overcome in these plants, may often be lessened by steeping them in 
fresh water for some time previous to drying. Hot water generally changes the 
colours of all Alga? to green, and if heat be applied during the drying process, an IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
13 
artificial green may be imparted to the specimens ; but such a mode of preparation 
of specimens -ought never to be practised by botanical collectors, though it may 
sometimes serve the purpose of makers of seaweed pictures. 
THE FRUCTIFICATION 
of the Algae may be more conveniently described in the systematic portion of this 
work, when speaking of the various forms it assumes in the different families. I 
shall at present, therefore, limit myself to a very few general observations. The 
spore or reproductive gemmule of the Algre is in all cases a simple cell, filled with 
denser and darker coloured endochrome (or colouring matter) than that found in 
other cells of the frond. In the simplest Algae, where the whole body consists of a 
single cell, some gradually change and are converted into spores, without any 
obvious contact with others: but far more frequently, as in the Desmidiacece and 
spore is formed only by the conjugation of two cells or individual plants. 
When these simple vegetable atoms are mature, and about to form their fructification, 
two individuals are observed to approach ; a portion of the cell-wall of each is then 
extended into a tubercle at opposite points; these tubercles come into contact 
and at length become confluent; the dissepiment between them vanishes, and a 
tube is thus formed connecting the two cavities together. Through this tube the 
matter contained in both the old cells is transmitted and becomes mixed ; changes 
take place in its organization, and at length a sporangium or new cell filled 
with spores is formed from it, either in one of the old cells, or commonly at 
the point of the connecting tube, where the two are soldered together. Then 
the old empty cells or plants die, and the species is represented by its sporan- 
gium, which may remain dormant, retaining vitality for a considerable time, 
as from one year to another, or probably for several years. These sporan- 
gia, which are abundantly formed at the close of the season of active growth, 
become buried in the mud at the bottoms of pools, where they are encased 
on the drying up of the water in summer, and are ready to develop into new fronds 
on the return of moisture in spring. 
Many of the lower Algae form fruit in this manner, to which the name con- 
jugation is technically given. The thread-like Silk-weeds of ponds and ditches 
{Zygnemata and Mougeotice, &c.) are good examples of such a mode of fruiting. In 
these almost every cell is fertile, and when two threads are yoked together, a series 
of sporangia will be formed in one thread, while the other will be converted into 
a string of dead, empty cells. Before conjugation there was, seemingly, no differ- 
ence between the contents of one set of cells and of the other ; so that there is no 
clear proof of the existence of distinct sexes in these plants, however much the 
process of fruiting observed among them may indicate an approach to it. 
The process of fruiting in the higher Algae appears to be very similar: namely, 
spores or sporangia appear to be formed by certain cells attracting to themselves the 
contents of adjacent cells; and in the compound kinds empty cells are almost always 
found in the neighbourhood of the fruit cells ; but with the complication of the 
parts of the frond, the exact mode in which spores are formed becomes more diffi- 14 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
cult of observation. At length, among the highest A'lga3 we encounter what appear 
to be really two sexes, one analogous to the anther and the other to the pistil of 
flowering plants. It would seem, however, that it is not each individual spore 
which is fertilized, as is the case in seed-bearing plants ; but that the fertilizing 
influence is imparted to the pistil or sporangium itself, when that body is in its 
most elementary form, long before any spore is produced in its substance, and even 
when it is itself scarcely to be distinguished from an ordinary cell. Antheridia, as 
the supposed fertilizing organs are called, are most readily seen among the Fucacece, 
and will be described under that family. 
Besides the reproduction by means of proper spores, many Algse have a second 
mode of continuing the species, and some even a third. Among the simpler kinds, 
where the whole body consists of a single cell, a fissiparous division, exactly similar 
to the fissiparous multiplication of cells among higher plants, takes place. This cell, 
as has been already mentioned, divides at maturity into two parts, which, falling 
asunder, become separate individuals. Similar self-division has been noticed among 
the lower Palmellacece, and in other imperfectly organized families. Such a mode 
of multiplying individuals is analogous to the propagation of larger plants by the 
process of gemmation, where buds are formed and thrown off to become new indivi- 
duals. When, as in the Lenina or Duckweed, the whole vegetable body is as simple 
as a phanerogamous plant can well be, the new frondlets or buds are produced in 
a manner very strikingly analogous to the production of new fronds in Desmidiacece. 
The third mode of continuing the species has been observed in many Algae of the 
green series, in some of which sporangia are also formed, but in others no fructifica- 
tion other than what I am about to describe has been detected. This mode is as 
follows. In an early stage, the green matter, or endochrome, contained within the cells 
of these Algte, is of a nearly homogeneous consistence throughout, and semi-fluid ; 
but at an advanced period it becomes more and more granulated. The granules 
when formed in the cells at first adhere to the inner surface of the membranous 
Avail, but soon detach themselves and float freely in the cell. At first they are 
of irregular shapes, but they gradually become spheroidal. They then congregate 
into a dense mass in the centre of the cell, and a movement aptly compared to that 
of the of bees round their queen begins to take place. One by one 
these active granules detach themselves from the swarm, and move about 
in the vacant space of the cell with great vivacity. Continually pushing against 
the sides of the cell Avail, they at length pierce it, and issue from their prison into 
the surrounding fluid, Avhere their seemingly spontaneous movements are continued 
for some time. These vivacious granules, or zoospores as they have been called, at 
length become fixed to some submerged object, Avhere they soon begin to develop 
cells, and at length groAV into Algae similar to those from Avhose cells they issued. 
Their spontaneous movements before and immediately subsequent to emission 
lead me to speak of the 
MOVEMENTS OF ALG2E 
in general. These are of various kinds, and of greater or less degrees of vivacity IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
15 
In some Algse a movement from place to place continues through the life of the 
individual, while in others, as in the zoospores of which I have just spoken, it is 
confined to a short period, often to a few hours, in the transition state of 
the spore, after it escapes from the parent filament and until it fixes itself 
and germinates. Many observers have recorded these observations, which are to 
be found detailed in various periodicals.* I shall here notice only a few cases illus- 
trative of the various kinds of movement. The most ordinary of these movements 
is effected by means of vibratile cilia or hairs, produced by the membrane of the 
spore, and which by rapid backward and forward motion, like that of so many 
microscopic oars, propel the body through the water in different directions, accord- 
ing as the movement is most directed to one side or the other. Sometimes the little 
spores, under the influence of these cilia, are seen to spin round and round in widen- 
ing circles ; but at other times change of direction, pauses, accelerations, &c. take 
place during the voyage, which look almost like voluntary alterations, or as if the 
spore were guided by a principle of the nature of animal will. Hence many 
observers do not hesitate to call these moving spores animalcules, and to consider 
them of the same nature as the simpler infusorial animals. 
This, as it appears to me, is a conclusion which ought not to be hastily assumed, 
not merely taking into consideration the extremely minute size of the little bodies 
to be examined, and the consequent danger of our being deceived as to the cause 
of movement, and of its interruption and resumption, but also remembering the facts 
ascertained by Mr. Brown, of the movement of small particles of all mineral sub- 
stances which he examined. Many of the spores in question are sufficiently small 
to come under the Brownian law, though others are of larger size. Besides, if we 
regard the moving spores as animalcules, we must either adopt the paradox that a 
vegetable produces an animal, which is then changed into a vegetable, and the process 
repeated through successive generations, every one of these vegetables having been 
animal in its infancy ; or else, notwithstanding their strongly marked vegetable cha- 
racteristics, we must remove to the animal kingdom all Algce with moving spores. 
Neither of these violent measures is necessary, if we admit that mere motion, 
apart from other characters, is no proof of animality. Though motion under the 
control of a will be indeed one of the charter privileges of the higher animals, we see 
it gradually reduced as we descend in the animal scale, until at last it is nearly lost 
altogether. Long before we reach the lowest circles in the animal world, we 
meet with animals which are fixed through the greater part of their lives to the rocks 
on which they grow, and some of them have scarcely any obvious movement on their 
point of attachment. In some the surface, like that of the Algas-spores, is clothed 
with cilia which drive floating particles of food within reach of the mouth; in others 
even these rudimentary prehensile organs are dispensed with, and the animal exists 
as a scarcely irritable flesh expanded on a framework. This would seem to be the 
case in the corals of the genus Fungia, if the accounts given of those animals be 
correct ; while in the sponges the animal structure and organization are still further 
reduced, so as almost to contravene our preconceived notions of animal-will and 
* See Annales des Sciences Naturelles; Taylor's Ann. Nat. Hist.; the Linncea, fyc. various volumes. INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
movement. But the sponges can scarcely be far removed from Fungia, nor can 
that be separated from other corals : so that, though I am aware some naturalists 
of eminence regard the sponges as vegetables, I cannot subscribe to that opinion, 
but rather view them as exhibiting to us animal organization in its lowest con- 
ceivable type, and parallel to vegetable organization, as that exists in the lowest 
members of the class of Algse. 
This hasty glance at the animal kingdom teaches us that voluntary motion is a 
character variable in degree, and at length reduced almost to zero within the 
animal circle. On the other hand, we know that movements of a very extra- 
ordinary character exist among the higher vegetables. Not merely the movement 
of the fluids of plants within their cells, which has at least some analogy with the 
motion of animal fluids ; but in such plants as the Sensitive-plant, the Venus’s 
Flytrap (Dioncea), and many others, movements of the limbs (shall I call them ?) as 
singular as those of the Algse-spores, are sufficiently well known. And these move- 
ments are affected by narcotics in a manner strikingly similar to the operation 
of similar agents on the nervous system of animals. The common sensitive-plant, 
indeed, only shrinks from the touch, but in the Desmodium gyrans a movement of 
the leaves on their petioles is habitually kept up, as if the plant were fanning itself 
continually. Such vegetable movements as these strike us by their rapidity, but 
others of a like nature only escape us by their slowness. Thus the opening of the 
leaves of many plants in sunlight and their closing regularly in the evening in 
sleep ; the constant turning of the growing points towards the strongest light, and 
other changes in position of various organs, are all vegetable movements which 
would appear as voluntary as those of the Algae spores if they were equally rapid. 
Their extreme slowness alone conceals their true nature. 
So then we find animals in which motion is reduced almost to a nullity ; and 
vegetables as high in the scale as the Leguminosce exhibiting well marked move- 
ments, facts which sufficiently establish the truth of our position that mere motion is 
no proof of animality. But subtracting their movements from the Algae-spores, 
what other proof remains of their being animalcules ? None whatever. They do 
not resemble animalcules either in their internal structure, their chemical compo- 
sition, or their manner of feeding ; and their vegetable nature is sufficiently 
marked by their decomposing carbonic acid, giving out oxygen in sunlight, and 
containing starch. 
In the Vauclieria clavata, one of the species in which spores moved by cilia were 
first observed, the spore is formed at the apices of the branches. The frond in 
this plant is a cylindrical, branching cell, filled with a dense, green endochrome. A 
portion of the contained endochrome immediately at the tips separates from that 
which fills the remainder of the branch ; a dissepiment is formed, and that portion 
cut off from the rest gradually consolidates into a spore, while the membranous 
tube enlarges to admit of its growth. The young spore soon becomes elliptical, 
and at length, being clothed with a skin and ready for emission, it escapes through 
an opening then formed at the summit of the branch. The whole surface of the 
spore, when emitted, is seen to be clothed with vibratile cilia whose vibrations 
propel it through the water until it reaches a place suitable for germination. IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
17 
The cilia then disappear, and the spore becoming quiescent, at length developes 
into a branching cell like its parent. The history of other moving spores is very 
similar, the cilia, however, varying much in number in different species ; com- 
monly they are only two, which are sometimes inserted as a pair, at one end of the 
spore, but in other cases placed one at each end. 
There are other Algae in which vibratile cilia have not been observed, but which 
yet have very agile movements. Among these the most remarkable are the Oscilla- 
torice and their allies, which suddenly appear and disappear in the waters of lakes 
and ponds, and sometimes rise to the surface in such prodigious numbers as to 
colour it for many square miles. In Oscillatoria each individual is a slender, rigid, 
needle-shaped thread, formed of a single cell, filled with a dense endochrome which 
is annulated at short intervals, and which eventually separates into lenticular 
spores. Myriads of such threads congregate in masses, connected together by slimy 
matter, in which they lie,' and from the borders of which, as it floats like a scum on 
the water, they radiate. Each thread, loosely fixed at one end in the slimy matrix, 
moves slowly from side to side, describing short arcs in the water, with a motion 
resembling that of a pendulum ; and, gradually becoming detached from the matrix, 
it is propelled forward. These threads are continually emitted by the stratum, and 
diffused in the water, thus rapidly colouring large surfaces. "When a small portion 
of the matrix is placed over-night in a vessel of water, it will frequently be found 
in the morning that filaments emitted from the mass have formed a pellicle over 
the whole surface of the water, and that the outer ones have pushed themselves 
up the sides, as far as the moisture reaches. 
The Oscillatorise, though most common in fresh water, are not peculiar to it. 
Some are found in the sea, and others in boiling springs, impregnated with mineral 
substances. It has been ascertained that the red colour which gives name to the 
Arabian Gulf is due to the presence of a microscopic Alga (Trichodesmium ery- 
thrceum), allied to Oscillatoria, and endowed with similar motive powers, which 
occasionally permeates the surface-strata of the water in such multitudes as com- 
pletely to redden the sea for many miles. The same or a similar species has been 
noticed in the Pacific Ocean in various places, by almost every circumnavigator 
since the time of Cook, who tells us his sailors gave the little plant the name of 
“ sea sawdust.” Mr. Darwin compares it to minute fragments of chopped hay, each 
fragment consisting of a bundle of threads adhering together by their sides. 
These minute plants move freely through the water, rising or sinking at intervals, 
and when closely examined they exhibit motions very similar to those of Oscilla- 
torice. There are several of such quasi-animal-plants now known to botanists, and 
almost all belong to the green series of the Algas, which are placed in our system 
at the extreme base of the vegetable scale of being. 
HABITAT. 
The habitat or place of growth of the Alga3 is extremely various. Wherever 
moisture of any kind lies long exposed to the air, Algse of one group or other are 
found in it. I have already alluded to the Hynrocrocis, so troublesome in vats of 
VOL. III. ART. 4. 18 
INTRODUCTION. 
IY. 
sulphate of copper, and many, perhaps almost all other chemical solutions, 
become filled in time, and under favorable circumstances, with a similar vegetation. 
The waters of mineral springs, both hot and cold, have species peculiar to them. 
Some, like the Red snow plant, diffuse life through the otherwise barren snows of 
high mountain peaks and of the polar regions ; and on the surface of the polar 
ice an unfrozen vegetation of minute Algse finds an appropriate soil. There are 
species thus fitted to endure all observed varieties of temperature. Moisture and 
air are the only essentials to the development of Algae. It has even been sup- 
posed that the minute Diatomacece whose bodies float through the higher regions of 
the atmosphere, and fall as an impalpable dust on the rigging of ships far out at 
sea, have been actually developed in the air ; fed on the moisture semicondensecl 
in clouds ; and carried about with these “ lonely” wanderers. 
When this atmospheric dust was first noticed, naturalists conjectured that the 
fragments of minute Algas of which the microscope showed it to be composed, had 
been carried up by ascending currents of air either from the surface of pools, or 
from the dried bottoms of what had been shallow lakes. But a different origin 
has recently been attributed to this precipitate of the atmosphere by Dr. F. Cohn, 
Professor Ehrenberg, and others, who now regard it as evidence of the existence of 
organic life in the air itself! This opinion is founded on the alleged fact, that 
atmospheric dust, collected in all latitudes, from the equator to the circumpolar 
regions, consists of remains of the same species, and that certain characteristic forms 
are always found in it, and are rarely seen in any other place. Hence it is inferred 
that the dust has a common origin, and its universal diffusion round the earth 
points to the air itself as the proper abode of this singular fauna and flora,—for 
minute animals would seem to accompany and doubtless to feed upon the vegeta- 
ble atoms. If this be correct, and not an erroneous inference from a misunderstood 
phenomenon, it is one of the most extraordinary facts connected with the distribu- 
tion and maintenance of organic life. 
If Algte thus people the finely divided vapour that floats above our heads, we shall 
be prepared to find them in all water condensed on the earth. The species found 
on damp ground are numerous. These are usually of the families Palmellacece and 
JSfostochacece. To the latter belong the masses of semi-transparent green jelly so 
often seen among fallen leaves on damp garden walks, after continued rains in 
autumn and early winter. These jellies are popularly, believed to fall from the 
atmosphere, and by our forefathers were called fallen stars.* If such be their 
origin, we are tempted to address them, with Cornwall in King Lear, 
“ Out vile jelly ! where is thy lustre now?” 
for certainly nothing can well be less star-like than a Nostoc, as it lies on the ground. 
An appeal to the microscope reveals beauty indeed in this humble plant, but gives 
no countenance to the popular belief of its meteoric descent. It is closely related 
in structure to other species found under dripping rocks and in lakes and ponds, 
* Other substances besides Nostocs occasionally get this name. Masses of undeveloped frog-spawn, 
for instance, dropped by buzzards and herons, pass for meteoric deposits. IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
19 
and the only reason for regarding it as an aerial visitant is the suddenness of its 
appearance after rain. 
In certain moist states of the atmosphere, accompanied by a warm temperature, 
the Nostoc grows very rapidly ; but what seems a sudden production of the 
plant has possibly been long in preparation unobserved. When the air is dry the 
growth is intermitted, and the plant shrivels up to a thin skin, but on the return 
of moisture this skin expands, becomes gelatinous, and continues its active life. 
And as this process is repeated from time to time, it may be that the large jelly 
which is found after a few days rain is of no very recent growth. A friend of 
mine who happened to land in a warm dry day on the coast of Australia, and 
immediately ascended a hill for the purpose of obtaining a view of the country, was 
overtaken by heavy rains ; and was much surprised to find that the whole face of 
the hill quickly became covered with a gelatinous Alga, of which no traces had been 
seen on his ascent. In descending the hill in the afternoon, on his return to the 
ship, he was obliged to slide down through the slimy coating of jelly, where it was 
impossible to proceed in any other way. No doubt, in this case, a species of Nostoc 
which had been unnoticed when shrivelled up had merely expanded with the 
morning’s rain. 
Where water lies long on the surface of the ground, as happens in cases of floods, 
it quickly becomes filled with Confervce or Silk-weeds, which rise to the surface in 
vast green strata. These simple plants grow with great rapidity, using up the 
materials of the decaying vegetation which is rotting under the inundation, and 
thus they in great measure counteract the ill effects to the atmosphere of such 
decay. When the water evaporates, their filaments, which consist of delicate mem- 
branous cells, shrivel up and become dry, and the stratum of threads, now no longer 
green, but bleached into a dull white, forms a coarsely interwoven film of varying 
thickness, spread like great sheets of paper over the decaying herbage. This natural 
paper, which has also been described under the name of water flannel, sometimes 
covers immense tracts, limited only by the extent of the flood in whose waters it 
originated. 
But though Algae abound in all reservoirs of fresh water, the waters of the sea 
are their peculiar home ; whence the common name “ Seaweeds,” by which the 
whole class is frequently designated. Yery few other plants vegetate in the sea, 
seawater being fatal to the life of most seeds ; yet some notable exceptions to this 
law (in the case of the cocoa nut, mangrove, and a few other plants) serve a useful 
purpose in the economy of nature. 
The sea in all explored latitudes has a vegetation of Algas. Towards the poles, 
this is restricted to microscopic kinds, but almost as soon as the coast rock ceases 
to be coated with ice, it begins to be clothed with Fuel : and this without reference 
to the mineral constituents of the rock, the Fucus requiring merely a resting place. 
Seaweeds rarely grow on sand, unless when it is very compact and firm. There 
are, therefore, submerged sandy deserts, as barren as the most cheerless of the 
African wastes. And when such barrens interpose, along a considerable extent of 
coast, between one rocky shore and another, they oppose a strong barrier to the 
dispersion of species, though certainly not so strong as the aerial deserts ; because 20 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
the waters which flow over submarine sands will carry the spores of the Alga? with 
less injury than the winds of the desert will convey the seeds of plants from one 
oasis to another. It cannot, however, be doubted that submerged sands do exercise 
a very material influence on the dispersion of Algae, or their 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
Climate has an effect on the Algae as upon all other organic bodies, though its 
influence is less perceptible in them than in terrestrial plants, because the tempera- 
ture of the sea is much less variable than that of the air. Still, as the temperature 
of the ocean varies with the latitude, we find in the marine vegetation a corre- 
sponding change, certain groups, as the Laminaria?, being confined to the colder 
regions of the sea ; and others, as the Sargassa, only vegetating where the mean 
temperature is considerable. 
These differences of temperature and corresponding changes of marine vegetation, 
which are mainly dependent on actual distance from the equatorial regions, are 
considerably varied by the action of the great currents which traverse the ocean, 
carrying the waters of the polar zone toward the equator, and again conveying 
those of the torrid zone into the higher latitudes. Thus, under the influence of the 
warm waters of the Gulf Stream, Sargassum is found along the east coast of 
America as far as Long Island Sound (Lat. 44°). And again, the cold south-polar 
current which strikes on the western shores of South America, and runs along the 
coasts of Chili and Peru, has a marked influence on the marine vegetation of that 
coast, where Lessonia, Macrocystis, Durvillcea, and Iridaea, characteristic forms of 
the marine flora of Antarctic lands, approach the equator more nearly than in any 
other part of the world. 
The influence of currents of warmer water is also observable in the submarine 
flora of the west coast of Ireland, where we find many Algse abounding in lat. 53°, 
which elsewhere in the British Islands are found only in the extreme south points 
of Devon and Cornwall. These, and other instances which might be given, are 
sufficient to show that average temperature has a marked influence in determining 
the marine vegetation of any particular coast. 
Seasons of greater cold or heat than ordinary have, as might be inferred, a cor- 
responding action. This is particularly noticeable among the smaller and more 
delicate kinds which grow within tide marks, and are found in greater luxuriance 
or in more abundant fruit in a warm than in a cold season. And the difference 
becomes more strongly marked when the particular species is growing near the 
northern limit of its vegetation. Thus in warm summers, Padina Pavonia attains, 
on the south coast of England, a size as large as it does in sub-tropical latitudes ; 
while in a cold season it is dwarf and stunted. 
In speaking of the difference in colour of Algie, I have already noticed the pre- 
valence of particular colours at different depths of water. A corresponding change 
of specific form takes place from high to low water mark ; and as the depth 
increases, the change is strikingly analogous to what occurs among land plants at 
different elevations above the sea. Depth in the one case has a correspondent IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
21 
effect to height in the other ; and the Algae of deep parts of the sea are to those of 
tidal rocks, as alpine plants are to littoral ones. In both cases there is a limit to 
the growth of species ; each serial species having a line above which it does not 
vegetate, and each marine one, a line beyond which it does not descend. And as, 
at last, we find none but the least perfect lichens clothing the rocks of high 
mountains, so in the sea beyond a moderate depth are found no Algae of higher 
organization than the Diatomacece. 
These latter atomic plants would appear to exist in countless numbers at very 
extraordinary depths, having been constantly brought up by the lead in the deep 
sea soundings recorded in Sir James Ross’s Antarctic voyage. But ordinary sea 
plants cease to vegetate in comparatively shallow water, long before animal life 
ceases. The limits have not been accurately ascertained, and are probably much 
exaggerated as commonly given in books. 
Lamouroux speaks of ordinary Algae growing at 100 to 200 fathoms, but we 
have no exact evidence of the existence of these plants at this great depth. The 
Macrocystis, the largest Alga known, has sometimes been seen vegetating in 40 
fathoms (Hook. FI. Ant. vol. 2, p. 464) water, while its stems not merely reached 
the surface, but rose at an angle of 45° from the bottom, and streamed along the 
waves for a distance certainly equal to several times the length of the “ Erebus 
data which, if correct, give the total length of stem at about 700 feet. Dr. 
Hooker, however, considers this an exceptional case, and gives from eight to ten 
fathoms as the utmost depth at which submerged seaweed vegetates in the southern 
temperate and Antarctic ocean ; a depth which is probably much exceeded in the 
tropics, and which is at least equalled by Algae of the north temperate zone. 
Humboldt, in his “ Personal Narrative” mentions having dredged a plant to 
which he gave the name Fucus vitifolius, (probably a Codium or Flabellaria) in 
water 32 fathoms deep, and remarks that, notwithstanding the weakening of the 
light at that depth, the colour was of as vivid a green as in Algae growing near the 
surface. I possess a specimen of Anadyomene stellata dredged at the depth of 20 
fathoms, in the Gulph of Mexico, by my venerable friend the late Mr. Archibald Men- 
zies, and it is as green as specimens of the same plant collected by me between tide 
marks at Key West, and is much more luxuriant. 
Professor Edward Forbes, whose admirable report on the iEgean Sea should be 
consulted by all persons interested in the distribution of life at various depths, 
dredged Constantinea reni/ormis, Post, and Rupr. in 50 fathoms, the greatest depth 
perhaps on record, as accurately observed, at which ordinary Algae vegetate. I 
say, ordinary Algae, for it will be remembered that Diatomacece exist in the pro- 
found abysses of the ocean, as far as we are acquainted with them. 
And besides these microscopic vegetables, Algae of a group called Nullipores or 
Corallines (Corollinacece), long confounded with the Zoophytes, become more numer- 
ous as other Algae diminish, until they characterize a zone of depth where they 
form the whole obvious vegetation. These remarkable plants assimilate the mu- 
riate of lime of seawater and form a carbonate in their tissues, which from the 
great abundance of this deposit become stony. The less perfect Nullipores are 
scarcely distinguishable, by the naked eye, from any ordinary calcareous incrus- 22 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
tation, and strongly resemble the efflorescent forms, like cauliflowers, seen so fre- 
quently in the sparry concretions of limestone caverns. Others, more perfect, 
become branched like corals ; and the most organised of the group, or the true 
corallines, have symmetrical, articulated fronds. This stony vegetation affords 
suitable food to hosts of zoophytes and mollusca, which require lime for the con- 
struction of their skeletons or shells, and it probably extends to a depth as great as 
such animals inhabit. 
When the same species is found at different depths, there is generally a marked 
difference between the specimens. Thus, when an individual plant grows either in 
shallower or in deeper water than that natural to the species, it becomes stunted or 
otherwise distorted. I have noticed in many species (as in Plocamium coccineum, 
Dasya coccinea, Laurencia dasyphylla, various Hypnece, and many others) that the 
specimens from deep water have divaricated branches and ramuli, and a tendency 
to form both hooks and discs or supplementary roots, from various points of the 
stem and branches. Sometimes the outward habit is so completely changed by the 
production of hooked processes and discs, that it is difficult to discover the affinity of 
these distorted forms ; and such specimens have occasionally been unduly elevated 
to the rank of species. 
When water of great depth intervenes, on a coast between two shallower parts 
of the sea, it frequently limits the distribution of species, acting as a high mountain 
range would in the distribution of land plants ; but in a far less degree; as it is 
obviously easier for the spores of the Algae to be floated across the deep gulf, 
than for the seeds of land plants to pass the snowy peaks of a mountain. 
The intervention of sand, already alluded to, is a far greater barrier, because 
sandy tracts are usually of much greater extent than submarine obstacles of any 
other kind. To the prevalence of a sandy coast, in a great measure probably, is 
owing the very limited distribution of the Fucacece on the eastern shores of 
North America, where plants of this family are scarcely found from New York to 
Florida. Since the erection of a breakwater at Sullivan’s Island, S. C., many Algae 
not before known in those waters have, according to Professor L. R. Gibbes’s 
authority, made their appearance, but none of the Fucaceae are yet among them. 
In due time Sargassum vulgare will probably arrive from the south. 
Some attempt has been made to divide the marine flora into separate regions, the 
particulars of which I have detailed elsewhere.* In the descriptive portion of this 
work I shall notice the distribution of the several families, where it offers any 
marked peculiarity, and I shall at present confine myself to some remarks on the 
distribution of Algae along the eastern and southern shores of the United States ; 
here recording the substance of some verbal observations which I made at the 
Meeting of the American Association, held in Charleston, in March, 1850. 
EASTERN SHORES OF NORTH AMERICA. 
In comparing the marine vegetation of the opposite shores of the northern Atlantic, 
* Manual of British Marine Algae, Introdp. xxxvi. et seq. ed. 2. IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
23 
<i great resemblance is observed between tbe ordinary seaweeds that clotbe tbe rocks 
on tbe eastern and western sides ; with this difference, that the species do not reach 
so high a latitude on the American shore as on the European. The reason of this 
will be readily understood by inspecting a physical map of the Atlantic, on which 
Humboldt’s Isothermal lines, or lines of mean annual temperature, are laid down. 
For then it will at once be seen that there is a very considerable bending of the 
Isothermal lines in favour of the continent of Europe. Thus the same line that 
runs through New York, in lat. 41°, strikes the shores of Europe in the North of 
Ireland, lat. 54°. And though there is less difference in mean temperature in the 
southern parts of the continents than in the northern, still there is a marked 
difference throughout. 
With respect to vegetation, Laminaria longicruris is common on the American 
shore—at least as far south as Cape Cod (lat. 42°) ; while on the European it has 
not been found south of Norway, save some stray, waterworn stems occasionally 
cast on the north of Ireland or Scotland. 
Rhodymenia cristata, so very abundant in Boston harbour, (42° 30'), where it 
enters largely into the composition of seaweed pictures, is rarely found in Europe 
south of Iceland and the northern parts of Norway ; its most southern limit being 
in the Frith of Forth, (56°), where it has been found but once or twice. 
JDelesseria hypoglossum has not been observed in America north of Charleston, 
(lat. 33°), while in Europe it occurs in Orkney, (lat. 59°), and is in great profusion 
and luxuriance on the north coast of Ireland in lat. 55°. Tbe distribution of this 
species on the American shore is very anomalous if Charleston be its northern 
limit, for it certainly extends southward at least to Anastasia Island, (lat. 29° 50'). 
In the British seas it is most luxuriant on the Antrim shore, (55°), where its fronds 
are sometimes three feet in length; southern specimens are generally much 
smaller, and in Devonshire it rarely measures more than three or four inches, 
which is the average size of specimens from the south of Europe, as well as of those 
found in Charleston harbour. If we are correct in limiting the American distribu- 
tion of this species northward by Charleston, we have the remarkable fact that the 
greatest latitude attained by Del. hypoglossum in the north-western Atlantic is less 
by about 5° or 6° than the southern limit of the same species on the north-eastern, 
and by about 27° than the northern boundary of its distribution. This indicates 
a range which the isothermal lines can scarcely explain ; for the line which runs 
through Charleston strikes the coast of Spain. It is the more remarkable in this 
species, because the genus Delesseria is most numerous in the colder parts of the 
sea, its finest species being natives of Northern Europe and of Cape Horn and the 
Falkland Islands ; and, as we have seen, this very D. hypoglossum is no where of 
greater size or in greater plenty than in latitude 55° on the Irish coast. 
It is different with Padina Pavonia, itself a tropical form, and belonging to a 
group peculiarly lovers of the sun. We are not surprised that in America this 
plant should not grow further north than the Keys of Florida, although, under 
some peculiarly favourable circumstances, it attains a limit 27° further north, 
on the south coast of England ; for in the land-vegetation of the two coasts there 
is something like an approach to similar circumstances, oranges and citrons being 24 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
occasionally ripened in the ojjen air in Devonshire, and Magnolia grandiflora 
attaining an arborescent size. The remaining marine vegetation of the Florida 
Keys, as we shall presently see, has a greater resemblance to that of the 
Mediterranean than to that of the British coasts ; and this is more in accordance 
with the land floras, in which palm trees are a feature in both countries. 
Probably one half of the species of Algae of the east coast of North America 
are identical with those of Europe—a very large portion when we contrast it with 
the strongly marked difference between the marine animals of the two shores ; the 
testacea, and to a great extent even the fishes of the two continents, being 
dissimilar. The European species, on the same length of coast, are greatly the more 
numerous, which appears to be owing to the prevalence of sands, nearly destitute 
of Algas, along so great a length of the American shore, and particularly along 
that portion which, from its latitude, ought to produce the greatest variety of 
Algoo, were the local circumstances favourable to their growth. 
As Algas are little indebted for nourishment to the soil on which they grow, 
merely requiring a secure resting place and a sheltered situation, their number 
generally bears a proportion to the amount of indented rocks that border the 
coast. Stratified rocks are more favourable to their growth than loose boulders or 
stones ; but if the upper surface be smooth without cavities, it is either swept by 
the waves too rapidly to allow the growth of a vigorous vegetation ; or, in quiet 
places, it becomes uniformly clothed with some of the Fuci, or other social species, 
which cover the exposed surface with a large number of individuals, to the destruc- 
tion of more delicate species. The rocks, then, most adapted for AlgaB are those 
in which, here and there, occur deep cavities affording shelter from the too 
boisterous waves. In these, on the recess of the tide, a tide pool or rock basin 
preserves the delicate fronds from the action of the sun. The rare occurrence of 
such situations on the American coast is doubtless a reason of the comparative 
poverty of the marine flora. 
This comparative poverty is observable even in the common littoral Fuci or Rock 
Kelp. In Northern Europe, besides several rarer kinds, six species (namely Fucus 
serratus, vesiculosus, nodosus, canaliculatus ; Halidrys siliquosa ; and Himanthalia 
lorea) are extremely common, four of them at least being found on every coast. In 
America, Fucus vesiculosus and nodosus alone are commonly dispersed ; F. serratus 
and canaliculatus have not yet been detected ; and the Halidrys and Himanthalia 
rest on very uncertain evidence: so that of the six common European kinds, only 
two are certainly found in America. This deficiency in Fucaceoe is, in degree, made 
up for in Laminariacece, of which family several are peculiar to the American shore, 
the most remarkable of which is the Agarum or Sea Colander. 
Among the red Algae (or Bhodosperms), species with expanded, leaf-like fronds 
are proportionably less numerous than on the European side. Delesseria sanguinea 
is absent on the American shore, where its place is supplied by D. Americana, a 
species of equally brilliant colouring, but lower in organization, connecting 
Delesseria with Nitophyllum. This latter genus, of which there are so many fine 
European species, is scarcely known in North America. A few scraps of Nitophylla 
(almost too imperfect to describe), picked up at the mouth of the Wilmington IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
25 
River, N. C., and at Key AYest, are all the evidence we at present possess of the 
existence of that type of form on the North American shore. Plocamium coccineum, 
so abundant in Europe, and which is also widely dispersed in the Southern Ocean, 
extending from Cape Horn eastwards to New Zealand, has not that I am aware of 
been found on the American Atlantic coast, where its place seems taken by the 
equally brilliant Rliodymenia cristata. Ceramium rubrum is as common on the 
American as on the European coast, and many of the other common American 
Rhodosperms are natives of both continents. 
The Green Algee (Chlorosperms) are still more alike ; but several of the Ameri- 
can Cladophorce (not yet fully explored) seem to be peculiar. Codium tomentosum, 
which is common to the shores of Europe from Gibraltar, in lat. 36°, to Orkney 
in lat. 60°, and perhaps further north, has yet been found only on the Florida Keys, 
(lat. 24°). Judging from its distribution in other parts of the world, particularly 
in the Pacific and Southern Oceans, one would have expected to find it all along 
the East coast of North America. 
Perhaps it would be premature to indicate regions of Algae into which the 
Eastern and Southern shores of the North American states may be divided, a few 
points only having as yet been carefully explored. Halifax Harbour, Massachussetts 
Bay, Long Island Sound at several points from Greenport to New York, New York 
Harbour, and the neighbourhood of Charleston, S. C., are the chief points at which 
the materials for this essay have been collected on the East coast. Our knowledge 
of southern Algae is at present derived chiefly from a partial examination of the 
Florida Keys, by Hr. AYurdemann, Professor Tuomey, Dr. Blodgett and myself. I 
think it probable, however, that future researches will indicate four regions of dis- 
tribution, as follows :— 
1st. Coast north of Cape Cod, extending probably to Greenland. Among 
the characteristic forms of this region are the great Laminariae, particularly 
L. Longicruris, one of the largest Algie on the coast, and Agarum Turneri and 
pertusum. Several of the rarer Fucaceae seem also to be confined to this district. 
One of the most abundant and characteristic species of this tract is Rliodymenia 
cristata, which has not to my knowledge been found farther south than Cape 
Cod. Specimens said to have come from Staten Island have been shown to me, 
but the evidence on which the habitat of these rests is not satisfactory, and 
none of the Brooklyn and New York Algologists (a numerous and indefatigable 
band) have yet detected the plant in their harbour. Ptilota plum.osa is also a 
plant of this region, the only species (as far as I knoAv) that is met with in 
Long Island Sound being P. sericea, Gm. Rhodomelce are more abundant here 
than in the Sound, but are not limited to this division ; Odonthalia (a peculiarly 
northern form) has been seen only at Halifax. Dumontia ramentacea, so abun- 
dant at Iceland, is found also at Newfoundland, and near Halifax, where I 
gathered it plentifully. Of this plant I possess a single specimen, picked up by 
Miss Frothingham on Rye Beach, New Hampshire. All the species I have men- 
tioned are Arctic forms confined in the European waters to very high latitudes, 
and all appear to vegetate nearly as far south as Cape Cod, to which limits they 
are almost all confined. The Marine flora of this region as a whole bears a 
VOL. HI. ART. 4. INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
resemblance to that of the shores of Iceland, Norway, Scotland, and the North 
and North West of Ireland. 
2nd. Long Island Sound, including under this head New York Harbour and the 
sands of New Jersey. 
The natural limit of this region on the south is probably Cape Hatteras, but 
after passing New York the almost unbroken line of sand is nearly destitute of 
Algae. I have not received any collection of sea plants made between Long 
Branch and AVilmington. In comparing the plants of the sound with those of 
our 1st region, a very marked difference is at once seen. We lose the Arctic 
forms, Agarum, Bhod. cristata, Odontlialia, Dumontia ramentacea and Ptilota plu- 
mosa, whose place is supplied by Sargassum, of which genus two species are 
found at Greenport and at other points in the Sound ; by various beautiful Cal- 
lithamnia and Polysiplionice; and by abundance of Delesseria Americana and 
Dasya elegans. Those two latter plants are not limited to this region, but are 
greatly more abundant here than north of Cape Cod. Del. Americana seems 
almost to carpet the harbour of Greenport, and is equally abundant in various 
points in. the Sound, and Dasya elegans grows to an enormous size in New York 
Harbour, and is plentiful throughout the region. Seirospora Griffitlisiana is not 
uncommon; it grows luxuriantly at New Bedford, whence Dr. Roche has sent me 
many beautiful specimens of it, and of other Ceramiece. Bhabdonia Bailey i, Gracila- 
ria multipartita, (narrow varieties) Chrysymenia divaricata and C. Bosea are also 
characteristic forms. Delesseria Leprieurii, found in the Hudson at West Point, 
scarcely belongs to this region, but is a tropical form at its utmost limit of 
northern distribution. 
3rd. Cape Hatteras to Cape Florida. Of the Algae characterizing this region 
we know little except those found in the neighbourhood of Charleston, and a 
few specimens collected at Wilmington, N. C. and at Anastasia Island. Many 
species found within these limits are common to the second region ; others are 
here met with for the first time. Of these the most remarkable are Arthrocladia 
villosa and a Nitophyllum, found at Wilmington ; a noble Grateloupia, probably 
new (G. Gibbesii, MS.J found at Sullivan’s Island, and Delesseria hypoglossum, 
already mentioned as occurring at Charleston and Anastasia Island. I have seen 
no Fucoid plant from this region ; but if there were a suitable locality, we ought 
here to have Sargassa. None grow at Sullivan’s Island, where Grateloupia Gib- 
besii is the largest sea plant, and the one most resembling a Fucus. All the actu- 
aries of this district produce Delesseria Leprieurii, and a Bos try cilia, either B. 
radicans, Mont, or a closely allied species. These last are tropical forms first 
noticed on the shores of Cayenne, where the former was found both on mari- 
time rocks, and on the culms of grasses in the actuary of the Sinnamar river. 
With us these plants grow on the palmetto logs in Charleston Harbour, and on 
Spartina glabra as far up the river as the water continues sensibly salt. 
Del. Leprieurii was collected by Dr. Hooker at New Zealand, accompanied by a 
Bostrychia. No other habitats for it are known. 
4tli. Florida Iveys, and Shores or the Mexican Gulf. Here we have a very IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
27 
strongly marked province, strikingly contrasting in vegetation with the East 
Coast, comprised in the three regions already noticed. As yet the Keys have 
been very imperfectly explored, and we are almost unacquainted with the marine 
vegetation of the main land of Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. Of 130 
species which I collected at Key West in February, 1850, scarcely one eighth are 
common to the east coast, seven-eighths being unknown on the American shore 
to the north of Cape Florida. With this remarkable difference between the 
Algae of the Keys and those of the East Coast, there is a marked affinity between 
the former and those of the South of Europe. The marine vegetation of the Gulf 
of Mexico has a very strong resemblance to that of the Mediterranean Sea. 
Nearly one third of the species which I collected are common to the Mediterra- 
nean. Several of them straggle northwards along the coast of Spain and 
France, and even reach the south of England ; but scarcely any of these are seen 
on the East coast of America. We may hence infer that they are not conveyed 
by the gulf-stream. My collection at Key West included 10 Melanosperms, 5 of 
which are common to the Mediterranean ; 82 Rhodosperms, 25 of which are 
Mediterranean ; and 38 Chlorosperms, of which 10 are Mediterranean. Besides 
these identical species, there are many representative species closely allied to Medi- 
terranean types. This resemblance is clearly shown in the genus Dasya, of which 
seven out of eleven European species are found in the Mediterranean. At Key 
W est I collected eight species of this beautiful genus. Among these, seven were 
new, and the eighth (D. elegans) is found along the whole eastern coast of North 
America. Three-fourths perhaps of the masses of seaweed cast ashore at Key 
West belong to Laurencia, of which genus several species and innumerable puz- 
zling varieties are profusely common. A fine Hypnea (H. Wurdemanni, MS.) 
one of the most striking species of the genus, is also abundant. Alsidium tri- 
angular e, Digenia simplex, Acanthopliora, Amansia mult:Jida and other common 
West Indian Rhodosperms are abundantly cast ashore. Sargassum vulgare and 
bacciferum; Padina Pavonia ; Zonaria lobata ; and sundry Dictyotce are charac- 
teristic melanosperms. But this region is chiefly remarkable for the abundance 
and beauty of its Chlorosperms of the groups Siphonacece and Caulerpaceoe. Ten 
species of Caiderpa were collected, some of which are of common occurrence, 
and serve for food to the turtles, which, in their turn are the staple article of 
diet of the islanders. Penicillus (at least three species) ; Udotea ; Halimeda ; 
Acetabularia ; Anadyomene ; Dictyosphceria ; Chamoedoris ; Dasycladus ; Cy- 
mopolia, and others, some of which are West Indian, some Mediterranean, are 
evidence of the high temperature of the sea round the Keys. Many of the 
plants obtained by meat Key West were cast up from deeper water when the 
south wind blew strongly, and were not seen at any other time. A visitor, 
therefore, in the hurricane months, would probably obtain many which escaped 
me. Among the new species two Delesserice, (I). involvens, and P>. tenuifolia) 
both belonging to the hypophyllous section, are specially worth notice. These 
were very plentiful in the beginning of February, but soon disappeared. Two 
Bostrychice (B. Montagnei: and B.jilicula, MS.J and a Catenella were found on the 28 
INTRODUCTION. 
IY 
stems of mangroves near high water mark ; hut it would extend this notice 
to too great a length, were I to enumerate all the forms which occur in this 
prolific region. 
COLLECTING AND PRESERVING SPECIMENS. 
I shall here reprint, for the convenience of the student, the substance of some 
directions for collecting and preserving specimens, issued by the Director of the 
Dublin University Museum. 
Marine Alga3, as has already been stated, are found from the extreme of high 
water mark to the depth of from thirty to fifty fathoms ; which latter depth is 
perhaps the limit in temperate latitudes ; the majority of deep water species growing 
at five to ten fathoms. Those within the limits of the tidal influence are to be 
sought at low water, especially the lowest water of spring tides ; for many of the 
rarer and more interesting kinds are found only at the verge of low water mark, 
either along the margin of rocks partially laid bare, or, more frequently, fringing 
the deep tide-pools left at low water on a flattish rocky shore. The northern or 
shaded face of the tide-pool will be found richest in red algas, and the most sunny 
side in those of an olive or green colour. Algas which grow at a depth greater than 
the tide exposes, are to be sought either by dredging ; or by dragging after a boat 
an iron cross armed with hooks, on all shores where those contrivances can be 
applied ; but where the nature of the bottom, or the difficulty of procuring boats, 
renders dredging impossible, the collector must seek for deep-water species among 
the heaps of sea-wrack thrown up by the waves. After storms seaweed sometimes 
forms enormous banks along the coast ; but even in ordinary tides many delicate 
species, dislodged by the waves, float ashore, and may be picked up on the beach in 
a perfect state. The rocky portions of a coast should, therefore, be inspected at 
low water ; and the sandy or shingly beach visited on the return of the tide. In 
selecting from heaps we should take those specimens only that have suffered least 
in colour or texture by exposure to the air ; rejecting all bleached or half melted 
pieces. 
Collectors should carry with them one or two strong glass bottles with wide 
mouths, or a handbasket lined with japanned tin or gutta percha, for the purpose 
of bringing home in sea ivater the smaller and more delicate kinds. This precaution 
is often absolutely necessary, for many of the red alga) rapidly decompose if 
exposed, even for a short time, to the air, or if allowed to become massed together 
with plants of coarser texture. The cooler such delicate species are kept the better; 
and too many ought not to be crowded together in the same bottle, as crowding 
encourages decomposition; and when this has begun, it spreads with fearful rapidity. 
These Algas should be kept in sea water until they can be arranged for drying, and 
the more rapidly they are prepared the better. Many will not keep, even in vessels 
of sea water, from one day to another. 
A common botanist’s-vasculum, or an indian rubber cloth bag, will serve to 
bring home the larger and less membranous or gelatinous kinds ; but even these, if 
left long unsorted, become clotted together, and suffer proportionably. IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
In gathering Algae from their native places, the whole plant should be plucked 
from the very base, and if there be an obvious root, it should be left attached. 
Young collectors are apt to pluck branches or mere scraps of the larger Algae, which 
often afford no just notion of the mode of growth or natural habit of the plant 
from which they have been snatched, and are often insufficient for the first purpose 
of a specimen, that of ascertaining the plant to which it belongs. In many of the 
leafy Fucoid plants, ('Sargassa, &c.) the leaves that grow on the lower and on the 
upper branches are quite different, and were a lower and an upper branch plucked 
from the same root, they might be so dissimilar as to pass for portions of different 
species. It is very necessary, therefore, to gather, when it can be done, the whole 
plant, including the root. It is quite true that the large kinds may be judiciously 
divided; but the young collector had better aim at selecting moderately sized 
specimens of the entire plant, than attempt the division of large specimens, unless 
he keep in view this maxim: every botanical specimen should be an epitome of the 
essential marks of a species. 
Several duplicate specimens of every kind should always be preserved, and par- 
ticularly where the species is a variable one. Very many Algae vary in the compa- 
rative breadth of the leaves, and in the degree of branching of the stems ; and 
when such varieties are noticed, a considerable series of specimens is often requisite 
to connect a broad and a narrow form of the same species. A neglect of this care 
leads to endless mistakes in the after work of identification of species, and has been 
the cause of burdening our systems with a troublesome number of synonymes. 
Where it is the collector’s object to preserve Algas in the least troublesome man- 
ner, and in a rough state, to be afterwards laid out and prepared for pressing at 
leisure, the specimens fresh from the sea are to be spread out and left to dry in an 
airy, but not too sunny, situation. They are not to be washed or rinsed in fresh 
water, nor is their natural moisture to be squeezed from them. The more loosely 
and thinly they are spread out the better, and in dry weather they will be sufficiently 
dry after a few hours’ exposure to allow of packing. In a damp state of the atmos- 
phere the drying process will occupy some days. Yo other preparation is needed, 
and they may be loosely packed in paper bags or boxes,, a ticket of the exact locality 
being affixed to each parcel. Such specimens will shrink very considerably in 
drying, and most will have changed colour more or less, and the bundle will have 
become very unsightly ; nevertheless, if thoroughly dried, to prevent mouldiness or 
heating, and packed loosely, such specimens will continue for a long time in a per- 
fectly sound state ; and on being re-moistened and properly pressed, will make 
excellent cabinet specimens. 
It is very much better, when drying Algse in this rough manner, not to wash 
them in fresh water, because the salt they contain serves to keep them in a pliable 
state, and causes them to imbibe water more readily on re-immersion. All large 
and coarse growing Algae may be put up in this manner, and afterwards, at leisure, 
prepared for the herbarium by washing, steeping, pressing, and drying between 
folds of soft paper, in the same way that land plants are pressed and dried. But 
with the membranous and gelatinous kinds, a different method must be adopted. 
The smaller and more delicate Alga; must be prepared for the herbarium as 30 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
soon as practicable after being brought from the shore. The mode of preparation 
is as follows, and, after a few trials and with a little care, will soon be learned. 
The collector should be provided with three flat dishes or large deep plates, and 
one or two shallower plates. One of the deep plates is to be filled with sea-water, 
and the other two with fresh water. In the dish of sea-water the stock of speci- 
mens to be laid out may be kept. A specimen taken from the stock is then intro- 
duced into one of the plates of fresh water, washed to get rid of dirt or parasites 
that may infest it, and pruned or divided into several pieces, if the branches be too 
dense, or the plant too tufted, to allow the branches to lie apart when the specimen 
is displayed on paper. The washed and pruned specimens are then floated in the 
second dish until a considerable number are ready for laying down. They are then 
removed separately into one of the shallower plates, that must be kept filled with 
dean water ; in which they are floated and made to expand fully. Next a piece of 
white paper of suitable size is carefully introduced under the expanded specimen. 
The paper then, with the specimen remaining displayed upon it, is cautiously 
brought to the surface of the water, and gently and carefully drawn out, so as not 
to disarrange the branches. A forceps, a porcupine’s quill, a knitting needle, or an 
etching tool, or any finely pointed instrument will assist the operator in displaying 
the branches and keeping them separate while the plant is lifted from the water ; 
and should any branch become matted in the removal, a little water dropped from 
a spoon over the tangled portion, and the help of the finely pointed tool, will restore 
it. 
The piece of wet paper with the specimen upon it is to be laid on a sheet of soft 
soaking paper, and others laid by its side until the sheet is covered. A piece of 
thin calico or muslin, as large as the sheet of soaking paper, is then spread over the 
wet specimens. More soaking paper, and another set of specimens covered with 
cotton, are laid on these ; and so a bundle is gradually raised. This bundle, 
consisting of sheets of specimens, is then placed between flat boards, under moderate 
pressure, and left for some hours. It must then be examined, the specimens on 
their white papers must be placed on dry sheets of soaking paper, covered with 
fresh cloths, and again placed under pressure. And this process must be repeated 
every day until the specimens are fully dry. 
In drying, most specimens will be found to adhere to the papers on which they 
have been displayed, and care must be taken to prevent their sticking to the pieces 
of cotton cloth laid over them. Should it be found difficult to remove them from 
the muslin, it is better to allow them to dry, trusting to after-removal, than to tear 
them away in a half-dried state, which would probably destroy the specimens. A 
few dozen pieces of unglazed thin cotton cloth of proper size should always be at 
hand, (white muslin, that costs six or eight cents per yard, answers very well). 
These cloths will be required only in the first two or three changes, for when the 
specimen has begun to dry on the white paper it will not adhere to the soaking 
paper laid over it. In warm weather the smaller kinds will often be found per- 
fectly dry after forty-eight hours’ pressure, and one or two changes of papers. IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
31 
USES OF THE ALGiE. 
The uses of the Algae may be considered under two points of view, namely, the 
general office which this great class of plants, as a class, discharges in the economy 
of nature ; and those minor useful applications of separate species which man 
selects on discovering that they can yield materials to supply his various wants. 
The part committed to the Algce in the household of nature, though humble 
when we regard them as the lowest organic members in that great family, is not 
only highly important to the general welfare of the organic world, but, indeed, 
indispensable. This we shall at once admit, when we reflect on the vast prepon- 
derance of the ocean over the land on the surface of the earth, and bear in mind 
that almost the whole submarine vegetation consists of Alga). The number of 
species of marine plants which are not Alga) proper is extremely small. These on 
the American coast are limited to less than half a dozen, only one of which, the 
common Eel Grass (Zostera marina), is extensively dispersed. 
All other marine plants are referable to Alga) ; the wide spread sea would there- 
fore be nearly destitute of vegetable life were it not for their existence. Almost 
every shore—where shifting sands do not forbid their growth—is now clothed with 
a varied band of Alga) of the larger kinds ; and microscopic species of these vege- 
tables (Diatomacece) teem in countless myriads at depths of the ocean as great as 
the plummet has yet sounded, and where no other vegetable life exists. It is not5 
therefore, speaking too broadly to say that the sea, in every climate and at all 
known depths, is tenanted by these vegetables under one phase or other. 
The sea, too, teems with animal life,—that “ great and wide sea, wherein are 
things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts,” affords scope to hordes 
of animals, from the “Leviathan” whale to the microscopic polype, transparent as 
the water in which he swims, and only seen by the light of the phosphoric gleam 
which he emits. Now this exuberant animal creation could not be maintained 
without a vegetable substructure. It is one of the laws of nature that animals 
shall feed on organized matter, and vegetables on unorganised. For the support 
of animal life, therefore, we require vegetables to change the mineral constituents 
of the surrounding media into suitable nutriment. 
In the sea this office of vegetation is almost exclusively committed to the Alga), 
and we may judge of the completeness with which they execute their mission by 
the fecundity of the animal world which depends upon them. Not that I would 
assert that all, or nearly all, the marine animals are directly dependant on the Algie 
for their food ; for the reverse is notoriously the case. But in every class we find 
species which derive the whole or a part of their nourishment from the Alga), 
and there are myriads of the lower in organization which do depend upon them 
altogether. 
Among the higher orders of Alga) feeders I may mention the Turtles, whose green 
fat, so prized by alclermanic palate, may possibly be coloured by the unctuous green 
juices of the Caulerpce on which they browse. But without further notice of those 
that directly depend on the Alga), it is manifest that all must ultimately, though 32 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
indirectly, depend on whatever agency in the first instance seizes on inorganic mat- 
ter, and converts it into living substance suitable to enter into the composition of 
animal nerve and muscle. And this agency is assuredly the office of the vegetable 
kingdom, here confined in the main to Alga? ; we thus sufficiently establish our 
position that the Algae are indispensable to the continuance of organic life in the 
sea. 
As being the first vegetables that prey upon dead matter, and as affording 
directly or indirectly a pasture to all water animals, the Algae are entitled to notice. 
Yet this is but one-half of the task committed to them. Equally important is the 
influence which their growth exerts on the water and on the air. The well known 
fact that plants, whilst they fix carbon in an organized form in extending their 
bodies by the growth of cells, exhale oxygen gas in a free state, is true of the 
Algae as of other vegetables. By this action they tend to keep pure the water in 
which they vegetate, and yield also a considerable portion of oxygen gas to the 
atmosphere. I have already stated that whenever land becomes flooded, or where- 
ever an extensive surface of shallow water—whether fresh or salt—is exposed to 
the air, Conferva? and allied Algae quickly multiply. Every pool, every stagnant 
ditch is soon filled with their green silken threads. These threads cannot grow 
without emitting oxygen. If you examine such a pool on a sunny day, you may 
trace the beads of oxygen on the submerged threads, or see the gas collect in 
bubbles where the threads present a dense mass. It is continually passing off into 
the air while the Confervas vegetate, and this vegetation usually continues vigorous, 
one species succeeding another as it dies out, as long as the pool remains. And 
when, on the drying up of the land, the Conferva? die, their bodies, which are 
scarcely more than membranous skins filled with fluid, shrivel up, and are either 
carried away by the wind or form a papery film over the exposed surface of the 
ground. In neither case do they breed noxious airs by,their decomposition. All 
their life long they have conferred a positive benefit on the atmosphere, and at 
their death they at least do no injury. The amount of benefit derived from each 
individual is indeed minute, but the aggregate is vast when we take into account 
the many extensive surfaces of water dispersed over the world, which are thus kept 
pure and made subservient to a healthy state of the atmosphere. It is not only 
vast, but it is worthy of Him who has appointed to even the meanest of His 
creatures something to do for the good of His creation. 
These general uses of the Alga;, apparent as they are on a slight reflection, are 
apt to be overlooked by the utilitarian querist, who will see no use in anything 
which does not directly minister to his own wants, and who often judges of the 
use of a material by the dollars and cents which it brings to his pocket. 
It would be in vain to adduce to him the indirect benefit derived to the rest of 
creation through the lower animals which the Algae supply with food ; for probably 
he would turn round with the further demand, “ what is the use of feeding all 
these animals ?” And he might think, too, that the amount of oxygen in the air 
was quite enough to last out at least his time, without such constant renovation as 
the Algae afford, or that sufficient renovation would come from other sources had 
the Algae never been created. “ Show me,” he would say, “ how I can make money IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
33 
of them, and then I will admit the uses of these vegetables.” This I shall therefore 
now endeavour to do, by summing up a few of the uses to which Algae have been 
applied by man. 
Man, in his least cultivated state, seeks from the vegetable kingdom in the first 
place a supply for the cravings of hunger, and afterwards medicine or articles of 
clothing. As food, several species of Algae are used both by savage and civilized 
man, but more frequently as condiments than as staple articles of consumption. 
Many kinds commonly found on the shores of Europe are eaten by the peasantry. 
The midrib of Alaria esculenta, stripped of the membranous wings, is eaten by the 
coast population of the north of Ireland and Scotland ; but to less extent than the 
dried fronds of Rhodymenia palmcita, the Dulse of the Scotch and Dillisk of the 
Irish. This latter species varies considerably in texture and taste according to the 
situation in which it grows. When it grows parasitically on the stems of the larger 
Laminarice it is much tougher and less sweet, and therefore less esteemed than when 
it grows among mussels and Balani near low water mark. It is this latter variety, 
which, under the name of “ shell dillisk,” is most prized. In some places on the 
west of Ireland, this plant forms the chief relish to his potatoes that the coast 
peasant enjoys ; but its use is by no means confined to the extreme poor. It is 
eaten occasionally, either from pleasure or from an opinion of its wholesomeness, 
by individuals of all ranks, but, except among the poor, the taste for it is chiefly 
confined to children. It is commonly exposed for sale at fruit stalls, in the towns 
of Ireland, and may be seen in similar places in the Irish quarters of New York. 
In the Mediterranean it forms a common ingredient in soups, but notwithstanding 
M. Soyer’s attempt in the famine years to teach this use of it to the Irish, they 
have not yet learned to prefer it cooked. Occasionally, however, it is fried. 
Chondrus crispus, the Carrageen or Irish Moss of the shops, is dissolved, after 
long boiling, into a nearly colourless insipid jelly, which may then be seasoned and 
rendered tolerably palatable. It is considered a nourishing article of diet, especially 
for invalids, and has been recommended in consumptive cases. At one time, before 
it was generally known to be a very common plant on rocky coasts, it fetched a 
considerable price in the market. Though called “ Irish moss,” it is abundant on 
all the shores of Europe and of the Northern States of America. It is, perhaps, 
most palatable when prepared as a blanc-mange with milk, but it should be eaten 
on the day it is made, being liable, when kept, to run to "water. Its nourishing 
qualities have been tested, I am informed, in the successful rearing of calves and 
pigs partly upon it. 
Many other species, particularly various kinds of Gigartina and Gracilaria, yield 
similar jellies when boiled, some of which are excellent. 
Gracilaria lichenoides, the Ceylon Moss of the East, where it is largely used in 
soups and jellies ; and G. Spinosa, the Agar-Agar (or Agal-Agal) of the Chinese, 
are among the most valuable of these. They are extensively used and form 
important articles of traffic in the East. Another species of excellent quality, the 
Gigartina speciosa of Sonder, is collected for similar purposes by the colonists of 
Swan River. 
It was at one time supposed that the famous edible birds’ nests of China, the 
YOL. ILL ART. 4. 34 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
finest of which sell for their weight in gold, and enter into the composition of the 
most luxurious Chinese dishes, were constructed of the semi-decomposed branches 
of some Alga of one or other of the above named genera ; but it has since been 
ascertained that these nests consist of an animal substance, which is supposed to be 
disgorged by the swallows that build them. 
Nearly all the cartilaginous kinds of Ehodospermeae will boil down to an edible 
jelly. One kind is preferred to another, not from being more wholesome, but from 
yielding a stronger and more tasteless gelatine. The latter quality is essential; for 
though the skill of the cook can readily impart an agreable flavour to a tasteless 
substance, it is more difficult to overcome the. smack of an unsavoury one. And 
the main quality which gives a disrelish to most of our Alga>jellies and blanc- 
manges, is a certain bitterish and sub-saline taste which can rarely be altogether 
removed. 
Very few Alga3 have been found agreeably tasted when cooked, though DillisJc 
and others are pleasantly sweet when eaten raw. Many which, when moistened 
after having been dried, exhale a strong perfume of violets, are altogether disap- 
pointing to the palate. 
Perhaps, after all, the most valuable as articles of food are the varieties of Por- 
phyra vulgaris and P. laciniata, which in winter are collected on the rocky shores 
of Europe, and by boiling for many hours are reduced to a dark brown, semi-fluid 
mass, which is brought to table under the name of marine sauce, slolce, slouk, or 
sloucawn. It is eaten with lemon juice or vinegar, and its flavour is liked by most 
persons who can overcome the disgust caused by its very unpleasant aspect. At 
some of the British establishments for preserving fresh vegetables, it is put up in 
hermetically sealed cases for exportation and use at sea, or for use at seasons when 
it cannot be obtained from the rocks. It is collected only in winter, at which 
season the membranous fronds, which are found in a less perfect state in summer, 
are in full growth. Both species of Porphyra grow abundantly on the rocky shores 
of North America. They not only furnish an agreeable vegetable sauce, but are 
regarded as antiscorbutic, and said to be useful in glandular swellings, perhaps from 
the minute quantity of iodine which they contain. 
As articles of food for man, other seaweeds might be mentioned, but I admit that 
none among them furnish us directly with valuable esculents ; though many less 
nauseous than-the hunter’s “Tripe de Roche” are sufficiently nourishing to prolong 
existence to the shipwrecked seaman; and others, like the Porpliyrce just men- 
tioned, are useful condiments to counteract the effects of continued subsistence on 
salt-junk. 
But if not directly edible, there are many ways in which they indirectly supply 
the table. As winter provender for cattle, some are in high esteem on the northern 
shores of Europe. In Norway and Scotland the herds regularly visit the shores, on 
the recess of the tide, to feed on Fucus vesiculosus and F. serratus, which are 
both also collected and boiled by the Norwegian and Lapland peasants, and when 
mixed with coarse meal given to pigs, horses, and cattle. These Fuci are both 
grateful and nourishing to the animals, which become very partial to such food. 
Yet, perhaps, they are only the resources of half-fed beasts, and would possibly be IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
35 
blown on by a stall-fed “ short-horn” that looks for vegetables of a higher 
order. 
To obtain such food for the high bred cow, the Algae must be applied in another 
way—namely, as manure. For this purpose they are very largely used in the 
British Islands, where “ sea-wrack” is carried many miles inland, and successfully 
applied in the raising of green crops. On the west coast of Ireland the refuse of 
the sea furnishes the poor man with the greater part of the manure on which he 
depends for raising his potatoes. All kinds of seaweed are indiscriminately applied ; 
but the larger kinds of Laminarice are preferred. As these rapidly decompose and 
melt into the ground, they should, in common with other kinds, be used fresh, and 
not suffered to lie long in the pit, where they soon lose their fertilizing properties. 
The crops of potatoes thus raised being generally abundant, but the quality rarely 
good, sea-wrack is more suitable to the coarser than to the finer varieties of the 
potato. It is, however, considered excellent for various green crops, and a good top 
dressing for grass land, and its use is by no means confined to the poorer districts. 
The employment of sea-wrack is limited only by the expense of conveying so bulky 
a material to a distance from the sea or a navigable river. 
Though the agricultural profits derived from the Algae are considerable, a still 
larger revenue was once obtained by burning the Fuci, and collecting their ashes 
as a source of carbonate of soda, a salt which exists abundantly in most of them. 
Fucus vesiculosus, nodosus and serratus, the three commonest European kinds, 
yielded, up to a recent period, a very considerable rental to the owners of tidal 
rocks on the bleakest and most barren islands of the north of Scotland, and on all 
similar rocky shores on the English and Irish coasts. A single proprietor (Lord 
Macdonald) is said to have derived £10,000 per annum, for several successive 
years, from the rent of his kelp shores ; and the collecting and preparation of the 
kelp afforded a profitable employment to many thousands of the inhabitants of 
Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides. 
During the last European war, when England was shut out from the markets 
from which a supply of soda was previously obtained, almost the whole of the 
alkali used by soap-boilers was derived from the kelp or sea-weed ashes collected in 
Scotland. The quantity annually made in favourable years, between 1790 and 
1800, amounted on the authority of Dr. Barry* to 3,000 tons, which then fetched 
from £8 to £10 sterling per ton ; but at a later period of the war rose from £18 
to £20. It is also stated by the same author that within the 80 years, from 1720 
to 1800, which succeeded the first introduction of the kelp trade, the enormous 
sum of £595,000 was realized by the proprietors of kelp shores and their tenants 
and labourers. 
Yet so great was the prejudice of the islanders against this lucrative trade, when 
first proposed to them, “ and,” to quote Dr. Greville, “ so violent and unanimous 
was the resistance, that officers of justice were found necessary to protect the 
individuals employed in the work. Several trials were the consequences of these 
outrages. It was gravely pleaded in a court of law, ‘ that the suffocating smoke 
that issued from the kelp kilns would sicken or kill every species of fish on the 
* History of the Orkney Islands, p. 383 (as quoted by Greville, see Alg. Biit. Introd. p. xxi. et seq.) 36 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
coast, or drive them into the ocean far beyond the reach of the fishermen ; blast the 
corn and grass on their farms ; introduce diseases of various kinds ; and smite 
with barrenness their sheep, horses and cattle, and even their own families.’” We 
smile at the ignorant bigotry of these poor people ; but have we never heard as 
great misfortunes predicted of almost every new improvement of the age we live 
in, and that not by unlettered peasantry, but by persons calling themselves wise, 
learned, and refined? As sad stories have been told against temperance, free trade, 
or even against the exhibition in the Crystal Palace. 
The Orkney islanders were not long in finding the golden harvest which had 
thus in the first instance been forced upon them, and within a few years “ Prospe- 
rity to the kelp trade!” was given as the leading toast on all their festive occasions. 
This state of prosperity lasted until the general peace, when the foreign markets 
being thrown open, barilla came into competition with the home produce. The 
manufacture of kelp gradually declined as the price fell, and now it has nearly 
ceased altogether, for besides the competition with barilla, the modern process by 
which soda is readily procured from rock-salt has brought another rival into the 
field, and one against which it seems in vain to contend. 
Kelp is still made on a small scale for local consumption, and is sometimes 
exported as manure, but at a very low price. It is not likely ever to rise again into 
importance, except as a source of Iodine, which singular substance was first dis- 
covered in a soap-ley made with kelp ashes. Iodine has now become almost 
indispensable, from its medicinal value, as well as from its use in the arts and manu- 
factures, and has been found in greater quantity in the fronds of certain littoral 
Algae than in any other substances. It is therefore possible that for producing this 
substance these kelp-weeds may again become of mercantile importance. As a 
remedy in cases of glandular swellings, the use of Iodine is now well established, 
and it is a singular fact that several littoral Fuci have been from early times con- 
sidered popular remedies in similar affections. Fucus vesiculosus has long been 
used by the hedge-doctors to reduce such swellings ; and Dr. Greville mentions, 
on the authority of the late Dr. Gillies, that the “stems of a seaweed are sold in the 
shops, and chewed by the inhabitants of South America wherever goitre is prevalent, 
for the same purpose. This remedy is termed by them Palo Coto (literally Goitre- 
stick),” and Dr. Greville supposes, from the fragments which he had seen, that 
it is a species of Laminaria. 
Iodine however, though the most important, is not the only medicinal substance 
obtained from the Algae. Gracilaria lielminthochorton, or Corsican Moss, has long 
held a place in the pharmacopoeia as a vermifuge. What is sold under this name 
in the shops is commonly adulterated with many other kinds. In samples which I 
have seen, the greater part consisted of Laurencia obtusa, through which a few 
threads of the true Corsican Moss were dispersed. Possibly, however, the Laurencia 
may be of equal value. 
Mannite also has been detected by Dr. Stenhouse in several Algae, to which it 
imparts a sweetish taste. The richest in this substance appears to be Laminaria 
saccharina, from a thousand grains of which 121.5 grains or 12.15 per cent, of 
mannite were obtained. The method of extracting is very simple. The dried weed 37 
IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
is repeatedly digested with hot water, when it yields a mucilage of a brownish red 
colour and of a sweetish but very disagreeable taste. When evaporated to dryness, 
this mucilage leaves a saline semicrystaline mass. This being repeatedly treated 
with boiling alcohol, yields the mannite in “ large hard prisms of a fine silky 
lustre.” Haliclrys siliquosa, Laminaria cligitata, Fucus serratus, Alaria esculenta, 
Bliodymenia palmata, Ac. are stated by Dr. Stenhouse, from whose memoir this 
account is condensed, to contain from 1 to 5 or 0 per cent, of mannite. 
In summing up the economic uses to which Alga) have been applied, I must not 
omit to mention their application in the arts. The most valuable species, in this 
point of view, with which we are acquainted, is the Gracilaria tenax of China, 
under which name probably more than one species may be confounded. Of this 
plant, on the authority of Mr. Turner, (Hist. Fuc. vol. 2, p. 142.) “the quantity 
annually imported at Canton is about 27,000 lbs., and it is sold in that city at about 
6d. or 8d. per lb. In preparing it, nothing more is done than simply drying it in 
the sun ; after which it may be preserved, like other Fuel, for any length of time, 
and improves by age, when not exceeding four or five years, if strongly compressed 
and kept moist. The Chinese, when they have occasion to use it, merely wash off 
the saline particles and other impurities, and then steep it in warm water, in which, 
in a short time, it entirely dissolves, stiffening as it cools into a perfect gelatine, 
which, like glue, again liquefies on exposure to heat, and makes an extremely pow- 
erful cement. It is employed among them for all those purposes to which gum or 
glue is here deemed applicable, but chiefly in the manufacture of lanthorns, to 
strengthen or varnish the paper, and sometimes to thicken or give a gloss to gauze 
or silks.” Mr. Turner derived the above information respecting G. tenax from Sir 
Joseph Banks ; but recent travellers tell us that Gracilaria spinosa, known colloqui- 
ally as Agal-agal* yields the strongest cement used by the Chinese, and that it is 
brought in large quantities from Sincapore and neighbouring shores to the China 
markets. Probably both species are esteemed for similar qualities. 
Several Algas are used in the arts in a minor way. Thus, according to Dr. 
Patrick Neill, knife-handles are made in Scotland of the stems of Laminaria digi- 
tata. “ A pretty thick stem is selected, and cut into pieces about four inches long. 
Into these, when fresh, are stuck blades of knives, such as gardeners use for pruning 
or grafting. As the stem dries, it contracts and hardens, closely and firmly em- 
bracing the hilt of the blade. In the course of some months the handles become 
quite firm, and very hard and shrivelled, so that when tipped with metal they are 
hardly to be distinguished from hartshorn.” 
On the authority of Lightfoot,f the stems of Chorda filum, which often attain the 
length of thirty or forty feet, and which are popularly known in Scotland as “Lucky 
Minny’s lines,” “ skinned, when half dry, and twisted, acquire so considerable a 
degree of strength and toughness,” that the Highlanders sometimes use them as 
fishing lines. The slender stems of Nereocystis are similarly used by the fishermen 
in Russian America. In parts of England bunches of Fucus vesiculosus or F. 
* See, tlie Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang. 
t FI. Scot. vol. 2, p. 964. 38 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
Serratus are frequently hung in the cottages of the poor as rude barometers, their 
hygrometric qualities, which arise from the salt they contain, indicating a change 
of weather. 
In our account of the artistic value of Algae, we ought not to pass unnoticed the 
ornamental works which the manufacturers of “ sea-weed pictures,” and baskets of 
“ ocean-flowers,” construct from the various beautiful species of our coasts, and 
which are so well known at charity bazaars, accompanied by a much-hackneyed 
legend, commencing, 
“ Call us not weeds, we are flowers of the sea,” &c. 
Some of these “ works of art ” display considerable taste in the arrangement, 
and the objects themselves are so intrinsically beautiful that they can rarely be 
otherwise than attractive. During the recent pressure of Irish famine, many ladies 
in various parts of the country employed a portion of their leisure in the manufac- 
ture of these ornamental works, and no despicable sum was raised by the sale. 
Other sums, for charitable purposes, have been realized in a way which a botanist 
would deem more legitimate, by the sale of books of prepared and named specimens; 
and my friend, the Rev. Dr. Landsborough,* I am told, has in this manner collected 
money which has gone a considerable way towards building a church. There seems 
no good reason why missionaries in distant countries might not, either personally 
or through their pupils or families, collect these and other natural objects, and sell 
them for the benefit of their mission ; by which means they would not only obtain 
funds for pursuing the work more immediately committed to them, but would have 
the satisfaction of knowing that in doing so they were unfolding to the admiration 
of mankind new pages of the wide-spread volume of nature. 
Unfortunately, it happens that in the educational course prescribed to our 
divines, natural history has no place, for which reason many are ignorant of the 
important bearings which the book of Nature has upon the book of Revelation. 
They do not consider, apparently, that both are from God—both are His faithful 
witnesses to mankind. And if this be so, is it reasonable to suppose that either, 
without the other, can be fully understood ? It is only necessary to glance at the 
absurd commentaries in reference to natural objects which are to be found in too 
many annotators of the Holy Scriptures, to be convinced of the benefit which the 
clergy would themselves derive from a more extended study of the works of 
creation. And to missionaries, especially, a minute familiarity with natural objects 
must be a powerful assistance in awakening the attention of the savage, who, after 
his manner, is a close observer, and likely to detect a fallacy in his teacher, should 
the latter attempt a practical illustration of his discourse without sufficient know- 
ledge, f This subject is too important for casual discussion, and deserves the .careful 
consideration of those in whose hands the education of the clergy rests. These are 
not days in which persons who ought to be our guides in matters of doctrine 
can afford to be behind the rest of the world in knowledge ; nor can they safely 
* Author of “A Popular History of Britisli Seaweeds.” 
t See some excellent observations on this subject in “Foot-prints of the Creator: or, the Asterolepis 
of Stromness,” by Hugh Miller. London, 1849. IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
39 
sneer at the “knowledge that puffeth up,” until, like the Apostle, they have sounded 
its depths and proved its shallowness. 
Why should the study of the physical sciences be supposed to have an evil influ- 
ence on the mind—a tendency to lead men to doubt every truth which cannot be 
made the direct subject of analysis or experiment ? I can conceive a one-sided 
scientific education having this tendency, If the mind be propelled altogether in 
one direction, and that direction lead exclusively to analytical research, it is possible 
that the other faculties of the individual may become clouded or enfeebled—and 
then he is the unresisting slave of analysis—not more a rational being than any 
other monomaniac. And yet, paradoxical though the assertion seem, he may be 
all his life a reasoner, forming deductions and inductions with the most rigid accu- 
racy, in his beaten track. 
I can conceive too the astronomer, conversant with the immensity of space and 
its innumerable systems of worlds, so prostrated before the majesty of the material 
creation, as not only to lose sight of himself and of the whole race to which he 
belongs, but of the world or even of the solar system, and be led to doubt whether 
things so poor, and mean, and small can have any value in the sight of the Lord 
of so wide a dominion. I can conceive him, too, observing the uniformity and the 
harmony of the laws that govern the whole system of the heavens ; the unde- 
viating course of all events among the stars coming round as regularly as the 
shadow on the dial ; and the little evidence there is that this uniformity has ever 
suffered any disturbance that cannot be accounted for by the law of gravitation, 
and made the subject of calculation by the mathematician, who, working an equa- 
tion in his closet, shall come forth and declare the cause of irregularity, though 
that cause may be acting at thousands of millions of miles distance—I can con- 
ceive him inferring from a uniformity like this the absence of a superintending 
Providence in human affairs. If the Creator, he will say, have given up the very 
heaven of heavens to the immutable laws of gravitation, can I believe that he 
interferes by his Providence to superintend the puny matters of this lower world? 
His reasons seem plausible while the mind is pointed in that one direction. But 
they lose all their force when, laying aside for a moment the telescope, the philo- 
sopher investigates with his microscope the structure of any living thing, no matter 
how small and how seemingly simple the organism may be. Let the object 
examined but have life, and it will soon lead him to understand a little of the mean- 
ing of God’s glorious title, Maximus in minimis. And the further he carries his 
researches, the more the field of research opens, until, extending from the speck 
beneath his lens, it spreads wider and wider, and at length blends with infinity at 
the “ horizon’s limit.” Here his boasted analysis can afford him no help. He 
has laid bare the “ mechanism of the heavens he has weighed the sun and the 
planets ; he has foretold with unerring certainty events which shall happen a 
thousand years after he shall be laid in the dust ;—and yet he cannot unravel the 
mystery that shrouds the seat of life, even as it exists in the meanest thing that 
crawls. And if the life of this poor worm be thus wonderful, what is that spirit 
which animates the human frame ? What is that humanity which, but a moment 
ago, seemed like the small dust in the balance compared with the multitude and the 40 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
masses of the stars ? His conceptions of his own true position in the scale of being 
become more rational. For a moment he views from a new position the distant 
stars, as the peasant views them in a clear night :—points of light spangling the 
blue vault above. And he reflects, u How do I know that those shining ones are 
other than they seem ; how do I know their size, their distance, the laws by which 
they are governed ; the reins by which the “ coursers of the sun” are held in their 
appointed track ? How ?—but by the intellectual powers of that human spirit 
which but now I deemed so poor and mean :—so unworthy of the very thought of 
the Almighty—much more, so unworthy of the price which He has paid for it.” 
Thus the mind, turned back upon itself, begins to discover that, after all, it is 
not “ of the earth, earthy,” but derived from a higher source and reserved for a 
higher destiny. And strange to say, this altered and bettered opinion of itself is 
traceable to the first check which it feels—the first baffling of its analytical powers. 
So long as the mind was extending the sphere of its researches into the material 
universe, weighing, and numbering, and tabulating all nature seemed to move in 
blind obedience to a force whose influence might be calculated ; every world being 
found to act upon its fellow in exact proportion to its position and its weight, and 
our world to be but a part, and a small part of one vast machine. And with such 
a view of the relation of the earth to the universe, might not unnaturally come a 
lower estimate of man, the dweller on the earth. “ Is he too but a part in the 
house in which he dwells ? Is his course also subject to those immutable laws 
which bind the universe together ? And if so, where is his individuality ? Where 
the reflex of that image in which he is said to have been created ?” But the 
moment that the mind apprehends the action of the inexplicable laws of life, and is 
certified of the individuality of every living thing however small ;—and compares 
these microscopic “ wholes” with the “ whole” that it feels itself to be, that moment 
it begins to see that the human soul is a something apart from the world in and 
over which it is placed. 
Galileo in his cell was bound in fetters, but his spirit could not be bound. His 
thoughts were as free and his mind had as wide a range as if he could have flown 
through all space on the wings of light. And thus it is with man : prisoned for a 
short time in this lower world, he belongs to an order of being that no world can 
confine. He cannot continue stationary, nor plod for ever a dull round in the 
treadmill here. He must either rise above all height into communion with the 
Deity ; or fall, bereft of hope, for ever. We must not estimate such a being by the 
narrow bounds of the cell which he now inhabits. We must judge of him by his 
intellectual powers, his aspirations, his intuitive conceptions of his own nature ; 
and, as a spirit, all these place him, in his individuality, far above any plurality of 
mere material worlds. 
I may seem to be wandering from my proper theme, but my object is to vindicate 
the teaching of the Book of Nature from the aspersions of the ignorant and the 
prejudiced. Whilst I admit that half views of natural science may lead men astray ; 
and whilst I deplore the infidelity of scientific men, whose minds are absorbed in 
the material on which they work ;—I deny that the study of nature has, in itself, 
an evil tendency. On the contrary, the study of organic nature, at least, ought to IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
41 
be one of the purest sources of intellectual pleasure. It places before us structures 
the most exquisite in form and delicate in material; the perfect works of Him who 
is Himself the sum of all perfections :—and if our minds are properly balanced, we 
shall not rest satisfied with a mere knowledge and admiration of these wonderful 
and manifold works ; but, reading in them the evidence of their relation to their 
Maker, we shall be led on to investigate our own. 
I do not assert that this study is, of itself, sufficient to make men religious. But as 
the contemplation of any great work of art generally excites in us a two-fold admi- 
ration—admiration of the work itself, and of the genius of its author—so a true 
perception of the wonders of nature includes a certain worship of the author of those 
wonders. Yet we may study natural objects, and admire them, and devote our 
whole life to elucidate their structure ; and after all may fail to recognize the being 
of Him who has fashioned them. Such blindness is scarcely conceivable to some 
minds ; yet to others, the opposite appears but the effect of a warm imagination. 
So inexplicable is the human mind ! The moral evidence which stirs one man to 
his centre brings no conviction to another. Physical truths, indeed, cannot be 
rationally denied ; but there is no metaphysical truth which may not be plausibly 
obscured or explained away by self-satisfied prejudice. Hence the inconclusiveness 
of all reasoning against infidelity. The failure is not in the reasons set before the 
mind, but in the non-acknowledgment of the imperative force of moral reasons. 
No man can be convinced of any moral truth against his will; and if the will be 
corrupt, it is possessed by a blind and deaf spirit, which none can cast out until a 
“ stronger than he ” shall come. 
Here I pause ; but I cannot conclude this Introduction without expressing 
my warm thanks to the kind friends who have aided me in my researches, both 
with specimens and with sympathy To some of them I am personally unknown, 
and with others I became acquainted casually, during my recent tour along the 
shores of the United States. From all I have received unmixed kindness, and 
every aid that it was in their power to render. Indebted to all therefore, I am 
more especially bound by gratitude to my friend, Professor J. W. Bailey, of West 
Point, the earliest American worker in the field of Algology. Well known in his 
own peculiar branch of science, he has found a relaxation from more wearing 
thought, in exploring the microscopic world, and his various papers on what may 
be called “vegetable atoms ” (Diatomacece) are widely known and highly appreciated. 
From him I received the first specimens of United States Algae which I possessed, 
and, though residing at a distance from the coast, he has been of essential service 
in infusing a taste for this peculiar department of botany among persons favourably 
situated for research ; so that either from him or through him I have obtained 
specimens from many localities from which I should otherwise have been shut out. 
To him I am indebted for an introduction to a knot of Algologists who have 
zealously explored the south-western portions of Long Island and New York 
Sounds, Messrs. Hooper, Congdon, Pike, and AYalters of Brooklyn, from all of 
whom I have received liberal supplies of specimens; and through him Professor 
Lewis R. Gibbes, of Charleston, whose personal acquaintance I had afterwards the 
happiness of making, first communicated to me the result of his explorations of 
VOL. III. ART. 4. 42 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
Charleston harbour, as well as the first collection of Florida Algae which I received, 
and which Dr. Gibbes obtained from their collector, the late Dr. Wurdemann. 
Through Professor Asa Gray, of Cambridge, Mass., long before it was my good 
fortune to know him personally and intimately, I received collections of the Algae 
of Boston Harbour made by Mr. G. B. Emerson, Miss Morris, and Miss Boring, 
(now Mrs. Gray) ; also of the Algae of Rhode Island, made by Mr. S. T. Olney, 
who has done so much to illustrate the botany of that State, and by Mr. George 
Hunt. My gatherings from the same coasts have since been much enriched by 
specimens from Dr. Silas Durkee, of Boston, Dr. M. B. Roche, of New Bedford, 
and Mrs. P. P. Mudge, of Lynn. 
To Professor Tuomey, of the University of Alabama, I feel especially indebted 
for the care and kindness with which he formed for me an interesting collection of 
the Algce of the Florida Keys, and the more so because this collection was made 
purposely to aid me in my present work. My friend Dr. Blodgett, of Key West, 
also, since my return to Europe, has communicated several additional species, and 
is continuing his researches on that fertile shore. To the Rev. W. S. Hore, now of 
Oxford, England, (a name well known to the readers of the Phycologia Britannica) 
I am indebted for a considerable bundle of well preserved specimens, gathered at 
Prince Edward’s Island, by Dr. T. E. Jeans ; and to the kindness of my old friend 
and chum, Alexander Eliott, of the Dockyard, Halifax, I owe the opportunity 
of a fortnight’s dredging in Halifax harbour, and many a pleasant ramble in the 
vicinity. 
My personal collections of North American Algae have been made at Halifax ; 
Nahant beach ; New York Sound ; Green Port, Long Island ; Charleston harbour ; 
and Key West; and are pretty full, especially at the last named place, where I 
remained a month. 
The few Mexican species which find a place in this work have been presented to 
me by Prof. J. Agardh of Lund, and were collected by M. Liebman. Those from 
California are derived partly from the naturalists of Capt. Beechey’s voyage ; a few 
from the late David Douglas ; and a considerable number brought by my prede- 
cessor, Dr. Coulter, from Monterey Bay. I have received from Dr. F. J. 
Ruprecht of St. Petersburgh several Algae from Russian America ; from Sir John 
Richardson a few Algae of the polar sea ; and various specimens of these plants, 
which have found their way from the North West Coast to the herbarium of Sir 
W. J. Hooker, have, with the well-known liberality of that illustrious botanist, 
been freely placed at my disposal. 
But I should not, in speaking of the North West Coast, omit to mention a name 
which will ever be associated in my mind with that interesting botanical region, 
the venerable Archibald Menzies, who accompanied Vancouver, and whom I 
remember as one of the finest specimens of a green old age that it has been my lot 
to meet. He was the first naturalist to explore the cryptogamic treasures of the 
North West, and to the last could recal with vividness the scenes he had witnessed, 
and loved to speak of the plants he had discovered. His plants, the companions of 
his early hardships, seemed to stir up recollections of every circumstance that had 
attended their collection, at a distance of more than half a century back from the IV. 
INTRODUCTION. 
time I speak of. He it was who first possessed me with a desire to explore the 
American shores, a desire which has followed me through life, though as yet it 
has been but very imperfectly gratified. With this small tribute to his memory, 
I may appropriately close this general expression of my thanks to those who have 
aided me in the present undertaking. 
W. H. H. 
Trinity College, Dublin, 
August Qth, 1851. DIVISION INTO GROUPS OR SERIES. 
For purposes of classification the Algse may be conveniently grouped under 
three principal heads or sub-classes, which are, for the most part, readily distin- 
guishable by the colour of the frond. They are named and defined as follows, viz. 
1. Melanosperme.e. Plants of an olive-green or olive-brown colour. Fr uctifica- 
tion monoecious or dioecious. Spores olive-coloured, either external, or con- 
tained, singly, or in groups, in proper conceptacles ; each spore enveloped 
in a pellucid skin (perispore), simple, or finally separating into two, four, or 
eight sporules. Antheridia, or transparent cells filled with orange-coloured, 
vivacious corpuscles, moving by means of vibratile cilia. Marine. 
2. RHODOSPERMEiE. Plants rosy-red or purple, rarely brown-red, or greenish-red. 
Fructification of two kinds, dioecious:—1, Spores (gemmules, Ag.) contained 
either in external or immersed conceptacles, or densely aggregated together 
and dispersed in masses throughout the substance of the frond : 2, Spores, 
commonly called tetraspores (gemmules, Thw.), red or purple, either external 
or immersed in the frond, rarely contained in proper conceptacles ; each spore 
enveloped in a pellucid skin (perispore), and at maturity separating into four 
sporules. Antheridia (not observed in all) filled with yellow corpuscles. 
Marine, with one or two exceptions. 
3. CiiLOROSPERMEiE. Plants grass-green, rarely a livid purple. Fructification dis- 
persed through all parts of the frond ; every cell being capable of having its 
contents converted into spores. Spores (Sporidia, Ag.) green or purple, 
formed within the cells, often (always ?) at maturity vivacious, moving by 
means of vibratile cilia. Gemmules (Coniocystce, Ag.) or external vesicular 
cells, containing a dense, dark-coloured, granular mass, and finally separating 
from the frond. Marine, or, more frequently, living in fresh-water streams, ponds, 
and ditches, or in damp situations. MELANOSPERMEiE, OR OLIVE-COLOURED ALGiE. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE ORDERS OF MELANOSPERMEAE. 
* Frond leathery or membranaceous, forming a compact cellular substance. 
1. Spores contained in spherical cavities of the frond. 
2. SporochnACEAL Spores attached to external, jointed filaments, which are either 
free, or compacted into knob-like masses. 
3. Laminariaceje. Spores forming indefinite, cloudlike patches, or covering the 
whole surface of the frond. 
4. Dictyotaceje. Spores forming definite groups (sori) on the surface of the frond. 
* * Frond formed of jointed filaments, which are either free, or united into a 
compound body. 
5. ChordARiACEiE. Frond cartilaginous or gelatinous, composed of vertical and 
horizontal filaments interlaced together. Spores immersed. 
6. EcTOCARPACEiE. Frond filiform, jointed. Spores external. IV. 
FUCACEiE. 
49 
Order I.-FUCACE^. 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg., vol. T, p. 180 ; C. Ag. Sgst. Alg. p. xxxvii, (inpart) ; Endl. Gen. 
PL, Suppl. 3, page 29 (excl. gen.). Harv. Alan. Br. Alg., ed. 2, p. 11. Fucoideas, 
Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 1 ; Harv. Man., ed. 1, p. 1. Fucea:, Cystoseirea;, Sargassea;, 
and Halochloa:, Riitz. Phyc. Gen., p. 349, et seq. Fucida) and Cystoseieida;, 
Lindl. Veg. King., p. 22. 
Diagnosis. Olive-coloured, inarticulate seaweeds, whose spores are contained in 
spherical cavities of the frond. (Plants of large size, tough, of leathery texture, 
becoming dark-coloured in drying.) 
Natural Character. Boot almost always a conical holdfast, adhering by its 
base to rocks and stones, usually simple and undivided ; in a few instances sending 
off lateral creeping branches, and forming a mat, from which many upright fronds 
arise. 
Fronds of large size, inarticulate, leathery or rarely in parts thin and membrana- 
ceous ; tough, tearing with facility in a longtitudinal direction ; of an olive-brown 
or olive-green colour, becoming foxy in age, and changing to a dark brown or black 
in drying ; composed of minute, coloured, or colourless cells arranged in filaments, 
and closely united together by a very firm intercellular substance. 
The habit is very various. In the least perfect genera fas Splachnidium) there is 
no distinction of stem, leaves, and organs of fructification, but the frond consists of a 
leathery bag, filled with loose jelly, through which a few longitudinal filaments 
pass. The spore-cavities are dispersed beneath the pores of the whole surface, and 
the frond is thus reduced to a root, and a universal receptacle of fructification. 
In others (Durvillcea, Sarcophycus) there is a stem which gradually expands at 
the summit into a leaf-like, cloven lamina, through which the spore-cavities are 
scattered ; these genera have the habit of Laminarice, but the fructification of 
Fucacese. 
In the next stage of development (Myriodesma, Carpoglossum,) the frond becomes 
more leaf-like, but the spore-cavities are still dispersed equally through all its 
divisions. 
To such forms succeeds Himanthalia, in which there is a clear distinction between 
the frond and the receptacle of fructification, but wherein the former is reduced to 
a cup-like air-vessel, while the latter is much branched and constitutes the bulk of 
the plant. In this case the true relations of the parts are determined by the 
VOL. HI. ART. 4. 50 
FUCACEiE. 
IV. 
development; the cup-like frond being wholly formed and perfected before the 
branching fructification begins to be evolved. 
Rising to still higher types of the Order we find (in Fucus, Halidrys, Cystoseira, 
&c.J plants with branching, pinnate, or more commonly, dichotomous stems, either 
filiform or imperfectly leafy, having usually their leaf-like portions strongly 
midribbed, and forming their fructification in portions of the branches ; generally 
in the extremities, which at first resemble ordinary parts of the frond, but 
afterwards swell, become succulent, and are converted into more or less distinct 
receptacles. 
Lastly, (in Sargassum, and its allies,) there is a branching stem ; distinct 
midribbed, rarely ribless, leaves, which are, in a few instances, decurrent, developed 
in a distichous or subspiral order ; and receptacles which are, from their origin, 
set apart as organs of fructification (not formed by swellings of the branches,) and 
placed, either in the axils or along the edges of the leaves or branches. 
In a large number of the plants of this Order, air vessels (vesiculce) or floats 
designed to give buoyancy to the stem and branches, are present. In the least 
perfect, (as in Himantlialia, Fucus, and Cystoseira) the air vessels are formed, 
by simple swellings of portions of the branches, the swollen portion becoming 
hollow and filled with air. In Halidrys several of these hollow swellings placed 
close together in the ramuli become confluent into a compound moniliform vesicle, 
which is evidently only an extreme development of the chained vesicles pf 
Cystoseira. In Phyllospora the air vessel is formed in the leaf-stalk, the lamina 
being a crest to its summit. Such is likewise the case in Sargassum, the highest 
type in the order, but in this genus the lamina of these vesicular leaves is either 
wholly abortive or reduced to a slender mucro ; so that here the air vessel appears 
like a distinct organ. It usually accompanies the receptacles of fructification, 
and is, in fact, properly a floral leaf or bract, interposing between the ordinary 
leaves and those appropriated to the fructification. 
On most parts of the frond, but especially on the expanded portions of the stem 
in the less organized types, and on the leaves in the more fully developed ones, 
will be found minute dot-like pores, from which, while the plant is under water and 
in a growing state, a pencil of delicate, colourless, jointed hairs is seen to protrude. 
These pores, called the muciferous pores by early writers, are found in all the 
Fucacece, and are one of their most definite characters. Under each pore is placed 
a minute hollow chamber, of a spherical form, from the inside of whose walls the 
colourless fibres originate. It is possible that these hairs may exercise an impor- 
tant physiological office, acting on the aerated water as the stoinates of aerial 
leaves do upon the air ; nothing, however, has been ascertained on this point. But 
whatever be the use of these hollow chambers and their contents in the vegetating 
parts of the frond, in those appropriated to fructification they are enlarged, and 
transformed into the spherical cavities within which the spores and antheridia are 
lodged. 
In the less organised genera, as has been already mentioned, the spore-cavities 
(scaphidia, Ag.—conceptacula, Mont.—Endl.—angiocarpia, Kiitz,) are dispersed over 
the whole frond ; in the more perfect, they are confined to limited portions of the FUCACEiE. 
1Y. 
51 
brandies or leaves, which then become succulent and full of slimy mucus ; and in 
the highest types, small metamorphosed branchlets are from the beginning set apart 
as organs of fructification. These metamorphosed branchlets, or the swollen parts 
of ordinary branches which are filled with spore-cavities, are called receptacles ; 
(receptacula, Ag.—Endl. —carpomata, Iviitz.) 
Each spore cavity, placed immediately beneath the outer wall of the frond, and 
communicating freely with the water through its pore, is a hollow, spherical, 
membranous, bag-like chamber, whose inner surface is clothed with pellucid hairs 
(paranemata), among which organs of fructification of two kinds (male? and 
female) are placed. Sometimes both kinds or sexes are found in the same cavity ; 
sometimes all the cavities of one plant produce one kind only, and all those of 
another plant the other kind. (A vertical section of one of the female spore-cavities 
of Fucus furcatus, figured at our Plate III. A, fig. 4, will show the general appear- 
ance of the fructification.) 
The spores are lodged within colourless, glassy perispores, or large, swollen? 
membranous, closed cells, attached to the walls of the cavity ; each perispore 
containing from one to eight, and most commonly four spores. The perispore 
originates, like the hairs or paranemata, from the wall of the cavity, and appears 
to be formed from one of these hairs, which, having been fertilized at an early 
period of its development, instead of continuing to grow by the production of new 
cells at its apex, like an ordinary hair, has been arrested at the first or second cell; 
and this cell, becoming enlarged, has an endochrome gradually elaborated within 
it, and finally either condensed into a single spore or divided into several. In an 
early stage the colouring matter, or endochrome, is of a very fluid substance, and 
pale olive hue. Gradually it becomes darker and more opaque, its particles lying 
closer together, and at length is partially solidified and invested with a delicate 
membranous envelope, which constitutes the testa of the spore. In Haliclrys, 
Cystoseira, and several other genera, each perispore contains at maturity but a 
single spore ; in Fucus and others, the number of spores varies from two to eight, 
or perhaps a larger number. 
The paranemata are either simple or branched. Those which produce Antheridia 
are always branched, and the antheridia are formed from the terminal cell of each 
branchlet, which is enlarged and ovate, obovate, or club-shaped. This Anther idium, 
or supposed male, is a pellucid, enlarged, closed cell, containing a multitude of 
minute corpuscles (sporidia, Ag.), which are supposed to represent the pollen, if not 
to fulfil its office in fertilizing the spore. They are oval, somewhat pointed at one 
end, and contain a reddish orange granule ; and they are furnished with two 
extremely slender vibratile hairs or cilia, one of which issues from the narrow 
extremity of the corpuscle; the other, which is of greater length, from the coloured 
granule. The corpuscles, at first contained within the antlieridium, at length issue 
from it, escaping into the surrounding water, and immediately commence a suc- 
cession of rapid movements to and fro, and in circles and curved lines, strikingly 
similar to the ciliary movements of some of the Infusoria, or of the spores of 
some of the fresh water Algae of the Green series. These movements depend on 
the rapid vibrations of the cilia. During progression, the narrow end of the cor- FUCACEiE. 
IV. 
puscle is always in front; while the cilium, rising from the coloured granule, 
trails behind like a tail. 
Messrs. Decaisne and Thuret, from whose memoir (in Ann. des Sc. Nat. 1845, p. 5 
et seq.) this description is mostly taken, point out the strong analogy between these 
vivacious corpuscles of the Fucacece and the so-called spermatozoa of the Characea), 
Mosses, and Hepaticae, and argue from this similarity of structure a similarity of 
function. They are, therefore, of opinion that the corpuscle-bearing cells are 
properly organs of a similar nature to the antheridia of other cryptogamic plants ; 
and not, as is supposed by Agardh, analogues of the sporidia of the lower Algae, 
and like them capable of germination. From my own investigations, I am disposed 
to agree with the opinion which regards them as male organs. They may readily 
be seen with the higher powers of the compound achromatic microscope ; and are 
easily found in the ordinary shore Fuci, (Fucus vesiculosus and F. nodosus), in 
winter or early spring, on specimens bearing bright yellow or orange coloured 
receptacles. Some of the most deeply coloured should be selected and placed in the 
air till partially dry. As the frond dries, little drops of a slimy, bright orange fluid 
will ooze out from the pores of the receptacle; and if one of these drops be removed, 
and placed in a little sea water on the stage of the microscope, it will be found to 
consist of multitudes of detached antheridia. If these be watched for a short time, 
the vivacious corpuscles may be seen to issue from them and perform their singular 
dances. 
The Fucacece are readily known from all other orders of Melanosperms, by 
having their spores contained in those little spore-cavities, which we have already 
described. In no other order do such cavities exist. 
The group of plants defined by this character is a very extensive one, comprising, 
perhaps, one-half of the known Melanospekms. If we view it as also composed of 
an aggregate of individuals of each species, its relative importance will appear 
very much greater, for most of the plants of which it consists are social ones, and 
clothe very large portions of the submarine soil. About 230 species are described 
by Agardh in his last work, while Kiitzing, (who has introduced many species 
which are not admitted by other writers) enumerates upwards of 300. Of this 
large number, however, I am only able to claim 20 as inhabiting the American 
shores, and six of these are known only on the Pacific coasts. 
The deficiency of Fucacece is a very remarkable feature of the American marine 
flora, the common fuci of the eastern coasts being only two, (Fucus vesiculosus 
and nodosus) and these two scarcely growing south of New Jersey. No doubt the 
long line of sandy shore which extends from New York Bay southward forbids 
the production of plants whose natural habitat is on tidal rocks and boulders ; 
but it is remarkable that on the rock-bound coasts of the North Eastern States, 
there is no trace of the Fucus serratus or F. canaliculatus which are so widely dis- 
persed on the European side of the Atlantic. Mre should not consider this absence 
of common European forms remarkable, if the Fuci found on the American coasts 
were peculiar to them. It is because the two species so abundant in America are 
also common in Europe, that we wonder at the absence, in the western waters of 
the Atlantic, of the equally common forms with which they are associated in the 
eastern. IV. 
FUCACEiE. 
53 
The Fucacece are rarely deep-water plants. One species (F. canaliculatus), com- 
mon in Europe, begins to grow at the extremity of high water mark, in places 
where it is exposed to the atmosphere during the greater part of the twenty-four 
hours, and only submerged by the highest tide waves. In such places, though its 
growth is dwarfish, it frequently produces fruit. As it descends in depth toward 
mid-tide level, the frond becomes larger and more luxuriant, and in the space 
between this limit and that of quarter-tide, the greater number of individual 
plants occur. Few straggle into deeper water. This species, of all others, is best 
fitted to resist drought, its fronds being peculiarly dense and leathery ; and in a 
warm day it frequently becomes crisp and dry, and to all appearance baked to 
death, during the recess of the water; and yet, on the return of the tide, the 
withered fronds expand and become flexible and juicy. Perhaps the non-occur- 
rence of this plant on the American coasts may be owing to the fiercer heats which 
it would be subjected to, in the exposed places that it would naturally occupy. 
AVith the slight exception of this semi-aerial species, all the ordinary Fucacea? 
are characteristic of the space strictly defined by the tide marks, extending 
through the whole range of exposed rock ; over which in temperate latitudes they 
usually spread so densely, that the colour of the sea-shore is as clearly character- 
ised by them, as is the colour of the ground by the species of grasses which con- 
stitute its green mantle. 
A few of the most highly developed genera (Cystoseira, Sargassum, Sfc) are pro- 
ductions of deeper water, commencing to grow at depths at which the Fuel cease, 
and extending into a zone of depth where they are constantly submerged. I am 
not aware that any species has been traced into a deeper zone than that occupied 
by Laminarice. 
One remarkable species of the genus Sargassum has long been famous by the 
name of Gulf weed or Sargazo (sea-lentils), under which most voyagers since the 
days of Columbus have spoken of it. That great discoverer was the first to 
encounter it in modern times, (16th September, 1492) and with his account we are 
therefore most familiar ; but possibly the weedy sea which Aristotle speaks of as 
having been met with by the Phoenicians, at the termination of their voyage, may 
have been an early discovery of the same bank. It is curious that the great bank 
which extends between the 20th and 45th parallels of north latitude, and in 
40° AV. from Greenwich, appears to occupy the same position at the present day as 
it did in the days of Columbus. Between this bank and the American shores, 
various smaller strata and detached masses of seaweed occur, being thrown into 
this portion of the ocean by the eddy caused by the sub-circular motion of the 
great oceanic currents. The whole of this immense space of ocean, which is re- 
ported to be thickly covered with seaweed, is computed by Humboldt at upwards 
of 260,000 square miles, an area almost six times as large as Germany ;* but it is 
not to be supposed that all this space is equally clothed with floating verdure. In 
many places the weed occurs in distant and narrow ridges, leaving spaces of clear 
water between. This portion of the Atlantic seems to be the chief settlement of the 
* Johnst. Pliys. Atlas. Atlantic, p. 5. 54 
FUCACEiE. 
IV. 
Sar. bacciferum, but straggling specimens occur in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, 
and on the shores of Australia and New Zealand ; and some few, carried northward 
by the Gulf stream, reach the northern shores of Europe in safety. 
Naturalists have been puzzled to account for the origin of the Gulfweed, and 
formerly it was supposed to be altogether derived from the Gulf of Mexico ; being 
torn off the shores of the Florida reefs and keys, and carried to sea with the great 
current. It is possible (and indeed probable) that the origin of the present floating 
banks may have been partly of this nature, but it is most certain that the great 
masses of the weed that are at present found floating have had no such immediate 
parentage, but are produced on the surface of the ocean on which they float. 
Whoever has picked up the plant at sea, on any genuine portion of the bank, must 
have seen that it was in a perfectly fresh and growing state, and if he have looked 
at his specimen carefully, he will probably have observed, that different parts of the 
same specimen were of very different ages ; that though there was no apparent 
root, yet that toward the centre of the mass a small portion of stem was of a much 
darker colour than the rest, and possibly covered by parasitic incrustations ; and 
that all the branches springing from this central piece were successively more and 
more delicate and of paler colour, and evidently in a young and sprouting state. 
Such a specimen is clearly in vigorous life, yet it has no root. But the absence of 
root is a matter of very trivial moment in a seaweed ; for we must bear in mind 
that the roots of Algae are merely holdfasts, intended to keep them from being 
washed off the rocks on which they grow. And in a plant capable of enduring 
extensive change of place, like this Sargassum, the root is the part which may be 
most readily dispensed with. No doubt the specimen under examination originated 
in a little branch accidentally broken from a neighbouring mass, and which being 
thus cast adrift, continued to push out new branches and leaves. In this manner, 
by the continual breaking up of old fronds and the continued growth of their 
broken parts, the floating masses spread over the surface of the sea. 
In this floating state the species never forms proper fructification. There is, there- 
fore, no growth from spores. The supply of plants is consequently kept up and 
extended by the constant development of buds or gemmae, originating in broken 
fragments of branches. I have taken some pains to examine numerous specimens, 
picked up on various parts of the bank, while fresh from the sea, and have in 
general been able to convince myself that the tuft under examination had origi- 
nated in a fragment of an older tuft. 
This process of growth by breakage must have gone on for ages ; from that 
early time when the first individuals were brought from some unknown rocks by 
the currents of the ocean. Humboldt indeed conjectures that between the parallels 
of 20° and 45° there is an immense bank from which the supply of Sargassum is 
constantly derived ; but such a bank, if covered by only as much water as the 
greatest depth at which any Fucaceous plant is known to grow, could scarcely have 
escaped the notice of voyagers. And the aspect of this Sargassum, with its innu- 
merable floating-bladders, shews that it was not intended to vegetate at any great 
depth ; for we invariably find the air-vessels most numerous in species which rise 
to the surface, and altogether absent in those which are deeply submerged. IV. 
fucacea. 
55 
The geographical range of the Order Fucacece is very extensive. The great bulk 
of the species occur within 35° of the equator on either side, within which limits 
also the generic types are most varied. To the north of 35° Sargassa become rare, 
and on the American shore the highest limit attained by any of this genus is in 
Long Island Sound, about 44°. Beyond this limit the genus Fucus becomes the 
prevalent form, and in the extreme north Himanthalia appears. Cystoseira, which 
has many representatives in the south of Europe, four of which extend as far as 
Great Britain, is not found on the eastern shores of America, and but slightly, 
represented on the north western. It forms an intermediate link, in structure and 
distribution, between the tropical and arctic forms of the order. Yery few species 
have been traced into the Antarctic Ocean, where the most remarkable form is the 
gigantic Durvillcea, which has a stipe and habit resembling a Laminaria ; or it may 
be likened to a great Palm-ieaf. The shores of Australia are peculiarly prolific in 
plants of this order, and the species of that sea are remarkable as well for their 
beauty, as for the large number of generic types which they exhibit. It is on 
those shores that the most fully organised types of the olive-coloured Alga3 are met 
with. 
In an economic point of view, the Fucacece take a high place among sea-plants. 
Their ashes contain a large quantity of carbonate of soda, for which the Fuci were 
formerly very much sought after, and even cultivated on some parts of the coasts of 
Scotland where they did not grow naturally ;—rocks being deposited to attract them 
to pebbly or sandy shores. At one time the proprietors of sea-shores on the most barren 
islands of Scotland drew a very large revenue from the sale of the wrack (varec) 
or sea-ware, which was then burned and its ashes sold under the name of Kelp: * 
but improvements in chemistry, by which carbonate of soda is now cheaply obtained 
from other sources, have almost destroyed the kelp trade. These seaweeds are 
now collected chiefly for manure, for which purpose they are often very valuable. 
Iodine is their most remarkable constituent, and is found in their tissues in 
greater quantity than in any other of its known sources. The increasing demand 
for this valuable substance may, therefore, be expected to cause a partial revival of 
the kelp trade. 
The ordinary species, F. vesiculosus, is eagerly eaten in winter by Scotch and 
Norwegian cattle, which regularly come down to the shore to browse on it at 
the recess of the tide ; and Linnaeus tells us that in Gothland the peasantry boil 
it, and adding some coarse flour, give it to their hogs. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
* Frond branched, leafy. Air-vessels stalked, separate. 
I. Sargassum. Receptacles racemose, in the axils of the upper leaves. 
* See Introduction, supra, p. 35. 56 
FU C ACEiE—Sargassum. 
IV. 
** Frond branched, imperfectly leafy or pinnatifid. Air-vessels formed in certain parts 
of the leaves or hranchlets. 
II. Piiyllospora. Leaves distichous, nerveless. Air-vessels formed in the petioles 
of the leaves. 
III. Halidrys. Frond pinnatifid, leafy below, filiform above. Air-vessels formed 
in the ultimate branchlets, podlike, of several air-cells. 
*** Frond branched, imperfectly leafy or filiform. Air-vessels either absent, or 
formed irregularly by the occasional swelling of the branches. 
IY. Cystoseira. Frond much branched, bushy; the branches filiform. Recep- 
tacles filiform, slender, terminal; their substance formed of small cells. 
V. Fucus. Frond dichotomous, flat or compressed. Receptacles filled with mucus, 
which is traversed by a net-work of jointed filaments. 
* * * * Frond reduced to a top-shaped, or cup-shaped vesicle. 
YI. Himanthalia. Receptacles strap-shaped, dichotomously branched. 
I. SARGASSUM, Ag. 
Root a conical disc. Frond much divided ; having a distinct stem, branches, 
leaves, air-vessels, and receptacles. Branches filiform or flat, alternate, lateral, 
more or less distinctly pinnate. Leaves horizontal, or very rarely vertical and 
decurrent, mostly furnished with a midrib, and muciferous pores. Air-vessels 
stalked, axillary, formed from transformed leaves, pointless or tipped with a slender 
process. Receptacles small, linear, tuberculated, axillary, racemose or dichotomous, 
composed of a densely cellular substance ; having numerous pores, beneath which 
are placed the spherical conceptacles (or spore cavities.) Spore-cavities mostly 
dioecious. Spores one or more in each conceptacle, to whose walls they are attached, 
obovoid, subsessile, having a hyaline perispore. Antheridia roundish, on branched 
filaments, racemose. Paranemata simple or forked, clothing the walls of the con- 
ceptacle. 
The frond originates in a single leaf, having a lamina and midrib. This first leaf 
lengthens, and either continues undivided or becomes forked at the extremity. 
Afterwards the lamina gradually disappears from the lower portion, while the 
midrib thickens and becomes the commencement of the future stem ; and the 
upper portion, still extending, is again divided and each of its divisions forms the 
starting point of a branch. All the young stems and branches, which in this 
manner are formed out of the midrib of the first formed leaves, are in their early 
growth winged with the remains of the lamina of the transformed leaf; but as this 
soon decays away and is not renewed, the branches as they extend upwards become IV. 
FUCACEiE.—Sargassum. 
quite filiform, and their upper divisions are, in the majority of species, never 
winged. In a few species, the wing-like border is continued through all portions 
of the frond. The leaves which clothe the branches, the only leaves generally seen 
on full grown plants, are formed by dilatations of ultimate barren branchlets, and 
therefore arise in a manner the reverse of the primary leaves which spring from 
the root. The root-leaves, by losing their lamina, form the commencement of the 
filiform stem and branches ; and again, the barren apices of the stem and branches, 
by acquiring a lamina, become ordinary leaves. The branching throughout the 
frond, which at a hasty inspection seems to be alternate, or repeatedly pinnate, is 
in truth but a concealed form of dichotomous division, in which every alternate 
prong of the fork is stopped, while the twin prong is lengthened and again forked 
at its extremity. It is easy to see how an alternately pinnate frond, with a zigzag 
rachis, would result from the continual repetition of such a system of branching. 
In some species with zigzag stems and branches this mode of division is very 
evident throughout ; but in ordinary forms, as in our S. Montagnei (Plate I. f. A. 1.) 
the truly dichotomous division of the frond is only to be clearly perceived in the 
lesser fertile branches. If, however, these be carefully traced back to older portions, or 
the development of a young plant from its first leaf watched, the alternate sup- 
pression of parts will be very evident. From the same figure it may be seen, that 
the air-vessels are nothing but leaves in which the lamina has become inflated, 
while the apex of the midrib is prolonged into a mucro. In other species the trans- 
formation of the vesicated leaf is less complete, and then a wing-like border sur- 
rounds the inflated portion. These vesicles are usually placed between the ordinary 
leaves and the receptacles of fruit, and are, therefore, to be regarded as a form of 
bracts, or appendages to the inflorescence. They are most numerous in species 
which grow in shallow water, and serve to buoy up the branches. The receptacles 
of the fructification are, in like manner, but altered leaves ; and, as in flowering 
plants, they are the ultimate leaves. The frond which originated in a spore 
has passed through the various stages of its development, and at the end of its 
upward growth it again forms spores from which new plants may germinate. 
The number of species of the genus Sargassum is very considerable ; upwards of 
120 have been described, and probably many more remain uncharacterised in 
various herbaria. They are chiefly tropical and sub-tropical, and are found in the 
oceans of both the eastern and western hemispheres, but seem to be most numer- 
ous in the former. The following are all that I have been able to ascertain as 
natives of North America :— 
1. Sargassum vulgare, Ag. ; stem filiform, smooth or nearly so ; leaves linear or 
oblong-lanceolate, serrated, ribbed, brownish-olive, with evident glands ; air-vessels 
pointless, spherical, on compressed stalks which are as long as the air-vessel ; recep- 
tacles axillary, repeatedly forked, filiform, tuberculated, twice as short as the sub- 
tending leaf.—J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 342 ; Grev. Alg. Brit. t. 1 ; Harv. Phyc. 
Brit. t. 343. Fucus natans, Turn. Hist. Fuc. t. 46 (excl. vars.) Eng. Bot.t. 2114. 
VOL. III. ART. 4 58 
FUCACEiE.—Sargassum. 
IV. 
Hab. On rocks and stones near low-water mark. Perennial. Summer. Com- 
mon on the Florida Keys ; thrown up from deep water abundantly at Key West; 
growing within tide marks at Sand Key. At Green Port, Long Island, Prof. 
Bailey. Also at Seaconnot, Bristol Ferry and Stone Bridge, Rhode Island, Prof. 
Bailey, and Mr. Thurber. Narragansett Pier, Newport, and Seaconnot Point, 
Rhode Island, Mr. S. T. Olney (v. v.). 
Stem from one to two feet long or more, generally undivided, but densely clothed 
throughout its length with lateral branches, the lowermost of which are longest, the 
upper gradually shorter, and those near the summit but rudimentary ; terete, from 
a quarter to half a line in diameter, unarmed, and usually quite smooth. Branches 
similar to the main stem, either leafy, or furnished with a set of alternate secondary 
branches, similar to the primary. Leaves of a thickish substance and coriaceous 
texture, having many evident glandular pores, sharply serrate, or rarely repando- 
dentate or subentire : slightly narrowed at the base, and usually tapering to the 
point, but very variable in size, and in proportionate length and breadth ; sometimes 
oblong, sometimes linear-lanceolate, and sometimes broadly lanceolate : furnished 
with a strong, percurrent mid-rib, which becomes less evident just below the apex. 
Air-vessels numerous, particularly on the upper branches, and beneath the fructifi- 
cation, spherical, pointless, (or rarely with a small mucro), from two to three lines in 
diameter, raised on compressed or flattened, sometimes winged petioles of their own 
length. Receptacles axillary, linear, repeatedly forked, shorter than the subtending 
leaf, tuberculated. Colour varying from a dark, brownish olive to a foxy or tawny 
bay. Substance tough and leathery. 
2. Sargassum Montagnei, Bailey MSS. ; stem filiform, slender, smooth ; leaves 
very narrow, linear-lanceolate, attenuate, repando-dentate or subentire, ribbed, 
pale-greenish olive, membranaceous, glandular-dotted ; air-vessels spherical, fur- 
nished with long, filiform or foliaceous points, raised on square petioles of their own 
length; receptacles axillary, tuberculated, more or less forked, and generally 
shorter than the subtending leaf.—(Tab. I. Fig. A.) 
Hab. On rocks and stones, near low-water mark. Perennial. Summer. At 
Greenport, Long Island, growing with S. vulgar e, Prof. Bailey and W. H. H. ; 
Little Compton, Rhode Island, Mr. Olney (v. v.). 
Root a conical disk. Radical and primary leaves oblong or lanceolate, 2-3 inches 
long and 3-4 lines in diameter, sharply serrate or unequally dentate, membrana- 
ceous. Stems from two to three feet long, filiform, smooth, very slender, undivided, 
set throughout with lateral branches, the lowest of which are twelve or fourteen 
inches in length, and the upper gradually shorter and less compound. The longer 
branches give off alternate branchlets, at intervals of half an inch to an inch. 
Leaves of the branches very narrow, usually two inches or more in length, and only 
a line or two in breadth, linear-lanceolate, attenuate, sometimes nearly entire, IV. 
FUCACEiE.—Sargassum. 
sometimes remotely dentate or merely repand, delicately membranaceous, of a very 
pale greenish olive colour, minutely glandular, furnished with a percurrent midrib. 
Air-vessels globose or slightly oval, on slender, square stalks, tipped either with a 
long filiform point or with a linear-lanceolate leaf, either of which is often deciduous. 
Receptacles axillary, filiform, tubercular, more or less forked, sometimes attenuate. 
Colour pale. Substance delicate. 
My specimens, from which the plate has been drawn, were gathered in August, 
when many of them had formed receptacles. The fruit figured is scarcely mature. 
The receptacles eventually become more filiform, and repeatedly forked. I have 
received from Professor Bailey a fragment of a fertile branch of a Sargassum, destitute 
of leaves and therefore doubtful, but which probably belongs to this species. In it the 
receptacles are very much lengthened, slender, tassel-like, an inch and half long and 
repeatedly forked, and have something the aspect of the fructification of Lycopodium 
Phlegmaria. Should future observations on the spot, made later in the season, 
show that these very long receptacles are the ordinary state of the ripe fruit, it 
will materially strengthen the specific character. Professor J. Agardh mentions a 
var. of S. vulgare, which he calls trichocarpum, distinguished by similar tassel-like 
fruit. This species is dedicated by Professor Bailey to our mutual friend and 
fellow student, Dr. Montagne, of Paris. The S. vulgare var. tenuifolium of Mr. 
Olney’s list ought, at least in part, to be referred to S. Montagnei. 
3. Sargassum affine, J. Ag. ; “ stem filiform, smooth, leaves lanceolate-linear, 
acutely serrate, with a single row of glandular pores at each side of the midrib ; 
air-vessels spherical, pointless, on subterete stalks of their own length • receptacles 
axillary, forked, racemose, cylindraceo-lanceolate, warted, unarmed.” J. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. vol. 1. p. 343. 
Hab. In the West Indian Sea. J. Agardh. (v. s. in Herb. Trin. Coll. Dublin.) 
I introduce this, as it may probably be found on some of the Florida Keys, It 
seems to be intermediate in character between S. vulgare and S. bacciferum. 
4. Sargassum bacciferum, Ag. ; stem filiform, smooth ; leaves linear-lanceolate, 
attenuate, sharply serrate, ribbed, usually destitute of glandular pores ; air-vessels 
on subterete stalks, spherical, tipped with a filiform point; receptacles axillary, 
forked, cylindrical, warted, unarmed. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol.l.p. 344; Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 609; Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 104. Fucus bacciferus, Turn. Hist. Fuc. t. 47. 
FIab. Floating in the Gulf-stream, and thrown up abundantly on the Florida 
Keys, and on other parts of the coast, (v. v.) 
The floating fronds generally grow from a central point, from which branches FU C ACE2E.—Sargassum. 
IV. 
extend in all directions. In such specimens the base appears to be a fragment of 
broken branch, rather than a true disciform root. Branches smooth, zigzag, or 
angularly bent, once or twice divided in an alternate manner, the lesser branches 
set with distichous leaves, having a vesicle in the axil of each. Leaves from two to 
three inches in length and from one to three lines in width, coriaceous, sharply 
serrate, tapering to each end, furnished with a strong midrib, but usually destitute 
of glandular pores. The serratures are often duplicate. Air-vessels very numerous, 
about as big as peas, spherical, mostly mucronate, tipped with a longish bristle ; 
their stalks about as long as the inflated part, and roundish. Receptacles rarely 
found. Colour when quite fresh a pale and beautifully clear olive ; but soon 
changing and becoming foxy in age and very dark in drying. Substance, when 
living, brittle. 
This is the common Tropical Sea-grape, whose air-vessels, resembling berries, are 
popularly taken for fruit. It has already been spoken of as the famous gulfweed 
of navigators.* 
5. Sargassum Liebmanni, J. Ag. ; “ stem filiform, subterete, branched on all 
sides ; leaves lanceolate, acuminate, ribbed, without glands, spinuloso-dentate, 
waved and twisted ; air-vessels spherical, somewhat margined, pointed, on filiform 
stalks shorter than themselves; receptacles two-edged or triquetrous, serrato-dentate, 
forked, their branches at length subpedicellate, agglomerated in the axil.” J. Ag. 
Sp. Alg. vol. 1. p. 326. 
Hab. On the Pacific coast of the Mexican Republic, Leibman. (v. s. in Herb. 
T.C.D-) 
Stems or primary branches numerous, from a short stipe, a foot or more in 
length, filiform, slightly flexuous, smooth, closely set with short, alternate, spirally 
disposed, spreading branchlets. These branchlets in my specimen are an inch or 
two in length, the lowest not longer than the upper, and issue at intervals of half 
to three-quarters of an inch. Leaves an inch to an inch and half long, three or 
four lines in breadth, somewhat lanceolate, obtuse, thick, leathery, waved and 
curled, midribbed, almost destitute of glandular pores, sharply spinuloso-dentate, 
the teeth deltoid-acuminate, patent, with rounded sinuses between. Air-vessels few, 
and only on the uppermost branchlets, on very short stalks, spherical, with a 
narrow leafy border, and a small point or leafy mucro. Receptacles axillary, 
densely tufted, repeatedly forked, three-sided, sharply spinoso-dentate, much shorter 
than the subtending leaf. Colour dark brownish olive. Substance leathery, dense. 
6. Sargassum hystrix, J. Ag.; “ Stem filiform, subterete, branched on all sides; 
* Page 53. IV. 
F U C ACEiE.—PlIYLLOSPOR A. 
61 
leaves oblong-elliptical, acuminate, ribbed, obsoletely glandular, serrate or sub- 
entire ; air-vessels spherical, pointless, on very short stalks ; receptacles warted, 
two-edged, twisted, spinous-toothed, forked, their branches at length pedicellate, 
crowded in the axils.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 322. 
Hab. In the Atlantic, from the shores of Mexico to those of Newfoundland. J. 
Agardh. 
I am not acquainted with this species. 
7. Sargassum filipendula, Ag; “ stem filiform, very smooth ; leaves narrow- 
linear, ribbed, with a single row of glands at each side the rib, serrated, the upper- 
most very narrow and nearly entire ; air-vessels spherical, pointless, nearly without 
glands, on compressed stalks longer than themselves ; receptacles cylindrical, 
warted, unarmed, paniculate on a long axillary ramulus, the lowermost stalked, the 
upper confluent.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1 ,p. 314. 
Hab. The Gulf of Mexico, J. Agardh. 
Unknown to me. 
II. PHYLLOSPORA. Ag. 
Root branching. Frond distichous. Branches flat or compressed, fringed with 
marginal leaves. Leaves nerveless, undivided, tapering at base into sub-distinct 
petioles, marginal, distichous, vertical. Air-vessels formed by transformation of a 
portion of the leaf into a bladdery vesicle. Receptacles leaf-like, having numerous 
pores beneath which are placed the spherical conceptacles (or spore cavities). 
Spore-cavities diclinous. Spores several in each conceptacle, to whose walls they are 
attached, obovoid, subsessile, having a hyaline perispore. Antheridia ellipsoidal, 
racemose. Paranemata long, simple, clothing the walls of the conceptacle. 
A genus consisting of two species formerly placed in Macrocystis, of which they 
have in some respects the habit, but from which they essentially differ in fructifica- 
tion. The type of structure is in many respects lower than that of Sargassum ; 
the fruit-leaves or receptacles scarcely differing from the ordinary leaves, except in 
being of somewhat smaller size, and thicker substance. The disposition of the 
branches and leaves is so unlike that of any other N. American Alga, that there 62 
FUCACEiE.—Phyllospora. 
IV. 
can be no difficulty in recognising our only species. Its congener (Ph. comosa) is a 
native of the shores of New Holland and New Zealand, and is distinguished by 
having serrated leaves. 
1. Phyllospora Menziesii, Ag. ; stem flat, rough, especially below, with pro- 
minent points ; the margin at each side densely fringed with spathulate or obovate? 
obtuse, entire, nerveless leaves ; air-vessels large, ellipsoid, pyriform or spindle- 
shaped, tipped with a leafy crest. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 254. Harv. in Bot. 
Beechey Voy. p. 163. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 592. Phyllospora Chamissoi, J. Ag. 1. c. Macro- 
cystis ohtusa, Harv. in Bot. Beech. Voy. p. 163. Fucus Menziesii, Turn. Hist. t. 
27. (Tab. III. Fig. B.) 
Hab. In deep water on the shores of California at Monterey {Dr. Coulter, 
Capt. Beechey, and Capt. Wilkes) ; and on the coasts to the northward as far, at 
least, as Nootka Sound, where it was first gathered by Mr. Menzies when sailing 
with Vancouver, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.H.) 
Boot branching. Stems (according to Turner, who cites Mr. Menzies’ MS. notes) 
“ twenty fathoms and more long, rising with a short rounded stipes, divided into 
several long simple branches, of almost equal height.” These branches, portions of 
which, and the base of a young frond, are now before me, vary from a quarter inch 
to more than an inch in breadth, are strap-shaped, and roughened with minute 
spinelike or tubercular prominences, and preserve their breadth pretty evenly, 
except toward the tips, where they become gradually narrower, and pass off into a 
long slender point. The roughness varies considerably; some specimens are densely 
erinaceous throughout; others are so only in the lower part, with a few scattered 
spinular or subfoliaceous prominences above ; and others are quite smooth in the 
upper part. In all, the margins of the branch are set with distichous, vertical 
leaves, sometimes issuing at intervals of an inch apart, but much more frequently 
densely crowded, and forming a leafy fringe. They are of various sizes ; some 
reduced almost to bristles, and others being from two to three inches in length. 
The shape is also subject to great irregularity, the wide portion being sometimes 
three-fourths of an inch in width, in others scarcely two lines ; so that the leaf in 
some cases is narrowly spathulate, at others obovate : in all it tapers greatly to 
the base, and generally ends in a blunt point. The margin is more or less waved and 
curled, but destitute of any indentations. The air-vessels are formed by an inflation 
of the lower half, or imperfect petiole of the leaf, or else of a greater portion ; 
sometimes, therefore, they are tipped by a long leafy crest, at others by a short and 
narrow point. They vary much in shape; being globose, ellipsoid, ovoid, pyriform, 
or spindle-shaped, and from half an inch to an inch and half in length. I have 
not seen fertile specimens. 
Agardh’s P. Chamissoi is said to be characterised by its pyriform air-vessels ; but 
on numerous specimens of the ordinary P. Menziesii, now before me, there are IV. 
FU CACE2E.—H alidrys. 
63 
scarcely two in which the vesicles are of the same size and shape. On a specimen 
from Mr. Menzies, they are very small and spindle-shaped ; on Dr. Coulter’s, some 
are globose and some ellipsoid and ovoid ; and on Captain Beechey’s, some are 
pyriform and others spindle-shaped, and of large size. The only valid reason for 
regarding P Chamissoi as a species, is its habitat, should it really be, as is said, a 
native of the Atlantic. 
In the Botany of Beechey’s Voyage I distinguished a variety with leaves much 
broader than usual, under the name of Macrocystis obtusa, but I have long ceased 
to regard it as anything more than a form of P. Menziesii. At that time I had seen 
but few and imperfect specimens of this plant, and was not aware how greatly it 
varied in the shape and size of its leaves. 
III.—HALIDRYS. Lyngb. 
Boot, a conical disc. Frond much divided, distichous, pinnatifid below, pinnated 
above, without distinct leaves ; and forming its air-vessels and receptacles from 
transformed portions of the upper branchlets. Branches alternate, the lowest 
flattish or somewhat leaf-like, the upper narrow, repeatedly compound and sub-fili- 
form. Air-vessels petiolate, siliquaeform, acuminate, articulated, divided by 
transverse septa into numerous loculi. Receptacles formed by transformation of 
the terminal ramuli, pedicellate, lanceolate or pod-like, tuberculated, unarmed, of a 
densely cellular substance ; having numerous pores, beneath which are placed the 
spherical conceptacles (or spore-cavities). Spore-cavities containing both spores and 
antheridia in the same loculus. Spores numerous, oblong, sub-sessile, having a 
hyaline perispore. Antheridia on branching filaments, densely racemose. Parane- 
mata simple or forked, clothing the walls of the conceptacle. 
The frond originates in an oblong, alternately-toothed root-leaf. As this increases 
in size, the marginal dentations lengthen out into lateral lobes, and the leaf becomes 
pinnatifid. Soon the uppermost lobes are found to elongate and become again 
pinnatifid. Some of the laciniae are afterwards changed into articulated air-vessels, 
and of course rendered abortive ; others become branches, margined with 
similar air-vessels and ramuli ; and the apex of the developing lacinia is eventually 
drawn out into a sub-filiform or compressed branch, which is repeatedly divided in 
a pinnate manner. The fruit is formed by a change of the ultimate divisions of 
the upper branches, and the receptacle, which is distinctly pedicellate, sometimes 
springs from the rachis of the branch, and sometimes croivns a vesicular ramulus 
or air-vessel. 
The genus contains but two known species, both of which come within the limits 
of the North American flora, and one of them is peculiar to our shores. Both are 64 
FU C ACEiE.—Halidrys. 
IV. 
handsome shore-plants, and readily known by their articulated, inany-celled air- 
vessels. 
1. IIalidrys siliquosa, Lyngb., frond compressed, narrow, repeatedly pinnate ; 
air-vessels compressed, oblong or linear-lanceolate, mucronate, slightly constricted 
at the septa ; receptacles lanceolate. J. Ag. Sp. Alg.,vol. \,p. 236 ; Kiitz, Sp. Alg., 
p. 604 ; Grev. Alg. Brit. t. 1. ; Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 66 ; Cystoseira siliquosa, Ag. 
Syst., p. 287 5 Fucus siliquosus, L.—Turn. Hist. Fuc. t. 159. ; E. Bot. t. 474. 
Habitat. On rocks near low-water mark. Shores of Newfoundland, Herb. 
Banks (fide Turner), (v. v.) 
Fronds from one to four feet long or more, linear, compressed, two edged, from 
one to two lines broad, distichous, repeatedly pinnate. Pinnae alternate, the lower 
ones much lengthened, and either naked below or furnished with a few small 
bran chiefs and air-vessels, pinnate or bi-tripinnate above, each successive division 
becoming narrower. Air-vessels linear-oblong, or lanceolate, supported on slender 
stalks, and tipped by a slender acumination of various lengths, which some- 
times ends in a receptacle. The air-vessels are internally divided by transverse 
membranes into numerous compartments or chambers, and externally marked at 
each partition by slight constrictions, most visible after the plant has been dried. 
Receptacles usually forming racemes, which terminate the branches, pedicellate, 
lanceolate, compressed. Colour, when young a greenish olive ; becoming a rich, 
glossy brown in age. Substance tough and leathery. 
This plant is very common on the Atlantic shores of Europe, and is said, by 
Turner, to extend south as far as the Canary Islands. On the same authority we 
claim it as a native of Newfoundland, but I have never seen any American spe- 
cimens. The above description is taken from British ones. 
2. Halidrys osmundacea, Harv. frond simply pinnatifid below, with broadly 
linear, subacute midribbed laciniaa ; decompound above, the pinnae and pinnuke 
slender, sub-filiform; air-vessels moniliform, deeply constricted at the septa ; 
receptacles small, forked, crowning the air vessels. Harv. in Bot. Beechey's Voy., 
p. 407- J. Ag. Sp. Alg., vol. 1, p. 237. Kiitz. Sp. Alg., p. 604. Cystoseira 
osmundacea, Ag. Syst., p. 287- Fucus osmundaceus, Menz. in Turn. Hist. Fuc. t. 105. 
(Tab. II.) 
Hab. Kocks near low-water mark. At Port Trinidad, on the N. W. coast, 
Archibald Menzies, Esq. California, Mr. D. Douglas. Monterey, Dr. Coulter, 
(v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Root discoid. Frond of unknown length, but probably many feet long when IV. 
F U C ACEiE.—Cystoseira. 
65 
when full grown. It originates in a pinnatifid, midribbed, flat leaf, six or eight 
inches in length, whose lowest lacinioe are short and deltoid ; the upper gradually 
longer, broadly linear, from three lines to half an inch in breadth, and from one to 
three inches in length. As the plant grows older, the midrib of the first leaf 
becomes slightly bordered with a thick lamina, and thus forming a two-edged stem, is 
developed upwards ; and new latinise, which are successively more compound as they 
are more distant from the root, are formed along it. The lowest of these divided 
latinise are simply pinnatifid ; the next more deeply cut, and their latinise changed 
into vesicles. Those next in order are longer, more slender and more compound ; 
and finally the upper branches of the fronds are slender and filiform, from one to 
two feet in length, and twice or thrice pinnate. The air-vessels begin to be formed 
on the first divided lacinise of the young plant, and are produced in great abundance 
on all the upper branches, sometimes every ramulus, and always several of those 
nearest the base of the branch being changed into air-cells. On old plants, when 
the upper branches have reached their excessively divided condition, the apices of 
the air-vessels frequently are extended into ramuli, which become again branched, 
and even develop small air-vessels along their branches. The receptacles are of 
small size, short, thickish, simple or forked, tuberculated, and spring from the tips 
of the uppermost air-cells on fully developed plants. The colour when dry is a 
dark rich brown, and the substance is thick and leathery. 
Turner’s figure is taken from a young, undeveloped specimen. In our plate we 
have shown the appearance of a young stem, and the base of an older one, which 
would have extended nearly thrice as high as the portion admitted into the figure ; 
the upper secondary branches becoming longer and more compound. Some of 
these upper branches are indeed so much divided, that, apart from their bases, they 
may be mistaken for parts of a Cystoseira, and have much resemblance to C. expansa, 
but are more robust. 
IV. CYSTOSEIRA. Ag. 
Root a conical disc. Frond much divided, either in a pinnate or dichotomous 
manner, the upper branches and ramuli filiform ; forming receptacles by transfor- 
mations of the ultimate ramuli, and air-vessels by swellings of the branches or 
ramuli. Branches alternate, naked or clothed with spine-like ramuli (or leaves). 
Air-vessels usually several together, forming a moniliform chain in some part of 
the branch. Receptacles formed by the transformation of the terminal ramuli, terete, 
tuberculated, smooth or thorny, of a densely cellular substance ; having numerous 
pores, beneath which are placed the spherical conceptacles (or spore-cavities). 
Spore-cavities containing both spores and antheridia in the same loculus. Spores 
numerous, oblong or obovoid, subsessile, having a hyaline perispore. Antheridia 
on branching filaments, racemose. Paranemata simple, clothing the walls of the 
conceptacle. 
VOL. III. ART. 4. 66 
FUCACEiE.—Cystoseira. 
IV. 
Nearly related to the preceding genus, from which it differs in the air-vessels, 
which do not here run together into a compound vessel of many cells, though they 
form little chains, one inflation of the branches succeeding another but remaining 
separate. Upwards of twenty species are described, of which thirteen or fourteen 
are found in the Mediterranean, and four occur on the Atlantic shores of Europe 
as far north as Great Britain, reaching their highest latitude on the western coast 
of Ireland. The group is scarcely represented in the New World. One or two of 
the European species are stated, on doubtful authority, to occur on the shores 
of Guiana and Brazil, where probably something else has been mistaken for 
them ; but there is no record of any having been detected on the eastern shores of 
America, where European forms might, more naturally, have been anticipated. 
The only North American species with which I am acquainted is the following 
from California. 
1. Cystoseira expansa, Ag. ; frond (its base unknown) very long, filiform, 
slender, smooth, repeatedly pinnate, distichous, the ultimate ramuli simple or 
forked ; air-vessels ellipsoidal, chained, several together in the lower half of the 
penultimate and ultimate branchlets ; receptacles “ cylindrical, warted, paniculate, 
subconfluent with the tops of the branches.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg., vol. 1, p. 226. Cystoseira 
Douglasii, Harv. in Bot. Beechey, p. 407. Sirophysalis Douglasii, and S. expansa, 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg., p, 603. (Tab. I. B.) 
IIab. Probably in deep water. At Monterey, California, Mr. Douglas ; Dr. 
Coulter, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
The root and lower part of the stem are unknown. Our specimens consist of 
portions of stems (or branches) from two to three feet in length, and about 
half a line in breadth, compressed, becoming narrower and more filiform toward 
the extremities ; and thrice or four times divided in an alternately pinnate 
manner. The ultimate ramuli show a disposition to become dichotomous. Air- 
vessels from one to two lines long, ellipsoidal, in strings of four to eight, forming 
swellings in the smaller branches and ramuli; the string of swellings generally 
commencing near the base of the ramulus, and extending at least through its lower 
half. In the ultimate and smaller divisions the inflations are proportionally fewer 
and are sometimes solitary. I have not seen the receptacles which J. Agardh 
describes as being “ 6—8 lines long, everywhere of equal thickness, warted, and 
nearly all pedicellate.” 
This is probably a species of very great length, the portions of branches which 
are alone known to us being evidently only the upper divisions. There is a 
striking resemblance in habit between these and the most branching forms of 
Halidrys osmundacea, but in the present species each vesicle stands perfectly apart 
from its neighbour, however closely they may approximate. IV. 
FUCACEiE.—Fucus. 
DOUBTFUL SPECIES. 
2. Cystoseira (Phyllacantha) oligacantha, Kiitz. “ Of large size ; branches fili- 
form, bipinnate, slender ; pinnae very patent, alternate, sometimes opposite ; 
pinnules erecto-patent, sparingly spinous ; air-vessels chained, elliptic oblong ; 
receptacles nodoso-tuberculate, cuspidate.” Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 596. 
Hab. Newfoundland, Lenormand (fide Kiitzing). 
Possibly this may be a form of C. fibrosa ; but without seeing specimens it 
would be rash to decide. 
Y. FUCUS. L. (in part.) Grev. 
Root a conical disc. Frond linear, compressed or flat, in the latter case tra- 
versed by a midrib, dichotomous, rarely pinnated : forming receptacles by trans- 
formations of the tips of the branches ; and vesicles (when present) by inflations 
in the substance of the stem or branch. Branches mostly fastigiate, in some species 
winged with lamina, in none having separate leaves. Air-vessels often absent, 
simple, innate in the branches. Receptacles terminal or lateral, oblong or ovate, 
filled with mucus through which a net-work of jointed filaments extends ; having 
numerous pores beneath which are placed the spherical conceptacles (or spore 
cavities). Spore-cavities generally diclinous, monoecious or mostly dioecious. 
Spores from two to eight in the same hyaline perispore, several such perispores 
rising from the walls of the cavity. Antheridia on branching filaments, ovoid, 
racemose or tufted. Raranemata simple, lining the cell. 
A genus of social plants occupying the space between tide-marks, and con- 
tributing, on the shores where they grow, fully three-fourths of the vegetable 
clothing of the tidal rocks. Almost all the species are natives of the Northern 
Hemisphere, and chiefly of the Atlantic basin, where there are seven species on the 
European and five on the American shore ; one of the latter being peculiar to 
America, and two of the former to Europe ; the rest common to both. One 
species, allied to F. nodosus, is found at the Cape of Good Hope. 
As already noticed in our Introduction, (p. 36), these common shore-plants 
yield, on incineration, a considerable per centage of carbonate of soda, to obtain 
which salt they were formerly largely collected and burnt. Iodine and mannite 
are also among their secretions. 
By J. Agardh, in his recent work, this genus is divided into two, Fucodium and 
Fucus, the first of which, excluding some species, is identical with our first section. 68 
FUCACE.E.—Fucus. 
IV. 
Sect. 1. Fucodium, J. Ag. Frond compressed or subterete, without a midrib. 
1. Fucus fastigiatus, J. Ag. ; frond terete below, compressed above, linear, very 
narrow, many times dichotomous, fastigiate ; the angles rounded and branches 
widely spreading ; air-vessels none ; receptacles terminal, simple or forked, oblong. 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, Sp. 203. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 591. Fucus furcatus, Harv. in 
Bot. Beechey, p. 163 (not of Ag.) (Tab. III. A.). 
Hab. On rocks within tide marks (probably above half tide level). Monterey, 
Douglas! Coulter! St. Francisco, Capt. Wilkes! (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Root a conical disc. Frond rising with a short terete stem, which becomes forked 
at about half an inch from the base. The two primary divisions are generally much 
divaricated, making a very wide angle, and the frond is repeatedly forked at 
intervals of from half an inch to an inch, till it attains the length of six or eight 
inches. There are frequently as many as twelve furcations in plants of this size. 
The lower parts of the stem are from one to two lines in diameter ; the upper are 
gradually more and more slender, and at length the extreme forkings are often not a 
quarter line in breadth. The branches spread widely, so that the general outline of 
a frond is much broader than its length. There are no air-vessels. The branches 
are of nearly equal height, and in full grown specimens their tips are almost all 
enlarged into oblong or fusiform, simple or forked, tuberculated receptacles. 
Spores two in each perispore, a great number of Avhich are attached to the walls of 
the spore-cavity. 
My description and figure are made from Dr. Coulter’s specimens ; those brought 
by Douglas and Wilkes (that I have seen) being of smaller size, and apparently 
gathered in shallower water. This species is, in many respects, allied to the Euro- 
pean F. canaliculatus, and probably occupies similar ground, near high-water mark. 
My specimen from Douglas has altogether the dwarfed appearance which indicates 
such a locality. 
2. Fucus nodosus, Linn. ; frond compressed, coriaceous, subdichotomous ; the 
branches linear, somewhat pinnated, attenuated at the base, remotely toothed, here 
and there swelling into oblong air-vessels ; receptacles lateral, globose, stalked, 
springing from the axis of the marginal teeth. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 206. 
Har. Phyc. Brit. t. 158. E. Bot. t. 570. Turn. Hist. t. 91. Ozothallia vulgaris, 
Dne.—Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 591. Fhysocaulon nodosum, Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 352. 
Hab. On submarine rocks, between tide-marks. Abundant on the Atlantic shores 
of North America from Halifax to New York. Newfoundland, De la Pylaie. 
(v. v.) 
Fronds densely tufted, from one to three or four feet long or more, compressed, 
linear, much branched, more or less pinnate ; the branches long and subsimple, IV. 
FUCACE.E.—Fucus. 
69 
tapering to the base and here and there toothed, secondary branches and receptacles 
springing from the axil of the tooth. Air-vessels elliptical, from half an inch to two 
inches in length, occurring at irregular intervals in the substance of the stem or 
branches, and much wider than the parts around them. Receptacles lateral, pedicel- 
late, ovate or globose, yellow when ripe. Spores four in each perispore. Colour 
varying from a greenish to a fulvous olive. Substance tough and leathery. 
This species varies much in size, and in the comparative robustness of the 
branches. When growing on the open sea shore, far removed from the influence 
of fresh water, it attains the length of several feet, and a breadth of nearly half 
an inch, the colour being of a dark bottle green. In deep bays or arms of the sea, 
it is much less luxuriant, and more tawny. When growing in actuaries it 
becomes of still smaller and feebler growth. I am indebted to Mr. Nicholas Pike 
of New York for specimens gathered in Chelsea River, Boston Bay, in which the 
whole frond, though bipinnate and in fruit, is not more than six inches long, and 
scarcely a line in diameter at the widest part. These specimens are without air- 
vessels, but have all the other characters of the species. 
Another singular form, the Fucus scorpioides of Flora Danica, t. 1479, has been 
sent to me by Mr. Hooper from Fort Hamilton, New York Bay. This is nearly 
as slender as that just mentioned, but is much more irregularly branched, having 
a tendency to dichotomous division, with many irregularly placed, divaricating 
lateral branches. I have compared it with a Norwegian specimen of F. scorpioides, 
with which it agrees very nearly. I was at first disposed to consider it identical 
with the F. Mackaii of British authors, but it is less regular in its branching than 
that (supposed) species. Both are regarded by J. Agardh, and perhaps justly, as 
varieties of F. nodosus. 
Sect. 2. Fucus, J. Ag. Frond flat, with a midrib. 
3. Fucus distichus, Linn. ; stipes filiform, expanding into a very narrow, linear, 
dichotomous ribbed frond ; the margin very entire ; air-vessels none ; receptacles 
terminal, subsimple, in pairs, elongate-linear, compressed. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, 
p. 209. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 590. Turn. Hist. t. 4. FI. Dan. t. 351. Lyngb. Hyd. 
Dan. t. 1. 
FIab. Rocks between tide-marks. Shores of Greenland and Newfoundland, 
De la Fylaie. 
Frond 3—6 inches long, rising from a filiform stipe, which gradually expands 
into an obsoletely ribbed, thickish lamina about a line in breadth and repeatedly 
forked. Axils acute. Receptacles scarcely wider than the segments which they 
terminate, linear, tapering to each end, from half an inch to an inch in length. J. 
Ag. 1. c. 
I am not acquainted with this species. FUCACEiE.—Fucus. 
IV. 
4. Fucus furcatus, Ag. ; stipes compressed, expanding into a linear, dichotomous, 
ribbed frond ; the margin very entire ; air-vessels none ; receptacles elongate, 
linear, flattish, repeatedly forked. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 209. Ag. Ic. Ined. t. 
14. Kiitz. Sp. Alg.p. 591. 
Hab. Newfoundland, De la Pylaie. 
Frond a foot or more in length, and nearly four lines wide, with a less evident 
midrib than allied species, and which is altogether obsolete below the receptacle, 
dichotomous and fastigiate. Vesicles none. Receptacles three inches long, scarcely 
thicker than the frond and nearly flat, linear, tapering towards the apices, obtuse, 
rarely simple, generally once or twice forked. J. Ag. 1. c. 
I am unacquainted with this species. 
5. Fucus ceranoides, Linn. ; frond plane, coriaceo-membranaceous, linear, dicho- 
tomous, midribbed, without vesicles ; the margin very entire ; lateral branches 
narrower than the principal divisions, repeatedly forked, level-topped, bearing fruit 
at their apices ; receptacles spindle-shaped or bifid, acute. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, 
p. 209. Kiitz. Sp, Alg.p. 591. Turn. Hist. t. 89. E. Rot. t. 2115. Harv. Phyc. 
Brit. t. 271. 
IIab. On rocks and stones between tide-marks, chiefly where fresh water mixes 
with the sea. Rare on the American coast. New York, J. Agardh. (v. v.) 
Frond resembling F. vesicutosus in aspect, but of thinner and more transparent 
substance, destitute of air-vessels, though portions of the frond occasionally puff 
out into irregular distensions ; and having numerous lateral, many-forked, narrow 
segments, whose tips are at length transformed into fruit. Receptacles commonly in 
pairs, sometimes confluent, bright yellow, or greenish, pointed. 
I have not seen any American specimen of this species, which has been sent to 
Professor Agardh from New York. 
6. Fucus Harvey anus, Dne. ined. (cum leone eximia). 
Hab. Monterey, California, Herb. Paris, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
I forbear to describe this species, named and figured by my friend M. Decaisne, 
some years ago, but of which no specific character has, I believe, yet appeared. It 
is very closely related to F, ceranoides, and I am not certain by what characters it 
is proposed to be distinguished from that species. iy. 
F U C ACEiE. —HIMANTH ALIA. 
71 
7. Fucus vesiculosus, Linn., frond flat, leathery, thick, linear, dichotomous, quite 
entire at the margin, midribbed ; air-vessels globose or elliptical, mostly in pairs, 
(often absent); receptacles terminal, turgid, ellipsoid, ovoid, or spindle-shaped. 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg., vol. 1, p. 210. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 589- Turn. Hist. t. 88. E. 
Bot. t. 1066. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 204. Fucus divaricatus, F. inflatus, F. spiralis, 
F. volubilis, F. Sherardi, Auct. F. bicornis, and F. microphyllus, He la Pylaie, dye. 
IIab. On rocks and stones between tide-marks. Yery common on all rocky 
shores from Greenland to New York. Also on the N. W. coast; in California, and 
northward. (The southern limit on the east coast not ascertained.) (v. v.) 
Fronds from two inches to two feet long, or more ; varying from a line to nearly 
an inch in breadth, flat, midribbed, many times forked ; often spirally twisted. 
Air-vessels generally in pairs, one at each side of the midrib, spherical or oval, 
their size varying with the breadth of the frond. Receptacles very turgid, and 
filled with a lax, watery jelly, through which a network of delicate filaments 
extends. Colour olive or brown. Substance coarse and thick. 
Yery variable in size and degree of ramification, according to the locality in 
which it grows. When destitute of air-vessels, it may be mistaken by the student 
for F. ceranoides, but the frond is much thicker and more opaque than in that species, 
and contains a far greater proportion of alkaline matter. The earlier writers on 
marine plants made a great number of species out of this ; but its varieties only 
appear different when isolated specimens are examined in the cabinet. On the sea 
shore all the various forms may be seen passing into one another at different tidal 
levels. F. vesicidosus is distributed in the northern Atlantic from the Arctic coasts 
to the Canary Islands ; and in the Pacific, from Kamtschatka to California. It is 
reported to have been brought from the Cape of Good Hope and from Australia, 
but these localities want confirmation. On the east coast of America it and F. 
nodosus constitute at least three fourths of the covering of tidal rocks. 
YI.—IIIMANTHALIA. Lyngb. 
Root a disc. Frond at first top-shaped, then cup-shaped, vesicular, unbranched. 
Receptacles very long, strap-shaped, repeatedly forked, springing from the centre of 
the cup-shaped frond, filled with mucus, traversed by jointed fibres, and pierced by 
numerous pores, beneath which are placed the spherical conceptacles (or spore- 
cavities). Spore cavities diclinous. Spores four within the same hyaline perispore, 
several perispores attached to the walls of the cavity. Antheridia on branching 
filaments, racemose. Paranemata simple, lining the cavity. 72 
EUC ACEiE.—Himantiialia. 
IV. 
A remarkable plant, common on the coasts of Northern Europe, where, in 
England, it has the popular name “ Sea-thongs,” which is nearly a literal trans- 
lation of the sounding Greek imposed by Lyngbye. The view here taken of the 
frond and receptacles is that first given by Greville and Wahlenberg, and more 
recently adopted by Agardh; and I have no doubt but that it is the correct view. 
Dr. Greville has well observed that the pezizag-form or cup-shaped base, here called 
the frond, attains its full size before any portion of the strap-shaped branches con- 
taining fruit, and here called receptacle, makes its appearance. The branching 
receptacle then grows with rapidity, and after it has ripened spores, falls away. 
The plant is biennial, and, like all biennials, the first year is wholly occupied with 
the formation of the top-shaped frond ; the receptacle is rapidly produced in the 
second season. Late in the autumn, when the old ripe receptacles are thrown off 
and drifted ashore in large banks, the young fronds for the next season may be 
seen sprouting in myriads round the dying ones of the last year. Carmichael says 
that the old fronds sprout again the second season, but I have never observed them 
do so, though I have repeatedly sought for such second growth. 
1. Himantiialia lorea, Lyngb.; frond top-shaped, at length collapsing, plano- 
convex, stipitate ; receptacles repeatedly dichotomous, linear, tapering to the 
extremity. J.Ag. Sp. Alg., vol. 1, p. 196. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 78. Fucus loreus, 
Turn. Hist. t. 196. E. Bot. t. 569. FI. Dan. t. 710. * 
Hab. Rocks near low-water mark. Biennial. “ Coast of North America,” fide 
J. Agardh. (v. v.) 
Fronds an inch in height, top-shaped, the centre of the disc becoming depressed, 
and at maturity throwing out a strap-shaped receptacle from two to ten or even 
twenty feet in length, from a quarter to half an inch in width, tapering to the apices, 
and many times forked. Conceptacles scattered in myriads through the whole 
length of this gigantic receptacle. 
I have seen no American specimen of this plant, and am not aware on what part 
of the shore it has been gathered, or by whom communicated to Professor Agardh. 
Judging from probabilities, I should suppose that it may have been found at 
Newfoundland, or to the north of that island. It is much more abundant in 
Europe, on the northern coasts, though said to extend southward as far as Spain. IV. 
SPOROCHNACEiE. 
73 
Order II.-SrOEOCHNACEiE. 
Harv. Man. Br. Alg. Eel. 2, p. 21. Sporochnoidece, Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 36. J. Ag. 
Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 160. Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 342. Kiltz. Sp. Alg. p. 567. Endl. 
3rd. Suppl.p. 28. Chordariece, in part Ag. Syst.p. xxxvi. Sporochnidece and part of 
Dictyotidce, Lindl. Veg. Kingd. p. 22. 
Diagnosis. Olive-coloured, inarticulate seaweeds, whose spores are attached to 
external, jointed filaments, which are either free or compacted together into knob- 
like masses. (Plants of mediocre size, soon becoming flaccid in the a ir, and then chang- 
ing to a verdigris-green colour). 
Natural Character. Boot usually a small, naked disc or point of attachment ; 
in Carpomitra, bulbous and coated with woolly threads. Fronds of mediocre size, 
and much branched, frequently bushy, having, whilst living, a clear and rather 
bright brownish olive or chestnut colour, and a cartilaginous, firm, crisp substance; 
but rapidly becoming flaccid and changing to a verdigris green colour on exposure 
to the air, and possessing, after this change, the faculty of rapidly decomposing any 
small Algae with which they may come in contact. Stems and branches uniform, 
destitute of any separate, leaf-like expansions, inarticulate ; sometimes cylindrical 
and filiform, often exceedingly slender ; sometimes compressed ; and sometimes 
flattened, leaf-like, and furnished with a distinct midrib, occasionally throwing off 
lateral nervelets. The branching is frequently opposite, and almost always disti- 
chous. Air-vessels none. Almost all bear, at some period of their growth, pencils 
of delicate, jointed, confervoid filaments. In some, as in Desmarestia and Arthro- 
cladia, these filaments are found on the growing apices, and on all the younger 
portions of the frond, and appear to be intimately connected with the process of 
cell-division then going on; and they gradually fall away after the part has attained 
its full size. In Arthrocladia a portion of them remains, and eventually supports 
the fructification. In others, as in Sporochnus and Carpomitra, similar filaments 
spring from and crown the receptacles of the fructification, and fall away when the 
spores have arrived at maturity. 
The outward appearance of the fructification varies in the different genera of this 
Order, but the differences are of a minor character. In all, the spores are attached 
to branching, articulated filaments which issue from some part of the branches, 
and are, therefore, external to the substance. But in some, as in all the American 
genera, these filaments are free, either clothing the branches or forming pencil-like 
YOL. rn. AliT. 4. 74 
SPOROCHNACEiE. 
IV. 
tufts along them; while, in others (Sporochnus and Carpomitra) the fertile filaments 
are closely packed together and combined into knob-like receptacles, in whose sub- 
stance the spores are hidden. On dissection these receptacles are seen to be made 
up of branching filaments, of some of whose branches the spores are formed ; and 
they are either borne on minute, lateral ramuli (or peduncles), or terminate the 
larger branches of the frond. 
A small group of plants, of which five or six genera, comprising about 24 species, 
are at present known to botanists. They are all plants of deep water, none grow- 
ing in places where they are left dry at the recess of the tide, and very few being 
found much above low-water mark, and then only in deep and shady tide-pools. 
They increase in numbers and in luxuriance of development at three or four 
fathoms depth, and extend to fifteen or twenty fathoms, often constituting at the 
bottom of the sea submarine fields of considerable extent. This is the case on the 
North American coast with respect to Desmarestia aculeata, which, in deep enclosed 
bays, like that of Halifax, is often the only plant that comes up in the dredge 
after five fathoms of depth, and in many places it seems to choke all other 
vegetation. A similar prevalence of two other species of this genus (Z). chordalis 
and D. JRossii) in the deeper parts of the Laminarian zone, has been noticed by Dr. 
Hooker in the Antarctic Ocean. 
Several of the plants of this Order are widely distributed, All the American 
species of Desmarestia have a range almost as wide as that of the ocean ; being 
found in the temperate and colder regions at both sides of the torrid zone, and 
extending almost to the limit of marine vegetation towards either pole. Their 
reputed absence in the tropical waters is perhaps owing to a failure of observation. 
Arthrocladia villosa, recently discovered in North Carolina, had been until then 
supposed to be confined to the shores of Europe, where it almost always accompa- 
nies Sporochnus pedunculatus, a species not yet added to the American Flora. The 
genus Chnoospora is entirely tropical, but is found both in the eastern and the 
western hemisphere. 
Although the different aspect of the fruit in this Order forces us to group the 
genera under two families, yet there is such a peculiar habit common to all 
the individuals of the group, that authors scarcely differ in the limits they assign 
to it. Agardh and Kiitzing coincide with the original view of Greville, which is 
that here adopted; but IJndlicher and following him, Lindley, reject Arthrocladia 
and refer it to the neighbourhood of Cutleria in Dictyotaceee. A comparison of 
the respective structure and development of Arthrocladia and Desmarestia viridis 
will I think show that these plants cannot well be far separated. There is some- 
thing so distinctive in the colour of the Sporachnaceae when fresh, and the very 
remarkable change which they undergo on exposure to the air, that these peculiar- 
ities alone seem to point, as Mr. Dawson Turner has long since noticed, to a natural 
affinity among them. 
All the following genera belong to the sub-order Arthrocladieas. IV. 
SPOROCHNACEJE.—Arthrocladia. 
75 
Synopsis of the North American Genera. 
I. Artiirocladia. Frond pinnate, filiform, nodose, hollow ; the tube articulated 
within. Nodes whorled with delicate filaments. 
II. Desmarestia. Frond pinnate, either filiform, compressed, or flat, solid. 
III. Chnoospora. Frond dichotomous, flat. 
I. ARTHROCLADIA, Duby. 
Frond cylindrical, pinnated, traversed by a wide, empty tube which is interrupted 
at short intervals by transverse, membranous septa that divide it into a number of 
vertically seriated air-cells. Walls of the frond composed of several rows of cells, 
arranged in longitudinal series, and diminishing in size from the central tube out- 
wards. Externally the surface is marked at short intervals by nodose swellings, 
which are clothed with a whorl of numerous confervoid repeatedly pinnate articu- 
lated filaments. Spores formed from the cells of moniliform, podlike filaments 
borne along the inner faces of the lower divisions of the whorled filaments, oblate- 
spheroidal, minute. 
A genus consisting of but one species, a native also of the shores of Europe, 
where it is found from Italy to Scotland, generally in deep water. It is a slender, 
filiform, distantly branched plant, delicately beautiful when its branches are young, 
and the pencils of filaments that whorl them uninjured. 
1. Artheocladia villosa, Duby. J. Ag. Sp. Alg., vol. 1, p. 162. Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg., p. 573 (A. septentrionalis and A. australis, Kg.) Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 64. 
Conferva villosa, Ends.—E. Bot. t. 546. Dillw. Conf. t. 37. (Plate IY. A.) 
Hab. On submarine substances, in five (or more?) fathoms ; very rare. Cast 
ashore at Smithville, near Wilmington, N. G., Mr. Charles Congdon. (v. v.) 
Root a small disc. Fronds generally tufted, from six inches to nearly three feet 
in length, very slender, once, twice, or thrice pinnated, filiform ; the pinnse distant, 
opposite, or rarely alternate, patent, simple or again pinnulated with similar, simple 
pinnules ; all the divisions furnished at intervals of from half a line to a line, with 
minute knoblike swellings which produce whorls of very delicate, byssoid, repeat- 
edly pinnate jointed filaments of a pale green colour. The frond is traversed by a 
wide tube, divided by transverse membranes at short intervals into joints or 
chambers, four or five of which intervene between every whorl of filaments. 
This tube is surrounded by several series of cylindrical cells, placed end to end 76 
SPOROCHNACEiE.—Desmarestia. 
IY. 
vertically, the innermost of which are of largest size, and the cells of each row to 
the circumference of less and less dimensions. The substance of the frond when 
quite fresh is cartilaginous, but it soon becomes flaccid in the air ; and the colour, 
which at first is a bright bay, rapidly changes to verdigris green. The fructification 
is borne on the lowermost divisions of the whorled filaments, and forms moniliforin 
strings of spores springing from the inner faces of the branch. These are deve- 
loped by the metamorphosis of secund ramuli, and consist of a large number of 
very minute, oblate spores, which fall asunder when mature. In drying, the plant 
adheres firmly to paper. 
I am indebted to Mr. Congdon for one of the few specimens of this rare plant, 
which he succeeded in saving during a very hasty visit to the shore near the 
mouth of the Cape Fear River. It is roughly dried, and I have, therefore, been 
obliged to use more carefully preserved (British) specimens to give an idea of the 
natural appearance of the species (at PI. IV. fig. A 1.), but I have drawn the mag- 
nified figures (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) from Mr. Congdon’s specimen, so that there can be no 
doubt of their identity. The description of the species given above is mostly 
copied from the Phycologia Britannica. The magnified figures in PI. 64 of that 
work, especially figs. 2 and 4, are much less correct than the corresponding one 
(2 and 5) now given. 
II. DESMARESTIA, Lamouroux. 
Frond linear, either cylindrical, compressed or flat, pinnated, solid, traversed by 
a slender articulated filament (or axis) ; the solid parts composed of several rows 
of small cells. Branches when young producing along the margin, and from the tips, 
tufts of byssoid, articulated, repeatedly pinnate filaments. Fructification unknown. 
This genus, of which the fruit is at present unknown, is readily distinguished 
from Arthrocladia, by the structure of the frond. Here there are not the knots 
along the stem and branches, whorled with delicate filaments, which mark that 
genus ; and moreover the frond, in the present group, is destitute of a tubular 
axis of large calibre. It is true that the articulated filament which traverses the 
stem and branches in Desmarestia may be compared with the articulated tube of 
Arthrocladia, but the former consists of a string of single cells, placed end to end ; 
the latter is a compound structure, whose walls and septa are both made up of a 
great number of cells. 
The manner in which the frond is developed may be readily seen by examining, 
under the microscope, any tip of a young branch in process of formation ; par- 
ticularly in the young points of D. viridis and D. ligulata, in which species the 
frond is more transparent than in D. aculeata. In I). viridis the young branch is 
prolonged, at its apex, into a confervoid filament, formed of a row of cylindrical SPOROCHNACEiE.—Desmarestia. 
77 
IV. 
cells, lengthening by division of the terminal cell, and becoming branched at 
intervals by the development of opposite budding cells from the shoulders of the 
older ones. Thus we have in its simplest form the type of the growth of the 
species; namely, a repeatedly pinnate division, with opposite pinnules. These 
pinnated confervoid apices become gradually clothed with a stratum of minute 
cellules, Avhich may be observed commencing to be formed on the lowermost cells 
(those nearest the compound portion of the branch), and gradually extending 
upwards. Thus at length the confervoid filament is completely enclosed in a 
cellular coating ; new coats are continually added to this ;—until the frond 
becomes a cylindrical, compound-cellular body, through the centre of which runs 
an articulated filament ; which filament was the earliest part formed, and the axial 
nucleus round which the other parts grew. 
The manner of growth in D. ligulata is precisely similar, except that in that 
species the new cellular integument to the primary filament is not developed 
equally on all sides, but extends chiefly laterally, so as to form at first a 
two-edged and then a flat or even leaf-like stem. In this process of lateral exten- 
sion, or widening of the stem, the lower portions of the pinnae of the primary 
filament being enclosed within the cellular wings of the flattened branch, become 
the lateral nerves of the frond. Some of these merely reach the margin of the 
flat stem, or extend slightly beyond it, as a tooth, tipped with a pencil of fibres ; 
others, continuing to vegetate, become the nuclei of the young lateral branches. In 
the broad forms of D. ligulata, constituting D. herbacea of authors, the nervation 
and its origin are both very clearly seen. 
1. Desmarestia viridis, Lamour. frond cylindrical, filiform, repeatedly pinnate ; 
pinnas and pinnulae capillary, exactly opposite, patent. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 570* 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 312. Dichloria viridis, Grev. Alg. Brit. t. 6. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 
vol. 1, p. 164. Fucus viridis, FI. Dan. t. 886. Turn. Hist. t. 97. F. Bot. t. 1669- 
Hab. On rocks, stones, and the larger Algse in tide-pools, near low-water mark, 
and extending into deep water. Annual. Abundant on the shores of British 
America, and extending south to Boston Bay ; Cape Anne, Connecticut; and 
Hell-gate, New York, Mr. J. Hooper. Unalaschka, Chamisso. (v. v.) 
Fronds from one to three feet in length, cylindrical, from a quarter line to half a 
line, or sometimes a line in diameter below, gradually attenuated upwards to a 
hairlike fineness, excessively branched, having an ovate outline when the branches 
are freely displayed. All the branches, and every one of the lesser divisions, 
down to the most minute ramulus, are exactly opposite and distichous ; the 
larger divisions are patent, or nearly horizontal, the lesser more erect. In a 
vegetating state the branches and ramuli terminate in extremely slender, 
articulated, byssoid filaments, which gradually become coated with cellules ; and 
then the imbedded filament becomes the axis of the compound frond. Structure 
densely cellular, with numerous large air-cavities dispersed through the cellular 78 
SPOROCHNACEiE.—Desmarestia. 
IY. 
substance. Colour, when growing, a fine chesnut-olive, quickly changing to ver- 
digris green when removed from the water. Substance tender, soon decomposing. 
2. Desmarestia aculeata, Lamour. ; stipes short, cylindrical; stems (or primary 
branches) elongate, flattish, bi-tripinnate ; pinme and pinnulae alternate, very narrow, 
tapering to the base, either fringed with opposite tufts of bright green filaments or 
margined with awl-shaped, alternate spines. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1 ,p. 167- Kutz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 571. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 49- Grev. Alg. Brit. t. 5, /. 2, 3. Fucus 
aculeatus, Linn. Turn. Hist. Fuc. t. 187- Fng. Bot. t. 2445. (Tab. IY. B.) 
Hab. On submerged rocks and stones at low-water mark and at a greater depth. 
Very abundant on the east shores, from our northern limits to Long Island Sound (at 
least). Probably also on the N.AY. coast (being found at Kamtschatka). (v. v.) 
Fronds from one to six feet in length, about half a line in width, compressed or 
flattish, excessively branched and bushy ; the branches usually alternate, rarely 
opposite, erect, tapering to their base and apex, as do also all the lesser divisions. 
When young the branches are of a tender substance, soft to the touch, and clothed 
at intervals of about a line with opposite pencils of finely divided byssoid filaments 
of a beautiful yellow green colour. In older fronds these delicate filaments fall 
away, and the branches become rigid and tough, while subulate spinelike alternate 
teeth are developed from the margin at every three or four lines apart. In transi- 
tion specimens both spines and filaments are found together, the former being com- 
paratively soft. Colour pale olive when young, foxy brown or sometimes very dark 
when old. 
At different ages this plant may readily be taken by a student for two species, 
as indeed it was by Linmeus himself. 
3. Desmarestia ligulata, Lamour. ; frond flat, with a slender, more or less evident 
midrib, repeatedly pinnate ; pinnae and pinnulae opposite, oblong or lanceolate, 
tapering to both ends. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 169. Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 572. 
Harv. Pliyc. Brit. t. 115. Fucus ligulatus, Turn. Hist. t. 98. E. Bot. 1.1636. Fucus 
herbaceus, Turn. Hist. t. 99- Desmarestia herbacea, Auct. 
Hab. North West Coast, Mr. Menzies. (v. v.) 
The ordinary European form of this species, figured in Phyc. Brit.t. 115, has not 
yet been noticed on the American coast, except at Cape Horn (!), but may be 
expected to occur on the shores of some part of British America. The plant 
recorded above as having been found by Mr. Menzies on the N. AY. coast has 
broader leaves, but, to judge by Mr. Turner’s figure, is scarcely otherwise to be 
distinguished. The following is his description of Mr. Menzies’ specimens :— SPOROCTINACEiE.—Chnoospora. 
79 
IV. 
“ Frond flat, two feet or more long, rising with a single, undivided stem, at its 
base nearly cylindrical, and as thick as a crow’s quill, but almost immediately 
becoming flat, and gradually widening to the height of a few inches, where it 
acquires a width of half an inch, or three quarters of an inch, after which it 
becomes linear, till, on approaching the extremity, it is again slightly narrowed 
and terminates in a rounded apex ; the margins are throughout the whole length 
serrated with small, spiniform, rather remote teeth ; the stem, from root to summit, 
is pinnate with opposite, distichous branches, of the same substance as itself, between 
horizontal and patent, separated by intervals of about half an inch, a foot or a foot 
and half long, and the middle ones, apparently, longest, their greatest width nearly 
an inch, attenuated at their bases into very short, subcylindrical petioli, rounded at 
their apices, toothed at their margins, and in their turns pinnated with a series of 
others, similar to them in every particular, except their small size :—throughout 
the whole frond runs a midrib, thick and rather wide in the stem, but in the 
branches thin and faint, so as scarcely to be visible, unless the plant is held to the 
light, and appearing only like a dark line. Colour grass-green, with a faint tinge 
of brown, transparent. Substance membranaceous, extremely thin and tender, but 
somewhat thickened in the stem, near the root.” 
I have not seen any American individuals of this variety, but have gathered an 
equally broad-leaved form at the Cape of Good Hope, having, however, acute pinnae, 
and a firmer and more coriaceous substance than Turner describes. On the whole 
I agree with Prof. J. Agardh in uniting, as one species, the broad leaved and nar- 
row leaved forms. 
III. CHNOOSPORA, J. Ag. 
Frond compressed, repeatedly dichotomous, ribless ; its substance composed of 
elongate prismatic cellules, scarcely denser in the centre. Fructification, densely 
tufted, clavato-moniliform, articulated, spore-bearing filaments, surrounded by 
sterile, branching filaments (paranemata), both aggregated together in wartlike 
excrescences near the middle of the frond. Spores (?) formed in the articulations 
of the sporiferous filaments, rounded.—(J. Ag.) 
A small genus of tropical Algae, readily known by its dichotomous branching. 
It seems to connect together, naturally, the two sub-orders of which the Order 
consists. In the structure of its masses of fructification there is an evident passage 
between those genera with dispersed spore-filaments and those in which these organs 
cohere together into definite receptacles. 
1. Chnoospora fastigiata, J. Ag. ; “fronds tufted, several rising from the same 80 
LAMINARIACEiE. 
IV. 
callus, erect, many times forked, fastigiate; segments compressed above, patent? 
with acute axils.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1 ,p. 171. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 569. Ch. 
Pacifica and Ch. Atlantica, J. Ag. Liebm. p. 7. (Tab. IV. C.) 
Hab. On the Pacific coast of the Mexican Republic, Liebman. (v. s. in Herb. 
T. C. D.) 
Fronds many, from the same scutate base, 2-3 inches long, stipitate, soon forked, 
and then repeatedly divided dichotomously, the forks being closer and closer 
upwards ; equal in diameter throughout, subcylindrical below, compressed above, 
with acute apices. The axils of the forks are narrow and acute. Colour in a dried 
state very dark, brownish. I have not seen perfect fructification. 
I have not been able on the specimens which I have had an opportunity of 
examining, to make out the structure of the fructification with sufficient accuracy 
to authorize my introducing the cushions of spore-filaments into the plate. The 
above description is therefore chiefly translated from Prof. J. Agardh’s account of 
the genus. In aspect the plant resembles a very narrow Dictyota, but its substance 
is very much thicker, and a section under the microscope shows it to be composed 
of a much greater number of rows of cells. The surface cellules are very minute, 
and the cells increase in length and breadth as they lie more towards the centre of 
the flesh. 
Order III—LAMINARIACEJE. 
Laminariece, Grev. Alg. Brit., p. 24. J. Ag. Symb. p. 4. Sp. Alg. p. 121* 
Endl. 3rd, Suppl. p. 26. Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 344, and part of Chordece, p. 333* 
Sp. Alg. p. 573. Laminaridoe, Lindl. Veg. Kingd. p. 22. 
Diagnosis.—Olive-coloured, inarticulate seaweeds, whose spores are superficial, 
either forming indefinite, cloudlike patches, or covering the whole surface of the 
frond. (Plants of large size, not much divided, usually stipitate, foliaceous.) 
Natural character.—Boot rarely a simple, undivided disc ; commonly much 
branched, or only simple and disc-like when young. As the plant advances in 
growth, new accessory holdfasts are formed toward the base of the stipe round the 
primary one, and these, lengthening and branching, unite into a conical mass of 
rootlets (or cables), which together make up the compound root. Fronds of an 
olive-brown or an olive-green colour, mostly becoming darker on exposure to the 
air, in some cases turning green in drying • usually tough and leathery in substance, LAMINARIACEiE. 
IV. 
81 
but in some delicately membranaceous ; the internal structure fibroso-cellular, tbe 
flesh being chiefly composed of interlacing threads, formed of strings of cylindrical 
cells, placed end to end. The plants of this Order are almost all of large, 
frequently of gigantic size, either tubular or furnished with a stipe which expands 
at the summit into a leafy frond. In the least developed genus (Adenocystis) the 
frond consists of a hollow, membranous bag, contracted at the base into a little 
stalk, and gradually tapering to the apex into a simple point. At the next stage 
(Chorda) the form is still tubular, but the tube becomes cylindrical, or filiform, and 
is divided internally into several compartments, by transverse membranes stretched 
across its cavity. In the more perfect genera we clearly recognise a cylindrical 
solid stem or stipe, occasionally vesicular in its upper portion, and bearing at its 
summit an expanded leaf. This stem is in most cases simple ; in the most perfect 
genera alone it becomes branched, its divisions being repetitions of the primary 
idea. The leafy expansion crowning the stem or branches is sometimes ribbon- 
shaped, quite simple and tapering to its extremity ; sometimes it is cloven verti- 
cally into many narrow laciniae, by a process of natural splitting which takes place 
in a very irregular manner ; sometimes it is regularly pinnatifid (as in Ecklonia) 
and lastly (in Agarum and Thalassiophyllum) the whole expansion is perforated 
with holes, like a sieve. In the majority of cases the leaf is ribless ; but in the 
more fully organized a midrib, formed of a prolongation of the apex of the stipe? 
traverses its substance. Air-vessels are very often wanting ; where they are found, 
they are formed either by distensions of the upper portion of the stipe, or (in Ma- 
crocystis) by vesications of the petioles of the leaves. 
In those species that are perennial the stipe lasts for several years, but the leaf is 
changed at the end of each season. The process for effecting a change of leaf is 
gradual, and commences long before the fall of the previous leaf. The new leaf is 
not formed, however, in the axil of the old one, but begins at the apex of the stipe, 
or in that portion where the stipe, or common petiole, passes into the leaf. At 
that point, new and vigorous tissue is always found ; there a new lamina begins to 
expand, and as it elongates it gradually pushes before it the older part of the leaf, 
which for a long time adheres to the apex of this new part, and falls away only 
when the new leaf has reached the normal size. 
The fructification of this Order is on a very simple type of development. Innu- 
merable minute spores, each contained within a hyaline perispore, are formed out 
of the surface cells either of the whole frond, or of some large and imperfectly 
defined portions of it. In the highest types only (as in Alaria) are spores found 
in spaces definitely limited, or in proper leaflets. In the lowest ( Chorda) they clothe 
the whole surface, and in most other cases (Laminaria, Agarum, <fyc.) they form 
cloud-like, dark-coloured patches of considerable extent and uncertain limits. 
Usually but one spore is found in each perispore, but in some each perispore con- 
tains four sporules. Barren filaments, or paranernata, occasionally accompany the 
spores, and in some cases Antheridia are found attached to them. These last are 
oval cells, filled with minute corpuscles. 
The Laminariacece, though formed on a much less fully organised type than the 
YOL. III. ART. 4. 82 
LAMINAR I ACEiE. 
IV. 
Fucacece, are of much larger dimensions. The number of species under twelve 
inches in length is very small; almost all, when mature, exceed twelve feet in 
length, and when we light upon the real giants of the Order, the frond is measured 
by fathoms and not by feet. The ordinary Oarweeds, Tangle, Devils-apron and Sea- 
colander of the American shores, which are familiar examples of these plants, are 
frequently seen ten, twelve, or even twenty feet in length, with immense fronds or 
aprons terminating their stems ; but these are mediocre indeed, compared to some 
of their co-ordinals in the Pacific. The Nereocystis of the North West Coast is said, 
when fully grown, to have a stem measuring 300 feet in length, which bears at its 
summit a huge air-vessel, six or seven feet long? shaped like a great cask, and 
ending in a tuft of upwards of fifty forked leaves, each of which is from thirty to 
forty feet in length. The cask-like air-vessel buoys up this immense frond, which, 
like Milton’s hero, lies 
Prone on the flood, extended long and large, 
(And) floating many a rood.— 
Here the Sea Otter (Lutra marina) has his favourite lair, resting himself on the 
vesicle, or hiding among the leaves while he pursues his fishing. The stem which 
anchors this floating mass of fronds, though no thicker than whip-cord, must be of 
considerable strength and flexibility ; and accordingly we find it employed as 
a fishing line by the rude natives of the coast. But great as is the length of this 
seaweed, it is exceeded by the Macrocystis, whose stems are calculated by Dr. 
Hooker*' occasionally to reach 700 feet, while Bory St. Vincent attributes to them 
a length of 1500 feet. These are the longest fronded of the Order, and indeed the 
longest vegetables that are known. Others, as the Lessonice of the Pacific and 
Southern Oceans, though of less height have stems of much greater bole, and a 
habit that reminds us of some large endogenous arborescent plants, as the Aloe 
dichotoma or as the Dracaena Draco. These gigantic Algaj have trunks of con- 
siderable diameter and height, branched dichotomously, each branch bearing at its 
summit bunches of long ribbon-like leaves. Torn from the submerged rocks on 
which they grow, these marine trees are driven ashore on the rocky coasts of the 
Falkland Islands in great numbers, and lie, as Dr. Hooker well describes, rotting 
for many a mile, in banks several yards in breadth and three or four feet in depth. 
The trunks, from which the leaves have been washed, resemble drift-wood, and 
“ on one occasion” (as related by Dr. Hooker) “ no persuasion could prevent the 
captain of a brig from employing his boat’s crew, during two bitterly cold days, in 
collecting this incombustible weed for fuel.” Another noble genus of the Southern 
Ocean (Ecklonia) may be compared to the Palm in habit, having pinnated fronds of 
large size. One of the best known species, the Trumpet-weed (Ecklonia buccinalis) of 
the Cape of Good Hope, has a stem often more than twenty feet in height, crowned 
with a fan-shaped cluster of leaves, each twelve feet long or more. The stem of 
this seaweed which is hollow in the upper portion is, when dried, often used in the 
colony as a siphon ; and by the native herdsmen is formed into a trumpet for 
collecting the cattle at evening. But perhaps the most curious plants of the Order 
* FI. Antarct. vol. 3, p. 464. IV. 
LAMINARIACEiE. 
83 
are the Arctic genera Agarum and Thalassiophyllum, both found within our limits 
and described below. 
The Order contains some fifty species, about half of which are natives of the 
western world, and the largest portion of these of the northern continent. They 
are plants of deep water, rarely vegetating within tide-marks, or barely reaching 
a few inches above low water mark, and characterise a broad zone of depth extend- 
ing from low water to four or five fathoms below it; while the larger species 
straggle into deeper water, to an unknown distance from the surface. Many of 
these probably first vegetate on detached masses of rock at a moderate depth, and 
are afterwards drifted, carrying their rocky anchors with them, into the deeper sea. 
They are mostly plants of high latitudes, to which the greater number are confined. 
Macrocystis and Ecklonia are characteristic of warmer climates, and extend, as well 
as some species of Laminaria, into the tropical zone. 
SYNOPSIS OP THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
1. Frond having a stem, furnished with definite leaves. 
1. Macrocystis. Stem filiform, branched. Leaves simple, secund along the 
stem, each leaf rising from a stalked air-vessel. 
II. Nereocystis. Stem filiform, unbranched, bearing at its summit an air-vessel, 
from which many forked leaves spring. 
III. Lessonia. Stem dichotomous (or simple?). Leaves terminating the branches. 
Air-vessels none. 
2. Frond stipitate, the stipes expanding at the summit into a simple or cloven lamina. 
* Lamina midribhed. 
IY. Alaria. Lamina traversed by a single rib. 
Y. Cost aria. Lamina traversed by several parallel ribs. 
* * Lamina without midrib. 
YI. Laminaria. Lamina either simple or cloven. 
3. Frond flat, pierced, like a colander, with holes. 
YII. Agarum. Lamina midribbed. 
YIII. Thalassiophyllum. Lamina without midrib, spirally developed round a 
(branching) stipe. 
4. Frond cylindrical, tubular or bag-shaped. 
IX. Chorda. Frond filiform, septate within. 84 
LAMINARIACEiE Macrocystis. 
IV. 
1. MACROCYSTIS, Ag. 
Root branching extensively. Stem filiform. Leaves simple, formed by the con- 
tinual splitting of a primary terminal leaf; developed in secund order along the 
lengthening stem, petiolate, having an air-vessel in the petiole. Spores forming 
irregular, superficial, cloudlike patches on small radical leaves, ellipsoidal, with 
hyaline perispore, surrounded by densely packed, inarticulate, clavate paranemata. 
When fully grown the frond in this genus consists of a much branched root, 
from which rise many filiform, simple or branched stems, naked below ; but fur- 
nished above with numerous, unilateral, lanceolate, petiolate leaves, having their 
petioles enlarged into pear-shaped or oblong air-cells. The lateral leaves have 
their edges directed toward the stem and are so far vertically disposed ; and the 
stem itself, when unbroken, always terminates in an oblique leaf, broader than the 
rest, and having one or more slits in its base. This terminal leaf is the growing 
apex, and from the development of the slits in its base new lateral leaves are 
gradually separated. The whole frond, indeed, much divided as it eventually 
becomes, has been developed from the continual splitting of such a leaf. The 
young stem as it first rises from the root bears at its summit a single vertical leaf, 
destitute of vesicle, serrated, except at a short distance above the base, and having 
the apex generally a little hooked in: its outline is therefore somewhat scymetar- 
shaped. In this leaf, commencing within the margin of its lowest edge, are gra- 
dually formed a series of splits, proceeding from the base and extending upwards 
towards the apex. As each split increases in length, it widens by the onward 
growth of the common base ; and air-vessels begin to be formed in the lower and 
slender part of the segments, which are gradually separated. The splitting process 
continues until the split reaches the margin, at which time the air-vessel is com- 
pletely formed, and the margin of the young segment furnished with ciliafform 
teeth ; and its apex being at length free, it becomes a leaf, only differing in size 
from those lower down on the stem, and which have had a similar origin. 
The fructification is found only on root-leaves which never rise to the surface 
and are destitute of air-vessels. It forms cloudy patches, and contains myriads 
of extremely minute spores. 
The student will find an interesting history of this genus, illustrated by an 
excellent figure showing the development of the leaves, in Dr. Hooker’s Flora Ant- 
arctica, vol. 2, p. 461—466, tab. 169, 170, 171. 
1. Macrocystis pyrifera ; Ag. Hook, and Harv. in Hook. FI. Antarct. vol. 2, 
p. 461. Macrocystis Humboldtii, planicaulis, angustifolia, tenuifolia, pyrifera, pela- 
gica, luxurians, latifolia, Orbigniana, Auct.—J. Ag. Sp. Alg. p. 155—158. Kiltz. Sp. 
Alg.p. 582—583 (also M. Dubenii, Aresch., latifrons, Bory, Lessonia ciliata, 
Rupr. Illust. p. 9, 38, /. 9- IV. 
LAMINARIACEiE.—Nereocystis. 
85 
Hab. Shores of California, Beechey, Coulter, Wilkes, §c. Unalaschka and Sitcha, 
Postels and Pupr edit. (v. v. ad C. B. S.) 
Poot much branched. Stems from five feet to several hundred feet long, filiform 
or flattish, eventually subdichotomously branched. Leaves lateral, secund along 
the branches, lanceolate, varying much in length and breadth, membranaceous or 
coriaceous, smooth or wrinkled, bordered with slender cilia or subulate teeth; each 
leaf rising from an air-vessel. Air-vessels as variable in form and size as the leaves, 
globose, ellipsoidal, pear-shaped or fusiform, or long and narrow-club-shaped. 
I fully concur with my friend Dr. Hooker in the view of this species which we 
have jointly taken in another place. (FI. Ant. vol. 2,p. 461.) We have together 
carefully examined specimens representing most of the forms distinguished as species 
by authors, and still retained by Prof. J. Agardh ; and each of us,—Dr. Hooker 
very extensively,—has had an opportunity of verifying opinions arrived at in the 
study by observations made from the living plants on the sea-shore ; and we have 
both, independently, arrived at the conclusion that all the forms separated by 
authors are referable to a single, and not very variable species. Many of these 
reputed species may indeed be found growing together on different parts of the same 
stem ; the differences observed being either the result of age, or of a different degree 
of submersion, or other modifying cause. 
II. NEREOCYSTIS, Post, and Pupr. 
Stem filiform, simple, terminating in a club shaped air-vessel, from which springs 
a tuft of dichotomously divided leaves, formed by the continual splitting, from the 
base upwards, of an original, simple, terminal leaf. Boot branching. Fructification 
unknown. 
Nekeocystis Liitkeana, Post, and Pupr. Illustr. p. 9-1. 8. 9- Endl. Gen. PI. 3rd 
Suppl. p. 27. J. Ag. Sp. Alg.,vol. 1, p. 148. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 584. Fucus Lut- 
keanus, H. Alert, in Linn. 48. Hook. Pot. AHsc. vol. 3,p. 3. 
Hab. North West Coast, at Norfolk Sound, Dr. Henry Mertens. (v. s. in Herb. 
T. C. D.) 
I copy the following account of this remarkable plant from the paper of Hr. Elenry 
Mertens, its discoverer :— 
“ A root, ramified in the manner of the Laminarias produces a stipes like pack- 
thread, and everywhere of uniform thickness, about two or three feet long, and 
suddenly swelling at the end into a perfectly round, large, bladder-nut. The upper 
portion of this hemispherical body bears a tuft of geminate leaves, mostly rising on 86 
LAMINARIA CEiE.—Nereocystis. 
IV. 
five petioles: but in the division of these petioles, there never exists such a sym- 
metry as that the fifth is found exactly in the centre and opposite to the point of 
insertion of the stipes at the vesicle ; rather, there are three oil one side, and two 
only on the other. In some rare instances I noticed but four leaf-stems, two on 
either side. The summit of the vesicle always presented an open space: the leaves 
are lanceolate, sharply attenuated at both extremities, their substance like the 
frond of Laminaria JPhyllitis, about one and a half to two feet long, and measuring 
two inches in their greatest breadth ; some longitudinal nerves appear, of uncertain 
number, running from the base of the leaf to the middle, where they are lost in 
the substance. Such is the configuration of this fucus in a young state ; when 
older it alters so as to be scarcely recognisable, and then only acquires that remark- 
able appendage, which I shall now proceed to explain. In advanced age, the stipes 
becomes immensely long, without however increasing proportion ably in thickness ; 
for whilst it remains at the base of the stoutness of packthread, its diameter, at 
ten or fifteen fathoms’ distance, scarcely measures two and a half lines. Gradually 
the vesicle changes into a turnip-shaped or retort-like cylinder, more than a 
fathom long, measuring at its broadest dimension that supports the leaf near the 
end, 4—6 inches or even more in diameter, while the lower end gradually, and 
quite imperceptibly, loses itself in the stipes. The formation of the frond keeps an 
equally gradual advance : the leaves described above are numerously divided in 
their length, the nerves of the young leaves indicating their future points of separa- 
tion. Entangled at their bases by matting together, these attain a very great length 
and an equal increase of breadth ; the tuft now covering an immense surface with 
its crowded masses. In one specimen, by no means the largest, which I examined, 
I calculated that there were upwards of fifty leaves, each twenty-seven feet long. 
The Russians call this fucus (to which I had previously given the name of Lutkeanus, 
in honour of our worthy commander, who daily shows himself more zealous in 
favouring our natural history labours) See Otter Kohl, or the Sea Otter’s Cabbage. 
The valuable animal, Lutra marina, makes particular choice of this seaweed as its 
favourite refuge and residence; delighting to rock and sleep on the long cylindrical 
bladders, which, like enormous sea-serpents, float on the surface of the water, and 
individually sweep between the little islands, rendering the channels impassible, even 
for boats. From the information that I collected from various Russians and Aleu- 
tians concerning its duration, this fucus is annual. In autumn it is cast in great 
quantities on shore by the then prevalent storms, where it soon decays, and in spring 
not the least trace of it is to be seen. The Aleutians employ the stipes, which are 
said sometimes to be forty-five fathoms long, for fishing lines : I purchased one of 
them. I once saw the Kadiakensers, in Sitcha, make use of the cylinder as a siphon, 
for pumping the water out of their Beidarkas ; a use to which it is well known 
that the F. buccinalis is often applied at the Cape of Good Hope. Owing to the 
moist climate of Sitcha, the drying of this sea-wTeed is attended with considerable 
difficulty. I hardly ever succeeded in preserving a tolerable specimen of the 
cylinder or bladder, though I bestowed much pains and labour on the operation, for 
this part generally dissolves completely, or if dried, the leaves then become brittle as 
glass, and fall to pieces with the slightest touch. The opening of the bladder and IV. 
LAMINAR I ACEiE.—Lessonia.-—Alaria. 
discharging the water which it uniformly contains, only hastens the process of 
decomposition.”—H. Mert. (translated) in Hook. Bot. Misc. 3, p. 3-5. 
Little is known of this singular Alga beyond the above graphic description, and 
the figure of Postells and Ruprecht. I earnestly recommend it to the notice of all 
collectors of plants on the North West Coast ; though it would appear to be confined 
to Russian America. 
III. LESSONIA, Bory. 
Stem cylindrical, solid, dichotomously branched, each branch terminating in a 
pair of lanceolate leaves. Air-vessels none. Spores collected in a thickened portion 
of the lamina of the leaves, and there forming a subdefined, dark-coloured patch, 
ellipsoidal, with hyaline perispore, and lying among densely packed, inarticulate 
paranemata. 
Species of this genus probably exist on the North West Coast, but as yet I have 
received no certain information on this subject. The Lessonia Sinclairii from 
California, mentioned by Dr. Hooker, FI. Antarct. vol. 2, p. 460, must for the 
present remain undescribed. The name was given in MSS. to a specimen existing in 
Sir William J. Hooker’s herbarium, having the habit of Laminaria saccharina, but 
a central patch or sorus of fructification, like that of the ordinary Lessoniae. I 
have no means, at present, of referring to the original specimen, and neglected to 
make an accurate examination of it when it was named. It was gathered by Dr. 
Sinclair at San Francisco, and is the Lam. saccharina of Harv. in Hook. and Am. 
Bot. Beechey, p. 407- 
IV. ALARIA, Grev. 
Boot branching. Frond stipitate, membranaceous, with a percurrent cartilagin- 
ous midrib (a continuation of the stipes) ; the lower part of the stipe pinnated 
with ribless leaflets. Spores collected in a thickened, central portion of the 
leaflets, forming a definite, dark coloured patch, four spores contained within each 
pear-shaped perispore, myriads of which are vertically packed together among 
inarticulate paranemata. 
p 
A small genus inhabiting the colder regions of the Northern Atlantic and 
Pacific. The lamina which forms the wing, at either side of the midrib, or 88 
LAMINARIACEiE.—Alaria. 
IV. 
prolonged apex of tlie stipes, is of a delicately membranaceous substance, and tears 
easily in an oblique direction from the margin to tbe midrib, and it is rare to find 
specimens of large size in which the upper half of the leaf is not reduced to 
tatters. During the growing season new ribbed membrane is, however, constantly 
developed at the base of the old winged portion, and by its upward growth supplies 
the place of the apex which is destroyed by the waves. In the young plant the 
stipes is very short and has no pinnae As the growth proceeds, it gradually 
lengthens and becomes much thicker and stronger, throwing out along its margin 
in the upper half, and immediately below the base of the leafy portion, narrow 
spathulate ribless leaflets. These are destined to contain the fructification, and are 
the nearest approach to a proper receptacle of fruit that is found within the limits 
of the Order. The barren leaflets are membranaceous, and not very different in 
substance from the ribbed leaf, except in being a little thicker ; but those in which 
fruit is formed have their lower half, at least, incrassated, and gradually changed 
to a dark brown. The thickening is sometimes confined to the lower half of the 
leaflet, and sometimes extends to the whole surface. A vertical section through 
this mass of fructification shows it to be composed of innumerable perispores, formed 
out of the enlarged surface-cellules of the frond. Each perispore, at maturity, con- 
tains four spores. Numerous barren filaments or paranemata accompany the fertile 
perispores. 
The midrib of Alaria esculenta, when stripped of the membrane, is eaten by the 
peasantry on the shores of Scotland and Ireland under the various names Badcler- 
loclcs, Henware, Honey ware, and Murlins. If the first of these names signify that 
this esculent is far from good, it is perhaps the most appropriate of the whole ; but 
I do not vouch for the authenticity of this derivation. 
1. Alaria esculenta, Grev. ; midrib solid, scarcely wider than the stipes; lamina 
ovate at the base, decurrent along the stipe ; pinnae linear or cuneate. J. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. 1, p. 143. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 579. Harv. Pliyc. Brit. A- 79- Fucus esculentus, 
Turn. Hist., t. 117- E. Bot. t. 1759. FI. Dan. t. 417. Laminaria muscefolia, and 
L. linearis, De la Pyl. FI. Terr. Neuv. p. 31 and 37. 
TIab. On rocks about low water mark. On the eastern coast, as far south as 
Cape Cod. Newfoundland. Also on the N.W. Coast, at least in Russian America, 
(y. v.) 
Root of many grasping branches. Stipe naked at the base, cylindrical, from two 
to eight or ten inches long, and from two to four lines in diameter, pinnated in its 
upper half with numerous ribless, linear-spathulate leaflets, which at length become 
crowded together ; above these leaflets the stipe is winged at each side with 
membrane, and passes gradually into the cartilaginous midrib of the foliaceous 
frond, which is from three to twenty feet long or more, and from two inches to eight 
or ten inches or more in width. This leafy portion is very thin and easily torn, of 
a clear olive when growing, becoming greener and more transparent when dried. IV. 
LAMINARIACEiE.—Costaria. 
89 
The masses of fructification are reddish brown, much thicker than the leaves in 
which they lie. 
2. Alaria Fylaii, Grev. ; midrib solid, scarcely wider than the stipes, lamina 
cuneate at the base, decurrent along the stipes for a considerable space; pinnae 
obovato-spathulate. J. Ay. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 143. Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 579. 
Laminaria Fylaii, Bory. Be la Pyl. FI. Ter. Neuv. p. 29. 
Hab. On rocks near low-water mark. Newfoundland, Be la Pylaie. (v. s. in 
Herb. T.C.D.) 
Scarcely differing from the preceding, with which it has probably been sometimes 
confounded. It is chiefly marked by the broader and more obovate pinnae ; the 
cuneate base of the frond is a very indefinite character. 
3. Alaria Jistulosa, Post, and Rupr. ; “Midrib fistular, inflated, at intervals 
constricted and septigerous ; lamina delicately membranaceous; pinnae linear, 
rounded at the apex, attenuated at base, sessile.”—Post, and Pup. Illustr. p. 11, t. 16. 
Hab. Illuluk Bay, Unalaschka, Postells and Puprecht, l. c. 
4. Alaria marginata, Post, and Pupr.; “ Midrib solid, rather broad ; lamina thin 
but leathery,” (chartaceo-coriacea) ; “ pinnae linear, rounded at the base and 
apex, stipitate, coriaceous, entire at the margin, plane, bordered by a shining stripe 
(fascia nitida cinctis).”—Post and Pupr. Ulus., p. 11. 
Hab. At Unalaschka, Postells and Puprecht, l. c. 
Y.—COSTARIA, Grev. 
Frond stipitate, undivided, flat, three to five ribbed, the ribs sub-parallel, radiating 
from the apex of the stipe, Fruit. . . . ? 
The stipe is simple, solid, flattened, and marked with numerous elevated longi- 
tudinal striae, and so continued through a simple, linear, or ovate lamina, that the 
striae of the stipe are produced in ribs. These ribs are three or five ; they are 
united in the stipe ; separated, they run through the lamina sub-parallelly, and 
approach again at the apex. The lamina is mostly wrinkled and bullated, often 
perforated between the ribs, the perforations irregular. J. Ag. 1. c. 90 
LAMINARIACEiE.— Laminaria. 
IV. 
1. Cost aria Turneri, Grev. ; stipes flat, expanding into a linear-lanceolate five- 
ribbed lamina. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 139- Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 580. Fucus costatus, 
Turn. Hist. t. 226. 
Hab. On the North West Coast, Mr. Menzies. 
“ Frond solitary, rising with a stipe about an inch in length, marked from top to 
bottom with prominent, nearly parallel striae, cylindrical, and of the size of a 
crow’s quill at its origin, but almost immediately becoming compressed, and soon 
after flat, gradually expanding, too, as it rises, but so slowly that at the top it is 
scarcely above a line in diameter ; it here suddenly expands into a single, flat, 
undivided leaf, a foot and a half or more long, nearly linear, about two inches 
wide, quite entire, and slightly waved at the margin, at the base attenuated ; the 
surface marked all over with irregular transverse wrinkles, and having five parallel 
ribs running through it from top to bottom. Colour a pale, dirty yellow in the 
stipe, in the leaf olive-brown, and semi-transparent. Substance of the stem woody, 
of the leaf membranaceous.”—Turn. Hist. 4, p. 72. 
2. Costaria Mertensii, J. Ag. ; “ stipes flat, expanding into a cordato-ovate five- 
ribbed lamina.”—J. Ag. Sp. Alg. l,p. 142. Costaria Turneri, Post, and Rupr. t. 24. 
Hab. NorthWest Coast, Dr. H. Mertens. 
I think this must be merely a broad leaved form of the last. 
YI. LAMINARIA, Lamour. 
Frond stipitate, coriaceous or membranaceous, flat, ribless, undivided or irregu- 
larly cleft. Fructification, cloud-like patches of spores, imbedded in the thickened 
surface of some part of the leafy expansion. 
The plants commonly known as Oar weed, Tangle, Devil's Apron, Riband-weed, 
Sole-leather-kelp, Sfc. belong to this genus, which is more numerous in species, and 
possessed of a wider geographical range than any other of the Order. With the 
exception of L. Fascia, which is only a few inches long, they are all plants of a large 
size, varying from three to twelve, or twenty feet in length. They commence to 
grow about low-water mark, and descend, beyond that limit, to the depth of five 
to ten fathoms. 
Many are perennial ; the stipe remaining from year to year and the frond falling 
away. The new frond is developed between the apex of the stipe and the base of 
the old frond, and at first appears like a flattening and widening of the apex of the IV. 
LAMINARIA CEiE.—Laminaria. 
91 
stipe. This flattened portion gradually lengthens, assuming the normal form of the 
species, and carries at its apex the old leaf, which is about to be changed. The 
point of cohesion of this leaf becomes less firm, and gradually the now decayed 
lamina falls off, leaving the young frond to crown the stipe in its place. 
1. Laminaeia Fascia, Ag. ; stipe very short, slender, flattened, expanding gradu- 
ally into a membranaceous, broadly oblong, wedge-shaped, lanceolate, or linear 
frond. Haw. Phyc. Brit. t. 45. Lam. Fascia, ccespitosa et Ag. Sp. Alg. 
vol. 1, y>. 129-130. Phyllitis Fascia et debilis, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 566. 
IIab. On rocks and stones, near low-water mark. Fort Hamilton, N. Y. Capt. 
Pike and Mr. Hooper. Halifax, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Boot, a small disc. Stipe as thick as hog’s bristle, half an inch long, filiform at 
base, compressed upwards and gradually widening into the cuneate base of the 
frond. Lamina very variable in form, 2—12 inches long, from a quarter inch to two 
inches broad, sometimes abruptly cuneate at the base, sometimes much attenuated, 
either lanceolate, oblong, or linear, or oblong-ovate ; in some specimens remarkably 
obtuse, in others tapering more or less to the point. Margin waved or flat. 
Colour when growing a clear chestnut brown, changing to greenish olive in drying. 
I can by no means distinguish from one another the three species of Prof. 
Agardh, above referred to this. The form of the frond is most variable, even in 
the same tuft, and the gradations between the several forms so complete, that if you 
examine a sufficient number of specimens not specially selected as typical, there can 
be no difficulty in tracing the narrowest and most cuneate into the widest and most 
ovate. L. Fascia is widely distributed, being found also on the Atlantic and Me- 
diterranean shores of Europe ; and at the Falkland Islands in the Southern Atlantic. 
2. Laminaeia lorea, Bory ; stipes rising from a branching root, flat, winged 
above, dilating into a linear-ensiform, membranaceous, very long frond, entire or 
cleft at the apex. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 130. L. tceniata, Post, and Rupr. 
t. 38, f. (fide Ag.). L. saccharina, var. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 574. 
Hab. Shores of Newfoundland, Despreaux. 
Stipe 3—4 inches long, flat from its origin, dilated above, and winged with a thin- 
ner margin. The wing of the stipe is expanded into the lamina of the frond, the 
stipe itself (or its thickened portion) being continued in furrows through the lower 
part of the lamina. Lamina several feet long, an inch and a half wide, at each end 
much attenuated. J. Ag. 1. c. 
I am not acquainted with this plant, said to be a very distinct species by Agardh, 
from whom I copy the above description. LAMINARIACEiE.—Laminaria. 
92 
IV. 
3. Laminaria dermatodea, Dela Pyl. ; stipes rising from a branching root, terete 
below, compressed or flattened above, dilating into a cuneate-oblong simple frond 
afterwards becoming cordate at base, and palmately cleft from the apex. J. Ag. 
Sp. Alg. 1, p. 131. Phyllitis dermatodea, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 567. 
Hab. On rocks, at and below low-water mark. Newfoundland, Be la Pylceie. 
(v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Stipe 3-4 inclUs long, in the young plant compressed, in the full-grown altogether 
flat, passing into the base .of an oblong or lanceolate frond, which in the young 
plant is entire, but which at last, becoming more dilated and with a more cordate 
base, is cloven into several segments and assumes the habit of L. digitata. 
I have seen only young specimens of this species, and in them the apex is imperfect. 
They were collected by Despreaux and communicated to me by M. Lenormand. 
4. Laminaria saccharina, Lamour. ; stem cylindrical, solid, short, expanding into 
a cartilaginous or submembranaceous, lanceolate or oblong, undivided frond. J. 
Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 132. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 574. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 289. 
Fucus saccharinus, L. E. Bot. t. 1376. Turn. Hist.t. 163. Lam. Lamourouxii? 
Bory, Diet. Cl. Hist. Hat. 9, p. 189- 
Hab. On rocks in the sea, from low-water mark to four or five fathoms. Com- 
mon on rocky shores, from Greenland to New York ; and cast up from deeper 
water on the New Jersey coast. (Its southern limit not ascertained beyond Long- 
branch, N. J.). (v. v.) 
Boot of several branching fibres, forming a conical holdfast. Stem from a few 
inches to a foot or more in length, from a quarter to half an inch in diameter, 
terete, compressed at its upper end, and gradually dilating into the base of the 
terminal, undivided lamina. Lamina very variable in its proportionate length and 
breadth, sometimes linear-lanceolate, sometimes ovato-lanceolate, sometimes elliptical, 
acute or obtuse, or drawn out at the apex into a long caudate prolongation, from 
one to six or ten feet in length, and from one to twelve inches in breadth, flat, or 
very much curled at the margin, and at length over the whole surface ; sometimes 
regularly transversely wrinkled through the middle of the lamina, sometimes irre- 
gularly bullated. Substance in some varieties membranous, in others cartilaginous 
or leathery, or even horny in some. Colour of the leaf when young a greenish 
olive, browner as it grows old. 
Numerous varieties, which perhaps demand future study, occur on the American 
coast. The Laminaria Lamourouxii of Bory, which has been sent me from Boston 
Harbour by Prof. Asa Gray, and of which I also possess an authentic specimen from 
Newfoundland, looks almost like a species, with its thickish, broadly elliptical, 
scarcely waved frond, and its slightly branching root; but I am not sufficiently IV. 
L AMIN API ACEiE.—Laminaria. 
93 
acquainted with it to say whether it has claims to be regarded as anything more 
than a form. Prof. J. Agardh refers it unhesitatingly to L. saccharina, and it must 
be confessed, that if we separate it on the mere characters assigned by M. Bory, we 
must be prepared to admit to specific rank many other forms now referred to 
L. saccharina. 
5. Laminaria longicruris, De laPyl. ; Stipes very long, slender at the base, hollow 
and inflated in the middle, and gradually tapering to the apex ; frond undivided, 
ovato-lanceolate, membranaceous, obtuse. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 135. Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 576. Ham. Phyc. Brit. t. 339- (Tab. VI.) 
Hab. In deep water, from five to ten fathoms (or more?). Very abundant on 
the American shores, from Greenland to Cape Cod. Newfoundland, De la Pylceie. 
Bahama Islands, Chauvin. (v. v.) 
Root of many slender and much branched, clasping fibres, which issue at 
irregular intervals from the lower part of the stipe. Stipe from eight to twelve 
feet in length, very slender at the base, and there solid, gradually widening 
upwards, and soon becoming hollow ; at length, toward the middle, widened to 
upwards of an inch in diameter, and thence tapering to the apex, and terminating 
in the broadly cuneate base of the lamina. Lamina, when full grown, 6 to 8 feet 
in length, and from two to three feet in width, oblong-lanceolate or oval, very much 
waved at the margins, and obtuse at the apex, of a thinner substance than in 
L. saccharina. Colour of the stem yellowish brown, pale ; of the lamina a beauti- 
ful pale greenish olive. 
This noble species, though having much general resemblance to the preceding, 
is at once distinguished from every form of it by the very long, hollow stem, 
tapering to both extremities. It is by far the most abundant species on the 
northern coasts, and gradually diminishes, in the number of individuals, and in the 
size and luxuriance of growth, as it extends southward. In Boston Bay it is still 
plentiful, though of much smaller dimensions than at Halifax, where it is the chief 
ornament of the sub-marine flora. I have seen no specimen from a more southern 
locality than Cape Cod ; but M. Chauvin is said to have received it from the 
Bahamas. In Europe it is scarcely known to grow beyond the limits of the Arctic 
Sea, whence water-worn specimens occasionally reach the coasts of Scotland, and of 
the north of Ireland. 
Plate VI. Fig. 1. A young frond of Laminaria longicruris ; one third of the 
natural size ; jig. 2. part of the hollow stipes of a full grown plant, the natural size. 
6. Laminaria trilaminata, Harv. MSS.—Olney, in Proceedings of Providence 
Franklin Society, vol. 1, p. 39. 94 
LAMINARIACEiE.—Laminaria. 
IV. 
Hab. Floating near Narragansett Pier, R. I. Mr. Olney. (v. s.) 
I introduce this undescribed and scarcely known plant, because it has already 
obtained publicity in Mr. Olney’s list of Rhode Island plants, quoted above ; but I 
am unable to give a satisfactory description from the few fragments that have 
reached me ; and probably, after all, these may belong to some strangely anomalous 
form of L. saccliarina. The fragments sent me by Mr. Olney and Professor Bailey 
are labelled as part of a large Alga resembling L. saccliarina in appearance, but 
having a trilaminate frond ; that is, from the centre of the lamina, along its 
whole (?) length, there projects a wing or additional lamina, making, with the two 
halves of the true leaf, a third lamina. Nothing is known of the stipes. 
7- Laminaria digitata) Lam.; stem robust, woody, terete below, compressed above, 
expanding into a leathery, oblong, or ovate frond, which is deeply cleft into many 
linear segments of irregular breadth. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 134. Harv. Phyc. 
Brit. t. 223, and t. 338. Hafgygia digitata, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 577. Phyc. Gen. 
t. 30, 31. Fucus digitatus, L. Turn. Hist. t. 162. E. Bot. t. 2274. 
Hab. On rocks, at and below low-water mark. Common as far south as Cape 
Cod. Narragansett Pier, R. I., Mr. Olney. (floating only), (v. v.) 
Boot formed of many stout branching holdfasts united together in a conical 
mass. Stipe from two to six feet long, cylindrical below, from a quarter inch to an 
inch in diameter at base, solid, tapering, and becoming compressed upwards, and 
terminating in the base of a standard-like broad lamina. Lamina from one to five 
feet long, or more, from one to three feet wide, deeply cleft from the apex to near 
the base into many linear strap-shaped segments of uncertain .breadth. Substance 
of the stem woody, but flexible, horny when dry ; of the lamina leathery. Colour 
olive, becoming dark in age. 
Possibly more than one species is here confounded. Some varieties, like that 
figured in Phyc. Brit. t. 338, are very narrow, with very much compressed, or even 
flattened stipes, and of a dark blackish-brown colour and glossy surface. Others, 
which I have from Boston Bay, have dried extremely pale, and though I have not 
seen perfect specimens of these, I remember to have noticed on the beach near 
Nahant some forms of pale colour and witli very flat stems, which may belong to 
a peculiar species. The limits of species among these gigantic Algae can rarely be 
determined from Herbarium specimens alone, and should be fixed by persons 
familiar with the plants in their places of growth, and who have watched the 
development of the frond through all its stages. LAMINARIACEiE.—Agarum. 
95 
IV. 
VII. AGARUM, Rory. 
Frond stipitate, coriaceous, flat, pierced in all parts with roundish holes, and tra- 
versed by a cartilaginous midrib which is a prolongation of the stipes. Fructifica- 
tion,, cloudlike patches of spores, imbedded in the thickened surface of some part 
of the perforated expansion. 
A remarkable genus peculiar to the northern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific 
Oceans, on the American and Asiatic shores. The common American species (A. 
Turneri) is well known in the north eastern states as the Sea Colander, a name 
aptly expressive of the perforated frond. The holes in the membrane exist at all 
ages, but increase in size and circularity, as well as in numbers, as the growth 
proceeds. They are at first merely narrow slits, and commence to be formed near 
the midrib, where the active cell-division seems to take place. As in Laminaria, the 
newest portion of the leaf is at the base, where the stipes enters ; and the apex is 
continually worn out and thrown off. The fructification is found on old fronds 
late in the autumn, or early in winter, and forms very dark coloured patches of 
uncertain extent on the pierced membranes, 
1. Agarum Turneri, Post, and Rupr. ; stipes compressed, coriaceous, continued 
as a flattened midrib through the frond ; lamina membranaceous, its nearly circular 
holes with flat margins, and of various sizes intermixed. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, 
p. 141. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 580. Fucus Agarum, Turn. Hist. t. 75. FI. Dan. 1.1542. 
(Tab. V.) 
Hab. On rocks and stones, &c., from low-water mark to a depth of 5—10 fathoms. 
Very abundant on the Eastern Coasts, from Greenland to Cape Cod. North West 
Coast, at least in Russian America, (v. v.) 
Root much branched, formed of many clasping, dichotomous fibres, interwoven 
together. Stipe from one to four lines wide, and from two inches to a foot in height, 
compressed, coriaceous, becoming flattened and sensibly widened where it meets the 
lamina, through which it is then continued as a midrib. The width of this 
midrib varies much in different specimens of the same age ; in some being scarcely 
wider than the stipe, and in others three or four times that width. Lamina oblong, 
at first elliptical, then becoming ovate, and at length deeply cordate at the base, the 
margin at the same time being changed from nearly flat to be very much waved 
and curled, this portion of the frond continuing to be developed after growth has 
nearly ceased within it. The whole lamina is pierced, at short distances, with 
roundish holes, which commence of small size and gradually widen ; these are 
irregularly mixed together, large and small, in all parts of the leaf, the smaller 
holes being of later formation than the larger. The new growth of membrane 
chiefly takes place where the stipe enters at the base, but also for a considerable time 
near the margin of the lower half of the leaf. The substance of the leaf is membra- 96 
LAMINARIACEiE.—Tiialassiophyllum. 
IV. 
naceous, soon drying ; that of the stipe and midrib more coriaceous, or cartilagi- 
nous. The colour is a darkish olive-green, becoming brown in age. The leaves, 
when full grown, are often ten or twelve feet in length, and two or three feet wide. 
Plate V. Fig. 1. A young frond of Agaeum Humeri, the natural size ; jig. 2, 
part of a thin vertical slice, through a sorus and the outer coats of the frond ; jig. 
3, spores, in their perispores, from the sorus ; jig. 4, a spore isolated :—all the latter 
figures more or less highly magnified. 
2. Agaeum pertusum, Mert. ; u stipes compressed, coriaceous, continued as a 
scarcely widened midrib ; lamina membranaceous, its holes when young furnished 
with a margin raised at one side, and formed by openings in the bullated mem- 
brane.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1. p. 142. Kiitz. Sp. Alg.p. 580. Post, and Rupr. t. 23. 
Hab. Newfoundland, De la Pyloeie (fide J. Ag.) 
I am not acquainted with this species, which is said to have the holes much more 
irregular in shape and fewer in number than those of the preceding species ; also 
of more equal size, and smaller, rarely two lines in width ; and that they arise from 
the bursting of a bullated membrane. 
A third species (A. Gmelini Post, and Rupr. p. 11. t. 20, 21J is described from 
the Northern Pacific, characterised chiefly, as it would seem, by having a midrib 
twice as wide as the stipes, and holes with undulated margins ; but I fear these 
characters can hardly be considered as alone sufficient to distinguish a species, for 
I find among a number of specimens picked up on Nahant Beach, great diversity 
in the comparative breadth of the midrib, and form of the holes. In some of my 
specimens, where the leaf measures 26 inches in length, the midrib is but two lines 
wide ; and in others of somewhat inferior superficies, it is at least five lines, the 
stipe being in the same specimens but two lines wide. I find similar variations 
in specimens collected at Halifax, and that it is impossible to fix limits between 
those with narrow, and those with wide stipes. It will remain to be seen whether 
observers on the shore can detect characters, existing at all ages, between those 
specimens with wide midribs and those with narrow. In many that I possess, the 
apex of the frond, both midrib and lamina, is strongly curved or hooked to one 
side, and this seems generally to occur in those with wide ribs. 
VIII. THALASSIOPHYLLUM. Post and Rupr. 
Frond with subdistinct leaves ; the leafy expansions formed by the evolution of 
a lamina, spirally developed round a branching stipe; each leafy-lobe ribless, IV. 
LAMINARIACEiE.—Chorda. 
97 
reniform, undivided, pierced in all parts with roundish holes. Fructification, cloud- 
like patches of spores, imbedded in the thickened surface of some part of the per- 
forated leaf-lobes. 
This genus is very nearly related to the preceding, from which it differs in having 
a branching stipe, round which a perforated lamina, partially divided into definite 
leaves, is spirally coiled. There is but one species yet known, viz:— 
Thalassiophyllum Clathrus, Post, and Rupr. Illustr. t. 18, and t. 19- J. Ag. 
Sp. Alg. 1, p. 139- Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 581. Fucus clathrus, Grev. Hist. Fuc. t. 33. 
Hab. On the shores of Russian America, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
My specimens of this are so imperfect, that I prefer copying the following 
account given by Dr. TI. Mertens of its appearance in a living state :— 
“ The ocean hardly boasts a more beautiful production than this ; it is generally 
about the height of a man, very bushy and branched, each branch bearing a broad 
leaf at its extremity, which unfolds spirally, and by this gradual development pro- 
duces the stipes with its branches and lateral divisions. A spiral border, wound 
round the stipes, indicates the growth of the frond. The frond presents a large, 
convex, bent lamina, without nerves ; or to a certain degree a leaf, of which one 
half is wanting, for the stipes may be considered as an ex centric nerve. A number 
of rather long, narrow perforations, arranged in a radiate form, give the frond the 
appearance of a cut fan ; these foramina being coeval with the formation of the 
frond, and apparently not owing to inequalities of substance. At first, these fora- 
mina, which are situated near the stipes, and where the frond is bent in, are round, 
and have their margins turned outwards ; but by the subsequent growth of the 
frond they become longer, and their margins disappear ; in the middle of the frond 
they are like true clefts, but nearer the margins, from the greater development of 
the leafy substance, they are more contracted in their breadth and therefore seem 
round. The frond has a complete and entire margin, but is frequently torn ; its 
substance is coriaceous. I have never detected any fructification. The root resem- 
bles that of the larger Laminarias, but is more woody. This fucus is very plentiful 
in the bay of Illuluk, and round the whole island of Amaknak. It clothes the rocky 
shore, like a thick hedge, for a space of 60 or 80 feet, forming, at a little distance, 
a very pleasing feature in the scenery.” H. Mert. in Hook. Bot. Misc. 3, p. 5, 6. 
IX. CHORDA, Stack 
Boot scutate. Frond simple, cylindrical, tubular; its cavity divided by transverse 
membranes into separate chambers. Fructification a stratum of obconical spores, 
covering the whole external surface of the frond. 
VOL. ni. ART. 4. LAMINARIACEiE.—Chorda. 
IV. 
1. Chorda filum, Stack. ; frond cartilaginous, lubricous, clothed with pellucid 
hairs, filiform, very long, tapering to each extremity, not constricted at the dissepi- 
ments. Grev. Alg. Brit. t. 7, Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 107. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 548. 
Scytosiplion filum, Ag.—J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 126. 
IIab. On rocks, etc. in the sea, between tide-marks, and extending to 4—10 
fathoms depth, especially in deep, quiet bays. Common on the northern shores, (v. v.) 
Boot a minute disc. Fronds from one to ten, twenty, or even forty feet in length, 
according to depth of water, scarcely twice as thick as hog’s-bristle at the base, 
gradually increasing in thickness to the middle and there from a quarter inch to 
nearly half an inch in diameter, and again gradually diminishing toward the apex, 
which is of equal tenuity with the base. This threadlike frond is cylindrical, hollow, 
divided at short intervals by very thin membranes, into chambers or joints, which 
are not visible externally; it is slimy to the touch, and clothed, at an early stage, 
with very dense, slender, gelatinous filaments, which generally disappear as the plant 
advances to maturity, but may sometimes be found on old plants, especially on 
such as grow in quiet, deep bays where they are little exposed to the action of 
waves. The substance is cartilaginous and firm, and very tough when recent. The 
fructification covers the whole external surface of old plants, and consists of obconical, 
vertical spores, supported on long pedicels, by which they are attached to the outer 
row of cellular tissue. Mixed with these are found numerous, narrow, elliptical, 
transversely striated cells, which may be antheridia. The walls of the tubular 
frond are formed of several rows of hexagonal, elongate cells, placed end to end, 
and forming longitudinal threads, glued together by the sides. Of these the inner 
ones are of large size ; the outer, minute and more densely packed together. 
2. Chorda lomentaria, Lyngb.; frond membranaceous, constricted at distant 
intervals ; the interstices inflated. Lyngb. Hyd. Dan. p. 74, t. IS. Harv. Phyc. 
Brit. t. 285. Chorda filum, £ lomentaria, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 548. Scytosiplion 
lomentarium, J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 126. 
IIab. On rocks and stones, &c. in tide pools. On the eastern coast, from British 
America to Charleston, S. C. (v. v.) 
Boot a small disc. Fronds from eight to twelve or eighteen inches in length, 
tapering at the base to the diameter of horse hair, attenuated upwards, either to a 
bluntish or a very fine point, from two to four lines in diameter at the greatest 
breadth, cylindrical, constricted at irregular intervals and furnished with a trans- 
verse septum at each constriction. The walls of the tube are composed of a thick layer 
of large, polygonal cells, of which the outer ones are gradually smaller; on the outside 
of which, forming the periphery, is a stratum of radiating, close-packed, moniliform IV. 
DICTYOTACEiE. 
99 
filaments. These are only found in their full development on mature specimens. 
Colour a brownish or greenish olive. Substance membranaceous and soft. 
In habit this plant has more resemblance to Asperococcus echinatus than to the 
preceding species, but the structure of the Avails is more in accordance with Chorda. 
I here is also considerable affinity Avith the Antarctic Adenocystis, a little group 
that scarcely differs essentially from Chorda, Avith which Kiitzing unites it. I 
cannot agree so well Avith that author in making C. lomentaria merely a variety of 
C.filum, from which it has latterly been kept separate by most authors, and from 
Avhich it differs in many essential characters. 
Order IV.-DICTYOTACEiE. 
Didyotece, Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 46. J. Ay. Sp. Alg., vol. 1, p. 68. Endl. 3d. Supply 
p. 24. Didyotece, Encoeliece, and part of Chordece and Phycoseridece, Kiitz., PAyc. 
Gen. pp. 337, 336, 333, 296. Dietyotidce, Lindl. Veg. Kingd p. 22. 
Diagnosis. Olive-coloured, inarticulate seaweeds, whose spores are superficial, 
and disposed in definite spots or lines (sori). (Frondose, or rarely filiform plants of 
small or mediocre size, and membranaceous texture ; their surface reticulated with large 
cells.) 
Natural Character. Poo£ usually a minute membranous disc or holdfast ; 
sometimes a conical fleshy mass of large size, densely clothed with curled, wool-like 
jointed hairs. Fronds of an olive-green or olive-brown colour, mostly becoming 
paler on exposure to the air ; of a membranaceous, flexible substance, rarely lea- 
thery or cartilaginous, and scarcely at all juicy : composed of two or more strata 
of cells, of which the inner ones are largest, usually empty, and either quadrate or 
appear so in profile. These large cells, seen through the smaller superficial and 
coloured cells which form the actual coating of the frond, give to its surface, when 
examined under a lens of moderate power, a netted appearance which is highly 
characteristic, and has suggested the name by which the Order is distinguished. 
In some, these internal cells form a regular honey-combed tissue of twelve-sided 
cells ; but in others they are cylindrical, arranged in longitudinal series or filaments 
which, however, cohere closely throughout their length, forming a membrane, and 
are not separable without laceration. 
In external habit the plants of this Order exhibit considerable variety. In some 
of the humblest, the frond is an unbranched thread formed of numerous cells 
concentrically disposed round an imperfectly hollow axis. Then we have bag-like, 
simple fronds, as in Asperococcus, formed as it were by the inflation of such a 100 
DICTYOTACEiE. 
IV. 
thread, accompanied by tlie expansion of the walls into thin membranes. Next, in 
Punctaria, the bag becomes flattened into a nerveless leaf. In higher groups the 
tubular or flattened frond is divided into a branching stem, which, however, does not 
develope any separate leafy organs. In one case (Haliseris) this stem is winged 
throughout with membrane, or may be described as a midribbed branching frond. 
Among the most highly developed genera (Zonaria and Padina) the frond shows a 
tendency to assume a fan-shaped outline, having a definite, subcircular margin at 
the summit, and gradually widening from the base upwards. Such fronds are 
usually marked at regular intervals with concentric lines, and are formed of longi- 
tudinal rows of cells collaterally united in membranes ; the rows diverging as they 
grow, and new rows of cells being introduced in the interspaces. In many, and 
perhaps in all, the growing frond is clothed with exceedingly slender, jointed, and 
often colourless hairs, which sometimes, whilst expanded under water, decompose 
the rays of light, and cause the frond to display brilliant prismatic colours. These 
hairs are prolongations of the surface-cells, or issue from their sides, and are 
probably organs of the same kind as the pencilled fibres already noticed in the 
Sporochnacece. 
The fructification exhibits considerable diversity of aspect in the various genera, 
but the characters are of minor value, chiefly relating to the form and position of 
the masses of fruit. In all, the spores are developed externally, either being formed 
from the surface-cells, which, when fertilized, stand out prominently from the 
ordinary cells ; or from those cells immediately beneath the epidermis, in which 
case the spore-cell bursts through the external coat, carrying it outwards as a 
separated membrane. Usually each perispore contains but a single sporular mass, 
but in Padina, four spores are found at maturity in each perispore ; and in 
Cutleria, eight spores. In some genera the spores are scattered singly over the sur- 
face of the frond ; but in by far the greater number they are collected into definite 
spots, or sori, which are round, oblong, or linear, and are either dispersed irregularly 
over the whole surface, or confined to a certain part of it ; or else ranged in 
transverse, horizontal, or concentric bands. In some, both scattered and aggregated 
spores are found on the same individual, or on different individuals of the same 
species. In such cases, the scattered spores are usually of larger size and paler 
colour than the aggregated ones, and their contents appear to be different. They 
have sometimes been supposed to be antheridia, but have not, as yet, been examined 
with sufficient care. The spores in most cases are accompanied by barren, jointed 
hairs, or paranemata, which appear to be formed from the same parts as the fertile 
spores, but to have developed into numerous cells. In Stilophora these paranemata 
compose the greater part of the warts of fructification. In some of the more 
perfect forms, as in Cutleria and Padina, antheridia have been noticed ; these are 
sometimes found on the same individuals as the spores, and sometimes on different 
individuals. 
This Order is of decidedly rare occurrence on the American coast, and scarcely 
attracts much notice, from the amount of individuals representing the species, IV. 
DICT Y OTACEiE. 
101 
until we proceed as far south as Florida, where, on the Keys, several kinds occur in 
such abundance as to be conspicuous among the ordinary shore plants. This 
increase in numbers to the southward is characteristic of the Dictyotace® in general. 
Very few are found in high latitudes, and they gradually become more numerous, 
and of higher type of structure, the nearer we approach the torrid zone. Those 
which occur in temperate waters show their propensity for warmth by growing in 
shallow tide-pools near high-water mark, where they can enjoy a warm bath for 
many hours of a summer’s day. Thus Fadina Pavonia, which, on the American 
shore, is not found farther north than the Florida Keys, in lat. 25°, where it inhabits 
a region extending below low-water mark, reaches the latitude of 51° on the south 
coast of England, its farthest observed northern limit ; but there it is found only in 
warm pools near high-water mark, and in sheltered situations. This plant has a 
very wide distribution, being a native of all the warmer parts of the Atlantic, 
Pacific, and Indian Oceans, as well as one of the most abundant shore-plants in the 
Mediterranean. It is possible that more than one species may be confounded under 
this name, but no satisfactory diagnostic characters have yet been pointed out. 
Dictyota dichotoma is equally cosmopolitan, and has been noticed in the cold waters 
of the Antarctic Ocean, as well as on the shores of New Zealand, the Cape of Good 
Hope, and on the western coast of South America. Of the genus Haliseris, which 
is scarcely represented on the North American coasts, ten species are known, all of 
them tropical or sub-tropical j although one (H. polypodioides) extends far to the 
north, and has been traced from the Canary Islands (lat. 28°) along the Atlantic 
shores of Europe, as far as lat. 53° 45' on the west of Ireland : and if the Tasmanian 
specimens and those reported from the Brazilian shores really belong to the same 
species, it has a nearly equal dispersion in the Southern Ocean. 
None of the Dictyotace® are used in the arts. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
* Frond flat, dichotomous, traversed by a midrib. 
I. Haliseris. 
** Frond flat, without midrib. 
f Frond fan-shaped, vertically cleft. 
II. Padina. Sori linear, concentric, bursting through the epidermis. 
III. Zonaria. Sori roundish, scattered. 
IT. Taonia. Sori linear, concentric, superficial, alternating with scattered solitary- 
spores. DICTYOTACE2E.—PIaliseris. 
102 
IV. 
tt Frond linear, dichotomous. 
V. Dictyota. 
ff Frond undivided. 
VIII. Punctaria. 
IX. Soranthera, Post, and Rupr. (I do not see how this differs from Punctaria.) 
*** Frond cylindrical, or bag-like. 
f Branched. 
VI. Stilophora. Seri wart-like, composed of spores and moniliform threads. 
VII. Dictyo siphon. Spores either solitary and scattered, or collected into dot-like 
sori. 
tt XJnbranched, bag like. 
X. Asperococcus. 
* * * * Frond pierced with round holes, lacedike. 
XI. Hydroclatiirus. 
1. HALISERIS. Tozzetti. 
Root coated with woolly hairs. Frond flat, linear, membranaceous, traversed by 
a cartilaginous midrib. Spores collected in naked sori, disposed in longitudinal 
lines at either side of the midrib, and rising from both surfaces of the membra- 
nous frond. Paranemata forming groups separate from the sporiferous sori. 
This is the only genus in the Order in which the frond is traversed by a midrib ; 
and one species (H’. Areschougia, J. Ag.) is described as being nerveless. In most 
species the membranous border of the frond tears with ease in an oblique direction 
toward the midrib ; so that it is rare to find specimens of full size in which the 
lower part of the fronds is not much jagged. The margin is either entire, or 
minutely denticulate, and is sometimes thicker than the rest of the membrane. In 
two species the midrib throws off lateral secondary nerves which traverse the 
frond toward the margin, ascending obliquely. Of the ten species known, four are 
American, four South African, one Australian and Indian, and one a native of the 
tropical and temperate regions of the Eastern Hemisphere. The name, derived 
aks and aepis, is spelled Halyseris by Agardh, &c. DICTYOTACEiE.—Padina. 
IV. 
103 
1. IIaliseris delicatula, Lamour. ; frond delicately membranaceous, winged from 
the base, dichotomous ; with very patent linear segments and rounded angles ; 
the margin very entire, somewhat thickened. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 116. Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 562. (Tab. VII. A.) 
Hab. On the shores of Mexico, J. Agardh. (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Fronds densely tufted, three or four inches long, and from one to two lines in 
breadth, thrice or four times forked, the forkings an inch or more apart, widely 
spreading or divaricate, and somewhat flexuous. Segments linear, obtuse, with an 
entire, slightly thickened margin, distinctly marked by a depressed line, and formed 
of smaller and more vertical cells than the interior portion of the membrane. 
Sori minute, oblong, forming a line at each side of the midrib. Substance very 
thin and delicate, composed of oblong cells, ranged in series proceeding obliquely 
from the midrib to the margin. Colour very pale, greenish-olive. I have not seen 
Mexican specimens, and have taken this description and prepared the figure given 
from specimens collected at Pernambuco, and presented by Dr. Areschoug, to the 
Herbarium of the University of Dublin. 
Plate VII. A. Fig. 1. Plant of Haliseris delicatula; the natural size; fig. 2, 
a segment, slightly magnified ; fig. 3, a small portion of the same, with a sorus ; 
fig. 4, spores : both more or less highly magnified. 
II. PADINA. Adans. 
Boot coated with woolly hairs. Frond flat, ribless, fan-shaped, marked at regular 
distances with concentric lines, and fringed with articulated hairs ; the apex invo- 
lute. Fructification, linear, concentric sori, formed beneath the cuticle of the upper 
surface of the frond, and bursting through it; and containing at maturity, numer- 
ous obovate, hyaline perispores fixed by their bases, each perispore enclosing four 
spores. Paranemata club-shaped, articulate, disposed in concentric lines alternating 
between the sori. 
Four species of this genus are retained by Agardh, who admits the difficulty of 
distinguishing them by exact characters. All have very similar fronds, all inhabit the 
warmer parts of the sea, and P. Pavonia at least is subject, even in the same locality, 
to variations almost as great as those which have been fixed on by authors, as 
characteristics of the several supposed species. But if there be a difficulty in 
distinguishing these plants, supposing them to be really different in specific charac- 
ter one from another, there is none in recognising our common species among all 104 
DICTYOTACEiE.—Padina. 
IY. 
other Algce ; for its form and substance are strikingly peculiar. Its fan-like shape, 
and its property of reflecting prismatic colours whilst growing under water, have 
won it the popular name of Peacock’s-tail. 
1. Padina Pavonia, Lamour. ; frond between membranaceous and coriaceous, 
broadly fan-shaped, entire or deeply and variously cleft, each lacinia being then 
fan-shaped, powdery on its outer surface ; concentric lines numerous. Harv. Phyc. 
Brit. t. 91. J- Ay. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 113. Zonaria Pavonia, Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. t. 22. 
f 1. Sp. Alg. p. 565. Ulva Pavonia, Linn. E. Bot. t. 1276. (Tab. VII. B.) 
Hab. On stones, &c. about low-water mark. Annual. Spring and early summer. 
Abundant on some of the Keys at Florida, as at Sand Key in February, W. II. II. 
Later in the season it appears at Key West, Dr. Blodgett, &c. Conch Key, Prof. M, 
Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Boot densely coated and cushioned with woolly hairs. Fronds tufted, from two 
to five or six inches in height, cuneate at the base, rapidly expanding into a broadly 
fan-shaped lamina, whose upper margin forms constantly a circular arc. This 
lamina, which is at first simple, is at length, as the plant advances in growth, 
cloven into numerous lobes, by splits arising in some point of the margin and 
proceeding downward toward the base : each lobe, at first cuneate, soon becomes, 
by the rapid lateral development of its arched margin, fan-shaped like the primary 
frond. The whole fronds of young plants, and the several lacinise of older, are, 
when the plant is growing, rolled up in little conical or funnel-shaped cups. At 
distances of one or two lines, the frond is marked with concentric bands, more or 
less evident, according to age, along each of which is developed a fringe of 
extremely slender, orange coloured, jointed hairs. These hairs, which in young 
plants are found on every band, are limited on older specimens to the last formed 
bands, and at length disappear. The margin at the summit of the frond is always 
strongly rolled inwards ; the outer or lower surface of the lamina is whitened with a 
variable quantity of chalky powder ; the inner surface, except for the fringes of hairs, 
is smooth, olive-coloured, greenish towards the summit. The sori of fructification 
form concentric bands, alternating between the fringed bands. They are at first 
concealed beneath the surface-cells, but burst through in lines, raising the membra- 
nous skin of the frond, which then folds over them like the indusium of a fern. 
At maturity, the sorus consists of numerous obovate, hyaline perispores, fixed to a 
linear receptacle, each containing four sporules. Paranemata, club-shaped, articu- 
lated filaments, are found also in concentric bands, parallel to those which produce 
spores, and placed at short distances from them. 
Plate VII. B. Fig. 1. Plant of Padina Pavonia ; the natural size ; fig. 2, part 
of the surface, showing portions of the band-like sori of spores, and of paranemata 
respectively ; fig. 3, vertical section of the frond, showing spores in situ ; fig. 4, IV. 
DICTYOTACEiE.—Zonaeia. 
105 
spores, each containing four sporules in the perispore ; fig. 5, section through one 
of the concentric bands of paranemata ; fig. 6, paranemata : the latter figures 
more or less highly magnified. 
III. ZONAEIA, Ag. 
Boot coated with woolly hairs. Frond flat, ribless, coriaceo-membranaceous, 
flabelliform, entire or vertically cleft, the segments radiating ; the surface cellules 
disposed in distinct longitudinal lines flabellately radiating from the base. Con- 
centric lines indistinct. Fructification roundish or linear sori, formed beneath the 
cuticle of the frond, and bursting through at either surface ; and composed at 
maturity, of spores furnished with hyaline perispores, and of paranemata which are 
mixed with the perispores. Paranemata club-shaped, articulated, numerous. 
In the more or less fan-shaped frond this genus approaches Padina, but differs in 
the more opaque substance, only obscurely marked with concentric zones ; and in 
the fructification, which is not disposed in regular, concentric lines. Here, too, 
the spores and paranemata occupy the same sorus, while in Padina they are sepa- 
rated. Under a pocket lens the surface appears to be finely striated longitudinally 
an appearance caused by the disposition of the superficial cellules, which are ranged 
in lines proceeding from the base, slightly diverging one from another, and admit- 
ting the introduction of new series of cells between each original row, as the frond 
advances in growth. From this peculiarity results the fan-like form of the mature 
frond. 
Ten or twelve species of this genus, from various parts"of the world, are known 
to botanists. All are natives of the warmer parts of the sea, with the exception of 
Z. parvula, which by some authors is rejected from the genus. 
1. Zonaeia lobata, Ag. ; frond erect, coated with woolly hairs at the base only, 
membranaceo-coriaceous, broadly flabelliform, at first with a nearly entire margin, 
then palmately cloven, or divided nearly to the base ; laciniae eventually elongate, 
wedge-shaped, simple or again divided, concentrically zoned ; sori linear, formed 
along the concentric lines. J. Aq. Sp. Alq. vol. 1, p. 109. Stypopodium fuliqinosum, 
Kite. Sp. Alg.p. 663. (Tab. YII. C.) 
FIab. On stones about low-water mark. Annual ? Keys of Florida : abundant 
at Sand Key in February ; and sparingly, at the same season, at Key West, W. H. H. 
Sand Key, Prof. M. Tuomey. (v. v.). 
YOL. m. AET. 4. DICT Y OTACEiE.—Zonaria. 
IV. 
Boot clothed with entangled and curled woolly hairs, which extend a short way 
from the base, covering from half an inch to an inch square of the lower part of 
the frond. The frond, which eventually becomes a foot or more in length and 
divided nearly to the base into many narrow lobes, originates in a sessile or nearly 
sessile, broadly reniform, membranaceo-coriaceous lamina. This lamina has at 
first a circumscribed margin, forming a somewhat cycloidal curve, and is nearly 
undivided. When it attains an inch or two in height, vertical slits, commencing 
in the margin, extend downwards, dividing it in a pedate or palmate manner, into a 
great number of narrow, wedge-shaped laciniaa, placed side by side in digitate order. 
These, as they grow, become fiabellate above, from the divergence of the rows of 
cells of which they are composed, and are again cleft and re-cleft, until often the 
originally reniform leaf becomes a bunch of narrow ribbons growing from a central 
point. In all these changes the apical margin remains truncate, and circumscribed 
by a curved line. It is perfectly flat, not inrolled. Radiating striae, or inequalities 
in texture, proceeding from the base upwards towards each lobe, are more or less 
obvious in various specimens ; and faint concentric lines, paler than the rest of the 
frond, are seen here and there crossing the lobes, at distances of a quarter to half 
an inch. These are more evident on older and more divided specimens, though 
they occur on the upper or newer portions of their fronds. The radiating longitu- 
dinal bands or striae are sometimes very faint, and sometimes strongly marked. I 
have not seen fructification on any specimen collected at Sand Key.* The colour 
when growing is a dark olive, reflecting prismatic colours, chiefly vivid greens and 
blues, from the striated surface. In fresh water a good deal of dark colouring 
matter is given out ; yet in drying the frond becomes exceedingly dark. In this 
state it adheres, but not very strongly, to paper, and shrinks very considerably. 
Not having seen authentically named specimens of Zonaria variegata, Ag., it 
would be rash to say that that species may be only an undeveloped or small state of 
the present. Some of my Sand Key specimens are so remarkably striated, or 
marked with darker and paler longitudinal bands, and others so obscurely banded, 
and there are such insensible gradations between the banded and unbanded 
individuals, that I fear a character derived from these bands will not stand good. 
If Z. variegata, then, be distinguishable from our Z. lobata, it will probably be by a 
character taken from the different form of the sori, which are said to be u elliptical 
and scattered” in that species. 
Plate VII. C. Fig. 1, plant of Zonaria lobata ; the natural size : fig. 2, small 
portion of the summit of a segment, magnified, to show the surface cellules. 
* The son, on West Indian specimens, form dark lines at both sides of the pale, concentric band; 
but, besides these linear sori, others of irregular form are scattered between the bands. IV. 
HICTYOTACEiE.—Taonia. 
IV. TAONIA, J. Ag. 
Boot coated with woolly hairs. Frond flat, ribless, vaguely cleft, reticulated ; the 
surface-cellules equally distant, in the apices of the laciniae in parallel or subdiver- 
gent series. Concentric lines more or less evident. Fructification : linear, wavy, 
concentric, superficial son., on both surfaces of the frond, destitute of indusium, and 
consisting of spores, furnished with hyaline perispores, and unaccompanied by 
paranemata. 
This genus is formed for the reception of the old TJlva atomaria, Good, and 
Woodw., which has been variously referred to Zonaria, Dictyota, and Padina. To 
this typical species, whose character is chiefly embodied in the above generic 
diagnosis, Prof. Agardh has added, doubtfully, two other species, one of which falls 
within our limits. Perhaps it would have been better to have retained Kiitzing’s 
genus, Spatoglossum, for these two, whose relation to T. Atomaria is rather doubtful. 
1. Taonia? Scliroederi, J. Ag. ; frond decompoundly cleft, irregularly dichoto- 
mous ; laciniae broadly linear, toothed above, and bordered with marginal processes 
or lobules; “antheridia? scattered over the whole surface,” (fructification unknown). 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 102. Dictyota Scliroederi, K'utz. Sp.Alg.p. 566. Aresch. 
Ic. t. 9- TJlva Scliroederi, Mart. FI. Braz. p. 21, Ic. Select. 1, t. 2, /. 3. 
Hab. At Yera Cruz, Mexico, Liebman! (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Frond rising from a shaggy base, ten to twelve inches in length, somewhat fan. 
shaped in the general outline of its laciniae, irregularly dichotomous ; the principal 
laciniae from half to three-quarters inch in breadth, the upper ones gradually 
narrower. In the lower part of the principal laciniae the margin is either entire 
or obscurely denticulate ; in the upper half it is either strongly toothed, or the 
teeth lengthen out into linear or subulate, simple or slightly compound lobules. 
Sometimes the margin is flat, sometimes undulated or even curled. The apices are 
often irregularly jagged. The sinuses between the laciniae are rounded, and the 
laciniae themselves diverge at wide angles. The substance is thin and mem- 
branous, shrinking much in drying ; and the colour is a brownish or a greenish 
olive. No fructification has yet been observed, but the frond is commonly dotted 
over with minute, dark, prominent cells, which Agardh supposes may contain 
antheridia. 108 
DICT Y OT AC EiE.—Dictyota. 
IV. 
Y. DICTYOTA. Lamour. 
Boot coated with woolly hairs. Frond flat, ribless, membranaceous, dichotomous 
or sub-pinnatifid, reticulated ; the surface cellules minute, equidistant, converging 
at the ends of the laciniae and ending in a single cellule. Concentric lines none. 
Fructification ; roundish, scattered sori, bursting through the cuticle of both 
surfaces of the frond, consisting at maturity of numerous obovate, tufted spores, 
with hyaline perispores. Paranemata in sori distinct from those containing spores, 
clavate, articulate, filled with grumous matter. 
This genus, as recently reformed by Prof. J. Agardh, is easily known from any 
of the preceding by the mode of development of the frond, each of whose laciniae is 
seen to terminate in a single cellule, by the constant division of which at its lower 
side the other cells of the frond are formed, the terminal cell being thus continually 
pushed onwards. From this mode of growth it results that the longitudinal lines 
of superficial cells, which in the flabellate genera already described diverge from 
one another, in this converge: thus affording a ready method of ascertaining the 
genus in default of fructification. 
1. Dictyota Fasciola, Lamour. (?) ; fronds densely tufted, very narrow, mem- 
branaceous, linear, many times dichotomous ; axils obtuse ; laciniae patent, very 
entire ; apices acute ; sori forming a medial line, and often accompanied by filiform 
processes. J. Ag. Sp.Alg. 1, p. 89- Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 555. Both. Cat. Bot. vol. 
1, p. 7, /• 1. Esp. Fuc. t. 44. (?). (Tab. YIII. B.) 
Hab. On rocks and stones, and corals near low-water mark. Annual. Abun- 
dant on the Florida Keys. Key West, Feb., W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Fronds forming large and dense tufts, matted together at the base, six to ten 
inches in length, scarcely a line in breadth, of nearly equal breadth from the base 
to the apex, many times dichotomous. The axils are conspicuously rounded and 
the laciniae thus diverge one from another, particularly the upper ones. Some- 
times the forking proceeds with equal arms throughout the tuft, and then the 
plant forms round, fastigiate masses, the individual fronds not having any leading 
stem. In other specimens one arm of the fork, at alternate sides of the growing 
branch, is constantly shorter than the other ; thus a frond with leading stems, 
bordered with short, simple or forked laciniae, is formed. The substance of the 
frond is membranaceous, thickish and subopaque below ; the surface cells are about 
four times as long as broad ; and the largish, hexagonal cells of the interior of 
the frond may be seen through the exterior cells in the younger parts at least. 
The apices are more or less acute, but not acuminate. The sori are disposed in a 
line through the centre of the lamina. Those formed of paranemata are most iv. 
DICTYOTACEiE.—Dictyota. 
abundant in my specimens, between which scattered spores are often found. In 
very many specimens the position of the sori is occupi jd by a line of proliferous 
papillte or cilia of greater or less length. 
I have some doubts w ether I am correct in referring the F’orida plant to 
D. Fasciola, Lam., to which, if it be different, it approaches very closely. I have 
compared it with Mediterranean specimens, but not with very well preserved or 
sufficiently developed ones ; and the agreement in most respects is very great. But 
there is considerable difference in aspect among the Key West specimens, so much 
that at first I referred them to two species, in one of which the frond is fastigiate, 
and regularly dichotomous ; in the other, having more virgate branches, pinnatifido- 
dichotomous. On comparison of a great number of specimens, I do not find this 
difference in branching sufficiently constant. The figures of Roth and Esper, 
quoted above, are very rude. The present species is what was formerly doubtfully 
referred, on my authority, to D. linearis, Ag., and published by Prof. J. W. 
Bailey, as such, in his list of North American Algte. 
Plate YIII. B. Fig. 1, Plant of Dictyota Fasciola ; the natural size ; jig. 2, 
portion of a segment, with spores, and tufts of antheridia; jig. 3, portion of a 
similar segment with papilke ; both magnified ; jig. 4, small portion of a segment, 
with scattered spores and tufts of paranemata ; showing also the surface cellules, 
and the lines defining the large internal cells ; highly magnified. 
2. Dictyota dichotoma, Lamour.; frond repeatedly dichotomous, broadly-linear, 
(1—4 lines broad) membranaceous ; the axils narrow and subacute ; lacinise erecto- 
patent, gradually narrower towards the extremities ; the margin entire ; the apices 
obtuse or emarginato-crenate ; sori and scattered spores dispersed over the medial 
region of the segments, leaving an unoccupied space within each margin. J. Ag. 
Sp. Alg. vol. I, p. 92. llarv. Fhyc. Brit. t. 103. Ulva dichotoma, Huds.—E. Bot. 
t. 774. Dictyota vulgaris, and D. dichotoma, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 553, 554. Dicho- 
phyllum, Kiitz. Fhyc. Gen. p. 337. 
Hab. On stones and sea plants in tide pools. Rare. At Charleston, growing 
on old submerged wood-work at Sullivan’s Island, Prof. Lewis R. Gihhes, Key West, 
W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Fronds tufted, but not very densely clustered, from three to six inches long or 
more, varying much in breadth ; ordinarily three or four lines in breadth, but 
sometimes much narrower and occasionally wider, several times dichotomous ; the 
segments at each successive forking becoming narrower. In some varieties, the ulti- 
mate segments are very narrow and constantly spirally twisted ; in the ordinary 
forms they are flat, and not much narrower than the lower ones. The axils are 
narrower than in the preceding species and the segments less widely spreading ; 
and the apices are decidedly obtuse. The substance is thin and membranous, semi- 110 
DICTYOTACEA.—Dictyota. 
IV. 
transparent, and the areolations visible with a moderately powerful pocket lens ; 
they vary in shape and in size in different parts of the membrane, and I fear scarcely 
afford a satisfactory specific character. I have not seen fruit on American specimens. 
On the European plant two sorts of fruit have been noticed, on different individuals : 
first, oval clusters of spores, covered at first by a common vesicular membrane ; each 
spore when ripe containing four sporules in a hyaline perispore ; second, solitary, 
roundish, simple spores scattered over the surface. The colour is olivaceous, some- 
times greenish and sometimes brownish. 
3. Dictyota ciliata, J. Ag.; frond woolly at the base, repeatedly dichotomous, 
broadly linear, membranaceous ; the axils rounded ; laciniae patent, linear, gradually 
narrower towards the extremities ; the margin ciliate, with distant, awl-shaped, 
slender teeth ; the apices obtuse ; spores forming minute sori scattered over the 
middle region of the lamina, leaving an unoccupied space within each margin. 
J. Ag. Symb. 1. p. 5. Sp. Alg. vol. 1. p. 93. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 556. (Tab. VIII. A.) 
Hab. On Algae and corals near low-water mark. Florida Keys, abundant at Key 
West, Dr. Wurdemann, Dr. Blodgett, W. H. //., Sfc. (v. v.). 
Root and lower part of the frond coated with curled, woolly hairs. Fronds densely 
tufted, six to eight or ten inches in length, from an eighth to a quarter-inch in 
breadth, many times dichotomous ; the laciniae gradually narrower in the upper 
dichotomies, ciliated at intervals of a few lines with slender, subulate, tooth-like 
processes. These are more abundant in some specimens than in others. The axils 
are rounded ; the lower ones spread widely and the upper are gradually narrower. 
The apices are subacute, or blunted. The sori consist of a few spores, irregularly 
grouped together, and scattered over three-fourths of the surface of the laciniae, 
leaving a narrow unoccupied portion down each margin. Sometimes the frond is 
pitted, (as shown at fig. 4,) the pits apparently caused by the falling off of the 
sori, carrying with them the surface cells. The colour is a clear brown olive, 
greener toward the tops; and the substance is membranaceous, shrinking in drying. 
Readily known, in most cases, by the ciliate margins ; but sometimes nearly 
in which case it may be mistaken for D. dichotoma. 
Plate VIII. A. Fig. 1. Plant of Dictyota ciliata; the natural size fig. 2, 
part of a segment, with sori, and fig. 3, part of a segment from which the spores 
have fallen, leaving pits ; both magnified ; fig. 4, small portion of the surface, with 
sorus, showing the small surface cellules, and the lines defining the large internal 
cells : highly magnified. 
4. Dictyota Bartayresiana, Larnour. ; frond scarcely woolly at the base, repeat- 
edly dichotomous, linear, coriaceo-membranaceous, very entire ; the axils rounded ; IV. 
DICTYOTACEfiE.—Dictyota. 
laciniae spreading, especially the upper ones ; apices divaricate, tlie younger ones 
sharply bifid, each lobe acuminate ; spores forming minute sori scattered over the 
whole surface of the lamina.—J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 94. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 554. 
(Tab. VIII. C.) 
IIab. Tropical. Coast of Mexico, at Vera Cruz, Liebman! (v. s. in Herb. 
T.C.D.). 
Frond three or four inches long, one or two lines in diameter, of nearly equal 
breadth throughout, many times dichotomously divided, with rounded axils and 
spreading segments. The uppermost divisions are more or less divaricated. The 
margin is entire and flat. The young apices are sharply notched or bifid ; each 
notch deltoid-acuminate, ending in a sharp point. The sori are minute and 
densely dotted over the whole surface. In our specimen they have fallen away, 
leaving cavities in their place. The substance of the frond is thickish, somewhat 
coriaceous, and the structure is denser than in some other species. The surface 
cellules are minute ; the areolations beneath them not much longer than their 
breadth. In drying, this plant does not adhere to paper. Known by its sharply 
bifid apices from any state of D. fasciola or D. dichotoma. Distinguished from 
D. acutiloba by the widely scattered fructification. 
Plate VIII. C. Fig. 1, Plant of Dictyota Bartayresiana ; the natural size ; fg. 
2, apex of a segment, magnified ; fig. 3, extremity of the same, with depressions from 
which sori have fallen, and showing the surface cellules and internal cells ; highly 
magnified. 
5. Dictyota crenulata, J. Ag. ; frond woolly at the base, repeatedly dichotomous, 
coriaceo-membranaceous, with patent, but not very blunt axils ; laciniie linear, 
undulate; the margin eroso-dentate, the toothlets close together and of unequal 
size ; apices very blunt, lingulate ; sori at length occupying the whole surface. 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 94. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 558. 
IIab. Tropical. At St. Augustin, on the Pacific coast of the Mexican Republic, 
Liebman ! (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.). 
Fronds tufted, 2—4 inches high, about one and half or two lines in breadth, gra- 
dually wider from the base upwards, many times closely dichotomous ; the segments 
spreading, the whole frond having a fan-like outline. The sinuses betwen the laciniae 
are rounded, though not conspicuously so, and the upper ones are rather narrow. The 
margin is undulated, and closely eroso-denticulate, or jagged with unequal, deltoid, or 
subulate, tooth-like processes. The apices are rather wider than the portions below 
them, and so blunt as to be almost truncate. The young ones are obtusely emar- 
ginate. The sori are small, at first forming patches here and there, but eventually 112 
DICTYOTACEiE Stilophora. 
IV. 
occupying the whole superficies. The dentation of the margin is of the same 
nature as that of D. ciliata, but the teeth are very much closer and more irregular 
in for a than in that species. 
YI. STILOPHORA. J. Ag. 
Root a small, naked dis \ Frond cylindrical, branched, solid, or imperfectly 
tubular ; composed of two strata of cells, the inner stratum of many rows of 
colourless cells, of which those nearest the centre become ruptured in age, leaving 
a cavity traversing the frond ; the outer stratum o one or two rows of minute, 
coloured cells. Fructification, convex, wart-like sori, scattered over he branches, 
composed of obovate spores, nestling among moniliforin, simple, densely packed 
paranemata. 
The frond is described by Agardh as being at first tubular, but gradually 
becoming soli l w th advanc ng age. The contrary of this structure has always 
appeared to me to be the case, the older parts being more empty than the 
younger. 
1. Stilophora rhizodes, J. Ag. ; frond subsolid, much and irregularly branched, 
subdichotomous ; the apice * scarcely attenuate, acute ; ramuli scattered, forked ; 
sori densely covering the branches and ramuli. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 85. 
Harv. Pliyc. Brit. t. TO. Spermatochnus rhizodes, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 549. (Tab. 
IX. B. . 
Hab. Near low-water mark, on other Algae in tide pools. Bare. Newhaven, 
Dr. Durhee. Greenport, Long Island, W. II. H. Oyster Bay, N. Y. Mr. Walters. 
(v. v.) 
Frond, in the American specimens, from four to five inches long, as thick as hog’s 
bristle, much branched, irregularly dichotomous, with rounded axils. Branches 
flexuous, variously divided, furnished with a few latera ramuli hich are either 
simple or forked above their middle. The apices are acute, but not much tapered. 
The whole frond, in fertile specimens, is densely covered with the prominent, wart- 
like fructification ; each wart composed of a great many moniliforin vertical fila- 
ments, packed together. Among these the obovate spores are found lying, being 
attached to the bases of the filaments. The colo i is a greenish olive ; and the 
substance cartilaginous and elastic when fresh, ut soon beco ing oft and gelatin- 
ous, and in drying the branches shrink considerably and adhere strongly to paper. IV. 
PICT Y OTACEiE.—Dictyosiphon. 
113 
Plate IX. B. Fig. 1. Frond of Stilophora rhizodes, the natural size ; fig. 2, a 
small portion of a branch, with its wart-like sori, magnified; fig. 3, section of a 
sorus, and of a portion of the frond ; fig. 4, a spore and paranema ; the latter 
figures highly magnified. 
2. Stilophorapapillosa, J. Ag. (?); frond cylindrical, many times dichotomous, 
with very patent angles and divaricating, attenuated apices ; the dichotomous 
branches and their lesser divisions clothed with very many slender horizontal, hair- 
like ramuli. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. l,p. 84. (?) 
Hab. Chesapeake Bay, Prof. J. W. Bailey, (v. s.). 
I am not satisfied that the plant from the Chesapeake, which I introduce more on 
my friend Prof. Bailey’s authority than my own, is the same as the Mediterranean 
species described by Agardh; nor, indeed, am I quite certain that it belongs to 
this genus. I have examined one of the original specimens, presented to me by 
Prof. Bailey, and had intended figuring it, but have not been able to make out the 
microscopical characters to my satisfaction. The above specific diagnosis applies 
very well to the specimen. But Meneghini’s figure, {Alg. Ital. t. 3, /. 2,) quoted 
by Agardh for his species, is very unlike our plant. I have seen no authentic example 
of the Mediterranean S. papillosa, and thus am unable fully to decide on the 
identity of the American ; and, in this uncertainty, think it better to place the 
species on record, in the hope that future observation may clear the subject in one 
way or other. My specimen is about four inches square in the spread of the 
branches, and it scarcely adheres to the paper on which it has been dried. 
VII. DICTYOSIPHON. Grev. 
Root a small, naked disc. Frond filiform, tubular, much branched ; its walls 
composed of several rows of cells, of which the inner are elongated, and connected 
into longitudinal filamentous series ; the outer or superficial small, coloured, poly- 
gonal, forming a membrane. Fructification : solitary or aggregated, naked spores, 
scattered irregularly over the surface. 
When young the frond is solid, but the cells forming the axis, which are of 
larger size than the rest, are also weaker and soon perish, leaving the stem and 
branches fistular. In a growing state every branch is clothed with long, slender, 
pellucid, jointed hairs, which give the plant, when seen under water, a beautifully 
feathery character. Similar hairs are seen on many others of the Order, and are 
doubtless connected with the development of the frond. The walls are composed 
YOL. III. ART. 4. 114 
DICTYOTACEiE.—Punctaria. 
IV. 
of many rows of elongated cells, disposed longitudinally and firmly united into a 
compact cellular substance. The innermost of these are very long, the outer pro- 
portionably shorter. All, except those that compose the outermost row or circle, 
are colourless, and nearly empty. 
1. Dictyosipiion fcmiculaceus, Grev. ; frond setaceous, very much branched ; the 
branches capillary, decompound ; ramuli subulate, alternate or scattered, rarely 
opposite.—J. Ag. Sp. Alg.vol. 1, p. 82. Kiltz. Sp. Alg.p. 485. Harv. Phyc. Brit, 
t. 326. 
Hab. In rock pools, between tide-marks on stones and the smaller Algse. Sea 
shores from New Brunswick to Long Island Sound. Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. 
Jeans. Halifax, IF. H. H. Boston Bay, G. B. Emerson and Mrs. Asa Gray, fyc., 
Rhode Island, Mr. Geo. Hunt, Mr. Olney, <fyc. Arctic Coast, Mr. Seeman. (v. v.) 
Fronds from six inches to one or two feet long, about as thick, or sometimes twice 
as thick, as hog’s-bristle, much branched and bushy ; usually having an undivided 
stem, set with many lateral branches, which are furnished with one or two series of 
lesser branches, also lateral, and very unequally and irregularly placed. Primary 
branches as long as the leading stem, or longer, very numerous. The spores are 
plentifully scattered over the branches, and are usually solitary. Colour a greenish 
or a brownish olive. Substance membranous, soft, but not gelatinous, adhering to 
paper in drying. 
VIII. PUNCTARIA. Grev. 
Foot a small naked disc. Frond flat, ribless, membranaceous, undivided. Fruc- 
tification, minute, dot-like son, scattered over the whole surface, and containing 
roundish, sessile spores, accompanied by a few short, club-shaped, jointed parane- 
mata. 
The species comprising this group have the leaf-like habit of the smaller Lami- 
naria?, such as L. Fascia ; or of the restricted genus TJlva, in which, by the older 
botanists, they would all have been placed. From Laminariae they differ in being 
of a more reticulated structure, formed of larger cellules, and in the very different 
fructification ; and from the Ulvae in colour as well as structure. To the genus 
Asperococcus, which immediately follows in order, Punctaria is very closely related, 
and only to be distinguished by the flattened, not tubular frond. But in Asp. 
compressus we find a strictly intermediate form, nearly as flat as a Punctaria, but 
evidently composed of two separable membranes. IV. 
DICTY OTACE2E.—Punctaria. 
115 
1. Punctaria tenuissima, Grev.; frond very thin, linear or linear-lanceolate, much 
attenuated to base and apex, flat or undulated. Grev. Alg. Brit. (1830) p. 54. 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 248. Punctaria undulata,J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1 ,p. 72. Diplo- 
stromium tenuissimum et D. undulatum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 483. 
Hab. Parasitical on various Algae near low-water mark ; as Zostera marina, Chor- 
da jilum, §c. Annual. Spring and Summer.—Halifax, W. H. H. Boston Harbour, 
G. B. Emerson. Little Compton, It. I., Mr. Olney, and Prof. J. W. Bailey. Port 
Hamilton, N. Y., Mr. Hooper, TV. H. H. (v. v.) 
This forms dense tufts extending for several inches along the leaves of the Zostera 
or the fronds of the Chorda on which they grow. The fronds are from two to eight 
or ten inches in length, and from a line to four or five lines in width, broadest in 
the middle, and tapering to both extremities. Some specimens are nearly linear 
throughout, except at the base or apex where they fine ofl*; but others are strictly 
lanceolate, very much attenuated from the middle towards the apex and the base. 
The margin in the young plant is quite flat ; and often remotely, but irregularly 
denticulate. In older specimens the frond is undulated, or crisped and often twisted 
spirally. The membrane is very thin, semitransparent, and delicate; and the colour 
which is at first a pale greenish olive, becomes brownish or rather horn-colour in 
old plants. The fructification has not been observed. 
I retain Dr. Greville’s name for this plant, as being of earlier date than that 
assigned by Prof. J. Agardh; who rejects Dr. Greville’s epithet from grounds which 
appear to me to be insufficient. The Zonaria tenuissima of the elder Agardh, which 
Dr. Greville takes as the type of his species, appears to have been founded (Sp. Alg. 
1. p. 138, and Syst. Alg. p. 268) on TJlva plantaginifolia var. tenuior, Lyngh. Hyd. 
Dan., p. 31, t. b.; and from Lyngbye’s figure and description there can be little 
doubt that Lyngbye’s and Greville’s plants were identical in species. Nay, this is 
admitted by Prof. J. Agardh, who quotes both these authors under his P. undulata ; 
but for some cause which I do not understand, he at the same time refers the 
synonym, u Zonaria tenuissima, Ag.” to Laminaria Fascia. Yet, on referring to the 
Syst. Alg. where that name was first published, and from which Dr. Greville adopted 
it, we find the only synonym quoted is “ Ulva plantaginea var. tenuior, Lyngh. t. h.” 
but with a mark of doubt. On referring back to Agardh’s earlier work, the Sp. 
Alg. this same synonym is quoted without any doubt as the authority for Agardh’s 
‘‘ Zonaria plantaginea var. tenuior,” which is evidently the type of the subsequent 
“ Z. tenuissima.” Whether Agardh confounded young Laminaria Fascia also under 
this name is not to the point, as it is evident from his description and quotation that 
he intended by the name “ tenuissima, ” the “ U. plantaginifolia var. tenuior ” of 
Lyngbye ; and that is also the plant intended by Dr. Greville, and here described. 
I see no reason therefore for changing the older and very appropriate specific name 
into “ undidata.” 
2. Punctaria plantaginea, Grev. ; frond dark brown, coriaceo-membranaceous, 116 
HICTYOTACEiE —Punctaria. 
IV. 
obovate, much attenuated at the base. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 228. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 
vol. l,p. 73. Pliycolapathum plantagineum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 483. 
IIab. On stones and Algae between tide-marks. Annual. Summer. Prince 
Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans. Boston Harbour, G. B. Emerson, Esq. (v. v.) 
Tufted. Fronds from 6 to 12 inches long, an inch to an inch and half in breadth 
in the widest part, generally blunt, obovate or cuneate, tapering considerably to the 
base from near the middle of the membrane. The substance is thicker and more 
coriaceous than in P. latifolia and the colour always darker. But specimens occur 
which are almost intermediate in character between the two. There is also danger 
of confounding P. plantaginea with Laminaria Fascia, which has a very similar 
appearance. 
Punctaria latifolia, Grev. ; frond pale olive green, thickish, membranaceous, soft 
and tender, oblong or obovate, suddenly tapering at the base. Harv. Phyc. Brit., 
t. 8. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1 , p. 73. Phycolapathum debile, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 483. 
Hab. On stones and Alga? between tide-marks. Annual. Summer. Halifax, 
W. H. H. Boston Harbour, G. B. Emerson. Flushing Bay, Long Island, Prof 
J. W. Bailey and Mr. Hooper. Fort Hamilton, N. Y. Mr. Hooper, &c. (v. v.) 
Tufted. Fronds eight to twelve inches long, and from one to three inches wide 
in the broadest part, oblong or obovate, or somewhat ovate, generally obtuse, and 
suddenly tapering at the base into a short cuneate stem, a line or two in length. 
The margin is undulate, sometimes much crisped and curled. The substance is 
thin, membranaceous, soft, and almost gelatinous to the touch when young, at which 
time it is clothed with pellucid hairs ; afterwards it is more rigid, and at length so 
coarse that it will not adhere to paper when drying. The colour, when young, is an 
extremely pale olive, inclining to green, and specimens are often found that retain 
this colour at their full size, but now and then others accompany them in which the 
colour is much darker. These approach P. plantaginea, and are then only to be 
known by the less tapering base. I retain the three species as published by Greville? 
though I admit that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between them in every case. 
There are three principal typical forms, and a number of intermediate links. The 
present is much the commonest on the American shore, and after it that called P. 
tenuissima. I shall not be surprised if future botanists, when the ragfe for species- 
making has exhausted itself, and the tide sets in an opposite direction, shall re-unite 
these three under the old name plantaginea. IV. 
DICTYOTACEiE.—Soranthera.—Asperococcus. 
117 
IX. SORANTHERA, Post, and Rupr. 
u Frond membranaceous, olive-green, simple, flat, dilated, entire. Fructification : 
Antheridia pear-shaped, vaginate, mixed with club-shaped jointed threads, and 
aggregated in roundish sori scattered over the whole frond.” 
1. Soranthera ulvoidea, Post, and Rupr. Ulustr. p. 19. J. Ay. Sp. Aly. vol. 1, 
p. 120. Kiitz. Sp. Aly. p. 556. 
Hab. Island of Sitcha, Russian America, parasitical on Rhodomela larix. (Pos- 
tells and Rupr edit). 
“ Lamina membranaceous, olive-green, sub-rotund, plaited, in the two specimens 
seen not more than an inch in breadth ; the margin very entire, not thickened, nor 
distinctly revolute. The whole lamina so densely covered with roundish tubercles, 
a quarter of a line in diameter, and prominent on both surfaces, that scarcely any 
intersticial spaces of more than a line in breadth remain sterile. The tubercles are 
composed of an assemblage of heterogeneous antheridia, and considered as sori; in 
the dry state they collapse and become harder and brown. The dried lamina is 
thinly membranous, scarcely loses colour, and does not adhere to paper.”—Post, and 
Rupr. Of this plant I know nothing. It seems, to judge by the above description, 
to be related to Punctaria, if distinguishable from that genus. 
X. ASPEROCOCCUS, Lamour. 
Root a small, naked disc. Frond tubular, cylindrical or inflated, rarely compressed5 
membranaceous, unbranched and inarticulate. Fructification minute, dot-like sori, 
scattered over the whole surface, and containing roundish, sessile spores, accompanied 
by a few short, club-shaped, jointed paranemata. 
This genus differs from Punctciria in having a tubular or inflated, instead of a 
flat frond. Asperococcus sinuosus departs in habit from the typical species, but 
seems to he identical in structure or nearly so. A. clathratus of authors is, in my 
opinion, sui generis. 
1. Asperococcus echinatus, Grev.; frond cylindrical, club-shaped, obtuse, much 
attenuated at the base. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 194. Grev. Crypt. FI. t. 290. J. Ay. 
Sp. Alg. vol 1. p. 76. Encoelium echinatum, Ay.—Kutz. Sp. Aly. p. 552. 118 
DICTYOTACEiE.—Asperococcus. 
IV. 
Hab. Rocks, &c. between tide-marks. Annual. Boston Bay, G. B. Emerson 
(fide Prof. J. W. Bailey.) (v. v.) 
Very variable in size. Fronds from a few inches to two feet in length, and from 
the thickness of hog’s-bristle to half an inch in diameter, linear-club-shaped, taper- 
ing to the base. The apex is either obtuse, or somewhat attenuated. The dots of 
fructification are crowded, and often entirely cover the surface. 
I have not seen American specimens, but give this species on the authority of my 
friend Prof. Bailey, merely remarking that Chorda lomentaria is often mistaken for it? 
and has been sent to me from America for the Asperococcus. The true A. echinatus is 
however so common in the Northern Atlantic, that it is most probably to be found 
on many parts of the American coast. It may be known from Ch. lomentaria by 
being never constricted into joints. 
2. Asperococcus sinuosus, Bory ; fronds globose, or irregular, heaped together, 
sessile, inflated, at length irregularly distorted and torn. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1. 
p. 75. Encoelium sinuosum, Ag.—Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 552. (Tab. IX. C.) 
Hab. On rocks, corals and Algae between tide-marks. On the Florida Keys. 
Very abundant at Sand Key, and washed ashore at Key West, W. EL. H. (v. v.) 
Fronds growing in dense clusters which cover spaces of many inches or some 
feet square. Each individual frond is globose, one or two inches in diameter, or 
larger, becoming much inflated and irregular in outline as it advances in age, and 
is then often ruptured, and pierced here and there with holes of irregular shape 
and size. The frond is membranous, thin, soft, but not very tender, having a 
reticulated appearance, from the large interior cells composing the inner lining of 
the membrane ; and with a smooth uniform surface, from the minute cells which 
compose the superficial coating : it thus follows that with lenses of different powers 
the frond appears either areolated or of densely cellular structure. Such fructifi- 
cation (?) as I have seen consists in minute sori, dotting over the surface, and 
composed of linear, moniliform paranemata, formed at first under the membranous 
coating of the frond, and bursting through it :—but I have not detected any 
spores. Colour a brownish olive. 
In habit this plant strongly resembles Leathesia tuberiformis (common on the 
shores of the Northern States) but is of a totally different structure, and can only 
be confounded with that plant through carelessness or inattention 
Plate IX. C. Fig. 1. Cluster of Asperococcus sinuosus ; the natural size ; 
fig. 2, a minute portion of the surface ; fig. 3, vertical section of a sorus ; fig. 4, 
paranemata from the same ; the latter figures highly magnified. IV. 
DICT Y OTACEJE.—Hydroclathrus. 
119 
SPECIES OF DOUBTFUL AFFINITY. 
3. Asperococcus intricatus, J. Ag., “ frond tubular, branched, sub-hemispheri- 
cally expanded, subrepent; branches intricate, gradually attenuated, decompound- 
dichotomous ; the apices forked.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 77. 
Hab. Tropical. At Vera Cruz, Mexico. (Liebman). 
I am not acquainted with this plant, which scarcely seems to fall naturally 
under this genus. 
XI. HYDROCLATHRUS, Bory. 
Frond membranaceous, convex, hemispherical, bag-shaped, regularly pierced with 
orbicular holes, which gradually dilate more and more, until the plant becomes a 
clathrate net, eventually mishapen and ruptured. Margin of the apertures involute. 
“ Spores minute, globose, collected into dot-like, scattered, innate sori, accompanied 
by club-shaped, jointed filaments.” {Mont.) 
This is a very remarkable plant, and of so peculiar a habit, as well as distinct struc- 
ture, that I can hardly imagine any person who has had an opportunity of seeing 
it alive on its native rocks, placing it in the same genus with Asperococcus sinuosus; 
although my valued friend Prof. J. Agardh even doubts its specific diversity from 
that species. I must suppose that Prof. Agardh has formed his judgment from an 
examination of dried specimens, which are so wholly unlike the living plant in 
appearance, and can be so imperfectly examined when remoistened, that a satisfac- 
tory opinion can scarcely be formed from them. I regret that the microscope 
which I had with me at Key West was not of sufficient power to enable me to 
make out the anatomical structure perfectly, and the plant decomposed so 
rapidly that it was difficult to obtain good slices of the membrane sufficiently 
thin for examination. When fresh from the sea, the frond was quite crisp, and 
could readily have been cut, but my specimens (collected at Sand Key) had to be 
brought a long way in an open boat, under a hot sun ; and although every care was 
taken to keep them cool, and though they were brought in buckets of water, decom- 
position had commenced long before they reached Key West, and then, in the 
attempt to save from destruction a large gathering of other Algae, the fruit of the 
same excursion, only very imperfect notes could be made on the present curious 
plant. Such sections as I was able to make through the membrane showed me that 
it was composed of several rows of cells ; the inner rows, occupying almost the 
whole thickness, being formed of large, colourless cells, filled with fluid, distended, 120 
DICTYOTACEiE.—Hydroclathrus. 
IV. 
and having thin walls. The outer stratum in which the colour resides is very thin, 
composed of exceedingly minute cells, with square ends, but whose exact shape I 
could not well determine. Dr. Montagne, in his splendid work on Algerian Algae, 
says that they are parallelipipeds, placed, with their smaller ends to the circumfer- 
ence. With the views respecting this species entertained by Dr. Montagne and 
expressed in that work I fully concur, and now proceed to describe this curious 
vegetable in detail. 
1. IIydroclatiirus cancettatus, Bory.—Mont. Alg. Algier. p. 3G. Asperococcus 
clathratus, J. Ag. Sp. Alg., vol. 1, p. 75. Enccelium clathratum, Ag.—Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 
p. 552. Halodictyon cancellation, Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 338. (Tab. IX. A.) 
Hab. Subtropical. On rocks, etc., in tidp pools near low-water mark. Annual. 
Sand Key, Florida, abundant in February. W. II. H. (v. v.) 
Fronds of irregular form, oblong or sinuous, two to three inches in length and 
about an inch high, heaped together in wide-spreading patches, adhering to the 
rocks by the lower surface, and to each other by their sides. The young fronds, 
in the earliest stage at which they were found, are pierced by rounded holes, of 
small size and somewhat pressed together. As the membrane expands, the original 
holes expand also, and grow wider, and new holes are formed in the interspaces, 
until the whole membranous wall of the bag-like body is converted into a 
delicate, lace-like network. The margin round each hole is strongly involute, which 
gives the appearance of a thickened rim, when the membrane is viewed vertically. 
The substance is thick, crisp to the touch at first, but very fragile, and it soon 
changes colour and loses rigidity on exposure to the air. The surface-cells are 
exceedingly minute, filled with colouring matter ; those that compose the thickness 
of the membrane are of large size, hexagonal, with thin walls and full of watery 
juice. No fructification was observed on my specimens. The colour when 
growing was a very pale, yellowish-olive, somewhat ochraceous. This rapidly 
changes, and the plant becomes dark brown in a dried state. 
Our figure gives a tolerable idea of the Sand Key plant, as to size of individual 
fronds and mode of composition of the patches: but I have failed in making it suffi- 
ciently lace-like, and in giving the effect of depth to the holes which pierce it in every 
direction. I have some doubts wdiether all the plants known under the name II. 
cancellatas are identical. The beautiful figure in the great French work on Egypt, 
would not at all answer any specimen of the Sand Key plant which fell under 
my notice. But it must be borne in mind that my specimens were gathered early 
in the season, and were comparatively young ; and, therefore, it is possible that 
later in the year they might have put on a very different aspect. If all the 
clathrate Algae referred to this place by botanists belong to the present species, it 
has a wide range ; being found through the warmer parts of the Atlantic at both 
sides ; in the Mediterranean ; the Red Sea ; on the shores of the Mauritius, and IV. 
CHORDARIACEiE. 
121 
of those of New Holland. It would be difficult to determine from dried specimens 
whether the specimens from these various places were identical or not. The living 
plant has the aspect of a very open sponge, and is so frail that it cannot be raised 
from the rocks without laceration, and so weak that it cannot support its own 
weight when lifted from the water. 
Plate IX. A. Fig. 1. Several fronds of Hydroclathrus cancellatus, growing 
together, the natural size ; fig. 2, a portion of the perforated frond, magnified ; 
jig. 3, minute piece of the same, showing the surface-cellules, highly magnified. 
Order V. CHORD ARIACEtE. 
Chord arieje, Harv. in Mach. FI. Hib. part 3, p. 183. Harv. Man. Br. Alg. 
Ed. 1, p. 45. Ed. 2, p. 44. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 45. Chord armee, (excl. 
gen.) J. Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 31. Endl. 3rd, Suppl. p. 23. Dne. Ess. p. 33. Meso- 
GLOiACEiE, Kiitz. Fhyc. Gen. p. 329- Sp. Alg. p. 539- Chord arhxze {excl. gen.) 
Lindl. Veg. Kingd. p. 22. 
Diagnosis. Olive-coloured seaweeds, with a gelatinous or cartilaginous frond 
composed of vertical and horizontal filaments (or strings of cells) interlaced 
together. Spores attached to the filaments, and concealed within the substance of 
the frond. 
Natural Character. Root rarely more than a disc of attachment ; in the 
more perfect kinds it forms a point of fixture, at the base of the stem ; in the less 
perfect, the whole under-surface of an expanded frond adheres to the object 
on which the plant grows. Frond very variable in form, but in all cases composed 
of articulated threads or cells strung together in vertical and horizontal series, 
variously combined among themselves, but easily separable under the microscope, 
and either accompanied by mucus or lying in a transparent gelatine. The gelatine 
varies both in quantity and in degree of tenacity. When little developed, it is also 
more tenacious, and then the fronds are firmly cartilaginous, or somewhat coria- 
ceous, and highly elastic. But more generally the gelatine is abundant in quantity and 
very loose' in substance, and then the threads composing the frond lie considerably 
apart one from another, and the common substance becomes soft and gelatinous. 
The least organised plant of the order {Ralfsia) has a crust-like frond spreading 
over the surface of rocks, like one of the Lichens, in circular or oblong patches, and 
bearing on its surface small prominences which eventually contain spores, mixed 
with paranemata. Next in development is Leathesia, whose frond is either a 
shapeless or lobed roundish mass, or a cluster of such growing together like so 
VOL, ni. ART. 4. 122 
CIIORDARIACE2E. 
IV. 
many small potatoes. This genus, lumpy as it is, is closely allied in structure to 
Mesogloia, from which it is chiefly distinguished by the shapeless frond. The frond 
in the latter group is branching, with a pinnate habit. A further advance in 
structure is made in Chordaria, where the axis becomes very compact; and in 
Scytothamnus, a genus found at New Zealand, the frond attains its maximum of 
structure. In that group the substance is as tough and leathery as it is among the 
Fucacece, yet an appeal to the microscope shows a filamentous structure not 
essentially differing from that found in Chordaria or Mesogloia. The genera Ela- 
chista and Myrionema are a little different in structure from the other genera of 
the order, and indicate a passage into Ectocarpacece. In them some of the 
filaments composing the frond are free, or not enclosed in gelatine ; but as the 
spores are lodged among the filaments which are compacted together into the base 
of the fronds, I prefer retaining these genera in the present order. By Prof. J. 
Agardh, Elachista is referred to Ectocarpacece, and Myrionema retained in Chordari- 
acece, but both are so closely allied to each other, and also to Leathesia: that I am 
unwilling to separate them. 
The spores of the Chordariacese are very generally obovate, obtuse at the apex 
and narrowed to the base, and in many they taper so considerably as to become 
almost club-shaped. They are enclosed in pellucid perispores, and attached to some 
portion of the filamentous structure of the frond, generally to the filaments form- 
ing the periphery or outer stratum. They are usually accompanied by paranemata. 
In Balfsia alone they form prominent, wart-like sori, not unlike those of Stilophora 
among Dictyotacece. The colour of the frond varies from a greenish to a brownish 
olive, and is sometimes very dark. It is not much altered in drying. 
About forty-five species of this Order have been described from various parts of 
the world. The majority are natives of the colder portion of the temperate zone, 
both north and south; and some species, such as Leathesia tuberiformis and Chordaria 
Jlagelliformis, are equally common in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. 
I have found the gelatine of Chordaria flagelliformis, extracted by allowing the 
fronds to remain a day or two in fresh water, useful in causing small Algse, which 
are not of themselves sufficiently gelatinous, to adhere to paper. It is however too 
weak for any except very slender kinds. With this exception, none of the species 
are used in the arts. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
* Frond cylindrical, branching. 
I. Chordaria. Axis cartilaginous, dense, solid (at length hollow in the centre) 
Filaments of the periphery unbranched. CHORD ARIACEiE.—Chordaria. 
123 
IV. 
II. Mesogloia. Axis gelatinous, laxer in the centre, composed of a network of 
filaments. Filaments of the periphery branched. 
III. Liebmannia. Axis gelatinous, denser in the centre, composed of longitudinal, 
approximated filaments. Filaments of the periphery forked. 
** Frond either tuber-shaped or crust-like. 
IY. Leathesia. Frond tuber-shaped, cartilagineo-gelatinous. 
Y. Ralesia. Frond crust-like, spreading in round patches. 
*** Parasites, consisting of densely tufted filaments, connected at the base, and free above. 
YI. Elachista. Filaments pencilled, rising from a common tubercle composed of 
vertical fibres. 
VII. Myrionema. Filaments pulvinate, rising from a flat base composed of decum- 
bent fibres. 
I. CHORDARIA. Ag. 
Frond cylindrical, branched, cartilaginous, solid, at length hollow in the centre, 
coated with a pile of radiating, horizontal, peripheric filaments. Axis formed of 
oblong cells, connected by their ends into anastomosing, longitudinal filaments, 
forming a compact network. Filaments of periphery at first deficient, gradually 
evolved, and at length coating the axis in a continuous pile, densely set, club-shaped, 
simple, moniliform, composed of spherical cells. Spores clavate or obovate, arising 
from the base of the radiating peripheric filaments, and concealed among them. 
It is stated by Prof. J. Agardh tbat the axis of the frond is at first hollow, and 
that it gradually becomes solid in age, from the tube being filled up with cells. 
I find the reverse of this to be the case. In carefully made cross sections of the 
young frond of Ch. flagelliformis taken when the plant is an inch or two in height, 
and long before the evolution of the peripheric filaments, I find the axis quite as 
solid as at more advanced periods; and I also find in old plants, but more especially 
in Ch. divaricata, that the central cells of the axis disappear in old age, leaving the 
frond quite fistular. This also takes place in Mesogloia, particularly in M. vermicu- 
laris. In Ch. divaricata this hollowing of the frond of old specimens is very obvious. 
1. Chordaria flagelliformis, Ag.; stem subsimple, densely set with long, lateral, 
filiform, simple branches, which are either naked or sparingly furnished with ramuli; 124 
CHORD ARIACEiE. —Ciiordaria. 
IV. 
filaments of the periphery club-shaped. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 66. Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg.p. 546. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 111. Fucus jlagelliformis, Turn. Hist. t. 85. E. 
Bot. t. 1222. 
Hab. On rocks, stones, and the smaller Algae between tide-marks. Common on 
the shores of the Northern States. Newfoundland, Lenormand. Halifax, W. H. H. 
Newport, R. I., Prof. Bailey, Mr. Olney, &c. Boston, G. B. Emerson. Staten 
Island, N. Y. (v. v.) 
Fronds 1—2 feet long, as thick as bristle, mostly with an undivided leading stem, 
which is densely set throughout its whole length with crowded or fasciculate lateral 
branches. These branches are several inches long, of the same thickness as the 
stem, straight or nearly so, and usually unbranched and quite naked : sometimes 
they have each a few distant, spreading, straight rarnuli ; and sometimes they 
are as densely beset as the stem with such rarnuli. The substance is firmly 
cartilaginous and elastic, the surface lubricous, and if the plant be allowed to 
remain some hours in fresh water, a very considerable quantity of mucus and some 
colouring matter will be given off. The colour is always very dark olivaceous 
brown. In young specimens, the whole frond consists of the cellulo-fibrous axis, 
composed of a dense network of anastomosing threads ; there is then no periphery, 
or merely an outward coating of dark-coloured cells. As the plant enlarges, the 
surface-cells grow out, by repeated cell-division, into moniliform peripheric threads, 
which form a complete covering or pileto the frond. These peripheric filaments are 
club-shaped, the cells of which they are composed gradually increasing in size, from 
the base to the apex of the filament. Spores, concealed among the threads of the 
periphery, are abundantly produced by almost every full-sized individual. When 
growing, the whole frond is clothed with fine, colourless, jointed hairs, which give 
the branches, as seen through the water, a feathery appearance. 
2.- Cuordaeia divaricata, Ag. ; frond irregularly divided ; branches divaricating, 
subdichotomous, flexuous, furnished with scattered, short, very patent, mostly 
forked rarnuli ; filaments of the periphery capitate. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. yol. 1, p. 65. 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 17. Mesogloia divaricata, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 545. (Tab. XI. A.) 
IIab. On the smaller Algse, etc., at and below low-water mark. Shores of Long 
Island Sound, Stonington, Prof. J. W. Bailey. Newport, R. I., Mr. S. T. Olney. 
Dr. Durhee. Green Port, Long Island, Prof. J. W. Bailey and W. H. H. New 
Bedford, Mr. Congdon. (v. v.) 
Fronds tufted, one or two feet long or more, not a line in diameter, very much, 
but irregularly branched. Sometimes there is a leading stem, with lateral branches, 
and sometimes the frond is broken up from the base into many principal divisions. 
The branches are of various lengths, subsimple or repeatedly forked. They spread 
at wide angles, and their divisions are equally patent, the intermediate spaces being IV. 
CHORD ARIACE2E.—Mesogloia. 
125 
curved or flexuous. In some specimens these forked branches are quite naked ; in 
others furnished with patent simple or forked ramuli from half an inch to an inch 
in length ; and in others beset with a multitude of such ramuli, or of more com- 
pound ones. In these last the frond becomes excessively branched, with all its 
divisions divaricated and beset with irregular branchlets. When young, the axis is 
solid, firmly cartilaginous and cellular, but with advancing age the central cells die 
out, and the stems and branches become fistular, or even somewhat inflated. Such 
specimens also lose much of their original lubricity, and may readily be mistaken 
for a different species—or even for a Stilophora, if care be not taken to observe the 
filaments of the periphery. These filaments afford a tolerably definite specific 
character in being slender, with a large terminal cell; but in individuals of 
different ages the size of the terminal cell varies considerably. The colour is a 
greenish olive, paler than in the former species, but becomes dark brown in old 
age and in drying, in which latter state the plant adheres to paper and shrinks very 
considerably. 
Plate XI. A. Frond of Chordaria divaricata, the natural size ; jig. 2, cross 
section of a young branch; and jig. 3, the same of an older branch, both equally 
magnified ; jig. 4, a spore and two peripheric filaments, highly magnified. 
II. MESOGLOIA, Ag. 
Frond cylindrical, branched, cartilagineo-gelatinons, solid, at length partially 
hollow in the centre, coated with a pile of radiating, horizontal, branched peri- 
pheric filaments. Axis composed of longitudinal, articulated, anastomosing fila- 
ments, connected together into a network, which is laxer toward the centre ; the 
cells of the inner filaments long, those of the outer shorter. Filaments of the 
periphery rising from the outer layer of axial filaments, moniliform, composed of 
ellipsoidal cells, fasciculate, frequently dichotomous. Spores obovoid, attached to 
the base of the peripheric filaments, and concealed among them. 
Plants with the habit and much of the structure of Chordaria, but of a more 
gelatinous substance and looser texture. In this group I propose to include 
Myriocladia of J. Agardh, the structure of which does not appear to me to be 
essentially different from that of ordinary Mesogloioe, while the external habit is 
so similar that even the specific diversity of the species of Myriocladia from species 
referred by Agardh to Mesogloia is variously held by different authors. Careful 
analyses of recent specimens in various stages have still to be made; for though 
these plants can be tolerably well observed in a dried state, it is not easy in that 
state to isolate the filaments of the axis so as to show the structure perfectly. For CHORD ARIACEiE.—Mesogloia. 
IV. 
this reason, among others, I prefer retaining Mesogloia Zosterce, Aresch. and M. 
Lovenii, J. Ag. in the same genus as M. virescens. 
1. Mesogloia vermicularis, Ag. ; frond clumsy ; branches irregularly pinnate, 
thick, worm-like, lineari-fusiform ; ramuli copious, long, flexuous, resembling the 
branches ; filaments of the periphery moniliform, clavate, with spheroidal cells. 
,J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 58. Kiitz. Sp. Alg.p. 544. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 31. E. 
Bot. t. 1818. 
Hab. On stones and Algre between tide-marks. Annual. Halifax, W. H. H. 
(V. Y.) 
Frond a foot or more in length, with a subsimple leading stem set with lateral 
branches, which are either simple and naked, or furnished with secondary, worm-like 
branchlets. The principal divisions are two or three lines in diameter, irregularly 
swollen here and there, often contracted at the base, curved or flexuous, and taper 
to a bluntish point. The filaments of the periphery are densely set, shorter than 
the diameter of the branches, and rise from the inflated, colourless, external cells 
of dichotomous intra-peripherial filaments, which branch off from the longitudinal 
filaments composing the axis. The peripheric filaments are coloured, tufted, clavate, 
and bear spores in the centre of the tuft. In old age the stem and branches become 
hollow, and the substance less gelatinous. This takes place most frequently when 
the plant grows in deep water, beyond the influence of the tide. The colour is a 
brownish olive. 
I collected only a single specimen of this plant at Halifax. 
2. Mesogloia virescens, Carm. ; frond filiform, gelatinous ; branches long, 
erecto-patent, slender, villous ; ramuli more or less numerous, very patent, short, 
obtuse ; filaments of the periphery as long as the diameter of the axis, dense, 
moniliform, with spheroidal cells rather longer than their breadth. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 
vol. 1, p. 56. Harv. Phyc. Brit. £.81. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 545. (Tab. X. B.). 
Hab. On Zostera at Nahant, Massachussetts, Miss E. H. Brewer. On small 
Algae at Sand Key, Florida, W. H. H 
Frond in the American specimens already seen, which are not of full size, two 
to three inches long, in full grown (European) specimens 8—12 inches or more, 
slender, branched in a pinnated or irregular manner, usually with a leading undi- 
vided stem, set with patent, lateral branches. Branches horizontal or widely 
spreading, short, or more generally elongated, filiform, of nearly equal diameter 
throughout, appearing villous to the naked eye from the length and projection of 
the peripheric filaments. Secondary branches resembling the primary, but shorter, 
increasing in number with the age of the specimen. The peripheric filaments are IV. 
CHORDARIACEiE.—Mesogloia. 
127 
beautifully beaded ; more slender and much longer than in M. vermicularis ; but 
shorter, and with more globose joints than in M. Zosterce. The colour is an oliva- 
ceous green, becoming rather greener after the specimen has been dried. The 
substance is very soft and gelatinous. 
My figure is taken from one of the Sand Ivey specimens. These are less villous, 
owing to youth, than most specimens of the species, and have more the aspect of 
M. Grijfithsiana, but on a close microscopic examination they appear to have all the 
characters proper to M. virescens. Miss Brewer’s specimens are still younger, but, 
though growing on Zostera, appear to belong to virescens and not to the following. 
Plate X. B. jig. 1. Fronds of Mesogloia virescens, the natural size ; jig. 2, 
small portion of a branch, magnijied ; jig. 3, peripheric filaments, attached to the 
axial ; fig. 4, a peripheric filament removed, the latter figures highly magnified. 
3. Mesogloia Zosterce, Aresch. (?) ; frond filiform, gelatinous, flexuous, slightly 
branched ; branches very short and subsimple, distant, villous, patent, with rounded 
angles ; filaments of the periphery much longer than the diameter of the axis, lax, 
submoniliform, with ellipsoidal cells, twice as long as their diameter. Mesogloia 
Zosterce, ?; Aresch. Pug. t. 8, /. 1, a. 6. Myriocladia Zosterce f or M. Lovenii ? 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 53. (Tab. X. A.). 
Hab. On Zostera in deep water. Annual. Halifax, W. H. H. 
Fronds 6-8 inches long, very slender, filiform, flexuous or angularly bent, either 
without lateral branches, or furnished at distant intervals with a few very short, 
patent, or divaricating, simple or forked rarnuli, from a line to an inch in length, 
but seldom longer. These branchlets issue at very wide angles, and sometimes at 
the point where they arise the main stem takes a bend in the opposite direction, 
as if the proper mode of branching were dichotomous, but that one of the forks 
were perpetually aborted into a ramulus. The peripheric filaments are much longer 
than the diameter of the axis which they clothe, and are laxly set, surrounded by 
a loose jelly. They are dichotomous, and spring from slender longitudinal fila- 
ments coating the internal filaments of the axis, but which I have failed to detect 
anastamosing into a net work, as described by J. Agardh (if we are really speaking 
of the same plant). The articulations of the radiating filaments are fully twice as 
long as broad, and but slightly contracted at the dissepiments. The colour in my 
specimens is a yellowish olive. 
Few plants have been more confused by authors than the LincJcia Zosterce of 
Lyngb., Mesogloia Zosterce, Aresch.; and I hope I am not farther confusing synonyms 
by referring to this place the plant now described and figured. Lyngbye’s figure 
is certainly very unlike my plant, and is referred by J. Agardh to the young of 
Mesogloia virescens, which it much more nearly resembles. But Areschoug, 
whose figure accords more nearly with that now given than with the previous 
figure of Lyngbye, has examined a specimen of Lyngbye’s plant, and declares it CIIORDAPIACEiE.—Liebmannia. 
IV. 
128 
the same as his own. J. Agardh, taking up Areschoug’s M. Zosteroe, as identical 
with his own Myriocladia Zosteroe, states that the cells of the peripheric fila- 
ments are subspherical; and describes a new species, M. Lovenii, in which they are 
twice as long as broad. In my specimens now described I find the peripheric cells 
of the length attributed to those of M. Lovenii, and yet I hesitate whether to refer 
them to that species. I have not seen any authentic specimen of either Agardh’s 
or Areschoug’s plant, and must leave the final determination of the difficulty to 
those who have such specimens to compare. 
Plate X. A. Fig. 1. Fronds of Mesogloia Zosteroe, growing on Zostera marina, 
the natural size ; fig. 2, small portion of a branch, magnified ; fig. 3, some of the 
axial and peripheric filaments of the same ; fig. 4, portion of one of the peripheric 
filaments ; the latter figures highly magnified. 
III. LIEBMANNIA. J. Ag. 
“ Frond cylindrical, branched, filamentous, solid, clothed with radiating periphe- 
ric filaments. Axis composed of oblong, approximated cells, cohering in longitudi- 
nal filaments ; the filaments toward the centre narrower, and there collected into a 
peculiar dense stratum. Peripheric filaments arising from the outermost axial 
Cells, mucous, moniliform, forked. Spores obovoid, seated in the axils of the 
radiant filaments, girt with a hyaline perispore. Propagula at the apex of the 
radiating fibres lancioid, one, two or four, sessile within a hyaline, inflated, obpyri- 
form perispore, sub-articulate-constricted, and longitudinally divided.”—J. Ag. 
Liebmannia Leveillei, J. Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 35. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 61. Mesogloia 
Leveillei, Menegh. Alg. Ital. p. 283, b. 5, t. 2. 
Hab. Parasitical on Zostera. At Vera Cruz., Mexico, Liebman. (v. s. in 
Herb. T.C.D.) 
I give tbe characters of this genus as nearly as possible in Prof. J. Agardh’s 
words. I have not seen an American specimen, but possess an Adriatic one from 
Prof. Meneghini. This has the outward characters of Mesogloia vermicularis. iy. 
CHORD ARIACEiE.—Leathesia. 
129 
IV. LEATHESIA. S. F. Gray. 
Frond globose or lobed, solid or at length hollow, consisting of filaments radiating 
to all sides from a central point. Axis composed of oblong colourless cells, united 
in dichotomous threads which issue from a common base ; the uppermost cells half- 
moon shaped. Peripheric filaments issuing from the outermost axial cells, simple, 
moniliform, strongly glued together, with globose articulations. Spores obovoid 
or pyriform, affixed at the base of the peripheric filaments (with which they have a 
common origin) and concealed among them. 
Very unlike the preceding genera in external characters, but closely allied in 
structure to Mesogloia, particularly to M. vermicularis. Leathesia indeed chiefly 
differs from Mesogloia in having the frond irregularly lumpy or tuberous, instead 
of cylindrical and branching. The following species has a very wide geographical 
range, being a common inhabitant of the shores of both hemispheres, East and 
West, and also of the Southern Ocean. It abounds at least at the Cape of Good 
Hope. 
1. Leathesia tuberiformis, Gray; fronds olivaceous, tuberous, when young 
stuffed with cottony fibres (the axis), at length hollow. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 324. 
Leathesia marina, Endl.—J. Ag. Sp. Alg. ml. 1, p. 52. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 543. 
Corynephora marina, Ag.—Rivularia tuberiformis, E. Bot. t. 1956. (Tab. X. C.) 
Hab. On rocks and Algas between tide marks. At Halifax, W. II. II , (v. v.) 
Fronds clustered together, varying in size from the bigness of a pea to that of a 
large walnut, irregularly lobed and bullated ; at first solid but becoming hollow 
from the perishing of the cottony axial filaments. The frond then consists merely 
of the peripheric filaments, which are strongly glued together and constitute the 
whole substance of the walls of the then hollow tuber. They can be separated only 
by using considerable pressure. The plant makes its first appearance in April or 
May, and in August or September attains its full size and produces fruit, decaying 
soon after. 
Plate X. C. Fig. 1. Cluster of fronds of Leathesia tuberiformis, on a piece of 
rock, the natural size ; fig. 2, vertical section of a frond, showing a small portion of 
the periphery, and some of the axial filaments, magnified ; fig. 3, peripheric filaments 
supported on the apical cells of the axial filaments ; fig. 4, a spore and two peripheric 
filaments, both the latter figures highly magnified. 
YOL. m. ART. 4. 130 
CIIORDARIACEiE.—Ralfsia. 
IV. 
V. RALFSIA. Berk. 
Frond coriaceo-crustaceous, fixed by its inferior surface, orbicular, concentrically 
zoned, composed of densely packed, vertical, simple filaments, agglutinated 
together into a crust. Fructification, depressed warts, scattered over the upper 
surface, containing obovate spores, attached at the bases of vertical filaments or 
paranemata. 
The plants included in this group resemble the crustaceous lichens in outward 
characters, and, like them, spread over the face of rocks in varying patches. In the 
character of the fructification there is an approach to Dictyotacece, but the genus is 
retained in Chordariacece on account of the structure of the frond, and a supposed 
affinity with Leathesia. 
1. Ralfsia expansa, J. Ag. ; frond orbicularly expanded into a crust, lobed at 
the margin, flattish (?) in the middle, here and there raised in tubercles. J. Aq. 
Sp. Alg. 1, p. 63. 
On Madrepores in the Gulf of Mexico. Vera Cruz, Liebman. 
I have not seen this plant, and am uncertain whether I have correctly translated 
Prof. J. Agardh’s specific character, which is as follows :—“ Fronde orbiculariter 
expansa in erustam margine lobatam, medio subcontinuam hie illic in pustulas 
elevatam.” 
2. Ralfsia deusta, Ag., (not Berk.) ; frond concentrically lobed, the lobes sub- 
reniform, imbricated, longitudinally striate, concentrically zoned. J. Ag. Sp. Alg., 
1, p. 63. Fucus fungularis, FI. Dan. t. 420. 
IIab. On the shores of Greenland, Void. Unalaschka, Tilesius. 
Frond orbicular, 1—2 inches in diameter, adhering to the rocks, constituted of 
numerous lobes, one imbricating on the other. Colour chestnut brown. 
I am not acquainted with this plant. IV. 
CH0RDARIACE2E.—Elachista.—Myrionema. 
131 
VI. ELACHISTA. Duty. 
Fronds parasitical, penicillate, composed of axial and peripheric filaments. Axial 
filaments dichotomously branched, cohering together into a tubercular common 
base. Peripheric filaments, simple, free, penicillate, radiating from the base, coloured, 
articulate. Fructification : pear-shaped spores attached to the axial filaments, and 
hidden within the tubercular common basis. 
Elachista fucicola, Fries.; tufts pencilled ; filaments elongate, flaccid, mem- 
branaceous, attenuated upwards ; articulations once or twice as long as broad ; 
tubercle spherical. J. Ay. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 12. Harv. Phyc. Brit., t. 240. Phy- 
cophila fucorum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 541. (Tab. XI. B.) 
Hab. Parasitical on the fronds of Fucus nodosus and F. vesiculosus. Narragan- 
sett Pier, Mr. Olney. Halifax, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
A common parasite on littoral fuci, forming brown or foxy-coloured pencils of 
filaments. I am acquainted only with the two American stations recorded above, 
but most probably this parasite will be found all along the shores of the Northern 
States. 
Plate XI. B. Fig. 1. Tufts of Elachista fucicola, growing on Fucus nodosus, 
the natural size ; fig. 2, a small portion of a tuft magnified; fig. 3, a spore with 
paranemata ; fig. 4, 5, portions of the pencilled filaments, the latter figures higldy 
magnified. 
VII. MYRIONEMA. Grev. 
Fronds minute, parasitical, cushion-like, composed of axial and peripheric fila- 
ments. Axial filaments decumbent, branched, spreading as a thin expansion on 
the surface to which the parasite adheres. Peripheric filaments short, erect, simple, 
springing from the decumbent expansion, and united by interposed gelatine into 
a cushion-like frond. Spores oblong, affixed either to the erect or to the decum- 
bent filaments. 
A genus of minute parasites which annually attack the smaller red and green Algae 
in old age, and hasten their decay. The following is so common on old fronds of Ulva 
latissima and Enteromorpha compressa, both common American shore plants, that I ECTOCARPACEiE. 
132 
IV. 
venture to introduce it into this work, though I have not received it from any 
correspondent in America. 
Myrionema strangulans, Grev.; patches convex, confluent, brown ; vertical fila- 
ments clavate, densely set ; spores obovoid, on short stalks, attached to the decum- 
bent filaments. Grev. Crypt. FI. t. 300. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 280. J. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. 1, p. 48. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 540. 
Hab. Parasitical on the fronds of TJlvce and Enteromorphce; common on the 
shores of Europe, (v. v.) 
This parasite first appears like a dark brown stain, spotting the plant on which 
it grows, and at this stage consists of little more than an imperfect membranous 
expansion, composed of prostrate filaments. Afterwards, by the growth of the 
erect filaments, the spots become convex and gelatinous, and the plant is matured. 
The spores are of large size (for the plant), and arise, like the vertical filaments, 
from the upper face of the decumbent ones. 
M. Leclancherii, and M. punctiforme are, with the preceding, probably to be found 
on the American shores. 
Order VI. ECTOCARPACEiE. 
Ectocarteje, C. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 2, p. 9. (excl. gen.) Harv. Man. Ed. 1, p. 38. 
Ed. 2,p. 52. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 449. Ectocarpea: and Sphacelarieas, J. Ag. Alg. 
Medit. p. 26. Sp. Alg. vol. 1 ,p. 6, 27. Dne. Ess. p. 33, 42. Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 
287, 291. Ectocarpid.e, (in part) and Spiiacelarida:, Lindl. Veg. Kingd. p. 22. 
Diagnosis. Olive-coloured, articulated, filiform seaweeds, whose spores are 
(generally) external, attached to the jointed ramuli, or formed in a swelling of the 
ramulus. 
Natural Character. Root commonly a small disc, or point of attachment, 
occasionally accompanied by woolly fibres. Frond filiform and slender, (or fila- 
mentous) often capillary, or of extreme tenuity, more or less conspicuously articu- 
lated, each articulation composed either of several cells of equal length disposed 
in a ring round an axis, or of a single cell. In the latter case the frond is said to 
be a filament (filum, Ag. trichoma, Kg.) and is formed of a series of cells, placed 
end to end, and strung together. In some of the higher forms, as in Cladosteplius 
and Choetopteris, the main stem and the larger branches are inarticulate, formed of IV. 
ECTOCARPACEiE. 
133 
a multitude of minute cells, the central ones of which are frequently cubical, 
closely compacted together into a firm, somewhat horny, rigid substance. In a few 
cases the frond is unbranched (as in the genus Myriotrichia) ; very generally it is 
much divided, either pinnated, alternately branched, or more rarely subdichoto- 
mous. In Cladostephus the ramuli are short, subsimple, whorled round the branches, 
and deciduous at the close of each season. In Sphacelaria and Chcetopteris the ra- 
mification is distichous, the lesser divisions being simply or doubly pinnated. In 
Ectocarpus the frond is occasionally subsimple, or but slightly branched ; but in by 
far the larger number it is much divided, either dichotomous or distichous, and alter- 
nately or oppositely branched, but the branches rarely approach so nearly together 
as to be pinnated ; this is however the case in E. Mertensii, In some few the thread- 
like fronds are bundled together into branching ropes, forming a sub-definite, 
sponge-like, compound frond. 
The fructification appears under two forms, sometimes both found in the same or 
on different individuals of the same species ; in other cases but one kind of fruit 
has been noticed on all the individuals of a species, and hence has been employed 
as a specific character. The spores are less commonly formed than propagula, by 
which name the secondary fruit is known, and are oval or spheroidal, dark 
coloured, dense, furnished with a hyaline perispore, and attached to the sides of the 
ramuli, scattered and without paranemata. The propagula, which are chiefly 
characteristic of Ectocarpus, where their modifications often afford the best specific 
characters, are lanceolate, linear or conical, sessile or pedicellate, or immersed in 
the substance of the branches, transversely striate and filled with dense endochrome. 
In Sphacelaria they are lodged in the distended tops of the branches. 
In substance, the plants of this Order are rarely gelatinous ; those of the first 
sub-order are rigid, in some almost horny ; of the latter sub-order soft, and soon 
decomposing after removal from the water. The colour varies from dark brown to 
pale greenish-olive, and is subject to little change in drying except on the applica- 
tion of artificial heat, when the olive tints are brightened into more or less vivid 
greens. 
This Order is closely connected with the last, from which it is known by the 
absence of a gelatinous matrix connecting the filaments into a compound frond, 
and by the spores being external, scattered, and unaccompanied by paranemata. 
The genus Elachista is in some respects intermediate, and has been referred by 
Prof. J. Agardh to the present Order; but appears to me to be too intimately con- 
nected with Myrionema and Leathesia, both clearly belonging to Chordariaceae, to 
be separated from them. 
By Agardh, Endlicher, and formerly by Kiitzing, the two sub-orders defined 
below are separated as distinct Orders ; and by Endlicher they are placed widely 
apart one from the other. To me their connection appears to be close, and their 
difference chiefly technical,—one being a rather simpler expression of the other— 
and therefore I am unwilling to multiply needlessly the number of Orders ; par- 
ticularly when I find, in such plants as Ectocarpus Mertensii, an obvious passage 
from one sub-order into the other. 134 
ECTOCARPACE2E.—Cladostephus. 
IV. 
These plants are most numerous in the temperate waters of the ocean, diminish- 
ing toward the warmer and the colder zones. On the American coast they are 
more frequent on the shores of the northern and midland States ; and in Europe 
on the coasts of Britain and France. Several are, however, found in the Mediter- 
ranean and Adriatic. They are all plants of small size, though few come within 
the limits of strictly microscopic objects. The genera are widely dispersed, all 
nearly cosmopolitan. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
Suborder 1. Sphacelarieje. Frond rigid j each articulation composed of numer- 
ous cells. 
I. Cladostephus. Stems inarticulate. Ramuli whorled. 
II. Ciletopteris. Stems inarticulate. Ramuli pinnated. 
III. Spiiacelaria. Whole frond articulate, pinnately branched. 
Sub-order 2. Ectocarpea). Frond flaccid ; each articulation composed of a 
single cell. 
IY. Ectocarpus. Capillary, soft, much branched. 
I. CLADOSTEPHUS, Ag. 
Frond cylindrical, inarticulate, densely clothed with whorled, articulate, short, 
subsimple ramuli. Stem cellular, composed of a triple stratification of cellules ; 
the central portion of longitudinal prismatical cells horizontally connected ; the inter- 
mediate of roundish cells ; the outer of minute cellules. Fructification, ellipsoidal 
spores, having a hyaline perispore, and borne on little stalks on accessory ramuli. 
The sphacelate tips of the whorled ramuli also contain a sporaceous mass or pro- 
pagulum (?). 
Readily known from the rest of the order by the densely-set, quadrifarious, 
whorled and imbricated ramuli. The two following species are very closely allied 
to each other, and perhaps not permanently distinct, the differences indicated 
arising from difference of locality. IV. 
ECTOC ARP ACE/E.—Cladostephus. 
135 
1. Cladostephus verticillatus, Ag. ; branches slender, ramuli mostly forked, regu- 
larly whorled ; the whorls at short intervals. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 43. Harv. 
Phyc. Br. t. 33. Cl. Myriophyllum, Ag. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 468. Conferva verticil- 
lata, E. Bot. t, 1718, and t. 2427,/• 2. (Tab. XI. C.) 
Hab. On tidal rocks, in pools near low water mark. Perennial. Newport, R. I., 
Mr. Olney and Prof. Bailey. Lynn, Mass., Mr. Hooper, (v. v.) 
Fronds 3—6 or 8 inches high, irregularly dichotomous, innovations springing 
here and there along the principal divisions. Occasionally a large tuft of such 
irregular branches issues from a single incrassated portion of the main stem, and is 
either simple or forked. The whorls of ramuli are about a line asunder, the apices 
of the lower whorl lying over the bases of that next above ; each ramulus is in- 
curved, tapering to the base, and acute at the extremity, and bears above its 
middle one or two subulate processes on the outer margin. The articulations are 
shorter than their diameter, and longitudinally striate, each stria composed of 
numerous seriated cellules. The fructification is formed in winter, at which season 
most of the verticillate ramuli fall away, and their place is supplied by short, 
densely set, accessory ramuli which bear the spores. These have been described by 
authors as a parasitical Sphacelaria, and the name S. Bertiana bestowed on them. 
Plate XI. C. Fig. 1, a frond of Cladostephus verticillatus, the natural size ; 
fig. 2, small portion of a branch, magnified; fig. 3, two of the whorled ramuli, 
highly magnified. 
2. Cladostephus spongiosus, Ag.; branches thick and clumsy; ramuli mostly simple, 
irregularly whorled, densely imbricated. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, y>. 43. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 
p. 469- Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 138. Conferva spongiosa, E. Bot. t. 2427- f 1. 
Hab. On tidal rocks, at about half tide level. Perennial. With the preceding, 
Air. Olney. (v. v.). 
Smaller than the preceding, with thicker and more clumsy branches, and longer 
and denser ramuli. I am not certain that the American specimens above quoted 
have been rightly named, or are anything more than a variety of C. verticillatus. 
The British plant looks something different; but the technical characters by which 
it is known are not always constant. 136 
ECTOCARPACEiE.—Ciletopteris.—Sphacelaria. 
IV. 
II. CFLETOPTERIS. Kiitz. 
Frond filiform, compressed, inarticulate, distichously pinnate. Stem cellular, 
omposed of a triple stratification of cellules ; the central portion of longitudinal, 
prismatic cells, horizontally connected; the intermediate of roundish cells ; the 
outer of minute cellules. Fructification:—spores (unknown). The sphacelate tips 
of the pinnated ramuli contain a sporaceous mass or propagulum. 
This genus has the habit of Sphacelaria, with which it has until recently been 
associated by authors, and a structure of stem similar to that of Cladostephus. It 
is therefore exactly intermediate between these genera. 
1. ChvETOPTEris plumosa, Iviitz.; stems naked at the base, elongated, irregularly 
branched ; branches pectinato-pinnate ; pinnae opposite, simple, very long, closely 
set. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 468. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1. p. 41. Sphacelaria plumosa, Ag. 
Harv. Fhyc. Brit. t. 87- Conferva pinnata, E. Bot. t. 2330, {left hand fig.) 
Hab. On the shores of Greenland, J. Agardli. Arctic Coast, Mr. Seeman. (v. v.) 
Fronds from two to four or six inches long, setaceous, naked below, irregularly 
and much branched above. Branches alternate or secund, or frequently tufted, one 
or two inches long, simple, closely pectinated along their whole length with slender, 
articulated, distichous ramuli. These ramuli are from one to three lines long, oppo- 
site, a pair growing from every joint of the branch. 
This beautiful plant is peculiarly a northern form, and though it reaches the south 
of England, is there of much smaller size than on the shores of Scotland. The 
branches resemble delicate feathers. 
III. SPHACELARIA. Lyngb. 
Frond filiform, articulated, distichously branched, rigid, pinnated, rarely subdicho- 
tomous. Articulations of the stem and larger branches composed of several cells 
radiating from a central point. Apices of the branches distended, membranous, 
containing a sporaceous mass or propagulum. Spores ovoid, having a pellucid 
perispore, affixed to the branches. IV. 
ECTOCARPACEiE.—Sphacelaria. 
137 
1. Sphacelaria cirrhosa, Ag. ; stems naked at the base, short, densely tufted, 
simple or branched, pinnate or bipinnate ; pinnae opposite, alternate or irregular, 
simple ; spores globose, scattered, sessile or shortly stalked. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1 ,p. 
34. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 464. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 17.8. Conf. pinnata, E. Bot. t. 
2330. (right hand Jig.) 
Hab. On the small Algae between tide-marks. Long Island Sound, Captain 
Pike. Ship Ann Point, Con. Messrs. Walters, Hooper, and Congdon. New Bedford, 
Mass. Mr. Congdon. 
Fronds forming globose, fastigiate tufts, an inch or rather more in diameter ; more 
or less densely tufted, scarcely fastigiate, and only a quarter inch in height. Filaments 
capillary, of equal diameter throughout, straight, once or twice pinnated, the pinnae 
very irregular ; in some specimens closely set, opposite and plume-like, in others 
distant, alternate, variable in length on the same branch ; either erecto-patent or 
spreading horizontally, simple, naked, blunt. The spores are not uncommon, and 
are found scattered along the pinnae. Colour a foxy brown or olive. Substance 
rigid, scarcely adhering to paper in drying. 
Probably common on the shores of the Northern and Midland States. Numerous 
specimens that I have received are very similar to European forms of this variable 
plant. 
2. SphaceIaria radicans, Dillw. ; filaments decumbent, sending out fibrous radi- 
cles in the lower part, with a few irregular, simple, straight, naked branches ; 
spores clustered, sessile. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 189- S. olivacea, J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 
vol. 1, p. 30. S. radicans and S. olivacea, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. pp. 463, 466. Conf. 
olivacea, E. Bot. t. 2172 ; and C. radicans, t. 2138. 
Hab. On sand-covered rocks, between tide-marks. (I gathered on rocks at 
Beverley, on Boston Bay, what I supposed to be this species ; but have mislaid my 
specimens. W. H. H.). 
A small plant, forming spreading patches half an inch in height, and two inches 
or more in diameter. The specific name radicans, though not adopted by Prof. 
Agardh in his recent work, has evidently the claim of priority, having appeared in 
English Botany 34 plates earlier than the rival name olivacea—a name moreover, 
equally applicable to any other species of the genus, all being olive-coloured. 
YOL. ni. ART. 4. 138 
ECTOCARPACEiE.—Ectocarpus. 
IV. 
IV. ECTOCARPUS. Lyngb, 
Frond capillary, articulated, variously much-branched, flaccid. Articulations 
composed of a single cell, short, rarely twice or thrice as long as broad. Apices 
attenuated. Spores spherical or ellipsoidal, scattered (rarely produced.) Propagula, 
or pod-like bodies, oblong, conical, linear or lanceolate, transversely striate, and 
celluloso-granulated, formed either of transformed ramuli, or of some portion of a 
ramulus, or of portions of the main and secondary branches. 
A large genus of confervoid Alga3, usually much branched, and forming fine, 
feathery tufts of slender, soft, brownish or olive green filaments. The articulations 
are always very short, and nearly of equal size in all parts of the plant. They are 
usually filled with endochrome, which is sometimes pellucid, sometimes granulated, 
and sometimes condensed into a dark spot in the middle of the cell. The species 
are difficult to determine or fix limits to, owing to the uncertain nature of the 
ramification, which it is by no means easy to characterise, and which appears to 
vary in different specimens collected together and seemingly of one species. The 
best characters are derived from the propagula, or “ silicules,” as they have been 
called ; podlike bodies regarded as fructification. These are either formed in the 
substance of the branches, or of the whole substance of a shortened branchlet. 
They contain a darker endochrome than the unchanged branches, and are divided at 
minute intervals by transverse lines. The spaces between the lines are broken up 
into granular cells disposed in transverse bands, and supposed to be^^productive. 
The American species are not yet fully worked out, and though I have proposed 
some new ones below, I am by no means certain that they ought all to be retained. 
Some are but partially known, and all require a careful investigation on the sea 
shore. Solitary specimens of these plants are by no means sufficient, and when any 
seemingly new form is observed among them, numerous specimens ought not only 
to be collected, but the collector should notice what other seemingly different Ecto- 
carpus was growing with the supposed novelty ; and should carefully compare one 
form with the other before assuming that he has a new species to describe. This 
cannot be done at a distance, and in many cases I have had to decide from very 
insufficient materials. 
* Propagula short or elongated,formed in some portion of the larger or lesser branches, 
(not in the ultimate ramuli). 
1. Ectocarpus brachiatus, Harv. ; finely tufted, feathery, much branched ; the 
branches free, opposite or quaternate ; ramuli opposite, very patent; propagula 
forming oblong or elliptical swellings in the smaller branches, or at the point where 
two opposite ramuli issue. Harv. Phyc, Brit. t. 4. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1 , p. 20. IV. 
ECTOC ARP ACEiE.—Ectocarpus. 
139 
Hab. Parasitical on the smaller Algae. Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans. 
South Boston, Dr. DurJcee. Lynn, Mrs. Estes, (v. v.). 
Tufts feathery, 2—4 inches high, the main stems slightly entangled at the base, 
the lesser branches quite free, spreading. Filaments much branched, all the 
branches and their divisions either opposite or in fours, widely spreading, almost 
horizontal, the larger divisions subdistant, the lesser gradually nearer. .Ramuli 
filiform, patent, mostly opposite. Propagula (or perhaps spores ?) immersed in the 
lesser branches, often bipartite. Colour a pale olive green. 
2. Ectocarpus littoralis, Lyngb.; tufts dense, interwoven, olive-brown, or olive- 
green ; filaments capillary, much and irregularly branched, the ultimate divisions 
erecto-patent, alternate or opposite ; angles acute ; propagula forming elongated, 
linear swellings in the substance of the greater and lesser branches. Harv. Pliyc. 
Brit. t. 197- J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 18 (?) and 23. 
Hab. Very abundant on littoral Fuci; also attached to various substances 
between tide-marks. Shores of the Northern and Midland States, (v. v.) 
Tufts 6—12 inches long, dense and bushy, sometimes bundled together in ropes, 
sometimes untangled and feathery. Branches mostly alternate, repeatedly divided, 
the divisions issuing at acute angles, the upper ones opposite. Articulations of the 
branches almost as long as broad. Propagida elongated, many times longer than 
their hrpfldth Afrt, first transversely striate, (like an Oscillatoria), afterwards monili- 
form. Suhstcmce soft, but not glutinous, closely adhering to paper. The colour 
varies from olive-green to brown ; and if dried by artificial heat, the tints may be 
much vivified and made more green. 
This is the commonest form on the American coasts. 
* * Propagida linear or lanceolate, formed of or in the ultimate ramuli. 
3. Ectocakpus siliculosus, Lyngb. ; tufts yellowish or pale olive-green, gelatinous, 
soft ; filaments very slender, excessively branched ; ultimate branchlets alternate 
or secund, attenuated ; propagula pedicellate, subulato-lanceolate, attenuated to a 
fine point. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 162. J. Ay. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 22. 
Hab. On various substances between tide-marks.’ Shores of Long Island Sound, 
and Hudson River at West Point, Prof Bailey. Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans. 
Charleston, S. C., W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Tufts 3—6 inches long or more, not entangled. Filaments excessively branched, 
and very slender, all the divisions usually alternate and erecto-patent, with acute 140 
ECTOCARPACEzE.—Ectocarpus. 
IV. 
axils. The propagula are generally formed of the upper half of the ramuli, leaving 
an unchanged portion or pedicel at the base of the propagulum : they taper to a 
tine point, and are sometimes prolonged into ramuli, or tipped with an unchanged 
inucro. Colour mostly yellowish olive, but variable. 
4. Ectocarpus viridis ; tufts feathery, loose, expanding, olive-green ; filaments 
slender, much branched, very flexuous, dichotomous, the lower forkings distant, the 
upper approximated, having a few lateral ramuli; axils rounded ; apices alternate, 
articulations of the branches once and half as long as broad ; propagula sessile or 
pedicellate, elongate, tipped with a long mucro or unchanged portion of ramulus. 
(Tab. XII. B. C., two varieties.) 
IIab. On Alga3 between tide-marks. Charleston, Prof. L. W. Gibbes. Provi- 
dence, R. I., Mr. Olney. Bergen Island, Mr. Walters and Mr. Hooper. Hellgate, 
Mr. C. Congdon. (v. s.) 
I fear this is too nearly related to the preceding, notwithstanding the apparently 
different mode of branching. Dried specimens have the ramuli at the tips of the 
divisions of the tufts dense, or slightly fastigiate or corymbose, and are of a very 
green olive. The propagula are more frequently formed in the basal half of the 
ramulus, and are therefore sessile ; but sometimes are found in the middle portion 
also. The very patent, rounded axils I once thought a good mark, but fear that it 
is hardly constant enough. 
Plate XII. B. Fig. 1, Part of a filament of Ectocarpus viridis, magnified; 
fig. 2, minute portion, with propagida, highly magnified. 
Plate XII. C. Fig. 1, Portion of a filament of Ectocarpus viridis, var., 
magnified ; fig. 2, minute portion, with propagula, highly magnified. 
5. Etocarpus lutosus; tufts somewhat entangled and rope-like; filaments 
intricately branched, decompound, the branches spreading, opposite or alternate, 
with few, distant, scattered ramuli ; angles very wide ; articulations of the branches 
once and half as long as broad ; propagula very long, linear, formed in the middle 
of short, spreading or reflexed ramuli whose base forms a pedicel, and whose apex 
a long excurrent mucro. (Tab. XII. A.) 
Hab. Greenport, Long Island, Mr. J. Hooper, (v. s.) 
This has the habit of E. tomentosus, but branching more like E. littoralis. I have 
seen but a solitary specimen, and though I give it a name, not knowing Iioav to IV. 
ECTOCARPACEiE.—Ectocarpus. 
141 
dispose of it otherwise, I must consider it for the present as a doubtful species ;— 
muclcly in more respects than one. Its colour in the dry state is brownish. 
Plate XII. A. Fig. 1, Part of a filament of Ectocaritjs lutosus, magnified ; 
fig. 2, minute portion, with propagula, highly magnified. 
*** Propagula oval, ellipsoidal or conical, sessile or pedicellate, scattered. 
6. Ectocarpus tomentosus ; Lyngb.; filaments very slender, flexuous, irregularly 
branched, interwoven into a dense, sponge-like, branching tuft ; propagula ellip- 
soidal, obtuse, pedicellate. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 182. J.Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 23. 
Hab. On various substances between tide-marks. Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. 
Jeans. Boston Bay, Mrs. Asa Gray. (v. v.) 
The sponge-like tufts of this plant, composed of innumerable densely matted, 
flexuous, branching filaments, are from two to six inches long or more, and divided 
into several branches, which are either simple or furnished with lesser divisions. 
The filaments are very slender, and most irregularly branched, the branches 
flexuous, secund or alternate, and of various lengths. Articulations twice or thrice 
as long as broad, pellucid. Propagula pedicellate, linear-oblong or ellipsoidal, very 
obtuse. Colour varying from yellowish olive to dark brown. 
The densely interwoven, rope-like, branching tufts at once mark this species from 
most others. 
7. Ectocarpus fasciculatus, Harv. ; tufts olivaceous, dense ; main filaments not 
much divided ; the branches distant, set throughout with alternate or secund 
fascicles of subulate ramuli, the ramuli secund in each fascicle ; propagula sessile, 
secund, several together, ovato-acuminate or subulate. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 273. 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 22. 
Hab. On the larger Algse between tidemarks, generally on the Laminaria?. 
Rhode Island, Mr. Olney, Prof. Bailey, and Mr. G. Hunt. Also in Herb. J. Hooper. 
(V. V.) 
Tufts dense, 3—6 inches long, entangled and rope-like at the base, free and 
feathery above ; the ultimate ramuli densely aggregated ; appearing under a 
pocket-lens to be fasciculate, but not strictly so, being only placed in secund series 
close together. Articulations once-and-half to twice as long as broad. Colour vary- 
ing from olive green to dull brown or rusty. Substance soft, adhering to paper. 
8. Ectocarpus granulosus, Ag. ; tufts olivaceous, lax, feathery ; filaments capil- 
lary, elongate, much branched : branches free, opposite, spreading ; ramuli opposite 142 
ECTOC ARPACEiE. —Ectocarpus. 
iv. 
or rarely alternate , propagula (spores?) elliptical, dark coloured, sessile. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 200. J. Ay. Sp. Alg. l,p. 21. 
Hab. On Algae, etc. between tide-marks, in rock pools. Boston, Dr. Silas 
Durkee. (v. v.) 
Filaments capillary, not very densely tufted, from four to eight inches long 
much branched, with a principal stem and lateral decompound branches. All the 
divisions mostly opposite and spreading. Propagula ellipsoidal, dark-coloured, 
plentifully scattered on the ramuli. 
9. Ectocarpus Durkeei ; tufts not very dense ; filaments robust, decompound, 
much branched, the branches and the lesser divisions alternate ; the angles acute 
and ramuli erecto-patent, attenuated, alternate or secund ; articulations of the 
branches shorter than their breadth ; propagula elliptic-oblong, obtuse, subsessile, 
constricted at the base, transversely striate. (Tab. XII. F.) 
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Dr. Durkee (No. 35). (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Tufts two inches long, hair-like, spreading. Filaments much branched, with an 
evident leading stem, and decompound, alternately divided branches ; the main stem 
and larger branches much more robust than the branches of second or third order, 
and remarkable for the shortness of their articulations, whose dissepiments are 
somewhat constricted. The angles are all acute, and the branches and ramuli con- 
sequently erect. The propagula are borne toward the base of the smaller branches, 
and several are generally found together on the same branch. Colour olive-green. 
The ramification of this plant is most like that of E. Littoralis, but the fruit is 
nearer in form to that of E. granulosus. It seems a distinct species, so far as I can 
judge from the examination of a single specimen. 
Plate XII. F. Fig. 1, Portion of a filament of Ectocarpus Durkeei, magnified 
jig. 2, minute portions with propagula; fig. 3, a propagulum ; the latter figures 
highly magnified. 
10. Ectocarpus Mitclielloe ; tufts feathery ; filaments very slender, decompoundly 
much branched, the branches and their lesser divisions alternate ; the ultimate 
ramuli approximated ; angles wide, and branches and ramuli patent; ramuli 
attenuate, articulations of the branches twice or thrice as long as broad, of the 
ramuli once and half as long, propagula elliptic-oblong or linear, quite sessile and 
very obtuse, transversely striate, several together. (Tab. XII. G.) 
Nantucket, Mass., Miss A. Mitchell, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) IV. 
ECTOCARPACEiE.—Ectocarpus. 
143 
Tufts 2—3 inches long, loose, plumy, the ultimate divisions subcorymbose or 
fastigiate. Filaments very slender and much divided, the divisions alternate and 
patent. Propagula abundant on the lesser branches, several together in secund 
order near the base of the branch, at first ellipsoidal, then linear-oblong, then elon- 
gating and linear, always very obtuse and quite sessile, scarcely narrower at the 
base than above it, sometimes slightly obovoid. Colour a yellowish green. To the 
naked eye this pretty species looks like E. siliculosus or E. viridis, but the difference 
in fructification at once separates it from those species. It comes nearer in charac- 
ter to E. Durkeei, but is a much more delicate plant, with longer articulations, more 
patent branching and differently shaped fruit. 
Plate XII. G. Fig. 1, Portion of a filament of Ectocarpus Mitchellce, magnified ; 
fig. 2, minute portion, with propagula ; fig. 3, a propagulum ; the latter figures 
highly magnified. 
**** Propagula unknown (probably of the same form as in last section.) 
11. Ectocarpus Landsburgii, Harv. ; filaments dark brown, tenacious, intricate, 
much branched ; branches irregularly forked, divaricated, zig-zag, bristling with 
numerous, short, spine-like, horizontal ramuli; articulations short, the endochrome 
filling the cell, and recovering shape on being moistened, after having been dried. 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 233. (Tab. XII. D.) 
Hab. Dredged in deep water. Halifax bay, W. H. Eh. (v. v.) 
Filaments 1—2 inches long, capillary, forming small, intricate tufts, tangled round 
the branches and roots of various Algas, and on other submerged substances. 
Branches very widely spreading, often at right angles, variously curved, bent, and 
divided, almost every articulation emitting a minute spine-like, horizontally patent 
ramulus. Colour dark brown. Substance firm, and rather rigid. Propagula un- 
known. 
Plate XII. D. Fig. 1, Portion of a filament of Ectocarpus Landsburgii, magni- 
fied; fig. 2, minute portion, highly magnified. 
12. Ectocarpus Hooperi; tufts rope-like; filaments entangled, flexuous, sparingly 
and irregularly branched ; branches distant, elongate, subsimple, set at subdistant 
intervals, with short, horizontal, spine-like ramuli; articulations of the branches 
twice or thrice as long as broad. (Tab. XII. E.) 
In Mr. Hooper's Herbarium, without habitat (probably Greenport ?). (v. s.) 144 
ECTOCAPPACEiE.—Ectocarpus. 
IV. 
This forms dark brown, rope-like tufts, not unlike some states of E. tornentosus, 
but the filaments are much more robust than in that species. The numerous spine- 
like ramuli resemble those of E. Landsburgii, but are less abundant ; and the 
articulations are much longer than those of that species. It appears to me to be 
sufficiently characterized, and I hope its discoverer may be able to ascertain the 
place where his specimen was obtained, and may find it again. At present I have 
seen but one specimen ; Mr. Hooper informs me that he has no duplicate. 
Plate XII. E., Fig. 1. Portion of a filament of Ectocarpus Hooperi, magnified ; 
fig. 2, minute portion, more highly magnified. 
13. Ectocarpus Dietzice ; tufts entangled, floccose ; filaments robust, very flaccid, 
elongate, slightly and distantly branched, subdichotomous (?), flexuous, here and 
there emitting dichotomous branches ; ramuli few, subulate ; articulations of the 
branches once and half as long as broad. 
Greenport, Herb. J. Hooper, (v. s.) 
Forming a pale green, entangled, very flaccid tuft, 4—5 inches long, with the 
habit of E. pusillus or of E. crinitus. It seems different from any species of North 
America with which I am acquainted, but is not sufficiently defined by the above 
diagnosis. I have seen but one specimen, which adheres so closely to the paper, that 
it is difficult to remove fragments for examination, and I have found it impossible 
to display the portion examined, so as to enable me clearly to trace the order of 
branching. This imperfect examination, and the absence of fructification, compel me 
to place the species, at present, among the doubtful ones, but I trust more perfect 
specimens may eventually be obtained. Meantime, the specific name is bestowed in 
honour of Mrs. Dietz, of New York ; a lady whose diligent researches in marine 
botany entitle her to this token of respect from fellow-labourers. IV. 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
145 
ALPHABETIC INDEX OF NAMES. 
[The systematic names in capitals are those which are adopted. The names in italic indicate synonyms, 
whilst the vulgar names are in roman. The asterisks refer to the page of description.] 
Acanthophora, 27. 
Acetabularia, 27. 
Agal-Agal, 37. 
Agar-Agar, 33. 
Agarum, 83, 95.* 
Gmelini, 96. 
pertusum, 25, 96.* 
Turneri, 25, 95.* 
Alaria, 33, 83, 87.* 
esculenta, 88.* 
FISTULOSA, 89.* 
MARGINATA, 89.* 
Pylaii, 89.* 
Aloe dichotoma, 82. 
Alsidium triangulare, 27. 
Amansia multifida, 27. 
Anadyomene, 11. 
STELLATA, 21. 
Arthrocladia, 75.* 
villosa, 26, 75.* 
Asperococcus, 102, 117.* 
echinatus, 117.* 
INTRICATUS, 118. 
sinuosus, 117, 118. 
Asperococcus clathratus, 117, 120. 
Badderlocks, 88. 
Barilla, 36. 
Bostrychia, 27. 
Bryopsis, 11. 
Calothrix nivea, 7. 
Carrageen, 33. 
Carrigeen, 11. 
Catenella, 27. 
Caulerpa, 11. 
7. 
Ceramium rubrum, 11, 25. 
VOL.-III. AET. 4. 
Ceylon moss, 33. 
Chletopteris, 134, 136.* 
plumosa, 136.* 
ClIAMAJDORIS, 27. 
Chlorospermeve, 45. 
Chlorosperms, 25. 
Chnoospora, 75, 79.* 
FASTIGIATA, 79.* 
Chnoospora atlantica, 80. 
pacifica, 80. 
Chondrus crispus, 11, 12, 33. 
Chorda, 83, 97.* 
FILUM, 37, 98.* 
LOMENTARIA, 98.* 
Chordaria, 122, 123.* 
DIYARICATA, 124.* 
FLAGELLIFORMIS, 123.* 
Chordariaceas, 47, 121. 
Chordaridse, 121. 
Chordariese, 73, 121. 
Chordese, 80, 99. 
Chrysimenia divaricata, 26. 
rosea, 26. 
Cladostephus, 134.* 
SPONGIOSUS, 135.* 
VERTICILLATUS, 135.* 
Cladostephus myriophyllum, 135. 
Claudea, 9. 
CODIUM, 11. 
TOMENTOSUM, 25. 
Conferva, 5. 
Conferva olivacea, 137. 
pinnata, 136, 137. 
spongiosa, 135. 
radicans, 137. 
verticillata, 135. 146 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
IV. 
Conferva vilbsa, 75. 
CoNSTANTINEA RENIFORMIS, 21. 
Corallines, 21. 
Corsican moss, 36. 
Corynephora marina, 129. 
Costaria, 83, 89.* 
—— Mertensii, 90.* 
*— Turneri, 90.* 
Costaria Turneri, 90. 
CuTLERIA, 100. 
Cymopolia, 27. 
Cystoseira, 56, 65.* 
Douglasii, 66. 
ERICOIDES, 12. 
EXPANSA, 66.* 
OLIGACANTHA, 67.* 
osmundacea, 64. 
siliquosa, 64. 
Dasya, 10. 
COCCINEA, 12, 22. 
ELEGANS, 26, 27. 
Dasycladus, 27. 
Delesseria, 27. 
AMERICANA, 26. 
HYPOGLOSSUM, 23, 26. 
Leprieurii, 26. 
— SANGUINEA, 12, 24. 
Desmarestia, 75, 76.* 
ACULEATA, 78.* 
LIGULATA, 78.* 
VIRIDIS, 77. 
Desmarestia Tierbacea, 78. 
Desmidiacee, 3. 
Desmodium gyrans, 16. 
Devil’s-Apron, 82, 90. 
Diatomacee, 3, 18, 21. 
Dichloria viridis, 77. 
Dicophyllum, 109. 
Dictyosiphon, 102, 113.* 
FENICULACEUs, 114*. 
Dictyospheria, 27. 
Dictyota, 102, 107.* 
Bartayresiana, 110.* 
CILIATA, 110.* 
CRENULATA, 111.* 
DICHOTOMA, 109.* 
FASCIOLA, 108.* 
VULGARIS, 109. 
Dictyota Schroederi, 107. 
Dictyotacee, 47, 99.* 
Dictyotese, 99. 
Dictyotidse, 73, 99. 
Digenia simplex, 27. 
Dillisk, 33, 34. 
Diplostromium tenuissimum, 115. 
undulatum, 115. 
Dracaena draco, 82. 
Dulse, 33. 
Dumontia ramentacea, 25. 
Durvillea, 11, 20. 
Ecklonia buccinalis, 82. 
Ectocarpacee, 47, 132.* 
Ectocarpee, 134.* 
Ectocarpese, 132. 
Ectocarpidse, 132. 
Ectocarpus, 134, 138.* 
BRACHIATUS, 138.* 
Dietzie, 144.* 
Durkeei, 142.* 
FASCICULATUS, 141.* 
GRANULOSUS, 141.* 
Hooperi, 143.* 
Landsburgii, 143.* 
LITTORALIS, 139.* 
LUTOSUS, 140.* 
Mitchille, 142.* 
SILICULOSUS, 139.* 
TOMENTOSUS, 141.* 
VIRIDIS, 140.* 
Ectocarpus firmus, 139. 
Edible Bird Nest, 33. 
Eel Grass, 81. 
Elachista, 123, 131.* 
fucicola, 131.* 
Encodiese, 99. 
Encoelium clathratum, 120. 
echinatum, 117. 
sinuosum, 118. 
Enteromorpiia compressa, 131. 
Fucacee, 47, 49.* 
Fucese, 49. 
Fucodium, 67. 
Fucoidese, 49. 
Fucus, 19, 24, 34, 35, 56, 67.* 
agarum, 95. 
aculeatus, 78. 
bacciferus, 59. 
bicornis, 71. 
CANALICULATUS, 53. 
CERANOIDES, 70.* 
clathrus, 97. 
costatus, 90. 
digitatus, 94. 
distichus, 69.* 
divaricatus, 71. 
esculentus, 88. IV. 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
147 
FUCUS FASTIGIATUS, 68.* 
Jlagelliformis, 124. 
fungularis, 130. 
furcatus, 68. 
FURCATUS, 70.* 
Harveyanus, 70. 
herbaceus, 78. 
infiatus, 71. 
ligulatus, 78. 
loreus, 72. 
Lutkeanus, 85. 
Menziesii, 62. 
microphyllus, 71. 
natans, 57. 
nodosus, 68.* 
osmundaceus, 64. 
saccharinus, 92. 
SCORPIOIDES, 69.* 
SERRATUS, 52. 
Sherardi, 71. 
siliquosus, 64. 
spiralis, 71. 
yesiculosus, 52, 71.* 
viridis, 77. 
volubilis, 71. 
Gelidium cartilagineum, 12. 
Gigartina, 12. 
SPECIOSA, 33. 
Gracllaria helminthochorton, 36. 
LICHENOIDES, 33. 
MULTIPARTITA, 26. 
SPINOSA, 37. 
TEN AX, 37. 
Grateloupia Gibbesii, 26. 
Gulfweed, 53, 60. 
Hafgygia digitata, 94. 
Halidrys, 56, 63.* 
OSMUNDACEA, 64. 
SILIQUOSA, 24, 64.* 
Halimeda, 27. 
Haliseris, 101, 102.* 
Areschougia, 102. 
DELICATULA, 103.* 
POLYPODIOIDES, 101. 
Halochloa:, 49. 
Halodictyon cancettatum, 120. 
Henware, 88. 
Himanthalia, 56, 71.* 
lorea, 24, 72.* 
Honeyware, 88. 
Hydroclathrus, 102, 119.* 
CANCELLATUS, 120.* 
Hydrocrocis, 17. 
Hydrocrocis cuprica, 6. 
Hydrodictyon, 9. 
Hypnea Wurdemanni, 27. 
Iridjea, 12, 20. 
Irish Moss, 11, 33. 
Kelp, 35. 
Laminaria, 7, 83, 90.* 
ceespitosa, 91. 
debilis, 91. 
DERMATODEA, 92.* 
DIGITATA, 94.* 
FASCIA, 91,* 115. 
Lamourouxii, 92. 
linearis, 88. 
LONGICRURIS, 23, 25, 93.* 
LORE A, 91.* 
mussefolia, 80. 
Pylaii, 89. 
tseniata, 91. 
TRIL AMIN AT A, 93.* 
SACCHARINA, 36, 87, 92.* 
saccharina, var.} 91. 
47, 80.* 
Laminariese, 80. 
Laminaridse, 80. 
Laurencia dasyphylla, 22. 
OBTUSA, 36. 
PINNATIFIDA, 11. 
Leathesia, 123, 129.* 
marina, 129. 
TUBERIFORMIS, 129.* 
Lemna, 14. 
Lessonia, 11, 20, 83, 87.* 
ciliata, 84. 
Sindairii, 87. 
Lessonl®, 82. 
Liebmannia, 123, 128.* 
Leveillei, 128.* 
LincJcia zosteree, 127. 
Macrocystis, 7, 11, 21, 83, 84.* 
angustifolia, 84. 
Dubenii, 84. 
— Humboldtii, 84. 
latifolia, 84. 
latifrons, 84. 
luxurians, 84. 
obtusa, 62. 
Orbignyana, 84. 
pelagica, 84. 
planicaulis, 84. 
PYRIFERA, 84.* 
pyrifera, 84. 
tenuifolia, 84. 148 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
IY. 
Mannite, 36. 
Melanosperme,®, 45. 
Mesogloia, 123, 125.* 
—— divaricata, 124, 
Griffithsiana, 127. 
Leveillei, 128. 
— Lowenii, 126. 
VERMICULARIS, 126.* 
YIRESCENS, 126.* 
* ZOSTER,®, 127.* 
Mesogloiacese, 121. 
Mougeotia, 13. 
Murlins, 88. 
Myriocladia Lowenii, 127, 128. 
zoster se, 127, 128. 
Myrionema, 123, 131.* 
Leclanciierii, 132. 
PUNCTIFORME, 132. 
STRANGULANS, 132.* 
Nereocystis, 11, 83, 85.* 
Lutkeana, 85.* 
Nitopiiylla, 25. 
Nostochace/E, 18. 
Nullipores, 21. 
Oarweeds, 82, 90. 
Odonthalia, 25. 
OsCILLATORIA, 17. 
OSCILLATORIA3, 5, 7. 
Ozothallia vulgaris, 68. 
Padina, 101, 103.* 
payonia, 20, 23, 27, 104.* 
Palmella, 5. 
Palmellace.*, 4, 18. 
Penicillus, 27. 
Phycolapathum debile, 116. 
* plantagineum, 116. 
Phycophila fucorum, 131. 
Phycoseridese, 99. 
Phyllacantiia, 67. 
Phyllitis debilis, 91. 
* — dermatodea, 92. 
* fascia, 91. 
Phyllospora, 56, 61.* 
* — Chamissoi, 62. 
* — Menziesii, 62.* 
Physocaubn nodosum,, 68. 
Plocamium coccineum, 12, 22, 25. 
Polysiphonia, 8. 
PORPHYRA, 34. 
Protococcus nivalis, 4. 
Ptilota plumosa, 25, 26. 
* SERICEA, 25. 
PUNCTARIA, 100, 102, 114.* 
PUNCTARIA LATIFOLIA, 116.* 
PLANTAGINEA, 115.* 
TENUISSIMA, 115.* 
undulata, 115. 
Balfsia, 123, 130.* 
DEUSTA, 130.* 
EXPANSA, 130.* 
Red snow, 4. 
Rhabdonia Baileyi, 26. 
Rhodomela, 8. 
SUBFUSCA, 10. 
Khodosperme,®, 45. 
Rhodymenia cristata, 23, 25. 
PALMATA, 33. 
Riband-weed, 90. 
Rivularia tuber if or mis, 129. 
Sargasso Sea, 53. 
Sargassum, 27, 55, 56.* 
AFFINE, 59.* 
BACCIFERUM, 59.* 
FILIPENDULA, 61.* 
HYSTRIX, 60.* 
LlEBMANNI, 60.* 
Montagnei, 58.* 
VULGARE, 22, 57.* 
Sargazo, 53. 
Scytosiphon filum, 98. 
lomentarium, 98. 
Sea-Colander, 82. 
Sea-Grape, 60. 
Sea-Lentils, 53. 
Sea-Otter’s Cabbage, 86. 
Sea-Otter Kohl, 86. 
Sea-Wrack, 35. 
Seirospora Griffithsiana, 26. 
Siphoned, 7. 
Sirophysalis Douglasii, 66. 
— expansa, 66. 
Sole-leather-Kelp, 90. 
SORANTHERA, 102, 117.* 
— ULVOIDEA, 117.* 
Spatoglossum, 107. 
Spermatochnus rhizodes, 112. 
Sphacelaria, 134, 136.* 
CIRRHOSA, 137.* 
olivacea) 137. 
plumosa, 136. 
RADICANS, 137.* 
Sphacelarulse, 132. 
Sphacelarieee, 132. 
134.* 
Sporochnace,®, 47, 73.* 
Sporochnideee, 73. IV. 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
149 
Sporochnoidese, 73. 
Stilophora, 102, 112.* 
PAPILLOSA, 113.* 
RHIZODES, 112.* 
Stypopodium fuliqinosum. 105. 
Tangle, 82, 90. 
Taonia, 101, 107* 
Schrcederi, 107.* 
Thalassiophyllum, 83, 96.* 
clatiirus, 97.* 
TrICHODESMIUM ERYTHRiEUM, 17. 
Trumpet-weed, 82. 
Udotea, 27. 
Ulva, 5. 
atomaria, 107. 
dichotoma, 109. 
LATISSIMA, 131. 
TJlva pavonia, 104. 
PLANTAGINIFOLIA VAR. TENUIOR, 115. 
plantaginifolia var. tenuior, 115. 
Schrcederi, 107. 
Vaucheria clavata, 16. 
Vaucherle, 5. 
Volvox, 4. 
ZONARIA, 101, 105* 
LOBATA, 105.* 
PARVULA, 105. 
pavonia, 104. 
plantaginea var. tenuior, 115. 
VARIEGATA, 106. 
tenuissima, 115. 
ZOSTERA MARINA, 31. 
Zygnema, 13. REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
IV. 
REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
Plate I. A.—Sargassum Montagnei, Bailey, p. 58. 
B.— Cystoseira expansa, Ag. p. 66. 
II. Halidrys osmundacea, Harv. p. 64. 
III. A.—Fucus fastigiatus, J. Ag. p. 68. 
B.—Phyllospora Menziesii, Ag. p. 62. 
IV. A.—Arthrocladia villosa, Duby, p. 75. 
B. —Desmarestia aculeata, Lamour. p. 78. 
C. — Chnoospora fastigiata, J. Ag. p. 79. 
V. Agarum Turneri, Post. & Rupr. p. 96. 
VI. Laminaria longicruris, Dela Pyl. p. 93. 
VII. A.—Ilaliseris delicatula, Lamour. p. 103. 
B. —Padina pavonia, Lamour. p. 104. 
C. —Zonaria lobata, Ag. p. 106. 
VIII. A.—Dictyota ciliata, J. Ag. p. 110. 
B. —Dictyota fasciola, Lamour. p. 108. 
C. —Dictyota Bartayresiana, Lamour. p. 111. 
IX. A.—Ilydroclathrus cancellatus, Bory, p. 121. 
B. —Stilopkora rhizodes, J. Ag. p. 112. 
C. —Asperococcus sinuosus, Bory, p. 118. 
X. A.—Mesogloia zosterse, Arescb. p. 128. 
B. —Mesogloia virescens, Carm. p. 127. 
C. —Leathesia tuberiformis, Gray, p. 129. 
XI. A.— Chordaria divaricata, Ag. p. 125. 
B. —Elachista fucicola, Pries, p. 131. 
C. — Cladostephus verticillatus, Ag. p. 135. 
XII. A.—Ectocarpus lutosus, Harv. p. 141. 
B. —Ectocarpus viridis, Harv. p. 140. 
C. —Variety of same species as in B. 
D. —Ectocarpus Landsburgii, Harv. p. 143. 
E. —Ectocarpus Hooperi, Harv. p. 144. 
F. —Ectocarpus Durkeei, Harv. p. 142. 
G. —Ectocarpus Mitcliillse, Harv. p. 143. 
PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 
WASHINGTON CITY, 
JANUARY, 1852. SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE. 
NEREIS 
BOREALI-AMERICANA: 
OB, 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF THE MARINE A L G A5 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
BY 
WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY, M.D., M.R.I.A., F.L.S., 
PROFESSOR OF DOT AN I IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK, ETC. ETC. 
PART II.-RHODOSPERMEiE. 
ACCEPTED FOE PUBLICATION 
BY T1IE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 
JULY, 1802. COMMISSION 
TO WHICH THIS PAPER HAS BEEN REFERRED. 
Prof. J. W. Bailey, 
Dr. Asa Gray. 
Joseph Henry, 
Secretary S. I. SUB-CLASS II. 
RHODOSPERMEiE, OR RED ALG.E. 
Diagnosis. Plants rosy-red or purple, rarely brown-red, or greenish-red. Fruc- 
tification of two kinds, dioecious:—1. Spores (gemmidia, J. Ag.) contained either in 
external or immersed conceptacles, or densely aggregated together and dispersed in 
masses throughout the substance of the frond: 2. Tetraspores (sphcerospores, J. Ag. 
gemmules, Thw.) red or purple, either external or immersed in the frond, rarely 
contained in proper receptacles ; each tetraspore enveloped in a pellucid skin 
(perispore) and at maturity separating into four sporules. Antheridia (not observed 
in all) filled with yellow or hyaline corpuscles. Marine, with one or two exceptions. 
The most obvious characteristic of the plants of this sub-class is their colour, though 
this varies through every shade of red and purple into red brown, or pure brown ; 
and degenerates, under the influences of sun-light and shallow water, into orange, 
yellow, or dull green. Still, some faint tint of redness, or the absence of olive-green 
or grass-green, prevents the student from confounding the faded Rhodospermece with 
either of the other groups into which the Algae are divided. 
Their most remarkable and distinctive character however lies in their double 
system of fructification ; two descriptions of spore-producing organs having been 
found in almost all these plants, and always being developed on different individuals 
of each species. Thus, these Algae are strictly dioecious, though in a different 
manner from other dioecious plants ; for here it is not stamens and pistils (or their 
analogues) which are borne on different roots ; but, some individuals of a species 
produce only one kind of pistil or sporiferous organ, and others of the same species 
constantly produce a sporiferous organ of a different kind. These diverse fructifi- 
cations do not appear to be different phases of the same organ, like the two sorts of 
flowers found in some Polygaloe, Leguminosce and Malpighiacece, etc.; but are in their 
origin and development perfectly distinct, and formed with the greatest regularity, 
following fixed laws. The spores developed in either system are equally capable of 
reproducing the species ; and as the twro kinds are always formed on different in- 
dividual fronds, the idea of each species of these plants includes two individuals, 
and is not complete unless both are known. Hence the necessity, in forming our 
generic groups, to ground them on characters taken from the peculiarities of both 
fructifications. 
Perhaps the natural explanation of this double fructification is to regard one form 
of reproductive body as the true spore, supposed to be fertilized through the agency 
of an antheridium; and to consider the other to be merely a geminule or bud, here 2 
RHODOSPERME.E. 
Y. 
reduced to a single cell, cast off by the parent plant and capable of continuing an 
independent existence. If this be the true explanation of the phenomena, we have 
still to decide (and from analogy only, for evidence of fertilization is wanting) to 
which of these bodies we shall give the name of spore, and which we shall call gem- 
mule. And here different botanists take different views, the positive evidence, as it 
seems to me, being nearly equally in favour of either. Having no new facts 
to bring forward, I shall not argue this question here ; but, adopting the names 
spores and tetraspores for these reproductive cells respectively, shall endeavour 
briefly to describe their development and modification. 
1. The spores, then, or gemmidia of J. Agardh, are always congregated in a more 
or less definite mass, tuft, or cluster, which we shall here call the Sporiferous-nucleus 
(Nucleus cystocarpii, J. Ag.) Each spore is a cellule, having a gelatino-membrana- 
ceous, hyaline coat, and containing a dense, subsolid, homogeneous, deeply coloured 
starchy mass or endochrome, which, on being expressed, breaks up into an impalpable 
granular dust. The sporiferous nucleus is either wholly naked (as in Wrangelia, 
Callithamnion); immersed in the substance of the frond (as in Grateloupia, Haly- 
menia, Dumontia, etc.); lodged in wart-like tubercles (as in Polyides)\ or contained 
within hollow conceptacles (or cystocarpia, Kiitz.) of various forms, which are either 
dispersed through the frond and partially immersed in it; or are borne on the ends 
or sides of the branches, on the midrib of leaves, or on proper fructiferous ramuli 
developed from some part of the stem, or of the margin or disc of the foliations. 
In all cases of external conceptacles they appear to be transformations of the ends of 
the branches, or of lateral ramuli; the transformed branch or ramulus being 
usually very much shortened, often reduced to a point. And all immersed &pori- 
ferous nuclei are formed from the interior strata of cells, and have generally if not 
always, a connection with the medullary or central stratum. 
The sporiferous nuclei are of two kinds, distinguished by the manner in which 
the spores are developed in each. In families of the highest structure (Des. 
MiosPERMEiE) the nucleus consists of a tuft of articulated, moniliform filaments, or 
spore-threads, radiating to all sides from a central point, or growing from a proper 
placenta lodged within a conceptacle. In these nuclei a single spore is formed 
within one or more of the cells of the filaments ; and the spore-thread at maturity 
is thus more or less changed into a string of spores. In some, all the cells are 
changed into spores ; in others, the terminal cell is alone fertile. In the less 
organised families (Gongylosperme^e) the nucleus is formed either from a single 
mother-cell, from several detached mother-cells, or from such cells imperfectly 
joined together in moniliform strings issuing from a central point, or growing 
from the placenta of a conceptacle. Each mother-cell, which is at first filled with a 
homogeneous endochrome, becomes, by repeated cell-division, converted into a clus- 
ter of spores, at first retained within its walls ; afterwards, on the bursting of the 
wall, dispersed. Tims by the evolution of one cell, a favella, or simple globose 
nucleus containing many angular spores within a hyaline periderm, is formed. By 
the evolution of several detached but adjacent mother-cells, a favellidium or com- 
pound favella results. And by the similar evolution of the cells of the moniliform 
series, the highest form of favellidium is produced. In all these cases the general V. 
RHODOSPERMEiE. 
3 
nucleus, as well as tlie particular nucleoli, is surrounded by a gelatinous or sub- 
membranaceous hyaline periderm, derived from the cell walls of the transformed 
cells. 
The classification adopted in this memoir being based on the structure of the 
nuclei, the student will do well, if possible, to master the principles of development 
now explained. In many cases the structure may be easily seen by viewing under 
the microscope longitudinal sections of the coneeptacle, particularly those of the series 
DesmiospermecCy where the changes between ripe and unripe fruit are less marked 
than in the Gongylosperm,ece. In such plants as Polysiplwnia and Laurencia no care- 
ful cutting is necessary, simply bruising the conceptacles between two glasses being 
sufficient to expel the nucleus. In the Splicerococcoideee and in Gelidium, &c. thin 
cuttings easily made after a little practice under a simple lens, must be viewed by 
transmitted light. In the Gongylospermece the proper structure of the nuclei is 
often difficult to be ascertained, owing to the confused crowding of spores which 
results from the continual self-division of the fertile cells. It may be necessary to 
examine thin cuttings of various ages in order to determine whether the nucleus be 
formed from one or many mother-cells. But in most cases where the nucleus is of a 
large size, very dense, with indications of internal septa, such an origin may be taken 
for granted. Instances of simple nuclei or favellce favourable for examination occur 
in CallitJiamnion, Grateloupia, Gloiosiphonia ; and of compound nuclei or favellidia 
in ChondruSy Gigartina, Calophyllis, and Cystoclonium. 
2. Tetraspores (Sphcerosporce, J. Ag. Tetrachocarpia, Kiitz.) are commonly formed 
in compound fronds by the evolution of some of the cells of the cortical layer, or 
in the simple, filiform kinds by the transformation of the ultimate rainuli. They 
are either dispersed equally through the surface cellules of the whole frond ; or 
confined to the ramuli ; or grouped together in definite spots called sori; or lodged 
in external wart-like excrescences (nemathecia) ; or in proper leaflets (sporophylla) ; 
or in ovate or lanceolate, podlike receptacles (stichiclia). Wherever placed, they 
agree in structure ; each tetraspore containing, within its hyaline, gelatin o-membra- 
naceous coat or perisporey a dense, four parted, deeply coloured endochrome, dividing 
at maturity into four (rarely eight or more) sporules. The mode of division of the 
nucleus varies in different species, and should be carefully observed by the student, 
as generic distinctions are sometimes grounded on this character. In some tetra- 
spores the mass is quartered by two lines crossing each other at right angles in the 
centre ; such are called cruciate tetraspores. In others the mass splits into four 
unequal parts, three of which only are visible on the lateral view, divided from each 
other by three lines radiating from the centre ; such are called tripartite, ternately 
parted or triradiate tetraspores. Again, there are others, of an oblong or cylindri- 
cal form, divided by three parallel, transverse lines into annular portions ; and 
such are called zonatey annulary or transversely parted tetraspores. 
The natural arrangement of the RnoDOSPEEMEiE in Orders and genera offers 
many more difficulties to the student than that of the Melanospermejs, owing to 
the greater complication of the organs of fructification ; the minuteness of the parts 
which require to be dissected that their proper structure may be understood; the 
much more varied forms which the frond assumes; butespecially the great diversity RHODOSPERME/E. 
4 
y. 
of internal structure which prevails among plants that have externally a close resem- 
blance. This last peculiarity compels us, in order to understand their true affini- 
ties, to acquire an intimate knowledge of the anatomy of the frond; and this is only 
to be learned, in the compound species, by a patient examination of transverse and 
longitudinal slices, always a tedious, and sometimes a difficult process. In the 
generic distribution proposed by the earlier systematic writers, the external form 
of the conceptacle, or the colour and substance of the frond, were chiefly considered ; 
in most cases, irrespective of the anatomic structure. Thus, plants the most oppo- 
site in internal composition, and producing fructification fundamentally diverse, were 
often placed in the same genera. A notable instance of such unnatural association 
occurs in the old genus, Splicer ococcus, Ag. which included almost every round- 
fruited species which had no other “local habitation or name;”* and this at the 
arbitrary will of the author, for the generic character assigned to the assemblage 
could not be said to apply to a tithe of the species placed in it. Dr. Greville first 
reformed this group, separating Rhoclymenia, Gracilaria, Chondrus, Pliyllophora, 
Gelidium, Gigartina, Hypnea, and Iridcea from it, a sufficient evidence of the chaos 
it then contained. No doubt Dr. Greville’s system was a vast improvement on that 
of the elder Agardli; but his genera were often founded on the external habit of 
the frond, and sometimes included plants as little related naturally to each other 
as those placed in the old group Sphcerococcus. Thus, llhodymenia, Grev. comprised 
all the old Sphccrococci with a red, expanded, membranous, ribless frond, no matter 
what the internal structure of the frond, or of the fructification. Examination has 
shown the structure of both frond and fruit to be extremely different among the 
plants thus associated, and compelled the separation of the new genera, Calo- 
phyllis, Rhodopliyllis, Rhizophyllis, Eutliora, and Calliblepharis, while of those that 
remain some belong to Gigartina, some to Gracilaria ; and of the sixteen species 
enumerated by Dr. Greville, only five belong to the modern genus Rliodymenia ; 
the rest dispersing into three different Orders. This example may suffice. Dr 
Greville’s system was published in 1830. The next decided improvement in s}’s- 
tein was developed in 1841-1842, by Professor J. Agardh,f who, in describing the 
Algas of the Mediterranean and Adriatic, took occasion to reform the generic charac- 
ters, by introducing into the diagnosis the internal structure of the frond, and by 
more accurately describing the fructification. Much remained still to be accom- 
plished, and new genera founded on the reformed principles were added by Mon- 
tagne and others. In 1843 Iviitzing published his “ Pliycologm Generalise accom- 
panied by eighty anatomical plates of unrivalled excellence and beauty. In this 
great work many new genera were defined and illustrated, and a new system of 
distribution was proposed. The chief excellencies of the book are its anatomical 
illustrations : its faults are, the needless alteration of established names ; the intro- 
duction of unnecessary glossology ; and the multiplication of Orders, genera, and 
* Char, essent. Fructus uniformis: capsulas glomerulum seminum minutissimonim sphaericum 
includentes. 
f J. Ag. Symbolce in Linnsea XV. p. 1 (1841). J. Ag. “ Alga; maris Mediterranei et Adriatici obser- 
vationes in diagnosin specierum, et dispositionem generum.” Paris, 1842. 
J “Pliycologia Generalis, oder iAatomie, Physiologic, und Systemkunde der Tange.” Leipsig, 1843. V. 
RHODOSPERMEiE. 
5 
species, many of them grouping together plants but little related, and others sepa- 
rating nearly allied species. Still, we are indebted to Kiitzing for reforming many 
of the old genera left untouched by earlier writers. I regret that in his more recent 
“Species”* he has pursued the deforming, rather than the reforming course, intro- 
ducing innumerable false species, further subdividing genera, and even placing the 
same species in two or more widely separated genera. 
I turn with pleasure to the work of a very different writer, Prof. J. G. Agardh, 
whose “ Species,f Genera, et Ordines Algarum, now in course of publication, places 
him, for accurate analysis, careful description, original conception, and just views 
of system, far above any other author who has devoted his attention to the Alga3. 
In his former works he had sketched out the system which he has now more fully 
developed, has fortified by the examination of a very large number of species, and 
remodelled where alterations were necessary. The primary distribution into Orders 
is based on the structure and development of the &poriferous nucleus, which affords 
excellent discriminative characters. In the generic groups minute attention is paid 
to the anatomy of the frond, the position and partition of the tetraspores, the minor 
structure of the conceptacle, &c. The result, I trust, will be to place the systematic 
arrangement of the Algae on a better and firmer foundation than it has yet stood. 
I have carefully gone over, with the dissecting knife and the microscope, much of 
Prof. Agardh’s ground, and though I do not follow him in all the changes he has 
introduced, the points where we differ are few and unimportant, and open to future 
consideration. With the principles advocated in his system I fully coincide; I dif- 
fer merely in a few cases where it seems to me, perhaps incorrectly, that natural 
affinity has been mistaken. 
I take this opportunity to record the expression of my best thanks to those kind 
correspondents and friends in America who continue to supply me with specimens. 
Since the publication of the first part, I have received from Captain Nicholas Pike 
of Brooklyn an important contribution of Californian Algae; from Dr. Blodgett 
of Key West a second interesting series of Floridan Algae, containing some new 
forms; from Mr. Hooper a parcel from the North-eastern States, containing several 
not previously sent; and from Mr. Calverley, Algae of New York Harbour, &c. 
These and other contributions will be found duly noted under each particular spe- 
cies in the body of the work; and should any novelties reach me before the publi- 
cation of the third fasciculus, they shall be inserted in a supplement. Persons in 
America wishing to assist me with further specimens are requested to send parcels 
addressed to Dr. William H. Harvey, Trinity College, Dublin, to the care of Messrs. 
Abraham Bell and Son, 25, Park Row, New York; or to J. Yan Voorst, Publisher, 
1, Paternoster Row, London. 
Trust. Coll. Dublin, 
November 24th, 1852. 
W. H. h. 
* Species Algarum, auctore F. T. Kiitzing, Lipsiae, 1849. 
f “ Species, Genera et Ordines Algarum, auctore J. G. Agardh.” Lund, 1848-1852. V. 
RHODOSPERME2E. 
7 
SYNOPSIS OF THE ORDERS OF RHODOSPERMEiE. 
Series 1. DESMIOSPERMEiE, J. Ag. Sporiferous nucleus (either naked, immersed 
in the substance of the frond, or lodged in hollow conceptacles) consisting of 
tufted spore-threads attached to a basal, parietal, or central placenta. Single 
spores formed in each cell of the spore thread, or only in the terminal cell. 
1. Nucleus lodged in an external, ovate or spherical conceptacle. 
* Placenta in the base of the hollow conceptacle. Spores pyriform or obconic, formed 
in the terminal cell of the spore threads. 
1. Frond articulate or furnished with an articulated polysiphonous 
axis ; the surface areolated. Spore-threads simple. Tetraspores seriated in the 
ramuli, or in podlike receptacles. 
II. Frond inarticulate, solid, or tubular and septate ; the surface 
cells minute. Spore-threads simple or paniculate. Tetraspores irregularly 
scattered through the ramuli. 
** Placenta in the base of the hollow conceptacle. Spores roundish or elliptical, in 
moniliform strings ; all the cells of the spore-thread gradually changed into spores. 
III. C or allin ACEiE. Frond calcareous (its cells secreting carbonate of lime). Spore- 
threads separating at maturity into four spores. 
IV. Sphjerococcoide m. Frond cartilaginous or membranaceous. Spore-threads 
separating at maturity into many spores. 
*** Placenta axial, or suspended by filaments in the cavity of the external or half 
immersed conceptacles. 
V. Gelidiaceje. Frond inarticulate, cartilaginous or horny, opaque ; the axis (at 
least) formed of elongated, confervoid filaments. 
2. Nucleus not lodged in a hollow conceptacle. 
* Nuclei contained in wart-like excrescences. 
VI. SpoNGiocARPEiE. Frond cartilaginous (cylindrical) almost wholly composed of 
confervoid filaments closely set in firm gelatine. Nuclei numerous in each 
wart, globose. Spores obconical, radiating from a central point. 8 
RH0D0SPERME2E. 
V. 
VII. SQUAMAKiEiE. Frond lichenoid, horizontally expanded and rooting from the 
under surface, cartilaginous or membranaceous. Spores arranged in monili- 
form strings within the wart. 
** Nuclei immersed in the frond. 
VIII. Helminthocladiete. Frond gelatinous, or gelatino-membranaceous (cylindri- 
cal) almost wholly composed of confervoid filaments set in loose gelatine. 
Nuclei spherical, formed of branching, moniliform spore threads issuing from 
a central point. 
*** Nuclei naked, involucrate. 
IX. Wrangeliace.®. Frond filiform, monosiphonous, articulate or corticated with 
small cells. Spores pear-shaped, formed in the terminal cells of branching 
spore-threads. 
Series 2. GONGYLOSPERMEiE, J. Ag. Sporiferous-nucleus (either naked, immersed 
in the substance of the frond, or lodged in hollow conceptacles) subglobose, 
either simple or formed of many nucleoli. Numerous spores congregated with- 
out order within a hyaline, mucous or membranaceous periderm (or mother- 
cell). 
* Frond inarticulate, flat or cylindrical, compound. 
X. Rhodymeniaceje. Nucleus lodged in globose conceptacles ; spores developed 
within the cells of moniliform, branching filaments issuing from a centre ; at 
length conglobated without order. 
XI. CRYPTONEMiACEiE. Nucleus either lodged within a conceptacle or sunk in the 
frond ; spores developed within solitary or aggregated detached mother-cells ; 
at length conglobated without order. 
* * Frond filiform, articulate, monosiphonous ; the articulations naked, or covered by a 
cortical layer of small cellules. 
XII. Spyridiace.®. Nucleus lodged in an external, closed cellular pericarp, com. 
pound, consisting of many nucleoli, each formed by the evolution of panicu- 
lately branched spore threads ; spores at length conglobated without order. 
XIII. CERAMiACEiE. Nucleus (a favella) naked or involucrate, simple ; containing 
spores conglobated without order within a hyaline membranous periderm (or 
mother cell), developed externally. RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
9 
Order I.-PJIODOMELACEiE. 
Harv. Man. Ed. 2, p. 75. Rhodomelece, J. Ag. in Linn. XV. p. 23. Alg. Medit. p. 
116. Endl. Gen. 3rd Suppl. p. 44. Harv. Ner. Austr. p. 9 ; J. Ag. Sp. Gen. and 
Ord. Algarum, 2, p. xi. Rytiphlcece, Dne. Class, p. 62, afoo part of 
Ceramiece, Chondriece, Thamnophorece, and Anomalophyllece, Dne. 1. c. Dasyece, Poly- 
siphoniece, Chondriece (in part), Botryocarpece (in part), Amansiece, Rytiphlceacece, 
Carpohlepharidece (partly) and Claudiece, Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 414-451. 
Diagnosis. Red or brown-red or purple seaweeds, with a leafy or filiform, 
areolated or articulated frond, composed of polygonal cells ; the inarticulate filiform 
species having an articulated axis composed of cells radiating round a central cell. 
Sporiferous nucleus contained in ovate or urceolate, perforate conceptacles ; spores 
pyriform, formed in the terminal cell of unbranched, tufted spore-threads radiating 
from a basal placenta. Tetraspores generally seriated, lodged either in distorted 
ramuli or in proper receptacles (stichidia or sporophylla). 
Natural Character. Root either a simple disc, or accompanied by creeping 
fibres ; sometimes, in densely tufted filiform kinds, the primary fronds are prostrate, 
attached by lateral discs issuing along them at intervals, the secondary ones or 
branches erect. Frond very variable in habit, either leaflike or filiform ; or rarely 
formed into an anastomosing net-work. In the numerous forms found in various 
parts of the world all gradations between a perfectly developed, nerved, expanded 
leaf, and a capillary, articulated filament, finer than human hair, may be traced. 
In the flat, leaf-like species, the frond is sometimes (as in Odonthalia) thick, opaque, 
with minute surface cells, and either destitute of midrib or obsoletely ribbed ; 
sometimes (as in Amansia) it is delicately membranaceous, translucent, composed 
of regular twelve sided cells of equal length, arranged in transverse lines. Similar 
varieties occur in the cylindrical fronds, some of which are opaque, with small 
surface cells (Alsidium, Acanthophora, Rhodoniela) ; others (as many Polysiphonice) 
are pellucidly articulate. This latter character, in several Polysiphonice, distin- 
guishes all parts of the frond at all ages; in others only obtains in the young 
frond, or in the younger branches and ramuli of older fronds. In such the articu- 
lations are gradually coated over by successive rows of smaller cells of unequal 
size and shape, and can only be discovered by making cross and longitudinal sec- 
tions of the stems. A cross section being made, an articulated axis composed of 
several cells disposed like ,the spokes of a wheel round a central cell may be 10 
RHODOMELACEvE. 
V. 
detected in all the plants of this order, and affords a mark by which they may 
generally be recognised when not in fruit. The growing ends of the branches and 
ramuli are clothed with articulated, mostly dichotomous, monosiphonous hairs or 
ramelli, and sometimes the whole surface of the frond is thickly covered with them. 
In most cases they are deciduous, falling away soon after the point from which they 
spring becomes fully developed, but sometimes (as in Dasya) they are persistent, 
either remaining unchanged, or, (in the section Stichocarpus) eventually becoming 
polysiphonous and changing into ramuli. 
Considerable uniformity prevails throughout the Order in the structure of the 
organs of fructification. The concepticle in all is of the form technically called 
ceramidium, that is, an ovate or urceolate hollow case, pierced by a terminal-pore, 
and containing a tuft of spore-threads radiating from a basal, more or less elevated 
placenta. These eonceptacles are formed at the ends or sides of the branches or 
ramuli, and are always transformations of shortened ramuli, or of the apices of 
branches. The spores are pear-shaped, tapering greatly to the base, and are formed 
singly from the terminal cells of the spore-threads. The tetraspores in all cases, so 
far as I am aware, are tripartite or unequally triradiate—three of the sporules 
only being visible at either face. They are never equally dispersed through the 
frond, and only in a few cases lodged in its unaltered ramuli. Most usually they 
are produced in little ovate or lanceolate, pod-like receptacles called stichidia, de- 
veloped either from the midrib, the disc, or the margin of the leafy species ; or 
formed within the axils of the ramuli ; on the ends of the branches ; or even on 
the permanent hairs (as in Dasya) that clothe the surface. The distinctive generic 
characters often depend on the occurrence, the form, or the position of the stichidia. 
Antheridia have been found in several Polysiphonice, Phodomelce, Dasyce, Sfc, They 
occur in the form of minute pod-like bodies, resembling the stichidia in shape, but 
much smaller, tilled with exceedingly minute granular cells, and are usually of a 
pale yellow colour. They are mostly developments of the dichotomous hairs that 
crown the growing ends of the branches. 
The order Rhodomelacece, though including within its limits many brilliant Alga?, 
contains a large proportion of darker and more soberly coloured species. It takes 
its name from one of the genera (Pliodomela) which is noted for changing from red 
to black during the process of drying, and very many others have similar proper- 
ties. In Odontlialia the growing frond is blood red, while the dried is dark vinous 
purple. Many rosy or purplish leafy kinds change to dull brown. Brown again, 
of various depths and shades, is the proper colour of several Polysiphonice ; while 
others of that genus, though equally brown when dry, are a pure crimson or pur- 
ple when growing. In so large a genus all hues of red, as may be supposed, are 
found, and are more or less lost or preserved in drying. The genus Bostrychia is 
remarkable for the depth and dulness of its purple colour, the only varieties being 
tinges of green, or of black or very dark brown. Dasya among the American 
genera shines out in greatest lustre, its soft fronds (as in D. elegans), clothed with 
a rich fleece of rosy purple ; a colour which is preserved or even heightened in the 
drying specimen. 
None of the North America genera of this order q,re peculiar to the coasts of V. 
KHODOMELACEiE. 
11 
this continent, and most are widely scattered. Amansia, Alsidium., Acantiiophora 
and Digenia are either tropical or subtropical. Odonthalia is confined to the 
colder regions of the Atlantic and Pacific, and to the circum-polar Ocean. Per- 
haps its most southern limit in Europe is the Isle of Man (lat. 54° 20'), while in 
America it extends from the Arctic Coast at least to Halifax Harbour (lat. 44° 35'). 
Fhodomela is distributed in high northern and southern latitudes. There is a 
species (F. concinna, Hook, and Harv.) at the southern extremity of the New 
Zealand group, closely related to F. floccosa of our north-west coast ; and others 
occur at the Falkland Islands and Cape Horn. Fytiphloea is for the most part sub- 
tropical, but some of its species on the West Coast of Ireland reach to lat. 55°. 
Polysiphonia and Dasya may be said to be cosmopolitan. Of the former, between 
two and three hundred species have been described, probably a third too 
many. Several of these are found in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, as 
well as in parallel climates north and south of the line. F. fastigiata is a very 
constant parasite on Fucus nodosus. wherever that grows. F. nigrescens, under one 
or other of its forms, prevails along the Atlantic shores ; and P. urceolata and 
formosa are equally spread abroad. Dasya elegans, so abundant from Long Island 
Sound to Florida, has an equally wide range in Southern Europe ; and a closely 
allied species, D. villosa, abounds in Van Dieman’s Land. It is remarkable that 
D. coccinea so common on the shores of Europe has not yet been found in America, 
and that the North American species most nearly related to it has been brought 
from Puget’s Sound, on the Pacific coast. 
SYNOPSIS OP THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
* Frond flat, pinnatifid. 
I. Amansia. Translucent, distinctly midribbed, membranaceous ; the membrane 
formed of large, hexagonal cells, disposed in transverse rows. 
II. Odonthalia. Opaque, obsoletely midribbed, thickish, composed of minute 
cells ; those of the surface very minute, irregularly polygonal. 
** Frond filiform, inarticulate ; the surface cells minute, of irregular form, and 
irregularly placed (not in transverse lines). Famuli similar to the rest 
of the frond in structure. 
III. Alsidium. Laxly cellular ; the ramuli short, spinelike, transversely striate. 
Stichidia axillary, tufted, fusiform. 
IV. Acantiiophora. Laxly cellular; the ramuli spinelike, opaque. Stichidia (formed 
in swollen ramuli) subglobose, thorny, sessile. 12 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
v. 
Y. Chondria. Laxly cellular ; the ramuli clubshaped, much attenuated at their 
insertion. Tetraspores lodged in the ramuli. 
VI. Rhodomela. Densely, cellular; the branches and filiform ramuli opaque, not 
transversely striate. Tetraspores in the terminal, filiform ramuli. 
VII. Rytiphlaia. Densely cellular with an articulated axis ; the ramuli (at least) 
transversely striate or subarticulate. Tetraspores in the terminal, fusiform 
ramuli. 
*** Frond filiform, inarticulate, opaque. Ramuli articulate, longitudinally multistriate. 
VIII. Digenia. Ramuli subsimple, quadrifarious, densely imbricated. 
* * * * pron(q filiform., either partially or wholly articulate, or tessellated (i. e. the surface 
cells coequal, arranged in transverse rows.) 
IX. Polysiphonia. Frond, at least the younger parts, obviously articulate ; the 
articulations longitudinally two or many-striate. 
X. Bostrychia. Frond tessellated with quadrate or oblong, purple cells. 
***** Frond filiform or compressed, inarticulate or subarticulate, beset with byssoid, 
single-tubed, articulate ramelli, which bear the fructification. Stichidia fusiform. 
XI. Dasya. 
I. AMANSIA. Lamour. 
Frond flat, delicately membranaceous, transversely striate, rosy purple, pinna- 
tifid, midribbed ; the membrane formed of oblong, hexagonal cells, of equal 
length, arranged in zones across the frond; the midrib slender, disappearing 
towards the apices. Conceptacles subglobose, sessile, marginal, containing a tuft of 
pear-shaped spores. Stichidia marginal, branched, containing a single or double 
row of tetraspores. Antheridia ovate, stipitate, borne on and about the inrolled 
apices of the lacinulae. 
A small genus of tropical or sub-tropical Algse, resembling Delesseria in habit, 
but readily known, even without fruit, by the structure of the frond, which under 
a pocket lens appears to be finely striate transversely, and with a glass of greater 
magnifying power is seen to be composed of hexagonal cells of equal size. The 
membrane is thin, composed of two strata of cells, with thin walls, containing rosy 
endochrome. y. 
R EIODOMELACEiE. 
13 
1. Amansia multijida, Lamour. ; stem vaguely branched, obsoletely winged, 
bearing numerous, irregularly placed, ovate, deeply bi-tri-pinnatifid fronds, prolife- 
rous from the midrib ; laciniae linear, with a very slender nerve ; lacinulce broadly 
subulate, their apices strongly inrolled. Lamour. Bull. Phil. 1809. t. 6. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. 1. p. 192. J. Ag. in Linncea. XV. p. 26. Odonthalia multijida, Endl. 3d. Suppl. 
p. 47. Epineuron multijidum, Kiltz. Sp. Alg. p. 848. 
Hab. Abundantly cast up at Key West, W. H. H. &c. (v. v.) 
Tufts much branched. Stems three to four inches long, cartilaginous, naked or 
winged with the remains of a membranous lamina, throwing out numerous, 
irregularly placed, leaf-like, secondary fronds, which are sometimes distant, 
sometimes densely crowded, when the plant becomes an intricate, globose 
mass of fronds. These secondary fronds are ovate or ovato-lanceolate in outline, 
either pinnatifid, bipinnatifid or tripinnatifid, delicately membranaceous, their main 
rachis traversed by a strong cartilaginous midrib, which gradually becomes thinner 
and fainter upwards ; their pinnae and pinnules marked by a very fine, depressed 
central line. The midribs of the larger branches are frequently proliferous. The 
apices of all the pinnulae are strongly rolled inwards. I have not seen fruit of 
either kind ; but what appear to be antheridia are very common (in February) 
crowding around the tips of all the laciniae, the usual position in Algae of this 
order: they are pedicellate, ovate, filled with minute grains. Colour a purplish 
pink, becoming browner in drying, and soon fading in fresh water. The substance 
is rather rigidly membranaceous, and in drying the plant does not adhere to paper. 
Endlicher has strangely misunderstood the affinities of this plant, by placing it in 
Odonthalia, a genus with a very different structure. 
II. ODONTHALIA. Lyngb. 
Frond flat or nearly so, thickish, subopaque, distichously pinnatifid, obsoletely 
midribbed, the margin alternately toothed. Structure densely cellular; the surface 
cells very minute, polygonal, irregular in size and form. Conceptacles marginal, 
mostly axillary, pedicellate, ovate, wide-mouthed, containing a tuft of pear-shaped 
spores. Stichidia marginal, mostly axillary, stipitate, corymbose, lanceolate, con- 
taining a double row of tetraspores. 
This group, separated from Rhodomela by Lyngbye, has been generally received 
by botanists, and by all but Endlicher, with nearly the same limitation. It differs 
from Rhodomela in the nearly flattened, two-edged, broadly linear frond, the middle 
portion of which is thickened into a more or less evident costa ; and in the position 
of the fructification in axillary processes. The species have all been found in the 14 
riiodomelacea:. 
y. 
Northern Ocean, our American one being common to the north of Europe, and the 
other known species to the north-eastern shores of Asia. 
1. Odonthalia dentata, Lyngb.; decompoundly pinnate; branches oblong, deeply 
pinnatifid or bipinnatifid ; laciniae alternate, linear, sharply inciso-dentate toward 
their truncated extremities ; conceptacles and stichidia both clustered, axillary. 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 34 (colour incorrect). Kiltz. Sp. Alg. p. 846. Fucus dentatus, 
Linn. Turn. Hist. t. 13. E. Bot. t. 1241. 
Hab. On rocks and stones in deep water. “ Shores of America,” Gmelin. Dredg- 
ed in Halifax Harbour, W. H. H. Arctic Coast, Mr. Seeman. (v. v.) 
Fronds 3-12 (in the Halifax specimens 4-5) inches long, decompoundly pinnati- 
fid, the main divisions irregular, the secondary and subsequent regularly alter- 
nated, and erecto-patent. The main branches are evidently ribbed towards the 
base, where the marginal wing is narrow and frequently defective, and become less 
obviously ribbed, broader, flatter and thinner upwards. The secondary branches 
have an oblong or lanceolate or sometimes a flabelliform outline and are alternately 
pinnatifid ; the lowest laciniee short, broadly subulate, tooth like, the upper gra- 
dually larger and alternately inciso-dentate or again pinnatifid. In the specimens 
with flabelliform branches the upper laciniee are proportionably much longer and 
more compound, all their divisions spreading. Axils very obtuse. Apices acute. 
The internal structure is dense, the substance composed of innumerable small, 
polygonal cells, closely packed together ; those of the surface exceedingly minute. 
Fruit (which I have not seen on American specimens) borne on little marginal 
processes either in or near the axils of the laciniaa ; both conceptacles and stichidia 
tufted. Colour, when growing, a clear, full, blood-red, becoming darker and 
changing either to vinous purple or to brown red ; when dried the tips sometimes 
assume a pinky tint. 
The American specimens are smaller and narrower than the generality of those 
of British growth, but I can find no distinctive character, and have seen some from 
Orkney equally narrow. The 0. angustifolia, Suhr, judging from a specimen in 
Herb. T. C. D., is a different species, seemingly the same as 0. Kamtchatica, Bupr. 
The colour of the plate given in Phycologia Britannica, copied from a dried 
specimen, is very incorrect; when growing, this plant is of a clear, translucent red. 
III. ALSIDIUM, Ag. 
Frond filiform or compressed, cartilaginous, pinnately or irregularly de- 
compound, opaque, coated with small polygonal, irregularly placed cells; axis RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
15 
articulated, polysiphonous. Ramuli alternate, subulate, acute, transversely striate. 
Conceptacles inflated, solitary, with contracted and produced apertures, containing 
within a membranous pericarp a tuft of pear-shaped spores on simple funiculi, 
radiating from a basal placenta. Tetraspores tripartite, lodged in axillary, tufted, 
lanceolate receptacles (stichidia), irregularly seriated. 
As revised by J. Agardh (Linmea, vol. XV. p. 28.), this genus is nearly related 
to Acanthophora on the one hand, and to Rhodomela on the other. The species are 
all from the warmer parts of the ocean. I have seen only the conceptacles of A. 
Seaforthii and A. Blodgettii; and only the stichidia of A. triangulare. 
1. Alsidium triangulare, J. Ag.; frond triquetrous, between dichotomous and 
pinnate, much branched; branches alternate or secund, closely set throughout with 
minute, trifarious, bifid, trifid or multifid ramuli ; stichidia axillary, tufted. J. 
Ag. in Linncea XV. p. 28. Bryotliamnion triangulare, Kiitz. Sp. Alg.p. 842. Phys- 
cophora triangularis, Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 434. t. 57. Jig- 1. Thamnophora triangularis, 
Ag. Syst. Alg.p. 240. (Tab. XIII. A.) 
Hab. Abundantly thrown up at Key West. (A common West Indian 
species), (v. v.) 
Frond 6-12 inches long or more, excessively branched. Stem cartilaginous, 
cylindrical below, where it is frequently two lines in diameter, gradually becoming 
narrower and more compressed upwards, forking repeatedly and then irregularly 
divided. Branches scattered, triangular, with a flabelliform outline, much divided; 
the lesser branches alternate or secund, having shorter branchlets toward the apices. 
All the younger parts of the frond are set, at distances of a line or two, with 
minute, trifarious, mostly three pronged ramuli, not a line in length: these, as well 
as the younger part of the branches, appear transversely striate when examined with 
a pocket lens. Conceptacles I have not seen. Stichidia densely tufted in the axils 
of the trifid ramuli, distorted, more or less fusiform, tapering to a point, each con- 
taining three or four large tetraspores in an imperfect line. A cross section of the 
frond shows a small axial cell surrounded by eight primary cells (or siphons), out- 
side which are several rows of irregularly polygonal cells, which diminish in size to 
the circumference. The surface cellules are very minute, so that the branches 
appear opaque and inarticulate. Colour when fresh a clear purplish pink, soon 
fading in the sun, and becoming; reddish brown in the herbarium. Substance carti- 
laginous, very tough, and not in the least adhering to paper in drying. 
Plate XIII. A.—Fig. 1. A small plant of Alsidium triangulare; the natural size. 
Fig. 2, apex of a branch with three-pronged ramuli ; jig. 3, tuft of stichidia containing 
tetraspores, removed from the axil of a ram ulus ; Jig. 4, a transverse section of the 
frond ;—the latter figures more or less highly magnified. 16 
rhodomelacea:. 
V. 
2. Alsidium Blodgettii, Harv.; frond sub-compressed below, terete above, decom- 
pound pinnate ; pinnae alternate, patent, close, virgate, the lowest very long, set 
with short, setaceous, spinous-toothed, alternate, distichous ramuli ; upper branches 
short and sub-simple ; conceptacles pedicellate, inflated, urceolate, variously placed 
on the ramuli. (Tab. XV. B.) 
Hab. At Key West, Dr. Blodgett, (No. 73.) St. Marks, Florida, Mr. Hooper. 
Apalachicola, Capt. Pike (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.). 
Frond of unknown length, probably a foot or more. Branches pinnate or bi- 
pinnate ; the lowermost pinnae long, simple or again pinnate ; the upper much 
shorter or altogether abortive, so that the apices of the branches project, like long 
tails, beyond the bushy part of the frond. All the divisions are very patent, the 
primary and secondary ones almost horizontal. The secondary (or pinnae) are 
distichous, about two lines apart, and are from two to three inches in length, about 
the thickness of hog’s bristle, gradually tapering to a point. Near the base they 
are generally bare of ramuli, or are merely toothed, but for the greater portion of 
their length are set with distichous bristle-shaped ramuli, a line apart and two or 
three lines long. These ramuli are regularly spinoso-dentate. The conceptacles, 
which are abundant on some of my specimens, are as large as poppy-seed, inflated, 
thin walled, with a prominent, contracted orifice, and contain a very large tuft of 
pear-shaped spores. They are placed either just above the axils of the ramuli, or at 
their apex, or along their margin, and appear to be formed by a metamorphosis of 
the spinous teeth which regularly alternate, in distichous order, along all the 
branches and ramuli. A cross section of the stem shews a central cavity sur- 
rounded by five primary cells, outside which several large cells are interposed 
between the primaries and the peripheric cells. The colour appears to have been a 
clear, full red, fading to yellowish on exposure. The substance is cartilaginous, 
but somewhat tender, and the plant, in drying, adheres pretty strongly to paper. 
For a knowledge of this very interesting plant, I am indebted to my friend Dr. 
Blodgett of Key West, whose name I have therefore bestowed upon it. At the 
time the figure and description were made, I had seen but a single specimen ; but 
have since received numerous and beautiful specimens from Dr. Blodgett, in all 
important respects agreeing with that first found. Captain Pike and Mr. Hooper 
have communicated, from the mainland of Florida, less perfectly preserved specimens; 
which, notwithstanding some minor differences, I refer without hesitation to this 
species. I think it can hardly be doubted to belong to the same natural genus as 
A. Seaforthii, though abundantly distinct from that species. 
Plate XV. B. Fig. 1. A branch of Alsidium Blodgettii, the natural size. Fig. 2, 
apex of a branch, with toothed ramuli and conceptacles ; jig. 3, a conceptacle and 
rainulus removed ; jig. 4, spores from the conceptacle ; jig. 5, transverse section of 
the stem ; the latter figures more or less highly magnijied. y. 
RHODOMELAC EM. 
17 
IV. ACANTHOPHORA. Larnour. 
Frond filiform, cartilaginous, irregularly decompound, opaque, coated with small, 
polygonal, irregularly placed cellules ; axis articulated, polysiphonous. Famuli 
densely crowded on all sides of the branches, short, spinelike, acute. Conceptacles 
urnshaped, perforate, borne on the ramuli, containing within a cellular pericarp a 
tuft of pear-shaped spores on simple funiculi radiating from a basal placenta. 
Tetraspores tripartite, lodged in globose receptacles {stichidia) formed in swollen 
ramuli. 
A small genus composed of a few tropical or subtropical species, the distinctive 
characters of which are not well defined. They become very dark, often nearly 
black, in drying, and are readily known by their spinelike ramuli. The natural 
habit is nearly the same as in Alsidium, but the stichidia have a different origin, 
being here formed out of the very substance of the ordinary ramuli, and not a 
special axillary growth. 
1. Acanthophora Thierii, Larnour. ; irregularly pinnate or bi-pinnate, or not 
much branched ; branches long, subsimple, tapering, beset throughout with quaqua- 
versal, subulate ramuli, which are densely clothed with simple or trifid spines. 
Lam. Ess. p. 44. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 858. Fucus acanthophorus, Lamour. JDiss. t. 30 cf 
31./. 1. Turn. Hist. t. 32. A. militqris, Lam. A. muscoides, Grev. (Tab. XIV. A.) 
Hab. “ Shores of Xorth America,” Lamouroux. Key West, W.H.H. (No. 4). Key 
West and Conch Key, Prof. M. Tuomey (41, 42, 43). (v. v.) 
Fronds 3-6 inches long, half a line in diameter, alternately or irregularly 
branched ; branches sometimes closely placed, sometimes distant, erecto-patent, 
long, little divided, flexuous, sometimes having a few secondary branches above, 
beset throughout at distances of a line apart with quaquaversal, very patent, short 
ramuli. Ramuli one or two lines long, densely bristled with short, simple or 
trifid, broadly subulate, patent or reflexed spines. Conceptacles urn-shaped, with a 
contracted orifice, seated on the sides or tip of the ramulus, and formed out of one 
of its spines. A cross section of the frond shows five large primary cells surround- 
ing a small central cavity, and a wide border of smaller irregularly angular cells, 
gradually diminishing in size towards the periphery, which is formed of very 
minute cells. No outward appearance of articulation, or transverse strise. Colour, 
a dark, lurid purple, becoming brown or even black in drying. Substance carti- 
laginous, firm. By pressure the plant may be made to adhere partially to paper in 
drying. 
I regret that I had not noticed the conceptacles, which I find on one of Prof. 
Tuomey’s specimens, in time to introduce a figure of them into the plate. 
My specimens agree very fairly with the figure and description of Lamouroux 18 
RHODOMELACEAh 
Y. 
quoted above, except that Lamouroux represents tbe spiniferous ramuli shorter 
than I find them. He received the plant on which he founds his species from 
“ North America,” but was uninformed of the exact locality where it was gathered. 
I have little hesitation, therefore, in adopting his specific name. Nor do I hesitate 
to refer the A. muscoides, Grev., typified by Turner’s plate 32, nor the A. militarise 
Lamour., to the same species ; for though my specimens from Key West are much 
less copiously branched than the figures given by the authors just named, yet I 
find such a series of connecting links in numerous specimens from St. Croix, 
which I owe to Miss Dix, and specimens from Chili collected by Baron de Selding, 
that I cannot point out any valid difference. Some are scarcely branched, others 
closely pinnate or bi-pinnate, and both forms sometimes occur in the same tuft. I 
am not alone in this opinion, doubts of the validity of A. muscoides being held by 
Dr. Montagne, {Nat. Hist. Cuba, p. 43,) who has kindly sent me a specimen of 
his plant, and it closely agrees with some of my Key West specimens. 
Plate XIY. A. Fig. 1, Frond of Acanthophora Thierii; the natural size. Fig. 
2, a spiniferous ramulus ; jig. 3, cross section of the stem ; the latter figures more 
or less magnified. 
2. Acanthophora Delilei, Lamour. ; much branched and bushy, decompoundly 
pinnate or irregularly divided ; branches beset with long and short, sub-spiniferous 
ramuli, and with solitary, distant, short spines. Lamour, Ess. p. 44 ; Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg., 858 ; Phyc. Gen. t. 52, /. 4 ; Fucus naiadiformis, Delile, Egypt. t. 56,/. 1. 
Hab. At Sand Key and Key West, W. H. H. (No. 3.) (v. v.) 
Fronds in large tufts, 4—6 inches long, one-third of a line in diameter, exces- 
sively branched from the base. Branches alternate or secund, rarely opposite, 
spreading, simple below, beset with secondary branches above. These secondary 
branches are often again pinnate or bipinnated with lesser ramuli of unequal 
lengths. Ramuli either naked, or having a few distant, horizontal spines, or 
regularly beset with alternate spines. The larger branches also are furnished with 
scattered, simple, solitary spines. Substance cartilaginous. Colour dull purple, or 
brownish, becoming very dark when dry, in which state the plant imperfectly 
adheres to paper. 
This is a more slender and much more diffusely branched plant than the pre- 
ceding, from which it is technically distinguished chiefly by the scattered solitary 
spines, found on all the branches in greater or less plenty. Our specimens agree 
in most respects with specimens from the Mediterranean, but I am not without 
doubts, whether the differences indicated between this plant and A. Thierii are 
valid. RHODOMELACEiE. 
y. 
19 
V. CHONDRIA. J. Ag. ref 
Fronds filiform, cartilaginous, pinnately decompound, opaque, coated with small 
polygonal, irregularly placed cells. Axis articulated, polysiphonous. Famuli club- 
shaped, very much constricted at their insertion, obtuse or sub-acute, transversely 
striolate. Conceptacles ovate, perforate, sessile or pedicellate on the ramuli, con- 
taining, within a cellular pericarp, a tuft of pear-shaped spores on simple funiculi 
radiating from a basal placenta. Tetraspores tripartite, crowded irregularly in the 
club-shaped ramuli, formed from the endochrome of the radiant cells. 
Frond of a cartilaginous or subgelatinous substance, soon decomposing in fresh 
water, and generally closely adhering to paper in drying, filiform, more or less 
regularly pinnately decompound, but not strictly distichous. Branches, and their 
subsequent decompositions, simple, virgate, attenuated at the base and apex, set 
with more or less abundant lateral, scattered, spirally inserted simple ramuli, 
which are always very much constricted at the base, and either abruptly truncate 
or attenuate at the apex. The surface of the frond is composed of small irregular 
oblong cells, through which the internal articulated axis is rarely visible, except in 
the ultimate ramuli of some species. This axis is formed of four or five large 
oblong cells of equal length, disposed in a radiant manner round a central cell. 
Some species are rosy purple, staining fresh water carmine ; others in steeping give 
out a brown fluid of offensive odour, and stain paper a fulvous brown ; others are 
dark purple, or tinged with green. Conceptacles generally on the sides of the 
ramuli, mostly ovate and subsessile. Tetraspores lodged within the axial cells of the 
ramuli, one or more in each cell, large, irregularly crowded near the extremities. 
A large genus, the species of which until recently have been arranged among the 
Laurencice, from which position Prof. J. Agardh has very properly separated them. 
Their agreement with Laurencia (typified by L. pinnati/ida and its allies) is more 
in external habit than in structural character. They differ especially in the articu- 
lated polysiphonous axis, a character by which they are associated with the Bhodo- 
melacece. Besides the North American species described below, I possess some 
imperfect specimens from Key West, which I have not been able to refer to their 
proper place ; and probably other new species may remain to reward a diligent 
search on the shores of the Southern States. 
1. Chondria sedifolia ; frond alternately much branched ; branches patent, decom- 
pound, beset with short, spindleshaped, scattered or tufted ramuli much contracted 
at the base, and sub-acute or obtuse at the apex ; conceptacles ovate, sessile on the 
ramuli. (Tab. XYIII. G.) 
Hab. Key West, Mr. Binney, W. H. //., Dr. Blodgett, (33, 34, &c.) Prof. Tuomey, 
(45, 52, &c.) (v. v.) 20 
RITODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
Frond 4-6 inches long, as thick as sparrow’s quill, much branched, either with a 
leading stem pinnated or bipinnated with lateral, closely set, patent branches ; or 
alternately or irregularly multifid, the branches straight or curved, spreading in 
all directions. Branches once or twice compound, sometimes nearly naked, but 
oftener densely clothed with ramuli about a line in length, and very much con- 
stricted at the base, acute or obtuse at the apex. Conceptacles ovate, wide*mouthed, 
sessile on the ramuli. Tetraspores in the ramuli of distinct plants. Colour a dark 
reddish-brown, fading to yellow. Substance cartilaginous, less apt to decompose, 
than others of the genus. In drying it adheres to paper. 
Perhaps only a variety of Ch. dasyphylla, but the habit is very peculiar. 
Plate XVIII. G. Fig. 1. Branch of Chondria sedi/olia, the natural size. Fig. 
2, small portion, with ramuli and conceptacles, magnified. 
2. Chondria dasyphylla, Ag. ; frond robust, elongate, alternately much branched; 
branches simple or decompound, beset with short, clubshaped or topshaped, blunt 
ramuli, much constricted at the base. Ag. syst. Alg. p. 205. Laurencia dasyphylla, 
Grev.—Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 152. Kiitz. Sp. Ala. p. 853. Fucus dasyphyllus, Turn. 
Hist. t. 22. E. Bot. t. 847. 
Hab. On Algae, &c. between tide marks. Annual. Newport, Mr. Olney. Pe- 
conic Bay, Prof. Bailey, and W. H. H. Key West, IF. H. 77., Dr. Blodgett, (23, 24) 
(v. v.) 
Fronds tufted, 6-12 inches'long, as thick as a crow quill, cylindrical, not much 
attenuated upwards. Stem rarely parted towards the base into several branches, 
generally undivided, set with lateral branches which are either simple or furnished 
with a second or third series. Ramuli a quarter to half an inch long, blunt, much 
constricted at the base. Colour a purple brown, becoming duller in drying. The 
substance of the growing plant is firm and cartilaginous, but soon becomes flaccid 
in the air, and if left a short time in fresh water the ramuli fall off and the frond 
rapidly decomposes, tinging the water dark brown. It closely adheres to paper in 
drying. 
The North American specimens are a little different from the common European 
form, most of the ramuli, though blunt, being rounded, not truncate at the top. 
In one of my Greenport specimens, however, I find the ramuli as abruptly truncate 
as in the normal condition of the species. 
3. Chondria Bailey ana, Mont. ; frond setaceous, much branched below ; branches 
long and virgate, erect, subsimple, beset throughout with scattered, simple or pin- 
nated, slender, curved ramuli which are greatly attenuated to the base and 
obtuse at the apex ; conceptacles pedicellate, on the ramuli. Laurencia Baileyana, 
Mont, in An. sc. nat. 3rd Ser. Vol. 2, p. 63. (Tab. XVIII. A.) var. /3. with a 
leading stem closely pinnated with lateral branches. Y. 
RHODOMELACEJE. 
21 
Hab. On Algse, &c. near low water mark. Annual. A common plant in Long 
Island Sound. Newport, Prof. Bailey. New Bedford, Dr. Roche. Little Compton 
&c. Mr. Olney. Seaconnot, Mr. Congdon. New York Harbour, Prof. Bailey, Mr. 
Hooper, and Mr. Calverley, Sfc. (v. v.) 
Fronds densely tufted, 6-8 inches long, as thick as hog’s bristle, generally with a 
short stem soon dividing into several long, rodlike branches. Branches erect, 4-5 
inches long, simple or once or twice compound, set at short intervals with slender 
rainuli, which at first are simple, and afterwards pinnulated or even bipinnulated 
with similar smaller ramuli. The ramuli spread to every side and are very gener- 
ally curved, from a quarter to half an inch long, much attenuated to the base, 
somewhat narrowed upwards, but ending in a blunted, roundish point. The con- 
ceptacles are ovate, on little stalks rising from the sides of the ramuli; and the 
tetraspores are generally confined to the apices. Colour, when growing in deep 
water, a fine brownish purple. In fresh water it soon gives out a rose-coloured 
fluid which stains the paper on which the specimen is displayed, and to which it 
closely adheres in drying. Substance soft and tender. 
This plant varies very much in ramification. The specimens described by Dr. 
Montagne appear to have been but little branched, the branches springing near the 
base. I have seen such, but they do not convey an adequate idea of the ordinary 
form, which is usually much more decompound. Some specimens have a leading, 
stem closely pinnated with branches ; and in others the branches are bipinnate 
with very densely set, plumose ramuli. As a species it is almost exactly inter- 
mediate between Ch. dasyphylla and Ch. tenuissima, having the slender habit of 
the latter, and ramuli almost as blunt as in the former, though much more 
attenuated. 
Plate XVIII. A. Fig. 1. Chondria Bailey ana, the natural size. Fig. 2, portion 
of a branch, with ramuli and tetrasporic fruit; fig. 3, apex with tetraspores ; fig. 4, 
a tetraspore ; fig. 5, ramulus with conceptacles ; fig. 6, a conceptacle ; all more or 
less highly magnified. 
4. Chondria tenuissima, Ag. ; frond slender, terete, irregularly divided ; branches 
long and virgate, clothed with very slender, setaceous ramuli, which taper much to 
the base and the acute apex. Ag. Syst. Alg. p. 205. Laurencia tenuissima, Grev.— 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 198. Alsidium tenuissimum, Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 843. Fucus 
tenuissimus, Turn. Hist. t. 100. E. Bot. t. 1882. (Tab. XYIII. F.) 
Hab. Boston Bay, and New Haven, Dr. Durkee. Hell Gate, New York, Mr. 
Hooper, (v. v.) 
Fronds 4-6 inches long, about twice as thick as hog’s bristle, with an undivided 
stem set with lateral, mostly alternate spreading branches. Branches simple or 
pinnated with a second series of similar branches, and furnished throughout with 22 
RHODOMELACEAL 
y. 
more or less abundant setaceous rainuli from a quarter to half an inch in length and 
mostly simple. Ramuli very narrow, fusiform, tapering much to the base and to 
the acute apex. Conceptacles ovate, on the ramuli, mostly pedicellate. I have 
not seen tetraspores on American specimens. Substance cartilaginous, tender. In 
drying the plant adheres to paper. 
Apparently rare on the American coast. The few specimens which I have seen 
have the essential characters of the European form, but are less luxuriant. 
Plate XVIII. F. Fig. 1, branch of Chondria tenuissima; the natural size. Fig. 
2, small portion with ramuli, magnified. 
5. Chondria littoralis ; frond robust, elongate, subdichotomous or irregularly 
much branched; branches flexuous, attenuated, with rounded axils; ramuli scattered 
or crowded, fusiform, attenuated to the base and apex, simple or pinnulated, acute. 
Var. fi. ramuli very densely crowded, pinnate and bi-pinnate ; conceptacles ovate, 
sessile, near the tips of the ramuli. 
Hab. On the Florida Keys. Abundant at Key West, near high-water mark. 
W. H. H., Prof. Tuomey, (58, 59, &c.) (v. v.) 
Tufts very large and dense, often spreading over a considerable space. Fronds 
twelve inches long or more, as thick as crow’s quill or somewhat thicker below, 
attenuated upwards, much and very irregularly branched ; the main stem once, twice 
or many times forked, the arms spreading widely. Sometimes two, sometimes three 
branches spring from each fork. Branches of unequal length, erect, flexuous, taper- 
ing to the apex, either nearly naked or more or less abundantly furnished with 
slender ramuli. The older parts are generally denuded, but in var. /3. all the 
branches are densely beset with pinnato-multifid ramuli. Rainuli a quarter to half 
an inch long, lineari-fusiform, much attenuated at the base, curved, tapering to an 
acute or subacute point. Conceptacles ovate, sessile. Colour a pale yellowish 
fawn, with a reddish tinge. Substance cartilaginous, soon decomposing in fresh 
water. In drying it stains the paper brownish yellow. 
In mere technical character this approaches Ch. tenuissima, but is a much larger, 
coarser and less regularly branched species. It abounds along the shore at Key 
West, after growing quite up to high water limit. It is one of the least ornamental 
of the genus. 
6. Chondria atropurpurea; frond robust, dark coloured, inordinately much 
branched ; branches patent, the secondary ones, as well as the scattered ramuli 
tapering to the base and attenuated to an acute point; conceptacles unknown. (Tab. 
XVIII. E.) 
Hab. Sullivan’s Island, Charleston, Prof. L. R. Gibbes, W. H. H. Apalachichola, 
Mr. (97.) (v. v.) V. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
23 
Fronds tufted, in our specimens about four inches high, but the full grown plant 
is probably much taller, as thick as sparrow’s quill or somewhat thicker, irregu- 
larly branched, the branches alternate or unilateral, spreading at wide angles or 
nearly at right angles to the point from which they spring, curving upwards and 
bearing several irregularly placed, erect, secondary branches. These latter are 
narrow-fusiform, one or two inches long, much constricted at the base, and taper- 
ing to an acute point. They are sometimes naked, but more commonly set with 
small ramuli of similar shape and one to three lines in length. The colour is a 
dark, blackish purple. The substance is firmly cartilaginous, and in drying the 
plant adheres to paper. 
Our specimens, gathered early in January, are evidently immature, and therefore 
this species must remain somewhat doubtfully characterised. I think it however 
essentially different from any of those described in this memoir. Its nearest affinity 
seems to be with Ch. capensis (Harv. Ner. Austr. t. 31.) but in the absence of more 
certain evidence, it would be premature to unite them. I find among Dr. Coulter’s 
Californian plants a Chondria which agrees in most respects with our Charleston 
specimens, and may belong to the same species. But I am unwilling to confuse 
the subject by quoting it under this species, or unnecessarily to add to the number 
of species by describing it as different. I hope Prof. L. R. Gibbes, by visiting the 
above locality a month or two later in the season, may succeed in finding more 
complete specimens than we have yet procured. Among Dr. Blodgett’s Key West 
specimens are two, (No. 27 and 29) possibly referable to our Ch. atropurpurea, but, 
for the reason just given, I forbear quoting them under it. One has large, ovate, 
stalked conceptacles ; the other tetraspores in the ramuli. 
Plate XVIII. E. Fig. 1. Branch of Chondria atropurpurea, the natural size. Fig. 
2, small portion with ramuli, slightly magnified. Fig. 3. longitudinal section of 
the stem, more highly magnified. 
Y. RHODOMELA. Ag. 
Frond filiform or subcompressed, cartilaginous, decompound-pinnate, opaque, 
densely cellular within, coated with minute, polygonal, irregularly placed cells; 
axis articulate, polysiphonous. Famuli filiform. Conceptacles ovate, pedicellate or 
sessile, containing within a membranous pericarp a tuft of pear-shaped spores on 
simple funiculi radiating from a basal placenta. Tetraspores immersed in the 
swollen, ultimate divisions of the branches, rarely in proper stichidia. 
The species included in this group are natives of the cooler portion of the tem- 
perate zone, both of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are naturally 24 
RHODOMELACEdL 
y. 
associated together by a common habit, but it is not easy to point out a clear generic 
character which will separate them from Rytiphlcea and from the more opaque species 
of Polysiphonia, from which genera they chiefly differ in their denser cellular sub- 
stance and the absence of all appearance of articulation in any part, even the young- 
est, of the frond. In a young state, or when the frond is in active extension, the 
apices of the branches are clothed with dichotomous fibrils, resembling in structure, 
and no doubt analogous to, the ramelli of Dasya ; but these fibrils are fugacious, as 
in Polysiphonia, &c. 
Of the North American species, three belong to the Pacific, and three to the 
Atlantic Coast. 
1. Rhodomela Larix, Ag.; frond robust, terete, alternately branched; branches 
long, subsimple, densely clothed with quaquaversal, tufted, indexed, subulate 
ramuli; stichidia attenuate, among the clustered ramuli. Ag. sp. Alg. 1, p. 376. 
Lophura Larix, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 850. Fucus Larix, Turn. Hist. tab. 207. 
Hab. Pacific Coast from the shores of the Arctic Sea (Seeman) to Monterey, 
abundantly. Coulter! Tolmie! Wilkes! Garry! &c. Discovered at Nootka Sound 
by A. Menzies, Esq. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Frond 6-14 inches long or more, terete, the thickness of a crowquill, undivided 
to the height of two or three inches, thence upwards much branched. Branches 
alternate, 4-6 inches long, simple, or bearing in the upper half several secondary 
branches, and, occasionally, in luxuriant specimens, a third set. The lower part of 
the stem is commonly bare, or clothed with the broken stumps of old branches, but 
all the younger parts of the frond are densely covered on all sides with spirally 
disposed tufts of short, indexed, subulate ramuli, two or three lines in length. 
These ramuli spring from very short or abortive lateral branchlets on which they 
are inserted one above the other, but so near together as to appear fascicled. Some- 
times the axis of the fascicle is a little lengthened and then the ramuli appear 
scattered, but are still very closely placed. Judging from dried specimens the 
ramuli are laterally compressed, shaped like the blade of a knife. The false 
stichidia are formed from the inner or upper ramuli of the fascicles, and are gener- 
ally found on such specimens as have the axis of the fascicles a little lengthened. 
They are more slender than ordinary ramuli, and of greater length, but scarcely 
less opaque: the tetraspores are small. Conceptacles ovate, crowding at the base of 
the tufted ramuli, being formed from the inner ones of the fascicles. Substance 
coarse, between coriaceous and cartilaginous. In drying the plant becomes almost 
black, and does not adhere to paper. 
2. Rhodomela floccosa, Ag.; stem filiform below, compressed above, alternately 
branched ; branches spreading, subsimple, pinnated throughout with short, alter- 
nate, distichous, fasciculato-multifid, compressed ramuli; stichidia lanceolate, formed RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
25 
from the ramuli ; conceptacles ovate, terminal. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 376. Lophura 
floccosa, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 850. Fucus floccosus, Turn. t. 8, Esper t. 100. 
Hab. Pacific coast at Port Trinidad, lat. 41° 12', Mr. Menzies. Siteha, Ruprecht ! 
Nootka Sound, Barclay ! Monterey, Dr. Coulter. Off the west coast, lat. 32°, Lieut. 
Wood, H.M.S. u Pandora.” (v. s. in herb. T. C. D.) 
Frond 5-10 inches long, filiform below, soon compressed and becoming more 
compressed toward the extremity, twice as thick as hogs’ bristle, with a leading 
stem which is once or twice pinnated in its upper half with lateral, alternate, erecto- 
patent branches. Branches distichous, subsimple, sometimes with a second series 
from their upper half, regularly beset throughout with alternate, distichous, multi- 
fid branchlets, one or two lines in length. These branchlets are alternately decom- 
pound, their lowest ramulus simple and subulate, those over it again and again 
compounded ; each ultimate division of the frond slender, subulate, acute, incurved. 
Conceptacles ovate, usually terminating the compound multifid branchlets, being 
formed from their last developed ramuli. Stichidia lanceolate, apiculate, formed of 
the inner or upper ramuli of the branchlet, and containing a double row of tetra- 
spores. Colour in the dry state dark brown or black ; probably red brown when 
recent. Substance rigid. It does not adhere to paper in drying. 
A smaller and slenderer plant than the preceding, with distichous ramification 
and a more developed axis to the multifid branchlets. It is closely related to 
R. subfusca, but the habit is peculiar, and the compression of the frond an obvious 
character. 
3. Rhodomela pilulifera, Grev. ; frond robust, cartilaginous, terete or com- 
pressed, decompound ; branches distichous, alternate, distant, not much divided ; 
ramuli few, scattered, subulate, the lowest short and spinelike, the upper somewhat 
filiform ; conceptacles very large, globose, terminal or sessile near the ends of the 
branches. Grev. Hist. Alg. Brit. p. li. Sphcerococcus pilulifer. Ag. syst. p. 236. 
Fucus pilulifer or globulifer, Turn. Hist. t. 236. 
Hab. Nootka Sound, 1778, A. Menzies, Esq. (v. s. in Herb. Menzies.) 
Frond 6 inches long or more, twice or thrice as thick as hog’s bristle, irregularly 
decompound, but not much branched ; branches distant, alternately divided twice 
or thrice, the penultimate divisions somewhat virgate, either naked or with a few 
distant, short, spinelike, alternate, distichous ramuli below, and several larger and 
more filiform subulate ramuli in their upper half. Branches and ramuli compressed 
when dry, but becoming nearly terete when moistened. Substance very opaque 
and rigid. Structure as in R. subfusca. Conceptacles larger than poppy-seed, sphe- 
rical, terminating the branches or sessile near the ends of the ramuli. Colour very 
dark. 
Turner rightly refers this species to the neighbourhood of R. subfusca. Indeed, 
conceptacles apart, it is not easy to distinguish it from the battered, winter condi- 26 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
tion of that variable plant. Turner describes the frond much more compressed 
than I find it in the specimen preserved in Mr. Menzies’ Herbarium. A cross sec- 
tion after expansion shows the branches to be nearly cylindrical. 
4. Rhodomela subfusca, Ag.; frond filiform, much branched; the branches irregu- 
larly divided, clothed with pinnated branchlets, and subulate, simple, scattered or 
subfasciculate ramuli ; pinnules subulate, terete ; conceptacles subsessile ; tetra- 
spores in the somewhat swollen, (but neither moniliform nor attenuated) terminal 
ramuli (in summer), or in proper branching stichidia issuing irregularly from old 
stems (in winter.) Ag. Sp. Alg.vol. 1. p. 378. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 264. Lophura 
cymosa, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 850. 
Hab. On rocks and stones near low water mark. Halifax, W. H. H.; Boston, 
Dr. Durkee! Lynn, Mrs. Estes! Boar’s Head, New Hampshire, Capt. N. Pike ! New- 
port, Rhode Island, Prof. J. W. Bailey! Staten Island, New York. (v. v.) 
Fronds tufted, 6-12 inches long, quarter to half a line in diameter at base, 
filiform, attenuated upwards, much branched and bushy. Branches alternate, 
distichous or subspirally inserted, the secondary ones decompound, about bipinnate ; 
tertiary branches furnished in the lower half with simple, alternate, sub-distant, 
subulate ramuli ; above furnished with more compound, pinnulate or multifid 
ramuli, which are densely crowded about the ends of the branches. Conceptacles 
ovate, nearly sessile (not seen on American specimens). Tetraspores contained in 
the terminal, subulate or slightly fusiform, terminal ramuli, solitary or in pairs, 
not wider than the places where they occur. Colour, a dark, brownish red, be- 
coming much darker in drying. Substance cartilaginous, somewhat rigid. In 
drying, the plant adheres, under pressure, to paper, but not with much force. 
In winter the smaller branches fall away, leaving a few naked stems, and at that 
season tetraspores are frequently found in little, lateral, accessory stichidia, emitted 
without order by the broken branches. In spring, these denuded plants put forth 
a profusion of pinnato-multifid branches, being much more bushy than plants of 
the first season. 
My Halifax specimens are very robust. The rest are of the ordinary form so 
common in Europe. 
5. Rhodomela gracilis, Kiitz. ; frond flaccid, ultra-setaceous below, soon divided 
and then excessively branched and bushy, decompound pinnate ; the branches 
setaceous below, capillary above, repeatedly divided alternately; penultimate ramuli 
distant, dichotomo-multifid above the middle, attenuate ; conceptacles pedicellate, 
somewhat racemose ; tetraspores in the attenuated, moniliform, terminal ramuli. 
Lophura gracilis, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 850. Rhodomela subfusca (in part) Ag. 1. c. supra. 
Lyngb. Hyd. Dan. t. B. C. Tab. XIII. C. RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
27 
Hab. Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans. Halifax, W. H. H. Boston Harbour, 
Mr. G. B. Emerson. Plymouth, Massachusetts, Prof. J. W. Bailey, (v. v.) 
Frond from four to ten or twelve inches long, divided a little above the base 
into a multitude of slender stems, about twice the diameter of hog’s bristle below, 
but soon attenuated and reduced to a hair-like fineness. Stems many times decom- 
pound in an alternate or secund order, spuriously dichotomous by the occasional 
suppression of a branch ; the axils distant, rounded. Secondary branches long, and 
about bipinnate ; the pinnm distant, simple below, alternately or subdichotomously 
multifid beyond the middle. Ultimate ramuli capillary, very much attenuated, 
and tipped with a pencil of slender, dichotomous fibrils. Sometimes the ramuli 
are densely crowded at the ends of the branches, sometimes not so. Conceptacles 
broadly ovate, on short stalks, racemose along the terminal ramuli, very abundant 
on fertile plants. Tetraspores in pairs, immersed in the slender ultimate ramuli 
■which then become beaded by the bulging out of the tetraspores, which are much 
broader than the places where they occur. Colour a brownish red, becoming dark 
brown in drying. Substance very soft and lubricous. In drying, this plant adheres 
closely to paper. 
Allied to R. subfusca, with which Agardh unites it, but differing in being of very 
much softer substance, more bushy and decompound, and especially in the large 
size of the tetraspores, causing the beaded appearance of the fertile ramuli. I have 
very numerous specimens from Dr. Jeans, presenting several varieties. Some to 
the naked eye have the aspect of Polysiphonia Brodicei, for which they may readily 
be mistaken without microscopic examination ; others resemble Pol. violacea out- 
wardly. All adhere with great closeness to paper, and must have been very lubri- 
cous when fresh. 
Plate XIII. C. Fig. 1. Upper portion of a dichotomo-multifid branchlet of 
Rhodomela gracilis with tetrasporic fruit ; fig. 2, moniliform apex of one of the 
ultimate ramuli of the same ; fig. 3, a tetraspore ; fig. 4, a conceptacle ; fig. 5, 
transverse section of a branch ; all the figures more or less magnified. 
6. Rhodomela Rochei; frond setaceous, flaccid, rosy red, terete, decompound, 
pinnate, distichous ; lesser branches bipinnate ; pinnse naked below, pinnulate 
beyond the middle ; pinnules fastigiate, bifid or multifid at the tips, and copiously 
fibrilliferous ; conceptacles racemose, on longish stalks. (Tab. XIII. B.) 
# 
Hab. New Bedford, Massachussetts, Dr. M. B. Roche and Mr. C. Congdon. Yel- 
low Hook, New York, Mr. Walters and Mr. Hooper, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Frond four to eight inches long, setaceous at base, attenuated upwards and at 
length capillary, divided from the base into many decompoundly pinnate branches 
or secondary stems. Lesser branches alternate or secund, distichous, patent, one to 
three inches long, bipinnate or tripinnate, oblong in outline, obtuse and fastigiate. 
Pinnae naked for the lower half, pinnated above, the pinnulse spreading and bifid, RHODOMELACEiE. 
28 
V. 
trifid or multifid at the tips, so that the tips appear to the naked eye as if capitate, 
and dark coloured. At a later period, this character is lost by the lengthening out 
of the cloven tips into new ramuli. Conceptacles on longish stalks, abundant on 
the ultimate ramuli, converting them into racemes. Tetraspores unknown to me. 
Abundant dichotomous fibrils clothe the ends and sides of the ultimate ramuli. 
Colour a fine red, communicating a rosy tinge to the paper on which the plant has 
been dried, and to which it closely adheres. Substance flaccid. 
I am disposed to keep this beautiful plant separate from R. gracilis, to which, in 
its soft substance and slender stems, it is most nearly allied. It differs in being 
still more slender, of a brighter colour, with more distichous habit. The pinnated 
branching is much more definite than in either R. gracilis or R. subfusca. The name 
is given in compliment to Dr. M. B. Roche of New Bedford, from whom I first 
received it, and to whom I am also indebted for many other beautiful specimens 
of Algae. 
VI. RYTIPHLCEA. Ag. 
Frond filiform or compressed, decompound pinnate, transversely striate, areolated; 
the axis articulated, composed of a circle of large, tubular, elongated cells of equal 
length, surrounding a central cell ; the periphery of one or more rows of small 
irregularly shaped cells. Conceptacles ovate, pedicellate or sessile, containing a tuft 
of pear-shaped spores on simple funiculi radiating from a basal placenta. Tetra- 
spores contained in the terminal fusiform ramuli or in proper stichidia, in a single 
or double row. 
The structure of the frond in this genus is very similar to that of the opaque and 
inarticulate portions of several Polysiphonice, in which the articulated axis, composed 
of symmetrical cells radiating round a central cavity, is coated externally with 
numerous rows of cells irregularly shaped and placed ; of these the inner ones are 
large and often empty, the outer gradually smaller and more constantly contain- 
ing bags of coloured matter. The difference between the genera is almost wholly 
technical, Polysiphonia having at least its younger portions destitute of the peri- 
pheric layer of cells, and Rytiphlcea having these parts coated, though less perfectly 
than the other portions. The transversely striate appearance of the Rytiphlcece, 
which is best seen with a common pocket lens, arises from the nodes of the 
enclosed articulated axis being visible through the coat of peripheric cells. Of 
course, this appearance is most obvious in the younger parts, where the cellular 
coat is less dense. The species of Rytiphlaea are few, and mostly tropical or sub- 
tropical. V. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
29 
1. Baileyi; frond compressed, areolated, irregularly branched; 
branches closely bipinnate ; pinnae alternate, nearly equal, patent; pinnulae sub- 
ulate, subarticulate, the lowermost simple, the upper ones sometimes cloven, all 
slightly indexed. 
Hab. Monterey Bay, California, Prof. Bailey, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Frond compressed, inarticulate, two or three inches long, half a line in diameter, 
divided near the base into several branches, which are closely bi-tripinnate through- 
out. Pinnae not two lines asunder, very patent, half an inch to an inch long, 
compressed, closely pinnulated with subulate slender ramuli, the lowermost of which 
are simple and subdistant, the upper frequently again compounded, being pinnulated 
with a third series of ramuli. Ramuli acute, transversely striate and subarticulate, 
with hexagonal cells of nearly equal length and breadth. Antheridia oblong, 
crowding round the tips of the ramuli. Stem and branches perfectly inarticulate, 
areolated with polygonal cells of irregular shape and size. Colour, when dry, a 
dark purplish brown. Substance rigid. It does not adhere to paper. 
Allied to R. complanata, but the surface cells are of larger size, and the ramuli 
more evidently articulated. Indeed, except for the habit, which is that of a Ryti- 
phloea, this plant might be placed in Polysiphonia. 
VII. DIGENIA. Ay. 
Frond filiform, rigidly horny, irregularly branched, inarticulate, densely cellular, 
the surface cells minute ; branches densely clothed on all sides with rigid, hairlike, 
subsimple, articulated, longitudinally striate ramuli. Conceptacles (unknown). 
Tetraspores lodged in the swollen ramuli. 
The single species for which this genus has been set apart, though common in 
the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and in the warmer parts of the 
Atlantic, is still imperfectly known, its conceptacular fruit having hitherto escaped 
notice. In assigning it a place among the ffliodomelece, the structure has alone 
guided us ; the internal anatomy of the stem and branches being nearly similar to 
that of the same parts in Rhodomela ; while the ramuli are formed something on 
the type of those of a Polysiphonia, or perhaps more nearly still on those of a 
Bostrychia. The longitudinal striae of the internodes do not consist of a single 
elongated cell, as in Polysiphonia, but of a string of cells. 30 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
Pigenia simplex, Ag. Sp. Alg. 1. p. 38B. Figenia Wulfeni, Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. t. 
50. f 2. Sp. Alg. p. 841. Conferva simplex. Wulf. Fucus Lycopodium, Turn. Hist. t. 
199. (Tab. XIII. D.) 
Hab. Abundant at Key West, W. H. H. &c. Key Biscayne, Prof. Tuomey, (No. 
61. 62). 
Fronds 4-8 inches long, as thick as crow’s quill, irregularly dichotomous or alter- 
nately branched ; the branches either simple or bearing near the summit a second 
series of lesser branches ; sometimes very bushy. The lower parts of the stem 
are generally bare, but the upper half and all the branches are very densely 
clothed on all sides with shaggy, setaceous ramuli, from a quarter to half an inch in 
length. These ramuli are filiform, simple or slightly branched, articulate, the 
internodes about as long as broad, coated with small cells arranged in many longi- 
tudinal lines. A cross section of a ramulus shows a central tube with two or 
more series of radiating cells set round it. I have not found fruit on my speci- 
mens. Colour when quite fresh a dark brownish red, becoming brown in drying 
and dirty white after exposure to the sun. Substance very rigid and horny, tough. 
In drying, the plant does not in the least adhere to paper. 
A very coarse, shaggy plant, apt to be infested with numerous vegetable and 
animal parasites, particularly corallines. It is very difficult to find specimens 
free from extraneous growth, or having the ramuli perfect. In our figure the 
parasites are omitted. 
Plate XIII D. Fig. 1. Digenia simplex, the natural size. Fig. 2. Some ramelli, 
springing from a fragment of the stem ; fig. 3, portion of a ramellus ; the two 
latter figures more or less highly magnified. 
VIII. POLYSIPHONI A. Grev. 
Frond filiform, rarely sub-compressed, articulate (at least the younger parts, the 
older having an articulate axis) ; internodes of the stem (or axis) composed of nu- 
merous, tubular, elongated cells of equal length, radiating round a central cell, and 
generally containing endochrome. Conceptacles ovate or urceolate, containing a tuft 
of pearshaped spores. Tetraspores imbedded in the distorted, ultimate ramuli. 
An immense genus inhabiting all regions from the Polar basin to the equator ; 
very variable in size and external habit—some species being two to three feet in Y. 
R HODOMEL ACEiE. 
31 
length, others not more than as many tenths of an inch ; some dichotomous, others 
pinnated—some distichous and fern-like, others with a bushy or arborescent cha- 
racter ; some of cobweb delicacy, lubricous and excessively flaccid, soon decompos- 
ing, others robust, rigid or tough, of strong enduring substance ;—some of a bril- 
liant rosy red or crimson, others (and the greater number) varying through all the 
graver shades of red-brown, brown, and purple ; some inhabiting the deep sea, 
others occurring only near high water mark or far up the estuaries of tidal rivers. 
Plants of such varied aspect and habit could not have been brought together by 
the universal consent of botanists, among whom there has never been much differ- 
ence of opinion respecting the just limits of this genus, if they had not some 
obvious bond of union in an essential, easily seen, and important common charac- 
ter. This is found in the structure of the stem in the articulated species, and of 
the axis of the stem in species which appear to be partially inarticulate ; the dis- 
sepiments being hid by the growth of a thin or thick layer of epidermal cells round 
the stein or branches. In such species, the proper structure of the genus may 
generally be seen, without dissection, in all the younger parts, as in the upper 
branches and ramuli. The species simplest in structure have the internodes or 
articulations of the stem and branches composed of four large cells containing endo- 
chrome or colouring matter, placed crosswise round a small, central, empty cavity, 
as shown in section at PI. XYI. B. fig. 7- When viewed laterally, internodes of 
this structure may exhibit either two cells, or one cell and two half cells, appearing 
to the eye as three, the middle one twice the breadth of the others. Such stems 
are said to be four-tubed, or bi-tri-striate. In some species which are of this cha- 
racter small cells (secondary cells) are formed external to the four 'primaries, and 
alternating with them, as shown in PL XVII. A. fig. 6, and B. fig. 7 ; and in 
others, as at PL XVI. A. fig. 4, a thick epidermal layer of small cells surrounds the 
primary tubes, and such stems become apparently inarticulate, the articulation being 
concealed beneath the coat of small surface cells, as at fig. 5. By turning to the 
figures, the gradual complication of a stem of four primary tubes will be readily 
understood ; and the same occurs where there are more primaries than four, as at 
Pl. XVI. D. fig. 5, Pl. XVII. C. fig. 3, which latter figure shows the commence- 
ment of secondary tubes in a polysiphonous stem. The stem and branches of all 
the species are formed on one or other of these models, the number of primary 
tubes being sometimes as many as twenty-four. 
In studying the species, it is absolutely necessary to make cross sections of the 
stem in order to be able to count the number of primary tubes in each internode ; 
for though the exact number is not of specific importance in the polysiphonous 
species, where we find the same species varying in different specimens from 12 to 
20 tubes, yet it is essential to determine whether there be only four, or more than 
four ; and, generally speaking, the species with fewest tubes are most constant to 
their number. A little practice will enable the student to make the necessary sec- 
tions with the help of a small-bladed knife and. a botanical simple microscope, for 
which may be substituted a watchmaker’s eyeglass. A small piece of a stem or 
branch, say a quarter of an inch long, is firmly held by the finger of the left hand 
upon a slip of glass under the lens, while thin slices, the thinner the better, are cut 32 
KHODOMELACEiE. 
y. 
from it. These wheel-like slices, floated in a drop of water, may then be placed 
under the compound microscope and examined. In slicing dried specimens, it is 
best to cut the stem, if possible, before it be moistened ; as a thinner and cleaner cut 
can then be made, and the risk avoided of the too rapid decomposition from the 
fresh water. When the cells refuse to resume their proper shape on remoistening, 
a drop of muriatic acid will frequently, but not always, expand them. 
Nearly 300 species of Polysiphonia are to be found described in various books,— 
Ivutzing has collated 248 in his latest work. Of these, perhaps one-third are false 
species, founded either on solitary or on insufficient specimens. The whole require a 
careful revision and examination of the original materials. As in all large genera, 
it will be found that some species are very constant to certain characters, while 
others are so variable that it is nearly impossible to limit them within a short spe- 
cific phrase. -Of this last character are many Polysiphonice, and the knot of diffi- 
culty has too often been cut by splitting such species into several, a practice which, 
once admitted, leads to continual dismemberment. I shall endeavour to avoid 
unnecessary division in defining the American species. 
Stjbgenus 1. Oligosiphonia. Primary tubes, four only. (Sp. 1—17.) 
* Stem visibly articulate throughout, with pellucid dissepiments. (Sp. 1—13.) 
1. Polysiphonia urceolata, Grev. ; filaments rigid, setaceous, full-red, much 
branched, loosely bundled ; branches subdichotomous, furnished with short, alter- 
nate, patent or recurved decompound ramuli ; internodes four-tubed, those of the 
branches 3-5 times longer than broad, of the ramuli very short ; conceptacles 
stalked, urn-shaped, with a projecting narrow orifice ; tetraspores in the ultimate 
ramuli. Grev. FI. Edin. p. 309- Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 167. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 824. 
fi. patens; with the lateral ramuli more numerous, strongly recurved, or revolute. 
P. patens, Grev. Kiitz. 1. c. Conferva patens, Dillw. t. G. 
Hab. Arctic Sea Coast, Dr. Sutherland! Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans! 
Halifax, W. H. H. Longbranch, New Jersey, Miss Morris. S. at Monterey, Cali- 
fornia, Dr. Coulter! (v. v.) 
Tufts large, bushy and dense. Fronds from 6 to 8 inches long, or more, twice 
the diameter of human hair, decompoundly branched, generally without a leading 
stem; the branches alternate or subdichotomous; lesser branches subdistant, alter- 
nate or unilateral, multifid. Internodes in the middle part of the filament 4-6 times 
as long as broad, in the branches 2-3 times, in the ramuli very short. Tubes 4, 
broad, with very narrow interspaces. Conceptacles urnshaped, with a prominent, 
contracted orifice, shortly stalked, scattered over the lesser branches and ramuli. 
Tetraspores wider than the places where they occur, immersed in the ramuli in a 
single row. Colour when growing a clear blood-red, becoming dark reddish brown 
or even black in the herbarium. Substance rather rigid, not lubricous. It does 
Hot adhere strongly to paper in drying. y. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
33 
/3. has a more evident leading stem, with long, subsimple branches set with 
lateral, multihd, secondary branches about an inch in length, whose divisions are 
closer together than in the common form. The ramuli, especially the lower ones, 
are remarkably patent, squarrose, or even revolute. The conceptacles, abundant, 
on some of Dr. Coulter’s specimens, are of the ordinary form, so characteristic of 
this species. 
2. Polysiphonia formosa, Suhr; filaments very flaccid, capillary, full red, much 
branched, branches subdichotomous, long, flexuous, furnished with scattered, spread- 
ing, alternate, attenuate, more or less compound ramuli; internodes four-tubed, 
those of the branches 5-10 times longer than broad, of the ramuli short; concep- 
tacles stalked, urn-shaped, with a projecting, narrow orifice; tetraspores in the 
ultimate ramuli. Suhr, Bot. Zeit. 1831. p. 709. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 168. Pol. 
Hooperi, Bailey MSS. Conferva stricta ? Dillw. t. 40. 
Hab. Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans! Boston Bay, Miss E. H. Brewer! 
Dr. Durkee! New Bedford, Dr. Roche! Fort Hamilton and other spots in New 
York Bay, Messrs. Walters! Hooper! Pike ! Congdon! Calverley! &c. (v. v.) 
Tufts dense, very flaccid. Filaments finer than human hair, 4-8 inches long, very 
much branched, decompound, without obvious leading stem, alternately or sub- 
dichotomously divided, the penultimate branchlets multifid, and the ramuli fre- 
quently secund, attenuate, subulate. In some specimens, when carefully opened 
out, a leading stem set with alternate decompound branches may be more or less 
distinctly traced The lowermost divisions of each branch are generally simple 
and filiform, the upper ones longer, gradually more compound, alternately pinnated 
in their upper half. Apices frequently multifid and subcorymbose. Internodes of 
the stem 5-10 times as long as broad, of the branches 3-4 times, of the ultimate 
ramuli very short. Tubes 4, broad, with narrow interspaces, and broadish, trans- 
parent dissepiments. Conceptacles generally stalked. Colour when growing, a fine, 
clear red, becoming darker in the herbarium, and sometimes changing to brown. 
In fresh water the plant soon gives out a rosy tint. It adheres very closely to 
paper in drying. 
Except in the more slender filaments, softer and more lubricous substance, and 
rather longer internodes, this species does not differ from the preceding. These 
characters, which are obvious in the extreme forms of either species, gradually dis- 
appear when a great number of specimens from different localities are examined 
and compared together, and I fear that P. formosa can only be regarded as a 
beautiful variety of P. urceolata. Be this as it may, it seems to be the same as 
Dillwyn’s Conferva stricta, a name which has many years priority to that here 
adopted, but which is applicable only to the immature state of the frond. I cannot 
distinguish P. Hooperi, Bail, from the ordinary form. 34 
RHODOMELACEtE. 
y. 
3. Polysiponia Havanensis, Mont.; filaments short (one to three inches long), 
dull reddish-brown, very soft and lubricous, densely tufted, rising from creeping 
filaments, byssoid, four-tubed, pellucidly articulate, alternately decompound, much 
branched; secondary branches subdistant, often secund; ramuli filiform, fibrilli- 
ferous; internodes in the lower part of the stems once or once and a half as long 
as broad, in the larger branches 4-5 times, in the smaller 2-3 times, and very short 
in the ramuli; conceptacles . ... ? tetraspores large, subsolitary in the 
ramuli. Mont. Nat. Hist. Cubce, p. 34, t. 5, jig. 3. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 818. 
Hab. On chalky rocks, near high water mark. Very abundant at Key West in 
February, Dr. Wurdeman (30), W. H. H., Professor Tuomey (1). (v. v.) 
Tufts very dense, soft and gelatinous, 1, 2, or 3 inches high. Filaments rising 
from matted fibres, much finer than human hair, excessively branched in a manner 
between dichotomous and alternate. Branches very irregularly divided, repeatedly 
decompound, their apices not fastigiate, the ultimate ramuli either simple or 
filiform, or more or less cleft at the apex. Branches and ramuli erecto-patent. 
Internodes having the nodes slightly swollen, four-tubed, pellucidly jointed, variable 
in length ; in the lower part of the stem and branches usually very short, scarcely 
longer than their breadth, in the upper parts gradually longer, but differing greatly 
in different, specimens ; in some pretty uniformly twice or at most thrice as long as 
broad, in others frequently four or five times their breadth, or even of greater 
length ; in the lesser branches and ramuli about twice as long as broad. Tetra- 
spores of large size, mostly solitary, sometimes in pairs, much wider than the ramuli 
in which they are imbedded. Colour a deep reddish brown, varying in intensity. 
In drying, the plant adheres to paper, and gives out a brownish liquid in fresh 
water. 
I am perhaps incorrect in referring my specimens, gathered within eighty miles 
of Havana, to the P. Havanensis of Montagne ; but yet, after having inspected a 
specimen of Dr. Montagne’s plant, notwithstanding the differences it shows, I am 
afraid to propose mine as distinct. The chief differences which strike me are in 
the internodes, which are uniformly shorter in the Cuban specimen, though not so 
short as shown in the figure above-quoted. On the Key AVest specimens I find 
considerable variation. In the smaller and younger ones the internodes are uni- 
formly short, while in the more luxuriant the internodes of the branches are 
frequently several times longer than broad ; those of the lower stem and upper 
ramuli being short. Dr. Montagne’s specimens appear to me to be undeveloped ; 
mine are of various ages. I hope some algologist may investigate the question at 
Havana, where alone it can be satisfactorily settled. 
4. Polysipiionia subtilissima, Mont.; filaments short (2-4 inches long), rising 
from creeping filaments, densely tufted, dull purplish brown, not gelatinous, capil- 
lary or byssoid, articulate, alternately decompound ; lesser branches multifid, v. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
attenuate, of unequal height; ramuli filiform ; internocles four-tubed, about once 
and half as long as broad, shorter in the ramuli. Mont, in An. Sc. Nat. 2d Ser. 
vol. xiii. p. 199. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 804. ft. Westpointensis; more slender and 
delicate. 
Hab. Jackson Ferry, New York, Mr. Walters and Mr. Hooper ! Little River, 
Newburyport, Capt. Pike ! ft. at West Point, on the Hudson, 60 miles from the 
sea, Prof. J. W. Bailey ! (v. s. in Herb. T. C. I).) 
Tufts dense, jagged, (not fastigiate), 2-4 inches high. Filaments very slender, 
capillary or byssoid, tetragonal, rising from a mat of rooting and creeping fibres, 
erect, alternately multifid. The main stem rises about half an inch before it 
branches ; thence upwards it throws out several lateral branches, which are simple 
below, alternately inultifid above, the ultimate divisions attenuate, erect or erecto- 
patent, of unequal height, and simple or bifid at the point. The internodes in the 
lower part of the frond are as long as broad, in the branches once and a half as 
long, and in the ramuli very short. Apices often fibrilliferous. The filaments are 
four angled, and a cross section shows four large tubes surrounding a small cavity. 
Colour a blackish purple, brighter toward the tips. Substance flaccid, but not in 
the least gelatinous. In drying, the plant, notwithstanding its delicacy, does not 
strongly adhere to paper. 
This species was first discovered on the shores of Cayenne, from which locality 
Dr. C. Montagne has kindly sent me one of his original specimens. This I have 
compared with those above described, and find them to agree in all respects. The 
West Point plant, which was first found by Prof. Bailey several years ago, and 
which has been acknowledged by Dr. Montagne to belong to his species, differs 
from the Cayenne variety in being of still greater tenuity ; a difference which we 
should naturally anticipate from its place of growth, nearly at the extreme limit of 
marine vegetation in a tidal river. I have not seen fructification of either kind on 
any of the specimens. 
5. Polysiphonia secunda, Mont.; filaments minute (a quarter to half inch) rising 
from creeping fibres, which are either arched or prostrate, throwing out numerous 
erect, secund, filiform, subsimple branches ; internodes four-tubed, rather longer 
than their breadth. Mont. Nat. Hist. 33, t. 5, fig. 2. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 804. 
Hab. Parasitical on other Algae. At Key West, often growing on Digenia sim- 
plex. W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Tufts spreading over the surface of the plant on which they grow ; in my speci- 
mens about a quarter inch in height. Filaments prostrate, creeping by means of 
discs issuing from the under surface, throwing up from their upper surface nume- 
rous filiform, simple, erect, secund branches. I11 older specimens these are often 
deflected or arched, and a second series of similarly secund branches spring from 36 
RITODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
them, which occasionally have one or two short ramuli. I have not seen greater 
composition. Internodes very short in the prostrate filaments, about once and half 
as long as broad in the erect branches, appearing three tubed on the latter view, 
and found by cross section to be square, composed of four large tubes surrounding 
a rhomboid cavity. Colour a dull, dark reddish brown. Substance rather rigid. 
It does not adhere firmly to paper in drying. 
This species sometimes intertwines so densely among the ramelli of Digenia as 
to form with them a dense entangled mat, in which other parasites then take root. 
I have also seen it at Key West on Laurencice. Montagne’s Cuban specimens grew 
on Sargassum. 
6. Polysiphonia breviarticulata, Ag. tufts dense ; filaments rather rigid, tetra- 
gonal, rising from a mat of creeping fibres, erect (3-5 inches long), as thick as hog’s 
bristle, not much branched ; main stem simple, or once or twice forked, somewhat 
naked below, beset above with numerous virgate, very erect primary branches, set 
at intervals with several very slender'secondary branches, which are naked below 
and alternately multi fid above ; internodes uniformly shorter than their diameter 
in all parts of the frond, swollen at the nodes ; conceptacles ovate, sessile ; tetra- 
spores in distorted terminal ramuli. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 92. Kutz. Sp. p. 815. 
P. pliysarthra, Kg. 1. c, 815. (Tab. XYI. B.) 
Hab. Abundant on maritime rocks, near high water mark, at Key West, W. H. H. 
(No. 19), Dr. Blodgett (No. 57), Dr. Wurdeman (No. 15 and 16.) Yera Cruz, 
Liebman ! (v. v.) 
Tufts 3-6 inches high, dense. Filaments as thick as hog’s bristle, sometimes 
nearly unbranched, sometimes thrice or four times parted subdichotomously, bare 
of branches and ramuli below, more or less furnished with alternate branches 
above. Branches but little divided, long and virgate, erect, furnished with several 
slender secondary branches, of greatly less diameter than the part they spring from. 
These are simple and naked in their lower half, and alternately multifid above. 
Apices abundantly fibrilliferous when young. Articulations in all parts of the 
frond much shorter than their diameter, visible to the naked eye and then appear- 
ing with opaque nodes ; under the microscope pellucid, with very wide quadrate 
tubes and transparent interspaces. A cross section of the stem is square, with 
four wide tubes surrounding a small central cavity. Conceptacles ovate, sessile on 
the sides of the multifid ultimate ramuli, which on fertile specimens are shorter and 
more closely branched. Tetraspores in the tips of the ramuli. Colour a dull red- 
dish brown. Substance rigid, not closely adhering to paper. 
The Key West specimens agree with one from Yera Cruz mentioned above, but 
are rather more robust than the Mediterranean form, and more furnished with 
lateral ramuli. I had at first thought them different, and may perhaps have 
distributed a few specimens under the MS. name P. littoralis, which I gave at Key 
West to this plant, from its profuse abundance along the shore, near high water V. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
37 
mark. My specimen of P. physarthra, Kiitz. is very imperfect, but it scarcely seems 
specifically different from P. breviarticulata, as here understood. 
Plate XVI. B. Fig. 1. Tuft of Polysiphonia breviarticulata ; the natural size. 
Fig. 2, portion of a secondary branch, with its slender multifid tertiary ; jig. 3, apex 
of a branch, with conceptacle ; jig. 4, apex in which tetraspores are imbedded ; 
jig, 5, base of the stem, to show the manner of rooting ; jig. 6, roots ; jig. 7, trans- 
verse section of the stem : all the latter figures more or less highly magnijied. 
7. Polysiphonia Binneyi, Harv. ; filaments rather rigid, setaceous, alternately 
decompound, much branched ; branches elongate, spreading, of unequal length, 
twice, thrice, or oftener compounded, and at length resolved into capillary, multifid 
ramuli; nodes swollen, pellucid ; internodes four-tubed ; those of the stem and 
branches once and half or twice as long as broad, of the ramuli shorter than their 
breadth ; tetraspore of small size, subsolitary in distorted terminal ramuli. $. stem 
and branches plentifully beset (as if proliferously) with slender, simple, or multifid 
capillary, lateral ramuli. 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H. /3. at Key West, Mr. Binney! Prof. Tuomey, (3) 
W. H. H. Apalachicola, Mr. Loundsbury. (v. v.) 
Frond 2-4 inches high, as thick as hog’s bristle, with an ovate outline in the 
spread of the branches. Stem subsimple, closely set throughout with lateral 
spreading branches, the lowest of which are long, the rest gradually shorter. 
These primary branches are either subsimple, or twice or thrice alternately decom- 
pound, each series of lesser branches gradually more slender, till the frond is 
resolved into capillary ramuli. In /3. both stem and branches emit on all sides 
lateral, simple and hair-like, or multifid ramuli, half an inch long, much more 
slender than the internodes from which they spring, very irregularly placed, often 
much crowded, and often laxly scattered. The nodes of the stem and branches are 
swollen ; they are pellucid to the very base of the frond. Internodes of the main 
divisions at least once and half as long as broad, but generally rather more ; those 
of the younger parts uniformly short. Tubes four, very broad. Colour a deep 
brown. Substance very tough, long resisting the action of fresh water. It very 
imperfectly adheres to paper in drying. 
Our var. fi. has a rather different aspect, owing to the profusion of lateral ramuli. 
It seems, however, to be analogous to similarly proliferous states of various Ceramia, 
&c. 
This species is nearly allied to P. breviarticulata, but is a more slender plant, with 
more compound and patent branches, and the internodes of all the principal divi- 
sions are uniformly of greater length. In ramification it more nearly resembles 
P. Olneyi, which has however a totally different substance. 38 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
8. PolysiphoniA fvcLCtci ; filaments irregularly tufted or bundled together, capil- 
lary, rather rigid, divaricately much branched, subdichotomous ; branches distant, 
spreading at wide angles, beset with scattered, spinelike, horizontal short ramuli ; 
internodes four-tubed, about equal in length and breadth in all parts of the frond. 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H. (18), Dr. Blodgett (42). (v. v.) 
This forms loose, squarrose tufts or bundles. The filaments are rather coarser 
than human hair, gradually but not greatly attenuated upwards, and irregularly 
much branched, the main stems dividing subdichotomously. The forkings are dis- 
tant and spreading, irregularly subdivided. All the branches issue at wide angles, 
and the larger ones are furnished with numerous, scattered, horizontally patent, 
thornlike ramuli, about a line in length. The substance is rather rigid. Colour a 
reddish brown. Stem square, four-tubed, and dissepiments pellucid in all parts of 
the frond. It imperfectly adheres to paper in drying. 
This has the aspect of P. subulifera, but a very different structure. In the cha- 
racters of the internodes it agrees with P. breviarticulata, but differs in the more 
slender frond and the disposition of the branches and ramuli. Dr. Blodgett’s spe- 
cimen is more flaccid than those I collected in February, more densely branched, 
with the apices fibrilliferous, characters probably dependant on the state of 
development. 
9. Polysiphonia echinata ; frond setaceous, rigid, dichotomous ; branches distant, 
widely spreading, or divaricate, not much attenuated, articulate, four-tubed, beset 
on all sides with minute, spinelike, horizontal, subulate, simple or bifid ramuli, 
internodes shorter than their breadth. 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H. (22). (v. v.) 
Fronds three or four inches long or more, as thick as hog’s bristle or somewhat 
thicker, subdichotomously divided ; all the divisions spreading at very wide angles. 
The forkings are from half an inch to an inch apart, the terminal branchlets gene- 
rally an inch in length. All the younger parts, at least, are beset at intervals of 
half a line with minute spinelike ramuli, half a line in length, directed toward all 
sides, and issuing nearly at right angles with the branch. The articulations are 
visible in all parts of the stem and branches, uniformly shorter than their breadth, 
with very wide tubes and swollen dissepiments. The substance is tough and rigid, 
the membrane of the walls thick, and not readily recovering shape after having 
been dried. Colour a dark brown. It imperfectly adheres to paper. 
This resembles P. fracta in its ramification, but is much more robust, and the 
ramuli are more copious, shorter, more compound, and more equally inserted on all 
sides of the branches. y. 
RHODOMELACEyE. 
39 
10. Polysiphonia hapalacantha•; densely tufted, soft and very flaccid; filaments 
setaceous and corticate below, much attenuated and articulate upwards, the termi- 
nal divisions almost byssoid, sub-dichotomously decompound, fastigiate, the lower 
axils patent; upper branches less regularly forked ; all the branches furnished with 
minute, simple, scattered, spinelike, quadrifarious ramuli, and copiously clothed 
with byssoid (deciduous) fibres ; articulations in all parts of the frond about as 
long as broad, four-tubed, those of the larger branches with supplementary cellules. 
IIab. Key West, Dr. Blodgett ! (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Filaments four or five inches long, branched from the base in a more or less 
regularly dichotomous order, the lower forks pretty regular, the upper, by the 
frequent suppression of an arm, subalternately decompound. The filaments are 
greatly attenuated upwards, the lower parts being thicker than hog’s bristle, the 
upper branches much finer than human hair. Axils, especially the lower ones, 
patent. Spine-like, simple ramuli, one or two lines in length, and spreading to all 
sides, are freely scattered over the segments at distances of a line or two. Our 
specimens are copiously fibrilliferous. The articulations are uniformly short ; those 
of the upper divisions marked with two broad tubes, those of the lower successively 
coated with secondary cells, but not obliterated. Colour, when dry, a Vandyke 
brown. Substance very soft. It closely adheres to paper. 
11. Polysiphonia Gorgonice; filaments subsolitary, short (an inch high), flaccid, 
flabellately branched, irregularly dichotomous below, alternately decompound 
above, attenuated, all the divisions rather patent; ramuli of unequal length (not 
fastigiate); internodes near the base very short, in the larger divisions once and 
half as long as broad, in the smaller about twice as long as broad, four tubed ; 
dissepiments pellucid ; conceptacles globose, on short stalks, abundant. 
Hab Parasitical on various corals. Key West, IF. H. H. (25) Dr. Blodgett, 40. 
(v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Filaments rising from discoid bases, scattered, rarely somewhat tufted, an inch 
high, subsetaceous below, rapidly diminishing in thickness upwards, forking at two 
or three lines from the base, and afterwards twice or thrice forked, the upper divi- 
sions irregularly multifid and attenuated to a byssoid fineness. All the divisions 
are patent and the branches open out like a fan in water. The dissepiments are 
pellucid in all parts. The internodes four-tubed, and four angled ; those in the 
lower part of the stem shorter than their breadth, of the branches once and half to 
twice as long as broad, in the ultimate ramuli very short. Conceptacles, which are 
plentifully borne on some specimens, globose, but depressed vertically or oblate, 
very full of spores, on short pedicels of the lesser branches or subsessile. Colour 
a pale ochrey brown, darker towards the tips. Substance soft and flaccid. It ad- 
heres to paper in drying. This is a very pretty little species, distinct from any of 40 
RHODOMELACE2E. 
V. 
the North American ones. I found it on the purple, whip-like Gorgonia so com- 
mon at Key West. 
12. Polysiphonia Olneyi, Harv.; tufts dense, silky, flaccid, purple-brown ; fila- 
ments capillary below, byssoid above, decompound, excessively branched ; branches 
very patent or divaricate, many times compounded, gradually attenuated, more or 
less beset with scattered, slender, spinelike ramuli; articulations very variable in 
length, in the larger branches from two to six times, in the lesser branches and 
ramuli once and half to twice as long as broad ; conceptacles ovate, subsessile ; 
tetraspores in distorted ramuli. Harv. in Olney s List of Rhode Island Plants, 
Proceed. Prov. Frank. Soc., Apl. 1847. (Tab. XVII. B.) 
Hab. On Zostera, &c. Halifax, W. H. H. Nantucket, Dr. Durkee. Providence, 
Rhode Island, (1846) Mr. S. T. Olney. Greenport, Long Island, Prof. Bailey and 
W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Tufts from three to five inches long, dense, soft and silky. Filaments as thick as 
human hair, or sometimes twice as thick at the base, where they are also of a firm 
substance ; soon becoming thinner, and passing off above into excessively fine, 
byssoid ramuli, much branched from the base without regular order ; the branches 
many times compounded by alternate or unilateral ramification. Branches more or 
less furnished with lateral spinelike, scattered ramuli, from a line to a quarter inch 
in length. The lower divisions of the stem and branches are very patent, some- 
times widely divaricating, the upper more erect, with narrower angles. A cross 
section of the stem, or of one of the larger branches near the base, shows four large 
primary tubes surrounding a central cavity, and four secondaries of small size 
alternating with them. The internodes are very variable in length in different spe- 
cimens ; those of the stem and larger branches are frequently not more than twice 
as long as broad, but are sometimes four or even six times their length ; those of 
the lesser branches and ramuli are more uniformly short. Conceptacles ovate, abun- 
dantly scattered over the lesser branches. Colour a rich purple brown, more or less 
intense. Substance soft and lubricous. It adheres very closely to paper in drying. 
This species has many characters in common with the following, but is a more 
slender plant, much softer and more lubricous in substance, with longer inter- 
nodes, longer, more filiform and much less abundant ramuli, &c. It must be 
allowed, however, that most of these characters are variable. The length of the 
internodes is particularly so, the first specimens which I received from Mr. Olney, 
and on which I founded the species, having them uniformly short ; while others, 
collected in the same locality, but at a different season, have them often of the 
great length shown at fig. 5. 
Plate XVII. B. Fig. 1, a frond of Polysiphonia Olneyi, removed from the tuft, 
the natural size. Fig. 2, part of a branch from the same ; fig. 3, a small portion of 
the branch with ramulus ; fig. 4, part of a branch from another specimen ; fig. 5, 
one of the longer internodes from the same ; fig. 6, a conceptacle ; fig. 7, transverse 
section of the stem ; the latter figures more or less magnified. BHODOMELACEiE. 
y. 
41 
13. Polysiphonia Harveyi, Bail. ; tufts globose and busby ; filaments rather 
rigid, setaceous, divaricately much branched ; branches alternately decompound, 
very patent, often angularly bent, set throughout with more or less numerous, short 
simple, or forked, spinelike ramuli ; internodes short in all parts of the frond, once 
or twice as long as broad in the branches, much shorter than their breadth in the 
lesser divisions and ramuli, four-tubed ; dissepiments pellucid ; conceptacles broadly 
ovate near the tips of the branches ; tetraspores in distorted ramuli. Bail, in 
Sillim. Journ.—(Tab. XVII. A.)—P arietina ; very squarrose, the ramuli strongly 
revolute and curled. Pol. arietina, Bail. MS. 
Hab. On Zostera and other marine plants. Boston Bay, Dr. Durhee, Mrs. 
Mudge, Mr. Girard, etc. Abundant in Long Island Sound ; Stonington, Prof. 
Bailey (1846); Green port, Long Island, both varieties, Prof. Bailey and W. H. H. 
This forms globose, squarrose, loose tufts, which do not collapse, when lifted from 
the water, if the plant be quite fresh. Filaments often, but not always, as thick as 
hog’s bristle at the base, attenuated upwards, excessively branched and bushy ; the 
branches dividing repeatedly without much order, alternate or secund, widely 
spreading, often much divaricated. Lesser branches variable in number and in 
subdivision, sometimes very few and little divided, sometimes numerous. Ramuli 
generally very abundant, half a line to a line long, spinelike, simple or forked, 
subulate, very patent, sprinkled irregularly over all the branches, large and small. 
Internodes generally very short in all parts of the stem and branches, but variable 
in length in different specimens and at different ages. Those of the lower part of 
the stem show, on a cross section, four primary and four small secondary external 
tubes. Those of the branches are sometimes shorter than their breadth, sometimes 
<- ' 
twice as long ; in the latter case the coloured tubes are often spirally twisted. The 
pellucid integument of the filament is thick, and the nodes are generally swollen. 
Conceptacles broadly ovate, usually placed near the ends of the branches. Tetra- 
spores of small size, in distorted ramuli. Colour a very dark, purplish brown Sub- 
stance firm, rigid. In drying, the plant adheres, but not firmly, to paper. 
/3 is smaller, and still more squarrose, with its spinelike ramuli strongly recurved 
or rolled back like a “ ram’s horn.” I think, however, that I have traced it, through 
numerous specimens, into the ordinary form. Sometimes the frond is much more 
densely branched than our figure, taken from one of the original specimens, shows. 
The obvious characters of the species are the abundant thornlike ramuli and short 
joints. 
This plant is common in various places in Long Island Sound. While dredging 
with Professor Bailey in Peconic Bay, our exclamations of delight on hauling up 
some specimens of it attracted the notice of one of our boatmen, who took up a 
handful of what we seemed so eagerly hoarding, but immediately threw it down 
with a “ Pooh ! that’s what we call ‘ nigger hair.’ ” 
Plate XVII. A. Fig. 1, frond of Polysiphonia Harveyi) the natural size. Fig. 2, 
apex of a branch ; fig. 3, ram ulus with tetraspores ; fig. 4,' a tetraspore ; fig. 5, 42 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
portion of a branch, with ramuli and a conceptacle ; fig. 6, transverse section of the 
stem ; all the latter figures more or less highly magnified. 
** Stem and larger branches inarticulate, more or less completely coated with small, 
irregular cellules. Ramuli articulate. (Sp. 14—17.) 
14. Polysiphonia ramentacea; stem robust, dendroid, inarticulate, internally 
four-tubed, irregularly much branched; branches spreading on all sides, alternately 
divided ; lesser branches rod-like, simple, set throughout with numerous, short, 
setaceous, spine like, simple or forked, articulate ramuli; internodes of the ramuli 
shorter than their breadth, marked with two or three quadrate cells; conceptacles 
ovate, borne near the tips of the ramuli. (Tab. XVI. A.) 
Hab. On corals, &c. Key West, W. H. H., Dr. Blodgett, (v. v.) 
Root discoid. Stem, solitary, four or five inches high, twice or thrice as thick as 
hog’s bristle, gradually attenuated upwards, soon forking, and afterwards repeatedly 
divided in an irregularly alternate manner, the whole system of branches forming a 
tree-like frond. The larger branches spread towards every side, and are furnished 
with numerous lateral, secondary branches, scattered or crowded, and either simple 
or having another series of similar branches, all tapering to a fine point. The stem 
and branches are alike beset, at distances of half a line or less, with slender, simple 
or forked, bristle-shaped, quadrifarious ramuli, a line or two in length. These 
ramuli are pellucidly articulate, the articulations exceedingly short, with sub-qua- 
drate tubes. The stem and branches are opaque, tessellated with small irregular 
cells; a transverse section showing four primary tubes, with an external coating of 
greater or less thickness formed of small cells. Conceptacles ovate, small, sessile 
near the tips of the ramuli. Antheridia ovato-lanceolate, densely tufted at the apices 
of the ramuli. Colour a dull reddish brown, darkening in drying. Substance carti- 
laginous, but soft. In drying, it adheres pretty closely to paper. 
Of this apparently rare species, I collected only a solitary specimen during my 
visit to Key West. It is abundantly unlike any other North American species, but 
nearly allied to P. flexella of the Mediterranean. My specimen, however, differs 
from any that I have seen of P.flexella; it recovers better after having been dried, 
the articulations of the ramuli are more distinct, and the byssoid fibres far less 
copious. 
Plate XVI. A. Fig. 1. Polysiphonia ramentacea; the natural size. Fig. 2, apex 
of a branch; fig. 3, portion of a ramulus; fig. 4, transverse section of a branch; 
fig. 5, lateral view of a small portion of the same, to show the surface cells; the 
latter figures more or less highly magnified. 
15. Polysiphonia elongata, Grev. ; stems robust, cartilaginous, irregularly 
branched, decompound, best, especially toward the end of the branches, with slender, 
closely set, alternately multifid ramuli, which taper to the base and apex ; articu- V. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
43 
lations of the stem and branches areolated with small, irregular cells, more or less 
obsolete ; of the ramuli once and a-half or twice as long as broad, marked with 
numerous (secondary) tubes and small cells ; primary tubes four. Ag. Sp. Alg. 
vol. 2. p. 82. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 828. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 292 and 293. 
IIab. Boston Harbour in various places, rare ? Lynn Beach, Dr. Durhee. Ger- 
mantown, Miss E. H. Brewer, (v. v.) 
Root a large scutate disc. Fronds mostly solitary, 6-12 inches long, cartilaginous, 
firm, as thick as packthread at the base, gradually attenuate upwards, decom- 
poundly branched in a manner between dichotomous and alternate ; the branches 
sometimes bare of ramuli, long and twiggy ; and sometimes emitting, especially 
from their upper half, broad pencils of multifid, rosy or blood-red flaccid ramuli. 
Internodes obscurely visible in all the older parts of the frond, distinctly marked 
in the ramuli alone, about once and half as long as broad, sometimes a little longer, 
netted over with irregularly shaped, polygonal cells. A cross section shows four 
primary tubes of a large size, protected externally by several rows of irregularly 
placed cells, which are gradually smaller to the circumference. Conceptacles ovate, 
scattered over the branches. Tetraspores in the distorted tips of the flaccid ramuli. 
Colour red-brown in the stem, rosy or blood-red in the ramuli. In drying, the stem 
scarcely adheres to paper, except after strong pressure, but the ramuli, when pre- 
sent, adhere very closely. 
A most variable plant in aspect. Specimens of the first year’s growth have a 
very few flaccid ramuli scattered along the twiggy branches. In winter these, as 
well as the ends of the branches, fall away, leaving a truncated or somewhat 
pollarded frond. In the following spring, such as survive throw out a profusion of 
byssoid and multifid ramuli, which are peculiarly abundant and dense round the 
wounded parts. 
16. Polysiphonia jibrillosa, Grev. ; pale straw-colour or brownish ; stems 
inarticulate, opaque, marked with sinuous veins, robust, alternately branched ; 
branches spreading, resembling the stem, but less opaque, articulated near the ends, 
sub-simple, thickly set with very slender, articulated, finely divided, short ramuli, 
whose tips are copiously fibrilliferous ; internodes of the ramuli, rather longer than 
broad, bi-tri-striate ; primary tubes four, in the stem coated with a thick layer of 
cells ; conceptacles ovate ; tetraspores large, in the terminal ramuli. Ag. Sp. Alg. 
vol. 2. p. 78. Kiitz. Sp p. 827. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 302. 
Hab. Newport, Rhode Island, Prof. Bailey. Lynn, Massachusetts, and Peconic 
Bay, Mr. Hooper, (v. v.) 
Tufted. Stems once or twice as thick as a hog’s bristle, alternately much 
branched, the lateral branches spreading irregularly on all sides, repeatedly com- 
pound ; the main stem and principal and lesser branches opaque and inarticulate, 44 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
coated with oblong, sinuous, irregular cells. The smaller branches are gradually- 
resolved into alternately multifid, articulated ramuli. Internodes of the ramuli 
about as long as broad, or a little longer. A cross section of the stem shows four 
primary tubes, surrounded by many rows of cells, smaller gradually to the circum- 
ference ; the four secondary tubes (alternating with the primaries) large. Ends of 
the branches and ramuli with abundant byssoid fibrils. Conceptacles broadly 
ovate, subsessile. Colour a dull, pale red brown. Substance soft, soon decompos- 
ing. In drying, it adheres very closely to paper. 
This scarcely differs from the following except in the duller colour, less divided 
ramuli, and shorter internodes. This is the plant published as P. Brodicei in Prof. 
Bailey’s list. I have examined his specimen and find but four primary tubes in 
the stem ; not six, as in P. Brodicei. 
17- Polysiphonia violacea, Grev. ; brownish red or purple ; stem inarticulate, 
marked with irregular cells, robust, alternately branched, decompound ; branches 
quadrifarious, repeatedly divided, bushy or feathery, the ultimate ramuli exceed- 
ingly slender, alternately multifid, fibrilliferous ; internodes of the ramuli bistriate, 
two to four times as long as broad ; primary tubes four, in the stem coated with a 
thick layer of cells ; conceptacles ovate, stalked or subsessile; tetraspores in 
swollen submoniliform ramuli. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 2, p. 76. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 826. 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 209. 
fi flexicaulis ; stem and branches more slender than common, angularly bent, 
excessively divided, the lesser divisions very patent and frequently secund; inter- 
nodes of the ramuli rather longer than usual. 
Hab. On Zostera, &c., frequently in deep water, beyond tide marks. Penobscot 
Bay, Maine, Mr. Hooper. Boston Bay, Mr. G. B. Emerson, Dr. Durkee, Capt. 
Pike. New Bedford, Dr. Roche, Mr. Congdon. Seaconnot, Mr. Cong don. P. 
Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans. Profusely common in Halifax harbour in 
July, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Subsolitary, or loosely tufted. Stem 6—12 inches long, or more, as thick or 
twice as thick as hog’s bristle below, gradually attenuated upwards, simple or but 
slightly divided, set throughout with lateral, spirally inserted branches, the lowest 
of which are longest, the rest gradually shorter upwards. Branches elongate, bear- 
ing a second or third series of similar but shorter branches, the last of which are 
alternately multifid, and resolved into excessively slender, finely divided ramuli, 
the minute division of which, in luxuriant specimens, gives the plant a feathery 
aspect. The stem and larger branches are opaque, marked with numerous, irregu- 
larly shaped, veiny cells, without apparent articulation, the nodes being hidden under 
the cellular coat. The lesser branches and ramuli are pellucidly articulate, the 
internodes of the former being three or four times, of the latter about twice as 
long as broad. Conceptacles generally pedicellate. Colour varying from brown to 
purple, often becoming brighter after the plant has been dried. Substance of the V. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
45 
stem cartilaginous, but tender ; of the branches and ramuli very flaccid, soft and 
lubricous. It adheres most closely to paper in drying. 
Var. /3, which I dredged in great profusion at Halifax harbour, where, in July 
and August, it is one of the most characteristic plants, is often two feet long or 
more, and excessively and almost intricately branched. The main stem and 
branches are remarkably flexuous, bent from side to side in a zigzag manner, and 
their lesser divisions are very frequently secund. Except in these characters, 
which I do not think of specific importance, this variety does not differ from the 
ordinary form. 
Sub-genus 2. Polysiphonia. Primary tubes more than four. (Sp. 18—28.) 
18. Polysiphonia variegata, Ag. ; tufts dense, brownish purple or greenish ; fila- 
ments setaceous and rigid below, capillary above, dichotomo-multifid, the lower 
axils very patent; branches somewhat zigzag, elongated, furnished with lateral, 
capillary, very flaccid, multifid, purple ramuli ; internodes near the base shorter 
than their breadth, once and half to twice as long as broad in the branches and 
ramuli, three banded ; tubes six ; conceptacles ovate, short-stalked. Ag. Sp. Alg. 
2. p. 81. J. Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 129. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 155. 
Hab. On Zostera, &c. Annual. Massachussetts Bay, Dr. DurJcee, Mr. Pike. 
Peconic Bay, Prof. Bailey and W. H. H. Several places in Long Island Sound. 
New York, Mr. Hooper, Calverley, &c. Sullivan’s Island, Charleston, Prof. Gibbes, 
W. H. H. &e. (v. v.) 
In fine tufts. Filaments as thick as hog’s bristle below, capillary and byssoid 
above, two to ten inches long, dichotomous below, repeatedly forked, alternately or 
irregularly decompound above ; the lower divisions spreading with very wide 
angles and subdistant, the upper gradually more erect. In some specimens the 
whole frond has a flabelliform outline and is pretty equally dichotomo-multifid, 
none of the pencils of ramuli crowding on each other ; in others the principal 
stems are a few times divided, nearly flexuous or zigzag, and alternately set 
with pencils of closely dichotomous, crowded, subfastigiate ramuli. Internodes 
visible to the base of the frond, and, except near the base where they are very 
short, pretty regularly once and half or twice as long as broad, showing three tubes 
on the lateral view, and a circle of six (rarely seven) round a small central cell, 
when cut across. No secondary tubes except toward the base of old stems. Apices 
attenuate, with very short joints. Colour a dark, purple brown or blackish purple, 
becoming a brighter purple after having been dried. The substance is soft and 
lubricous, but not very gelatinous, and the plant adheres closely to paper in drying. 
Conceptacles broadly ovate or subglobose, widemouthed, pedicellate, scattered over 
the branches. 
This plant, though in some respects variable, has a peculiarity of aspect which 46 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
Y. 
renders it, after it has once been seen, easily recognised in the several varieties it 
assumes. It is the only species yet found in Charleston Harbour, where in January 
and February it is very abundant. It extends north as far as Boston, where it is a 
summer plant. In Europe it is a characteristic Adriatic species, and is found along 
the Atlantic coast as far as the south of England. 
19. Polysiphonia parasitica, Grev. ; filaments slender, rigid, full red, decom- 
pound-pinnate, distichous ; branches bi-tri-pinnate ; pinnules closely set, alternate, 
erecto-patent, awl shaped, acute ; internodes about as long as broad, about four- 
banded ; dissepiments hyaline, wavy ; tubes about eight ; conceptacles ovate, on 
short stalks ; tetraspores immersed in swollen pinnules. Grev. FI. Edin. p. 309- 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 147. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 103. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 803. 
Hab. Providence, Rhode Island (fide Sp. in Herb., Hooper). 
One to three inches high, distichous, repeatedly pinnate. Colour when growing 
a clear lake-red, becoming brownish in drying. It imperfectly adheres to paper. 
Apparently a rare species in America. I have only seen a solitary specimen in 
the collection of Mr. Hooper of Brooklyn. It is a beautiful plant resembling a 
miniature Ptilota in outward aspect. 
20. Polysiphonia Pecten Veneris ; small (1-2 inches high), capillary, alternately 
branched ; branches flexuous, sometimes many times compound, spreading or 
reflexed ; lesser branches pectinated on one side with secund, bristle-shaped, short 
ramuli, issuing from every node ; internodes nine or ten tubed, about once and 
half as long as broad, those of the ramuli shorter ; tetraspores immersed in the 
ramuli ; conceptacles ovato-rostrate, on long peduncles ! Yar. a. much branched, 
the comblike branches strongly recurved. (Tab. XYI. C.) Yar. /3. less branching, 
the comblike branchlets elongate, straight or nearly so. (Tab. XYI. H.) 
Hab. On small Algie and corallines. Key West, W. H. H. (20). Dr. Blodgett, (70). 
Pine Islands, Prof. Tuomey (26). (v. v.) 
Filaments decumbent at base and creeping, then erect, capillary or subsetaceous, 
much branched, distichous. Branches alternate, flexuous, spreading at wide angles, 
repeatedly divided, the successive divisions usually secund. All the lesser branches 
and portions of the branches and stem are furnished, at intervals of less than a quar- 
ter of a line, with secund, subulate, or bristle-shaped ramuli about a line in length, 
so that each penultimate branchlet with its ramuli resembles a miniature comb. 
These little combs in the larger and more branching specimens are generally 
strongly reflexed, the ramuli curving in an opposite direction. A transverse sec- 
tion of the stem shows nine or ten tubes. The internodes are rather longer than R FTODOMELACEiE. 
47 
y. 
broad in the ramuli, and once and half to twice their breadth in the branches. 
Conceptacles ovato-urceolate, acuminate, or produced at the orifice into a long beak, 
borne on peduncles longer than themselves, often twice as long, originating on the 
principal branches of the frond, and more than twice the diameter of the ordinary 
ramuli. Tetraspores immersed in the ramuli. Colour a brown red of variable inten- 
sity ; in old specimens the branches are sometimes colourless while the ramuli are 
strongly coloured. Substance soft. It adheres, but not very strongly, to paper in 
drying. 
The smaller and less branching specimens resemble P. obscura, but are much 
more delicate ; the larger are quite unlike any other North American species. 
Since our figure was prepared I have received from Dr. Blodgett specimens bearing 
conceptacles. These are very curious, shaped like those of Dasya elegans, and 
borne on still longer peduncles. 
Plate XYI. C. Fig. 1. Polysiphonia Pecten Veneris ; the natural size. Fig. 2. 
part of a branch magnified; Jig. 3. ramulus, with tetraspores, more highly magnified. 
D. Figs. 1 and 2, var. /3. the natural size. Fig. 3, part of a branch ; fig. 4, small 
piece of the same and ramulus with tetraspores ; fig. 5, cross section of a branch ; 
the latter figures more or less magnified. 
21. Polysiphonia exilis ; filaments densely tufted, creeping, afterwards ascending 
or suberect, furnished with a few distant, secund, unequal, filiform ramuli ; inter- 
nodes shorter than their breadth in all parts of the frond ; tubes nine ; tetraspores 
in the ramuli. 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H. (24) Dr. Blodgett, (v. v.) 
Densely tufted. Filaments matted together at base and there attached by lateral 
rooting fibres ; afterwards ascending or sub-erect, about an inch in length or rather 
more, ultra-capillary, generally simple, furnished at short intervals with numerous 
very unequal, secund ramuli, long and short often indiscriminately ranked together, 
the ends of the filaments generally bare. Internodes very short, about half as long 
as broad, with pellucid dissepiments. A cross section shows nine tubes. Tetra- 
spores in distorted ramuli. I have not seen conceptacles. Colour a dark brown 
red, becoming much browner in drying. Substance coarse and rather rigid. It 
imperfectly adheres to paper in drying. 
Allied to P. obscura, Ag. ; but more robust, and yet with fewer and broader 
tubes. I also collected at Key West one or two specimens of a Polysiphonia nearly 
allied to this, differing in being less robust, less branching, having longer inter- 
nodes and a rather brighter colour. As the specimens are not in a very good state, 
I am unwilling to give them a name at present, and thereby add to the sufficiently 
numerous list of bad species in this genus. 48 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
y. 
22. Polysiphonia atrorubescens, Grev. ; filaments setaceous, erect, sparingly or 
much branched, dark red, somewhat rigid ; branches long, alternate, very erect, 
alternately decompound, naked or furnished with short, simple or multifid, scattered, 
acute ramuli, which taper to the base and apex ; internodes of the branches twice 
or thrice as long as broad, of the ramuli shorter than their breadth, twelve tubed, 
the tubes frequently spirally twisted ; conceptacles broadly ovate or sub-rotund, 
sessile, tetraspores in the ramuli. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 2. p. 64. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 172. 
Pol. Agardhiana, Grev. Scot. Crypt. H. t. 210. Conferva atrorubescens, Dillw. t. 70. 
Hab. Little Compton, Dr. Durkee. Longbranch, New Jersey, Miss Morris, (v. v.) 
Stems densely tufted, two or three inches long in our American specimens, as 
thick as hog’s bristle, irregularly branched, not much tapered upwards ; branches 
long and virgate, sub-simple, very erect, here and there furnished with a few alter- 
nately multifid ramuli, which taper to the base and apex, and are thus spindle- 
shaped. Larger specimens are often more compound. Internodes about twelve 
tubed, twice as long as broad in the branches, shorter in the ramuli and toward the 
base of the stem, multistriate, the tubes very frequently, but not always, spirally 
twisted. Conceptacles broadly ovate, wide-mouthed, sessile near the ends of the 
ramuli. Tetraspores of large size, in the distorted ramuli. Colour when growing, 
a full deep-red, changing to reddish-brown in the herbarium. Substance rather 
rigid. It does not strongly adhere to paper in drying. 
Miss Morris’s specimens are in fruit, of both kinds, and have all the usual charac- 
ters of the European plant, from which they differ merely in being less luxuriant. 
Dr. Durkee’s are not fully grown, and the tubes are straighter than usual. I see 
no sufficient reasons for doubting that both belong to the same species. 
23. Polysiphonia Californica; flaccid, capillary, densely tufted; filaments divid- 
ing near the base into subsimple, elongate, flexuous branches, which are naked 
below, and set with short, alternate, secondary branches above; secondary branches 
pinnate or bipinnate, the pinnules tapering to the base and apex ; internodes many- 
tubed, those of the branches nine or ten times, of the ramuli about twice as long 
as broad. 
Hab. Golden Gate, California, Captain N. Pike. (v. s. in herb. T. C. D.) 
Densely tufted. Filaments, so far as I can judge from the imperfectly extricated 
specimens before me, divided near the base into several long branches. These 
branches are four or five inches long, simple or nearly so, flexuous, capillary, bare 
of lesser branches below and furnished above, for two thirds of their length, with 
lateral, secondary branches from a quarter inch to an inch in length, and at 
distances apart varying from nearly an inch to one or two lines; the lowest most 
distantly placed. The simplest of the lateral branches are naked for more than 
half their length and pinnated in the remaining portion; the more compound are y. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
49 
similar but bipinnate, each of their pinnaa being naked below and pinnulate above. 
The pinnules are very erect and taper to the base and apex. The tubes in the 
specimen examined are nine or ten in the stem. The internodes are distinctly 
visible in all parts of the frond; those of the main branches are very many times 
longer than broad, and have the tubes often spirally twisted; those of the smaller 
branches and pinnas are uniformly short, once and a half to twice as long as broad ; 
and those of the pinnules are about as long as their breadth. The substance, though 
tenacious, is very flaccid. The colour, probably full red in the recent plant, is a 
dark red brown in the dried specimen. In drying, it does not adhere very closely 
to paper. 
This is allied in many respects to P. atrorubescens, from which it differs in 
tenuity and in general aspect, as well as in the much greater length of the inter- 
nodes of the larger branches. These latter characters connect it with P. tenui- 
striata of the Southern Ocean, and perhaps future observations may oblige us to 
unite it to that species ; but at present we have not evidence to warrant our doing 
so. 
24. Polysiphonia nigrescens, Grev. ; frond robust, rigid and rough with broken 
branches below, flaccid much branched and bushy above ; branches alternate, de- 
compound pinnate ; ramuli distant, elongate, awl-shaped, alternate, the upper ones 
pinnulate near the tips ; internodes of the branches rarely shorter than their 
breadth, often once and half to twice or four times as long as broad, multistriate ; 
tubes from twelve to twenty ; conceptacles ovate, sessile or nearly so. Ag. Sp. Alg. 
2, p. 69- Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. t. 50,/. 4. Sp. Alg. p. 813. 
Of this most variable plant I have received the following forms from America :— 
fucoides ; robust, excessively branched and bushy ; branches sub-spirally 
inserted, many times pinnated, the lesser branches sub-bipinnate, fastigiate 
and sub-corymbose ; pinnules naked below, pinnulate above ; internodes of 
the branches once and half to twice, of the ramuli once and half as long as 
broad ; tubes of the stem varying from twelve to twenty. Pol. nigrescens, 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 277- P. fucoides, Grev. Edin. p. 308. Conferva fucoides, 
Dillw. t. 75. E. Bot. t. 1743. 
/3. ajfnis ; robust, elongate, repeatedly pinnate but rather laxly branched, the 
principal branches naked below, decompound pinnate above ; the lesser 
branches somewhat fastigiate and corymbose ; internodes of the branches 
three or four times, of the ramuli once and half to twice as long as broad ; 
tubes 15-16. Pol. a finis Moore; Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 303. 
7. plumosa ; stem setaceous, undivided, pinnated with lateral, alternate or secund, 
sub-distant, decompound branches ; branches lanceolate in outline, three or 
four times pinnate, plumose, the apices not fastigiate ; ramuli very slender, 
erecto-patent ; internodes of the branches 2-4 times, of the ramuli once and 
half to twice as long as broad ; tubes seventeen or eighteen. 
8. gracillima ; stem setaceous, undivided, pinnated with capillary elongate 
VOL. IV. ART. 5. 50 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
branches ; branches bi-pinnate, both pinnae and pinnules distant, very slender 
and irregularly placed ; internodes of the branches 4-8 times, of the pinnules 
twice or thrice as long as broad ; tubes twelve. 
€. tenuis ; stem setaceous, decompound-pinnate ; branches sub-distichous, ovate 
in outline, 3-4 times pinnate ; the pinnas and pinnulae patent and rather 
distant, not fastigiate ; internodes of the pinnae 3-4, of the pinnules 2-3 
times as long as broad ; tubes fifteen. 
Yar. £ Menziesii ; setaceous, alternately branched, distichous ; branches virgate, 
bi-pinnate ; pinnae sub-distant, pinnulae subulate, the lowermost squarrose or 
revolute, simple, the upper erecto-patent, simple or alternately multifid ; inter- 
nodes of the branches twice or thrice as long as broad, of the ramuli shorter 
than their breadth ; tubes twelve or thirteen. 
V- disticha; stem setaceous, decompound-pinnate, distichous ; branches bi-tri- 
pinnate, with a subdefined, oblong or ovate outline, the pinnae and pinnulae 
remarkably patent ; internodes of the pinnae rather shorter than their breadth, 
of the pinnules as long as broad ; tubes eleven or twelve. 
0. Durkeei ; robust, compressed, decompound-pinnate, distichous ; branches with 
a definite, oblong outline, bi-tripinnate ; pinnae naked at base, pinnulate above, 
pinnules erect; all the internodes much shorter than their breadth. Pol. 
Durkeei. Haw. MSS. (Tab. XVII. C.) 
Hab. In rock pools between tide marks, and in deep water, attached to rocks 
and shells, &c. Perennial. Yar. a. Sitcha, Barclay ! Prince Edward’s Island, 
Dr. Jeans. Nahant, W. IJ. H. Newburyport, Miss Townsend. Staten Island, 
Prof. Bailey. Red Hook and Fort Hamilton, Messrs. Hooper, Pike, Walters, Sfc., 
W. H. H. /3. Halifax, W. H. H. 7. New Bedford, Dr. Roche. 8. Yellow Hook, 
New York, Mr. Walters, e. Ship Anne Point, Messrs. Walters and Hooper. Bos- 
ton Bay, Capt. Pike. New Bedford, Dr. Roche. West Coast, A. Menzies, Esq. 
(1788). 77. Newport, Mr. Olney. Long Island Sound, Capt. Pike. Fort Hamil- 
ton, Messrs. Hooper, Walters, Congdon. 6. Germantown, Dr. Durkee. New Haven, 
Dr. Durkee and Airs. Babcock. 
Some of the above varieties are so unlike the normal form of this species (our 
var. a. fucoides), that were there not intermediate states they might readily pass for 
distinct species. The number of tubes in the stem is extremely variable in differ- 
ent specimens, even where there is no other difference. In some I have found them 
as few as eleven, in others as many as eighteen ; the more common numbers being 
twelve and fifteen. The length of the internodes is more constant in the several 
varieties, when the penultimate divisions of the frond are compared. The best 
general marks for the species are its decompound, pinnate branching, penultimate 
ramuli, naked below and pinnulate above the middle, and many tubed internodes of 
moderate length. 
Yar. a. fucoides. Stems 6-12 inches long, as thick or twice as thick as hog’s 
bristle, rigid below, flaccid above, many times decompound ; the lesser branches 
very dense and bushy, of equal length ; the ultimate ramuli very erect, fastigiate, y. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
51 
crowded toward the ends of the branches. Conceptacles scattered on the ramuli. 
Internodes seldom more than twice as long as broad, often shorter. Tubes 12-13-15 
18-20 in different specimens. Lower part of the stem somewhat opaque, partially 
coated with surface cells. Colour a blackish purple. Substance tough. A. com- 
mon North American form. 
Yar. /3. affinis. Stems 12-18 inches long, thicker than hog’s bristle, more dis- 
tantly branched than yar. «, with the branches more naked in their lower half. 
This variety, which I believe always grows in deep water, beyond tide marks, is 
further remarkable for the greater length of internodes of the stem. 
Yar. y. plumosa. Stems 8-10 inches long, as thick as hog’s bristle, undivided, 
but set throughout at short distances with lateral branches, the lowest of which are 
longest, the upper gaadually shorter, giving the general frond a pyramidal outline. 
These branches are lanceolate in outline, slender, and many times pinnated, the 
decompound ramuli being capillary and almost byssoid. Internodes of the lesser 
branches thrice or four times as long as broad ; opaque towards the base of the 
stem. Colour a purplish brown. Substance soft and flaccid. In drying, all parts, 
except the base of the stem, adhere closely to paper. 
Yar. B. gracillima. Stem 8-10 inches long, scarcely as thick as hog’s bristle below, 
capillary above,laxly set with distantly pinnated, slender, capillary branches. Hamuli 
but slightly compound. Internodes of the branches very long ; from five to six or 
eight times as long as broad, of the lesser branches shorter. Of this variety I have 
seen but a solitary specimen, which is so unlike the ordinary state of the species, 
that I had at first considered it specifically distinct ; but it seems, on closer exami- 
nation, to be intermediate between the preceding and following forms. The great 
length of the internodes is, however, a striking peculiarity. 
Yar. €. tenuis. Stem 6-10 inches long, as thick as hog’s bristle, attenuated 
upwards, decompound pinnate ; branches closely set and three or four times com- 
pounded, the pinnae and pinnulae sometimes subdistichous, sometimes spirally spread- 
ing. Internodes of the branches 4-5, of the pinnae 3-4, of pinnules thrice as long 
as broad. Colour a blackish brown. Substance flaccid, but not lubricous. In 
drying, it does not strongly adhere to paper. Not an uncommon American form. 
It has the aspect of var. a, but is much more slender, and has much longer inter- 
nodes. 
Yar. £. Menziesii. Stems 3-4 inches high, as thick as horse hair, distantly 
branched; branches alternate, virgate, naked below, or with a few distant squarrose 
or revolute simple ramuli, bipinnate above, narrow oblong in circumscription, dis- 
tichous. Pinnae half an inch long, the lowest pinnulge frequently recurved or 
curled, the upper erectopatent. Tubes 13. Colour dark brown. Characterised by 
the squarrose or revolute ramuli. The specimens described are marked “ Rhodo- 
mela floccosa” in the Menziesian Herbarium. A specimen of the true R. floccosa, 
which was first discovered by Mr. Menzies, is fastened on a separate sheet. Our 
plant is much smaller and more slender, and the microscopic analysis very different. 
Though peculiar as a form, I do not think it can be separated by essential charac- 
ters from P. nigrescens. 
Yar. m disticha. Stem as thick as hog’s bristle, 4-6 inches long, distichously 52 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
y. 
branched ; the main stem and branches somewhat angularly bent. All the divi- 
sions patent, and all the internodes short. Substance rigid. Colour very dark. 
This variety is readily known by its patent, distichous branches, rigid substance, 
and internodes uniformly shorter than in the preceding forms, with which it seems 
to connect the following. 
Yar. 6. Durkeei. Stem 2-3 inches high, thicker than hog’s bristle, compressed (?), 
distichously branched, repeatedly pinnate ; the main stem either simple or forked, 
with several lateral branches. Branches definitely circumscribed, round-topped, 
bi-tripinnate, the pinnae a line asunder, patent; pinnules subulate and erect. Arti- 
culations visible in all parts of the frond, and uniformly much shorter than their 
diameter. Colour a dark brown. Substance rather rigid. This plant, which I 
first received from Dr. Durkee of Boston, is so unlike many of the preceding 
varieties, particularly those called plumosa and gracillima, that few persons, on a 
mere inspection of a solitary specimen, would suspect them to belong to the same 
species ; and when first I examined Dr. Durkee’s specimen I regarded it as speci- 
fically distinct, and hoped it might be allowed to bear his name. A more extended 
reference to other specimens from various quarters now induces me to consider it a 
very extreme form, in which the characters of the var. disticha are exaggerated. 
Plate XVII. C. Fig. 1. Polysiphonia nigrescens, var. Durkeei; the natural size. 
Fig. 2, part of a branch and ramulus ; jig. 3, cross section of a branch ; both mag- 
nified. 
25. Polysiphonia Woodii; stem robust, flexuous, strongly compressed, distich- 
ously branched, decompound-pinnate; pinnae (or primary branches) distant, patent, 
tri-quadri-pinnate, the pinnules pinnato-multifid; ultimate ramuli subulate, in- 
curved ; internodes in all parts of the frond very much shorter than their diameter, 
many striate, with pellucid dissepiments, those of the stem with two (!) axes of 
radiation; tetraspores in a single row in the ramuli. 
Hab. On the Pacific Coast, in lat. 38° 12', Lieut. Wood (1846). Golden Gate, 
California, Capt. N. Pike (1851). (v. s. in Herb. Hook, et T. C. D.) 
Frond (in the largest specimen seen by me) about 5 inches long, twice as thick 
as hog’s bristle, compressed, somewhat zigzag, distichously branched ; the branches 
half an inch asunder, alternate, patent, one to two inches long, nearly equal, de- 
compound pinnate, their primary pinnae half an inch long, about three or four 
times pinnately parted, all the laciniae alternate. The ultimate ramuli are subulate, 
acute, incurved, not a line in length. Every part of the frond is exactly distichous. 
The internodes are visible throughout with the help of a pocket lens, and are much 
shorter than their breadth, about ten striae or tubes being visible on a lateral view 
in the ramuli, and a greater number on the larger branches. All the interspaces 
are pellucid ; in the stem only are the internodes partially coated with secondary 
cellules. A transverse section of the stem is a long ellipse, having two axes (or 
foci) round which the tubes radiate, a structure which I have never seen in any v. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
other species. Conceptacles unknown. Tetraspores of large size, forming a single 
row through the centre of the ultimate ramuli. Colour a brownish red. Substance 
soft, but not soon decomposing. In drying, the plant adheres closely to paper. 
A very remarkable species, abundantly different from any other North American 
one known to me. I wish it to bear the name of Lieut. Wood, R. N., who, while 
cruising in the Pacific Ocean in H. M. S. “ Pandora,” collected several interesting 
Algae, which he communicated to Sir Wm. J. Hooker, in whose Herbarium I have 
examined them. I have recently received from Mr. N. Pike of Brooklyn a Cali- 
fornian specimen agreeing in all characters with Lieut. Wood’s original one. 
26 Polysiphonia dictyurus, J. Ag.; filaments tufted (1-2 inches high) capillary, 
rather rigid, sparingly branched; branches virgate, simple, set throughout with 
short, pinnato-multifid, squarrose, quadrifarious ramuli, which are densely crowded 
toward the ends of the branches; internodes visible throughout, many-tubed, much 
shorter than their breadth. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 838. 
Hab. Pochetti, Pacific Coast of the Mexican Republic, Liebman! (v. s. in Herb. 
T. C. D.) 
Stem short, with a few lateral branches. Branches 1-2 inches long, laxly clothed 
below, very densely set above with short pinnato-multifid ramuli one or two lines 
in length; the lowest of which are shortest and subsimply pinnate, the upper longer 
and more compound, their pinnules once or twice forked or irregularly multifid. 
Tubes about twelve in the stem. Colour under the microscope a dull brown. Sub- 
stance rigid. It does not adhere to paper in drying. 
27. Polysiphonia thyrsigera1 J. Ag.; “two inches high, tufted, becoming very 
black in drying, rigid; branches setaceous, virgate, above densely clothed with 
curved acute, cymose or racemose, tetraspore-bearing ramuli (Carpoclonia, Kiitz.); 
internodes of the branches thrice as short as broad, ten-tubed, of the fruit-bear- 
ing ramuli twice as short.” Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 838. 
Hab. La Guayra, Mexico, Liebman. 
I have not seen this plant, for which I adopt Kiitzing’s description, slightly 
altered. 
27- Polysiphonia verticillaia, Harv. ; filaments short, creeping, setaceous, sparing- 
ly branched ; branches erect, densely beset on all sides with simple, incurved, acute 
ramuli; articulations many-tubed, much shorter than their diameter in the 
branches, rarely as long as broad in the ramuli ; tubes ten or twelve. Harv. in 
Bot. Beechey,p. 165 Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 839. 54 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
y. 
Hab. California, Capt. Beechey. (v. s. frustuluin in Herb. T. C. D.) 
One to two inches high, with the aspect of a Cladostephus, or perhaps more nearly 
resembling Rhodomela larix in miniature. The ramuli, though very densely set on 
all sides, imbricate, and crowded round the ends of the branches, are scattered, not 
whorled. The articulations are on a close examination clearly visible in the 
branches as well as the ramuli, but, owing to the opacity of the substance, only 
after long steeping the dry plant. The internodes are uniformly very short, the 
tubes broad. 
I regret that I can throAv little additional light on this imperfectly known plant, 
of which I possess merely one or two minute fragments. These are different 
from any North American specimens I have seen, but seem nearly allied to 
P. dictyurus. The specific name verticillata conveys an incorrect idea. 
28. Polysiphonia fastigiata, Grev. ; tufts globular, fastigiate; filaments rigid? 
setaceous, of nearly equal diameter throughout, many times dichotomous ; axils 
patent ; internodes shorter than their diameter, many-tubed, with a dark central 
spot; tubes sixteen to eighteen. Ag. Sp. Alg. Vol. 2, p. 67. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 
809* Harv. Pliyc. Brit. t. 299- Conferva polymorpha, Linn. Dillw. Conf. t. 44. 
E. Bot. t. 1764. 
Hab. Parasitical on Fucus nodosus and F. vesiculosus. Common on the East 
Coast from Halifax to New York. Golden Gate, California, Capt. Pike, (v. v.) 
Tufts globose, one or two inches in diameter, dense. Filaments rigid, dark- 
brown, excessively branched from the base, the main branches and their primary 
divisions dichotomous, with wide axils, the ramuli less regular in ramification, and 
often alternately multifid. All the apices are of nearly the same length, giving 
the tuft an appearance of having been clipped all round like a thorn bush. The 
internodes frequently show, besides their longitudinal bands, a dark central spot, 
which is the coloured bag of the axial cell seen through the outer walls. Concepta- 
cles ovate, somewhat acuminate, sessile near the ends of the branches, often two or 
more close together. 
This species, though named polymorpha by the earlier writers on Algse, is very 
constant to its characters, and if once seen, can hardly be mistaken for any other. 
It is very constantly found on Fucus nodosus, wherever that common littoral plant 
grows ; and more rarely on F. vesiculosus. Capt. Pike’s specimens from the Pacific 
coast are identical with Atlantic-grown individuals. 
IX. BOSTRYCHIA, Mont. 
Frond dull purple, filiform, branched, inarticulate (or sub-articulate with very v. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
55 
short internodes), tessellated with quadrate cells ; axis tubular, articulated, sur- 
rounded by one or more concentric series of oblong coloured cells, which are suc- 
cessively shorter toward the circumference; surface cells quadrate. Ultimate 
ramuli frequently monosiphonous. Conceptacles ovate, terminal, containing a tuft 
of pear-shaped spores. Tetraspores contained in fusiform, terminal stichidia, in a 
double row. 
A very natural and now pretty extensive genus, consisting of small Algae of simi- 
larly amphibious habits, and all of a dull, blackish or livid purple colour. It is 
difficult to distinguish some of them by a definite character from Dasya, and others 
from Polysiphonia ; others again have been placed in Rhodomela. They rarely 
grow in the open sea. Their favourite localities are near high water mark, often 
in places where they are seldom submerged, or in brackish water, as the estuaries 
of rivers ; and some grow even in perfectly fresh water, in mountain streams far 
removed from the sea. The same species, as in the case of B. vaga of Kerguelen’s 
Land, may occasionally be traced from the rocks and stones about high water mark, 
to a considerable distance inland. 
The typical species are inarticulate, but are beautifully dotted with large square 
cells arranged in transverse lines, several cells in each band. Such transverse bands 
are evidently of the same nature as the many-tubed internodes or articulations of 
Polysiphonia, the difference being one of degree, and not of kind, and consisting in 
the very short and minute cells of the Bostrychia compared to the elongated tubular 
cells of the Polysiphonia. In other species, as our B. rivularis, the cells of the stem 
are longer, and the ramuli are almost articulated, the lower parts pluri-striate, their 
ends unipunctate or monosiphonous. Yet this species cannot be naturally sepa- 
rated from B. radicans, B. Hooheri, &c. which are of the typical structure; nor 
yet again, as I think, froija B. Toumeyi, which, were there no such connecting links, 
would probably be placed in Dasya. Again, B. calamistrata is in all respects, 
except in the structure of its ramuli, an orthodox species of Bostrychia ; but by 
these single-celled ramuli it is associated with the aberrant B. Toumeyi. 
Sub-genus 1. Eubostrychia. Peripheric cells in several concentric rows (as seen 
in a cross section of the stem). 
1. Bostrychia Montagnei; frond ultrasetaceous, opaque ; main stems three or 
four times pinnated, strongly reflexed or arching backwards ; pinna} distichous, close 
together, horizontally patent, recurved, the terminal ones often secund ; pinnules 
capillary, pinnulate or bipinnulate, dotted, inarticulate, their tips alone unipunctate, 
surface cells quadrate ; apices indexed; stichidia elongate, acuminate. (Tab. XIV. 
B.) 
Hab. On the mangrove stems, at high water mark. Key West, W. H. H. Bahia 
Honda, Prof. Tuomey (9). (v. v.) 56 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
y. 
Fronds in large, bushy tufts, three to four inches long. Stems thicker than hog’s 
bristle, gradually attenuated upwards, undivided, strongly arched or deflected back- 
wards ; in the lower half, generally thorny with the remains of broken branches 
set one to two lines apart ; in the upper half, closely et with distichous, alternate, 
nearly horizontal branches. Branches bi-tripinnate, the lowermost shorter and less 
compound, the middle ones longest, the upper short and usually bent in pairs to 
one side, and thus (falsely) secund. Stems and ramuli opaque, inarticulate ; the 
stems dotted with many rows of small, quadrate, pellucid-bordered cells, the ramuli 
dotted with similar but fewer cells, and the extreme tips consisting of a single row 
of cells. A cross section of the stem shows a minute central cavity surrounded by 
many rows of small cells, each containing a small purple endochrome. I have not 
seen conceptacles. Stichidia are common, and are formed in the ramuli; they are 
linear-lanceolate and acuminate and contain a double row of tetraspores. Colour 
a brownish purple, varying in intensity. Substance rigid. The plant does not 
adhere to paper in drying. 
This forms large tufts on the stems of mangrove trees at various places near 
Key West, and probably occurs in similar situations among the other reefs and 
keys. It invests the stems up to the very limit of high water mark, and is conse- 
quently left dry for many hours each tide ; and then strongly resembles collapsed 
fronds of Hymenophyllum Tunbridgense. 
The specific name is imposed in honour of Dr. Camille Montagne of Paris, the 
well known author of many works on Cryptogamia, and who first defined this 
genus. B. Montagnei is one of the largest and handsomest species with which * 
I am acquainted, and I have much pleasure in dedicating it to my learned 
friend. 
Specimens of a strangely metamorphosed variety of this plant, said to have been 
collected at Valparaiso, have been communicated to me by Mrs. Tyers of Bristol 
(England). In this variety or monstrosity, several of the secondary branches (or 
primary pinnae) are resolved into a system of capillary, subdichotomous, exces- 
sively divided branches, two to three inches long. This completely alters the 
aspect of the plant, and these feathery specimens might pass for a different species, 
were it not that, on the same stem, some branches retain their proper character. 
Plate XIV. B. Fig. 1. Bostrychia Montagnei, the natural size. Fig. 2. portion 
of a branch, with pinnae ; jig 3, a pinnule and a stichidium, on opposite sides 
of the branchlet ; jig. 4, transverse section of the stem ; more or less highly 
magnified. 
2. Bostrychia calamistrata, Mont. ; stem subcompressed, inarticulate, dotted, 
alternately branched ; branches distichous, subhorizontally patent, oblong, circum- 
scribed, bi-tripinnate ; pinnae closely set, dotted ; pinnulae capillary, multifid, invo- 
lute, articulate, single-tubed ; articulations rather longer than broad ; conceptacles 
ovate, terminating the dotted pinnae ; stichidia similarly placed (on different indi- 
viduals) spindle shaped, incurved. Mont. Nat. Hist. Cuba, p. 36, t. 4, jig. 1. Harv. 
Ner. Austr. p. 68. (var. repens). (Tab. XIV. C.) RHODOMELACEiE. 
57 
V. 
Hab. On mangrove stems, and on logs about the wharf, at Key West, W. H. II. 
(No. 7). Pine Island, Prof. Tuomey (10b.) (v. v.) 
Stems 1-2 inches high, as thick as hog’s bristle, alternately branched ; branches 
an inch long, horizontally patent, simple or once or twice divided, distichous, closely 
bi-tri-pinnate. The lower parts of the stem are generally beset with short, spine-like, 
broken branches, the remains of earlier growth ; the upper parts, as well as the 
main branches and their divisions, closely beset with very slender, alternate, patent, 
simple or multifid, indexed or involute, capillary ramuli. The stems and branches 
and the primary pinnas are solid, inarticulate, and dotted with quadrate cells ; the 
pinnulge and their divisions articulate, formed of a single series of oblong cells, 
once and half or twice as long as broad. A cross section of the stem shows a small 
central cavity surrounded by numerous rows of coloured cells. Conceptacles ovate, 
terminating the primary pinna?, containing a tuft of pear-shaped spores. Stichidia 
spindle shaped, terminal, curved, acuminate. Colour a brownish purple. Substance 
cartilaginous, rigid. It does not adhere to paper. 
Our specimens agree with those received by Dr. Montagne from Cuba. They 
differ from the plant described in Harv. Ner. Austr. as above quoted, in being erect, 
and destitute of root-like discs. 
Plate XIV. C. Fig. 1. Bostrychia calamistrata, the natural size. Fig. 2, apex 
of a branch, with conceptacles ; jig. 3, a conceptacle and ramulus ; jig. 4, spores ; 
jig. 5, small portions of the ramulus ; jig. 6, cross section of the stem ; jig. 7, a 
stichidium ; all more or less highly magnified. 
Sub-genus 2. Stictosiphonia. Peripheric cells in a single row. 
3. Bostrychia rivularis; stems an inch high, rising from creeping filaments, 
capillary, bipinnate; pinnae distichous, alternate, patent, inarticulate, tessellated 
with subquadrate cells; pinnuloe subdistant, simple or forked, attenuate, marked 
with about two rows of oblong cells; peripheric cells seven or eight; conceptacles 
ovate, terminating the lowest pinnae, which are then abbreviated and bare of pin- 
nules. (Tab. XIY. D.) 
Hab. Isle of Shoals, Mr. Pike. Hellgate, New York, Mr. Hooper. ' On Spartina 
glabra, and on the Palmetto logs in the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, Charleston, 
Prof. Bailey and W. H. H., also found by Prof. Bailey in the St. John’s River, 
Florida, (v. v.) 
Fronds an inch high or less, slender, spreading over the logs in wide patches, 
rising from a mat of creeping fibres, attached here and there by discs. Stems some- 
what flexuous, erect, pinnate or bipinnate, or in luxuriant specimens sub-tripinnate. 
Pinnae alternate, distant, spreading, laxly pinnulate. Pinnulce also patent, subulate, 
sometimes again compounded. The whole frond is tessellated with quadrate or oblong 
cells arranged in longitudinal rows, the ramuli having about two rows, the larger 
YOL. IY.—ART. 5. KHODOMELACEiE. 
58 
V. 
divisions three or four. A cross section of the stein shows seven or eight cells sur- 
rounding a central cavity. Conceptacles borne on the ends of shortened branches. 
I have not seen stichidia. Colour a dull brownish purple. Substance rigid. It 
does not adhere to paper in drying. 
This plant is abundant in estuaries of rivers in Carolina and Florida, and pro- 
bably in other Southern States. The only other specimens I have seen were given 
me by Capt. Pike of Brooklyn, having been collected by him in July, 1848, at the 
Isle of Shoals (lat. 43°); and by Mr. Hooper, collected at the estuary of the Hudson. 
I have not heard under what circumstances Capt. Pike’s plant grew, whether in 
open sea or estuary. There is no appreciable difference in ramification between it 
and the Carolinian specimens. 
Plate XIV. D. Fig. 1. Bostrychia rivularis, growing on a piece of wood ; the 
natural size. Fig. 2, two erect stems, rising from a creeping filament; jig. 3, pinna 
and portion of a stem ; jig. 4, cross section of the stem ; jig. 5, conceptacle ; all 
magnified. 
4. Bostrychia Tuomeyi ; frond capillary (small), irregularly divided ; branches 
erecto-patent, not much branched, articulato-tessellate, four-tubed and subquadran- 
gular, rough with broken ramuli below, densely clothed with very slender, indexed, 
alternately branched, single tubed ramuli above ; cells of the ramuli once and half 
to twice as long as broad. (Tab. XIV. E.) 
Hab. On rocks. Pine Islands, Florida, Prof. Tuomey. (10). (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Fronds tufted, about inch and half high, capillary, irregularly divided into 
numerous, erecto-patent, simple or forked branches. Lower part of the stem and 
branches naked, or beset with the spine-like remains of broken ramuli; the upper 
and younger parts densely clothed with indexed, very slender, slightly branched 
ramuli. The stem and branches are tetrasiphonous, four large coloured cells sur- 
rounding a central cell; and when viewed laterally appear articulate, the internodes 
shorter than their breadth and marked with three tubes. The ramuli are formed 
of a single string of cells. Colour a dark lurid purple. Substance rather soft. In 
drying, it adheres pretty drmly to paper. 
I have seen no fructidcation, and the generic relations are therefore at present 
doubtful, the structure of the frond being that of a Polysiphonia with very short 
internodes. Still it seems to me to range naturally in the present group, from the 
other species of which it chiedy differs in having very few (four) cells in the peri- 
pheric stratum. The ramuli are of precisely the same structure as those of B. 
calamistrata, and the colour is that blackish purple so characteristic of this genus. 
I bestow the specidc name in compliment to Prof. Tuomey, of the University of 
Alabama, to whom I am indebted for an interesting collection of Floridan Alga3. 
Tab. XIV. E. Fig. 1, Bostrychia Tuomeyi ; the natural size. Fig. 2, apex of a 
branch ; jig. 3, small portion of a branch, to show the cellular structure ; jig. 4, 
cross section of the same ; jig. 5, a ramellus ; jig. 6, small portion of the same ; all 
more or less highly magnified. y. 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
59 
X. DASYA. Ag. 
Frond filiform or compressed, branching, opaque or rarely articulated, having a 
polysiphonous, articulate axis, coated externally with accessory cells. Branches 
beset with, or resolved at their ends into slender, single-tubed, confervoid, articu- 
late ramelli. Conceptacles ovate, acuminate, sessile or pedicellate, affixed to the 
compound branches, and containing a tuft of pear-shaped spores. Tetraspores in 
lanceolate stichidia (or transversely banded, pod-like receptacles) formed on the 
confervoid ramelli. 
A large and considerably diversified genus, occurring in both hemispheres. As 
here understood, it is chiefly characterised by the confervoid, jointed ramelli, issu- 
ing from a compound, polysiphonous, but mostly opaque and outwardly inarticulate 
frond; and the lanceolate, pod-like receptacles of tetraspores, borne by the 
confervoid ramelli, out of whose branches they are formed. The ramelli are of 
the same structure as the articulated fibres which clothe the ends of the young 
branches in Polysiphonia, Bhodomela, etc. but in those genera they are mostly 
colourless, very fugacious, and have no connection with the tetrasporic fructifica- 
tion ; in Dasya, on the contrary, they are persistent, containing coloured cells, 
and finally originating the tetrasporic fructification. In the former cases they 
accompany the early development of the branches only, in the latter they are 
characteristic of the species at all ages. In Bostrychia the stichidia are borne by 
the compound branches, and in Polysiphonia the tetraspores are dispersed through 
slightly modified and distorted polysiphonous ramuli. 
In the Nereis Australis (p. 58) I have grouped the species under five subgenera, 
four of which are represented on the North American coasts: viz. 
Subgenus 1. *Compsoteia.—Frond more or less distinctly articulated, especially 
in the upper branches, decompound-pinnate, distichous; the lesser branches dicho- 
tomous, resolved at the apices into dichotomo-inultifid, confervoid ramelli. 
1. Dasya (Composteia) Gibbesii; stem compressed, areolate, inarticulate, with 
a central line of short, transverse strias (nodes of the axial tube), distichously 
branched, decompound-pinnate ; branches bi-tripinnate, with an obovate outline; 
pinnules subarticulate, dichotomous, their terminal divisions resolved into dichoto- 
mous, single-tubed, fastigiate, confervoid ramelli; articulations of the ramelli twice 
* This subgenus (misspelled Campsotela) is strangely misunderstood by Kiitzing in his “ Species Alga- 
rum,” p. 797—only two out of the fifteen species which he enumerates agreeing with the character. 
His first species is a Callithamnion ; his 3rd, 5th, 10th, are Rhodonemata ; his 9th a Wrangelia ; his 
11th, a Stichocarpus ; 12th, a Lophothalia ; and 14th and 15tli, Bostrychice. The name given to this 
uncombed assemblage is Eupogonium. 60 
RHODOMELACEAL 
V. 
as long as broad ; apices bluntisb ; stichidia lanceolate-acuminate, on the lower forks 
of the ramelli. Polysiphonia Gibbesii, Harv. MSS. in Herb. Gibbes. (Tab. XV. A.) 
Hab. At Key West, abundant. Dr. Wurdeman, Prof. Tuomey (27), W. H. H. 
(8), &c. (v. v.) 
Root a small disc. Fronds tufted, 4-8 inches high, half a line to nearly a line in 
diameter in the middle, and tapering to the base and apex, distichously much 
branched. Stem undivided, slightly zigzag, naked for an inch or more above the 
base, thence upwards furnished at intervals of about half an inch with several 
alternate branches, much narrower than the part from whence they spring, the 
lower ones long, and again compounded, the upper gradually shorter. Branches in 
circumscription obovate, fastigiate, round-topped, twice or thrice pinnated ; the 
pinnules dichotomous, with rounded angles, their ultimate divisions resolved into 
single-tubed, many times dichotomous ramelli. The stem and branches are com- 
pressed, coated with polygonal cells, inarticulate, with a medial row of minute 
dark coloured, transverse lines, a quarter of a line apart and visible to the naked 
eye, or with a pocket lens. These lines are the nodes of the central tube of the 
axis of the frond. The pinnules are cylindrical and articulate, polysiphonous and 
somewhat veiny in their lower parts, few-tubed in the upper, and at length passing 
into the single-tubed ramelli. The stichidia are numerous on the lower forks of the 
ramelli ; several on the same ramellus ; they are pedicellate, oblongo-lanceolate, 
acuminate, and contain a triple series of large tetraspores. Conceptacles unknown- 
Colour a purplish lake, growing darker and browner in drying. Substance of the 
stem and branches cartilaginous, of the ramelli soft and tender. In drying, the 
plant adheres pretty firmly to paper. 
A beautiful species, unlike any other North American one, but allied to D. Gun- 
niana and D. Lawrenciana of Tasmania, from both which, however, it is abundantly 
distinct. The name is given in honour of Prof. Lewis R. Gibbes of Charleston, 
from whom I received the first specimen of this and several other interesting Algse 
of Florida. 
Plate XV. A. Fig. 1. Dasya Gibbesii; the natural size. Fig. 2, apex of a lesser 
branch with terminal ramelli and stichidia ; fig. 3, a stichidium ; fig. 4, a tetraspore ; 
fig. 5, portion of a ramellus ; fig. 6, part of the stem, to show surface cellules, and 
medial, dark striae ; fig. 7, longitudinal section of the same through the smaller 
diameter ; fig. 8, transverse section ; all more or less magnified. 
Subgenus 2. Riiodonema. Frond inarticulate or rarely articulate, cylindrical, 
irregularly branched ; branches more or less completely clothed on all sides with 
dichotomous, single-tubed, confervoid ramelli. Stichidia glabrous. 
2. Dasya (Rhodonema) elegans, Ag.; frond very soft and flaccid, soon decom- 
posing ; stem robust, inarticulate, elongate, alternately decompound ; branches 
filiform, of unequal length, undivided, all the younger parts clothed with byssoid, RHODOMELACEjE. 
61 
V. 
purple-lake, dichotomous ramelli ; articulations of the ramelli many times longer 
than broad ; conceptacles urnshaped, on long pedicels, rising from the branches ; 
stichidia linear-lanceolate. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 117. Kiitz. Sp. Alg.p. 796. Bhodo- 
nema elegans, Mert. 
Hab. Growing on other Alg®, on woodwork, rocks, &c. from low water mark to 
the depth of several fathoms. Annual. Nantucket, Dr. Durkee. Greenport. Pro- 
vidence, Prof. Bailey and Air. Olney. Very common in New York Harbour from 
Hellgate to Red Hook, Messrs. Bailey, Hooper, Walters, Pike, Congdon, Calverley, SfC. 
Charleston, Prof. Gibbes, W. H. H. Key West, Prof. Tuomey, Dr. Blodgett, W. H. H 
(v. V.) 
Boot discoid. Stems from six inches to one, two, or three feet long, varying in 
diameter from the thickness of hog’s bristle to that of a crowquill, or in the larger 
specimens from one to two lines in diameter, softly cartilaginous when quite fresh, 
but soon becoming very flaccid, either quite simple or divided below into a few 
secondary stems, and set throughout the whole length with numerous lateral 
branches, spreading on all sides. The branches are very irregularly placed, some- 
times widely scattered, sometimes densely crowded ; alternate or subopposite, or 
even fascicled ; they are simple, patent, virgate, either destitute of lesser branches, 
or furnished with very numerous, short lateral branches, so that the general frond 
is sometimes but slightly divided and sometimes very bushy. All the larger and 
smaller branches and the main stem when young are densely clothed with exceed- 
ingly slender, bright purple, soft, confervoid ramelli. These ramelli are from two 
to four lines long, dichotomous, a few times distantly forked, with the terminal 
laciniae very long and filiform, but not tapering to the apex ; the apical cell being 
very blunt. The articulations of these ramelli are of great length. Conceptacles 
abundantly scattered along the branches, on long stalks. Stichidia attached to the 
ramelli, one or more on each ramellus near its base, very slender, lanceolate, acumi- 
nate, containing a double or triple row of tetraspores. Colour in all parts a brilliant 
purple lake, well preserved in drying. Substance soon decomposing in fresh water. 
In drying, the plant adheres most closely to paper. 
There are two principal forms ; one, which grows in deep water, has very long 
simple branches, destitute of laterals ; the other, which grows within tide marks, 
is short and bushy, with abundant secondary branches. The European forms of 
this plant do not essentially differ. 
3. Dasya (Rhodonema) ramosissima ; stem cartilaginous, tough, inarticulate, 
robust, attenuated and flaccid upwards, much branched ; branches several times 
alternately decompound, denudate ; ultimate divisions setaceous, subarticulate, more 
or less completely clothed with dichotomous ramelli ; their apices incurved, atte- 
nuate ; articulations three to five times as long as broad. Yar. a ; frond naked, 
except the tips of the ultimate branches, which are crowned with a dense tuft of RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
62 
rainelli. Yar. /3. more densely branched and bushy, with shorter branches, and 
more diffused, more copious, and much attenuated ramelli. 
Hab. At Key West, W. H. H. (9, 10). (v. v.) 
Frond six to twelve inches long or more, as thick as sparrow’s quill below, much 
attenuated upwards, divided near the base into several principal branches or stems, 
which are excessively decompound and bushy ; each set of lesser branches spring- 
ing along the sides of the primary branches irregularly. The ultimate branches 
are from half an inch to an inch long, not so thick as hog’s bristle, imperfectly 
jointed, the internodes areolated with irregularly formed cells, and about as long as 
broad; they are sometimes naked except at the extremity, but are more usually 
clothed beyond the middle with densely crowded ramelli. These ramelli are from 
a quarter line to a line in length, of much greater diameter than those of D. elegans, 
erectopatent, dichotomous, their divisions generally arched inwards and tapering 
to a point. The axils are all narrow. The articulations very variable in different 
individuals, sometimes only about as long as broad, sometimes 3-5 times as long. 
A cross section of a small branch shows five primary tubes, surrounded by nume- 
rous external cells, smaller to the circumference : in the larger branches and stem 
the external border of cells is proportionably thicker and denser. I have only seen 
immature stichidia ; they are linear oblong, and subacute, on the first or second 
forks of the ramelli. Colour a brownish red or purplish brown, becoming much 
darker in drying. Substance tough and tenacious, but very soft. This plant bears 
immersion in fresh water for some time without injury, and in drying adheres 
strongly to paper. 
4. Dasya (Rhodonema) mollis ; robust, very soft and flaccid, alternately much 
branched, bushy ; branches inarticulate, twice or thrice compounded, their ultimate 
divisions short ; all the younger parts clothed with confervoid ramelli which are 
laxly scattered on the larger and densely imbricated on the smaller branches ; 
ramelli patent, dichotomous, from a robust base much attenuated, and very slen- 
der ; axils wide ; lower articulations short and cellular, upper four to six times as 
long as broad, single tubed ; stichidia oblong-acuminate. 
Hab. Key West, rare. W. H. H’ (14). (v. v.) 
Frond 2-3 inches high, as thick as sparrow’s quill, irregularly much branched, 
bushy, often wider in the spread of the branches than the height of the stem. The 
stem in my specimens divides a short distance above the base into three or four 
main divisions, which spread subhorizontally, fork irregularly, and are decom- 
poundly once or twice divided : the branches alternate, or irregular, of unequal 
length, long and short indiscriminately mixed. All the branches and their divi- 
sions are hirsute with squarrose, patent ramelli, laxly scattered over the older RHODOMELACE/E. 
V. 
63 
parts, crowded on the younger, and very dense toward the extremities. These 
ramelli are about a quarter of a line long, their lower forkings much thicker than 
the upper, which are rather suddenly attenuated and very slender, the terminal 
divisions much prolonged. The lower articulations of the ramelli are about as 
long as broad, sub-opaque and multicellular; the upper cylindrical, 4-6 times as 
long as broad. A cross section of the stem shows five large primary tubes and five 
alternate secondaries, surrounded by small cells. Stichidia near the base of the 
ramelli, one on each, subsessile, oblong-acuminate, very acute, containing a triple 
roAv of tetraspores. Substance exceedingly soft and tender. Colour pale red, rosy 
toward the tips. It closely adheres to paper. 
A smaller plant than D. ramosissima, with more slender ramelli. The external 
habit and the substance are more those of a Dudresnaia than of a Dasya. 
5. Dasya (Rhodonema) mucronata ; robust, elongate, cartilaginous, inarticulate, 
decompound ; branches several times alternately divided, denudate, their extremi- 
ties and the smaller branches densely clothed with squarrose, rigid, confervoid 
ramelli; ramelli robust, patent, dichotomous, their axils wide and divisions divari- 
cating, their apices remarkably mucronate ; articulations twice as long as broad, 
dissepiments slightly contracted. 
Hab. Abundant at Key West, W. H. H. (11). (v. v.) 
Root a spreading disc, sometimes half an inch in diameter. Stems one or more 
from the same base, six to eight inches long or more, as thick as crowquill below, 
attenuated upwards, simple or once or twice divided, bare of branches for an inch 
or two above the base ; thence upwards furnished with numerous scattered or 
crowded, alternate or irregular lateral branches. These branches are about as thick 
as hog’s bristle, 4-5 inches long, the lowest longest, and are furnished with one, two, 
three, or more series of similar lateral branches, all of which spread at wide angles ; 
the penultimate ones short. The larger branches are generally denuded in full 
grown plants, but all the younger portions are clothed on all sides with ramelli, 
which are particularly dense toward the extremities. These ramelli are scarcely 
half a line long, rather rigid, standing on the branches at right angles, and are 
many times regularly dichotomous, with divaricating branches. The terminal cell 
of each segment of the ramellus is very small, subulate and acute, forming a mere 
mucro to the large oblong cell immediately below it. The articulations are uni- 
formly about twice as long as broad. A transverse section of a branch shows five 
large primary tubes, surrounded by a wide band of small cells. The colour of the 
stem and branches is a dull brownish red, of the ramelli brighter and more rosy. 
The substance is firmer and more rigid than in most others of this genus. In dry- 
ing, it does not adhere strongly to paper. 
This species is frequently infested by parasites. It is one of the largest and 
coarsest of the subgenus, and readily known, on microscopic examination, by the 
mucronate ramelli. 64 
RHODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
6. Dasya (Rhodonema) Wurdemanni, Bail. ; capillary, of small size, (an inch 
high), once or twice forked ; secondary branches alternate or secund, arched, arti- 
culate, hirsute with squarrose rainelli ; ramelli very patent, many times dichoto- 
mous, sub-rigid, their divisions divaricating, apices acute, articulations once or 
twice as long as broad. (Tab. XV. C.) var. p. dichotoma ; more regularly dichoto- 
mous, with shorter and straighter secondary branches. 
Hab. Abundant on Algae and corals, at Key West. Dr. Wurdeman, W. H. H. 
(15). (v. v.) 
This forms small, roundish, dense, fastigiate tufts, or often is entangled among 
the branches of the Algae which it infests. 
The stems are an inch or two high, about as thick as coarse human hair, once or 
twice forked, and then alternately or secundly branched. The secondary branches 
are very frequently secund, erect, arching inwards, with the ends inrolled, and are 
beset throughout with ramelli which are short and subdistant below, gradually 
longer and more densely set above, and also longer and more numerous on the 
outer than on the inner side of the curved branch. These ramelli stand almost at 
right angles on the branch, are several times forked, with very wide axils and 
divaricated segments, and their articulations are seldom more than twice as long as 
broad. The stem and branches are obviously jointed, the internodes few-tubed 
with pellucid nodes, but I have not been able to determine the number of tubes, 
whether four or five, owing to the very imperfect absorbent powers of the dried 
cells. The colour is a dull red, inclining to brown. The substance is somewhat 
rigid, not at all lubricous. In drying, the plant adheres pretty .firmly to paper. 
/3. is a little different in aspect, the stem being more regularly dichotomous, the 
secondary branches shorter and straighter, and the ramelli more equally distributed. 
It somewhat resembles some weak-growing forms of D. arbuscula, to which D. 
Wurdemanni is certainly allied, although perfectly distinct. 
The specific name was bestowed by Prof. Bailey in honour of the late Dr. Wurde- 
man, who first detected this curious little species, and to whom we are indebted for 
an interesting series of Key West Algoe. 
Plate XV. C. Fig. 1, Dasya Wurdemanni; the natural size. Fig. 2, some 
branches; Jig. 3, portion of a branch, with ramellus; the latter figures magnified. 
Subgenus 3. Lophotiialia. Frond articulate or opaque, four-tubed, virgate, 
alternately branched; branches naked or clothed with simple or pinnated, single 
tubed, confervoid ramelli. Stichidia rising from the branches, hirsute with ramelli. 
7. Dasya (Lophothalia) Tumanowiczi, Gatty; stem cartilaginous, opaque, ro- 
bust, attenuated upwards, alternately decompound; branches elongate, setaceous, 
their divisions capillary, set with short spine-like branchlets, and imperfectly arti- 
culated ; internodes once and half as long as broad, coated with polygonal cells; V. 
R HODOMELACEiE. 
65 
brancnlets articulate; ramelli few, near the ends of the branches, sub-simple or 
pinnate; stichidia lanceolate, clothed with ramelli (formed in the rachis of a pin- 
nated ramellus). D. chord alls, Harv. in Herb. 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H. (12), Dr. Blodgett (59 and 75). West Indies, Mr. 
Tumanowicz. (y. v.) 
Root scutate, with lateral, branching fibres. Stem 6—12 inches long or more, as 
thick as sparrow’s quill at base, tapering upwards and capillary above, cartilaginous 
and tough below, very flaccid above, much branched ; dividing near the base into 
several principal branches or secondary stems, which are repeatedly compound in 
an irregularly pinnate manner. The primary division sometimes, from repeated 
suppression of parts, appears dichotomous ; sometimes several of the secondary 
branches are secund, and in other specimens crowded together and almost tufted. 
The secondary branches are about as thick as hog’s bristle, several inches, long, 
simple or having a second or third series of similar thread-like branches, beset at 
short intervals with minute, spine-like, subulate ramuli. These latter are readily 
seen with the help of a pocket lens, but not very obvious without one, and are 
articulate, each consisting of four or six four-tubed internodes of equal length and 
breadth. The main stem and larger branches are opaque, coated with irregular 
cells ; the younger branches imperfectly jointed, the internodes areolated with 
irregular polygonal cells, and about once and half as long as broad. A transverse 
section of a small branch shows four primary and four alternate secondary tubes, 
and about eight small superficial cells ; a section of the stem still exhibits the four 
primary tubes, but the external coat is very wide and dense. Single tubed ramelli 
are irregularly scattered on the younger parts of the branches, as well as on the 
spine-like ramuli, from whose axils they often issue ; they are slender, pinnate, 
sometimes bi-tri-pinnate, the pinnae very erect ; and the articulations 3-4 times as 
long as broad. Stichidia are formed from the swelling of the upjoer portion of the 
rachis (or jugament) of these ramelli, and are densely clothed with the pinnules ; 
they are moniliform, and contain a string of tetraspores. When the transformation 
is incomplete, the stichidium appears as if borne on the end of the rachis, but some- 
times almost the whole ramellus is converted into fructification. Colour a fine 
clear red. Substance tough but soft. In drying, the plant adheres closely to 
paper. 
1 have received a West Indian specimen of this plant from Mrs. Gatty, at whose 
request I give it the name of the gentleman from whom she received it, Mr. 
Tumanowicz, a Pole now resident in England, and a most ardent student of marine 
botany. I believe I have already distributed some specimens under the MSS. name 
chordalis, which I now lay aside. 
8. Dasya (Lophothalia ?) lophoclados, Mont. ; stem setaceous, irregularly dicho- 
tomous, sub-articulate ; branches divaricating, decompound, their ultimate divisions 
articulate ; all the younger parts of the frond densely clothed with sparingly 
YOL. IV.—ART. 5. 66 
RIIODOMELACEiE. 
V. 
branched, alternately divided, straight, hairlike ramelli; internodes of the stem 
about once and half as long as broad, of the ramelli many times longer than their 
diameter ; fruit unknown. Mont. An. Sc. Nat. 1842, p. 254. Polysiphonia lopho- 
clados, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 834. 
Hab. Floating in the sea near Key West, Prof. M. Tuomey (No. 6). (v. s. in 
Herb. T. C. D.) 
Stems 3-4 inches long or more, as thick as hog’s bristle, attenuated upwards, 
several times irregularly forked, the divisions widely spreading with very obtuse 
angles, the lesser branches more and more irregularly forked, the ultimate ones 
alternately divided. The lower parts of the stem are subopaque ; the larger 
branches generally exhibit more or less definite veiny internodes, and the smaller 
branches are clearly articulate, their internodes once and half as long as broad, 
thinly coated with minute cells. A cross section of a branch shows four large 
primary tubes, four secondaries and several external cells. The ramelli are very 
slender, about a line long, or a little longer, straight, erectopatent, spreading on all 
sides and abundantly clothing the lesser divisions of the frond ; they are less fre- 
quent on the larger branches, and altogether wanting in the lower parts. They 
are not much branched, between alternately pinnate and dichotomous, their 
branches simple, very long and straight. The articulations toward the base of the 
ramellus are twice or thrice as long as broad, in the middle part 8-10 times their 
diameter. The colour of the stem is brownish, that of the ramelli a purple lake, 
browner in drying and greenish in decay. The substance is soft and delicate. In 
drying, it adheres closely to paper. 
I have compared my specimen with a fragment of Dr. Montagne’s Haytian one, 
and they seem of the same species. The fruit is not known, but the habit is that of 
Lopliothalia, and should this subgenus ever rank as a genus, this species ought to be 
called L. Montagnei. 
Subgenus 4. Stichocarpus. Frond more or less obviously articulate, many- 
tubed, crimson-lake, decompound-pinnate, distichous, the ultimate pinnules (ramelli) 
single-tubed, simple, subulate. 
9. Dasya (Stichocarpus) plumosa, Bail, and Harv.; frond inarticulate, com- 
pressed, two-edged, distichously bi-tripinnate ; the pinnae elongate, pinnules short, 
both alternate and densely beset with distichous, often opposite, straight, simple or 
forked, single-tubed ramelli ; articulations of the ramelli thrice as long as broad. 
Bail, and Harv. in Bot. Expl. Exped. 
Hab. Puget’s Sound, Capt. Wilkes, (v. s. in Herb. Sm. Inst.) 
A single imperfect specimen of this plant is all that I have seen. The fruit is 
unknown ; the habit is that of a Ptilota, but a cross section of the stem shows the V. 
LAURENCIACEiE. 
67 
structure peculiar to Dasya. The frond is probably several inches long, with an 
ovate outline, twice or thrice pinnate ; the pinna3 elongate, and pinnules short. 
Both pinnae and pinnules are closely bordered with distichous, opposite, articulate, 
confervoid rainelli. Colour a clear carmine. 
Order II.-LAURENCIACE^E. 
Harv. Man. Br. Alg. Ed. 2, p. 95. Laurenciece, Hook.fil. and Harv. Lond. Journ. 
vol. IV. p. 539. Chondriece in part J. Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 67. Harv. Her. Austr. p. 
75. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 2, Syn. p. x. Lomentariece, Endl. 3d Suppl. p. 42. Mont. 
Pol. Sud. Crypt, p. 122. Part of Chondriece, Chondrosiphece and Champiece, Kiltz. 
Phyc. Gen. pp. 435, 438, 439. Part of Chondriece, Champiece and Polysiphoniece, 
Kiitz. Sp, Alg. pp. 849, 861, 842. Lomentariece (partly), Lindl. Veg. Kingd. p. 25. 
Diagnosis. Rose-red or purple seaweeds with a terete or compressed, rarely 
flattened, inarticulate or constricted and chambered branching frond composed of 
polygonal cellules. Sporiferous-nucleus contained in external, ovate or globose con- 
ceptacles; spores pearshaped or obconical, subsessile or formed in the terminal cells 
of unbranched or paniculate, tufted spore-threads. Tetraspores immersed in the 
branches and ramuli of the frond, scattered without order among the surface cells. 
Natural Character. Boot either a simple disc, or a mat of branching fibres. 
Frond mostly terete, rarely compressed, more rarely flattened, mostly destitute 
of midrib, preserving nearly the same breadth throughout, decompoundly branched; 
the branches generally repeatedly pinnated, opposite or alternate, rarely whorled 
or tufted; sometimes, but very rarely, dichotomous. In the first suborder the 
frond is solid, inarticulate and opaque, of a firmly cartilaginous substance, wholly 
composed of polygonal cells packed together round a central cell into a honey- 
combed structure, the innermost cells being largest, those towards the surface 
gradually smaller, and the superficial very minute. Sometimes the axial cells form 
an articulated single-tubed axis ; and sometimes several longitudinal filaments run 
through the centre of the stem, like an immersed rib. In the second suborder the 
branches at least are hollow, constricted at intervals, and furnished at the con- 
strictions with transverse diaphragms which divide the cavity into separate cham- 
bers, filled with a watery mucus, through which a few confervoid filaments, con- 
necting the diaphragms are dispersed. 
The conceptacles are of two forms, either globose and destitute of pore, bursting 
open at maturity; or ovate, furnished with a terminal pore through which the ripe 
spores are discharged. These conceptacles are either formed in the hollowed apex 68 
LAURENCIACEiE. 
V. 
of abbreviated branches or ramuli, or they are sessile on the sides of the branches. 
Their sporiferous nucleus exhibits considerable modification in the different genera. 
In the Bonnemaisoniece the spores are properly pear-shaped, rounded at the apex, 
and tapering at the base into a very slender spore-thread or funiculus of which the 
spore is the enlarged and fertile terminal cell. These spore-threads are always 
unbranched; in some species very short, in others long, and either rising in a tuft, 
from the base of the cavity, or from a cellular basal placenta, which occasionally 
fills up a considerable part of the cavity and is divided into several lobes. In the 
Lomentariece the spores are more properly obconical than pear-shaped, truncate at 
the apex and tapering but slightly at the base. In Lomentaria (Chylocladia of 
British writers, not of Agardh) where they taper most to the base, they are nearly 
sessile, radiating from a central point and closely packed together into a spherical 
nucleus. In Champia they are sometimes shortly obconical, and sometimes ellip- 
soidal or oblong, and are borne on a much-branched, confervoid placenta, each spore 
being formed in the terminal cell of one of the branches. Yet these two genera 
are so similar in aspect and in the structure of the frond that many species of the 
latter have by most authors been referred to the former. 
The tetraspores (known only in Laurencia, Lomentaria and Champia) are tripartite, 
that is, formed of four pieces of unequal size so placed together that three only are 
visible on a front view, and are dispersed without order either through all the 
branches, or through the smaller ramuli, where, in some cases, they are collected 
in a sub-defined cluster near the apices. In this character is found the chief 
technical distinction between the Bonnemaisoniece and the Bhodomelacece. The 
Lomentariece are additionally known by the peculiar structure of the frond and the 
differences, indicated above, in the sporiferous nucleus. 
The colour of the frond in this order is considerably varied in the different ge- 
nera, and even in the same species under different circumstances. Bonnemaisonia 
Delisia, and Asparagopsis (Lictoria) are of a most beautiful rosy pink ; Lomentaria 
and Champia, when in good order, are a purple lake, sometimes reflecting rainbow 
hues; but their colours are fugacious and, when the fronds grow in sunny places, 
they very frequently are either greenish, yellowish or nearly colourless. The 
proper colour in most Laurencice is a lurid purple, in some brown-red; but light 
and exposure in shallow water call forth every shade of red, orange and yellow, 
and sometimes green, the same frond often being variegated with two or more of 
these tints. Almost all decompose rapidly in fresh water, especially if again moist- 
ened after having once been dried. 
The substance of the frond is either cartilaginous or gelatinoso-membranaceous. 
The taste insipid or somewhat pungent. Laurencia pinnatifida, the Pepper Dulse of 
the Scotch, was or is eaten as a salad in parts of Scotland (LightfFI. Scot. p. 954). 
According to Dr. Lindley, a large portion of what is now sold in the shops as 
Corsican Moss is Laurencia ohtusa, which perhaps has equal virtues with the real 
Helminthochorton. 
This order, though small, is widely dispersed, being represented under one form 
or other in almost every sea. Laurencia is peculiarly cosmopolitan in its distribu- 
tion, and its common forms, L. pinnatifida, ohtusa, &c. are found in the most oppo- v. 
LAUREN Cl ACE JE. 
site regions of the ocean of both hemispheres. Champia (as here understood) is 
equally sporadic. Lomentaria ovalis is a native of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. 
Bonnemaisonia is European ; Cladliymenia and Delisia, Australian. 
The natural limits of the order are variously understood by botanists, and I have 
the misfortune to differ from Prof. J. Agardh in my opinion on the subject. He 
admits two suborders, Spongiocarpece and Solieriece, which do not appear to me to 
associate naturally with the other genera. Spongiocarpece, consisting of the 
remarkable genus Polyides, has a structure of frond and of fructification widely 
different from that of either of the suborders here retained, and also, in my judg- 
ment, from that of any other Desmiospermatous Order. The Solieriece, consisting 
of Solieria and Eucheuma, appears to me to associate more naturally with Hypnea, 
and to connect that genus in some degree with Gelidium. I formerly admitted 
Chrysymenia and Chylocladia, J. Ag., and Thysanocladia, Endl. but the different 
structure of the nucleus in these genera, as has been well pointed out by Agardh, 
compels me to remove them elsewhere. Yet so similar in habit are some of the 
species of Chylocladia to some Lomentarice, that almost all authors have confounded 
them. The presence of diaphragms in the frond is no certain test of a Lomentaria, 
as appears by Chylocladia articulata, whose sporiferous nucleus is identical with that 
of Ch. clavellosa. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
Suborder 1. J. Ag. Frond solid. Conceptacles ovate. Spores 
pear-shaped, on simple spore-threads. 
I. Laurencia. 
Suborder 2. LoMENTARiEiE. Frond, at least the branches, hollow, constricted 
at intervals and divided internally, by transverse septa, into chambers. Conceptacles 
ovate or spherical. Spores obconic or roundish, sessile, or attached to much 
branched, confervoid, spore-threads. 
II. Champia. Conceptacles ovate, with a terminal pore. Spores paniculate, on 
branching spore-threads. 
III. Lomentaria. Conceptacles globose, without a pore. Spores sessile, or nearly 
so, obconical. 70 
LAURENCIACEiE. 
V. 
I. LAURENCIA, Lamour. J. Ag. ref. 
Frond solid, cartilaginous, terete or compressed, decompound pinnate, rarely sub- 
dichotomous, composed of two strata of cells : the medullary stratum of oblong- 
angular longitudinal cells, longest toward the centre of the stem ; the cortical of 
roundish angular cells in a subsimple row. Conceptacles ovate, with a terminal 
pore, containing within a cellular pericarp a dense tuft of pearshaped spores on 
simple funiculi radiating from a basal placenta. Tetraspores tripartite, lodged 
without order in a transverse band below the apices of the ultimate ramuli. 
Antheridia collected in terminal, saucer-shaped receptacles. 
Fronds generally fleshy, rarely membranaceo-gelatinous when recent, cartilagi- 
nous when dry ; often livid purple, rarely a blood or rose-red colour, changing to 
greenish or yellowish when growing in shallow water exposed to sunshine. Stem 
and branches linear, terete or compressed, pinnately compound, the lesser divisions 
sometimes irregularly forked, or subdichotomous, distichous or branched to all 
sides ; the branches opposite, alternate or irregularly whorled ; sometimes very 
irregularly placed. Ramuli slightly constricted at the base, dilated and very obtuse 
at the summit ; the barren ones simply clavate, the fertile often by the development 
of rudimentary processes tuberculated or botryoid. Conceptacles formed from 
the transformation of the ultimate ramuli, mostly ovate. Tetraspores always 
lodged beneath the ends of the simple or compound ramuli. 
From this genus, restricted by the above character, are now removed all the 
species (as L. dasyphylla, L. tenuissima and their allies) that have an articulated 
polysiphonous axis running through the frond. These will be found among Rho- 
domelacece under the genus Chondria. The remainder of the Grevillian genus 
Laurencia constitute a very natural group, dispersed through most parts of the 
temperate and tropical oceans. Yery few occur on the shores of the Northern 
States, but on the Florida Keys there are many common species, some of them 
congregating in such masses that a large per centage of the drift seaweed is com- 
posed of their broken fronds. 
The species are exceedingly difficult of determination. Many intermediate 
varieties often connect the most opposite looking specimens, and the new species 
here proposed are not offered without hesitation. Indeed, in this genus, as in 
many others, it is often impossible to tell whether we are dealing with species or 
sportive forms without a very careful examination of a number of specimens, or 
without some knowledge of the circumstances accompanying their development. 
1. Laurencia pinnatifida, Lamour.; frond compressed, cartilaginous, dull purple, 
bi-tripinnatifid, all the divisions alternate, the ultimate ones obtuse, simple or 
lobed. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 55. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 856. Harv. in Bot. Beech. Voy. V. 
laurenciacea:. 
71 
p. 164 and 408. Fucus pinnatifidus, E. Bot. t. 1202. Turn. Hist. t. 20. Lauren- 
cia special His, Post, and Rupr. p. 16 ! 
Hab. Monterey, California, D. Douglas, Dr. Coulter, (v. y.) 
Root branching. Frond, in the Californian specimens, 8-12 inches long, one to 
two lines in diameter, compressed below, becoming flatter and wider upwards, 
decompound-pinnate. Stem dividing below into several branches, which are naked 
in the lower half and there entire or dentate at the margin, and closely pinnate or 
bipinnate above. In smaller individuals the branches are simply pinnate, the 
pinnae from half an inch to an inch long, erecto-patent with rounded axils, alter- 
nate, at distances of the third of an inch apart, the upper ones somewhat opposite, 
crenate at the apex, the lower ones more and more pinnatifid. Fertile specimens 
are narrower, with subcylindrical laciniae. Conceptacles ovate, sessile, two or more 
on the ultimate laciniae. Tetraspores scattered toward the ends of the laciniae. 
Colour a livid purple, becoming brownish in drying. Substance opaque, densely 
cellular. It imperfectly adheres to paper. 
Dr. Coulter’s numerous specimens are undistinguishable from some of my West 
of Ireland examples, and I see no character by which L. spectabilis P. and R. of 
which I have examined an authentic specimen, can be separated from the common 
L. pinnatifida, which is well known to be very variable in size and branching. 
2. Laurencia virgata, J. Ag. ; frond terete, pinnately branched ; the branches 
spreading to all sides, opposite or verticillate, elongate, simple, racemoso-pinnated 
with short secondary branches ; ramuli opposite or whorled, erect, simple or 
corymboso-paniculate ; the tetrasporiferous ones clavato-cylindrical. J. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. 2 p. 752. 
Hab. Monterey, California, Dr. Coulter, (v. v.) 
Dr. Coulter’s specimens are about six inches high. Several stems as thick as 
sparrow’s quill rise from a mat of branching fibres. They are generally bare of 
branches at the base for an inch or two, and set above with closely crowded lateral 
branches which are not strictly distichous in insertion. In the less divided speci- 
mens, the branches are either naked and filiform, or somewhat pinnated ; in the 
more compound they are twice or thrice closely pinnated, the general outline being 
pyramidal. The lower part of the frond is slightly compressed, its lesser divisions 
more and more terete, and the ultimate pinnules cylindrical, remarkably truncate, 
and slightly constricted at the base. Tetraspores are imbedded toward the ends of 
the ramuli. Colour a very dark lurid purple, becoming still darker in drying. 
Substance cartilaginous, and structure dense. 
I venture to refer the Californian specimens above described to the L. virgata J. 
Ag. a species founded on individuals collected at the Cape of Good Hope. I have 
compared them with Cape specimens, with which they agree in most points, and I 72 
LAURENCIACEiE. 
y. 
am unwilling on slight discrepancies to multiply species in this genus. The pro- 
bability of specific identity is the greater because many other Cape Algm occur on 
the Pacific coast of America. 
3. Laurencia obtusa, Lamour.; frond cylindrical, pinkish red or yellow, twice 
or thrice pinnate, the pinnse very patent ; ramuli mostly opposite (occasionally 
alternate or irregular) patent, short, truncate. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 148. Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 854. Fucus obtusus, Turn. Hist. t. 21. E. Bot. t. 1201. 
Hab. Florida Keys, parasitical on corals and Algae. Key West, W. H. H., Prof. 
Tuomey (33, 40, 44, &c.) Apalachicola, Capt. Pike (69). Island of St. Catalina, 
California, Lieut. Wood, Brit. Navy. (v. v.) 
Fronds in large subglobose tufts. Stems as thick as sparrow’s quill, cylindrical, 
from one to six inches long, undivided or once or twice forked, decompound pin- 
nate. Branches not strictly distichous, very patent, alternate or opposite, sometimes 
three from the same level, bi-tripinnate. Pinnules opposite, alternate, or in threes, 
cylindrical, truncate, very patent or subhorizontal, simple or with one or two pair 
of secondary pinnules. Colour in the stem and branches generally pale waxy 
yellow, with a reddish tinge, in the ramuli a beautiful pinky red. Substance 
cartilaginous, firm. In drying, it adheres pretty strongly to paper. 
In the Florida specimens the ramuli are very frequently alternate, as sometimes 
occurs in those from Europe. Perhaps the following should be considered merely 
an exaggerated variety. 
4. Laurencia implicata, J. Ag.; frond terete, slender, much branched, between 
pinnate and dichotomous, subfastigiate ; the lesser branches very irregular, flexu- 
ous, patent ; ramuli cylindrical, alternate or secund, simple or forked, truncate, 
slightly clavate. (Tab. XVIIL D.) J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 745. L. Forsteroides, 
Harv. in Herb. MSS. 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H. (36), Prof. Tuomey (23, 31, 50). Dr. Blodgett (54, 
66.) (v. v.) 
Tufts globose, dense. Fronds 4-5 inches high, as thick as sparrow’s quill, exces- 
sively branched from the base, the branches spreading to all sides, decompound, 
irregularly forked, flexuous, alternately multifid above ; their lesser divisions 
furnished with alternate or secund, cylindrical, scattered ramuli, two or three 
lines long, simple or forked. Colour a pinky red ; orange or yellow in the 
branches, greenish on exposure and in decay. Substance cartilaginous. It adheres 
to paper in drying. 
Only to be known from L. obtusa (of which it may be merely a variety,) by the 
irregular branching and much scattered, frequently secund ramuli. It seems in- y. 
LAURENCIACEflE. 
73 
termediate in character between L. obtusa and the Australian L. Forsteri, Grev. 
{Turn. Hist. t. 77.) 
Plate XVIII. D. Fig. 1. Laurencia implicata ; a branch, the natural size. Fig. 2, 
a portion, somewhat magnified. 
5. Laurencia cervicornis ; frond terete, robust, irregularly branched, subdicho- 
tomous ; the secondary branches curved upwards, spreading to all sides, haying a 
few secund, cylindrical, obtuse ramuli; axils rounded ; conceptacles broadly ovate 
with a projecting orifice, sessile near the tips of the ramuli. (Tab. XVIII. C.) 
Hab. Key West, W. H.H. (31), Dr. Blodgett. 
Tufts globose, somewhat fastigiate. Fronds as thick as crow’s quill, 4-5 inches 
long, much branched from the base, bushy, very irregular in ramification, the 
branches spreading widely and directed to every side, curved upwards, of some- 
what equal height, making a loosely corymbose head, naked, or having along their 
upper side, at distances of a quarter to half an inch, several cylindrical, secund 
ramuli. Hamuli erecto-patent, obtuse, quite simple or ramulose at the tip, from a 
quarter to half an inch long or more. Conceptacles at or near the ends of the 
branches, partly imbedded, very broad in proportion to their length, with a project- 
ing, acute orifice. Colour a dark brownish red. Substance rigid, scarcely adhering 
to paper. 
Seemingly allied to L. Forsteri, but more robust than the strongest grown speci- 
mens of that species, and less dichotomous. 
Plate XVIII. C. Fig. 1, a branch of Laurencia cervicornis, the natural size. 
Fig. 2, apex of branch, with conceptacle ; fig. 3, spore ; both magnified. 
6. Laurencia gemmifera ; fronds robust, cartilaginous, fragile, terete, flexuous, 
irregularly much branched ; branches. patent, alternate, unequal, irregularly pinnate 
or bipinnate, set throughout with minute, bud-like, horizontal, scattered, spi- 
rally disposed, truncate ramuli. (Tab. XVIII. B.) fi. decompound-pinnate, the 
pinme tolerably regular and very patent. 
Hab. Florida Keys. Key West, W. H. H. (34), Dr. Blodgett (36) var. fi. Key 
West, W. H. H. (30), Prof. Tuomey (30, 38, 53), Dr. Blodgett (49). (v. v.) 
Fronds growing in large, loose bundles, 6—8 inches long, as thick as crow- 
quill, shrinking in drying, much and very irregularly branched, the branches spread- 
ing toward every side, and subspirally inserted, alternately or irregularly scattered, 
very flexuous, having secondary branches at distances of a quarter to half an inch. 
These branches are of very unequal length, long and short intermixed, and are 
patent, with rounded angles, and much curved or arched, and sprinkled throughout 
with exceedingly minute, bud-like ramuli. Ramuli spirally disposed round the 
YOL. IV. ART. 5. 74 
LAURENCIACEiE. 
y. 
branches, horizontal, truncate, very short, simple or tubercled, sometimes slightly 
longer and pinnulate. Colour of the branches pale red or waxy yellow. Substance 
cartilaginous and brittle. In drying, the plant shrinks much, and very imperfectly 
adheres to paper. 
What I call var. /3. differs from the normal form in being more regularly pinnate 
and bipinnate, with closer branches. It is also of a brighter colour, and its ramuli 
are sometimes expanded at the apex into perforate or umbilicate cups, and rather 
more compound than in var. a. 
This plant grows commonly at Key West in shallow water between tide-marks 
on the north side of the town. I cannot refer it to any described species. It is 
much more robust than L. obtusa. Its very flexuous irregular ramification, bud- 
like ramuli and brittle substance distinguish it from other Key West species. 
7. Laurencia papillosa, Grev. ; fronds terete, cartilaginous, sub-pinnate or 
irregularly decompound ; branches filiform, simple, densely covered with short, 
quadrifarious, horizontal, simple or lobed papilliform ramuli; conceptacles ovate, 
sessile. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 756. Chondria papillosa, Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 344. 
Fucus thyrsoides, Turn. Hist. t. 19- 
Hab. Florida Keys. Key West, Mr. Binney, W. H. H. (33), Prof. Tuomey, (54, 
56, 57). (v. v.) 
Fronds tufted, 4—6 inches long, as thick as a sparrow’s or as a crow’s quill, terete, 
undivided or vaguely forked, naked below, branching above. Branches directed 
every way, either distant or densely crowded, simple, one to three inches long, 
virgate, tubercled with close-set quadrifarious, wart-like ramuli, which in old speci- 
mens are multifid and much distorted. Colour a dull purple, changing to green. 
Substance firmly cartilaginous. In drying, it scarcely adheres to paper. 
Somewhat variable in ramification and in size, but readily known by the densely 
crowded, wart-like ramuli with which the branches are completely covered. In 
old specimens these ramuli are much compounded, and resemble miniature heads 
of cauliflower. 
8. Laurencia scoparia, J. Ag. ; “ greenish, somewhat horny ; frond terete, fili- 
form, distichously decompound ; branches irregularly set, erecto-patent, some 
opposite, some secund, virgate; fertile ramuli, very short, tufted at the apices of the 
branches, subclavate, bearing tetraspores under the truncate apices.” J. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. 2. p. 746. 
Hab. La Guayra, Herb. Binder. 
“ Two to four inches high, densely tufted, rigid, with the substance and nearly 
the habit of Ahnfeltia plicata. Frond as thick as sparrow’s quill, very much 
branched.” LAURENCIACEiE. 
V. 
75 
9. Laukencia tuberculosa, J. Ag. ; u rosy purple, frond compressed, distichously 
decompound-pinnate ; pinnae on a straight, excurrent rachis, alternate, patent ; the 
medial pinnules similar, the lower short, transformed into roundish, tuberculated 
warts, bearing tetraspores lodged in the tubercles.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 760. 
Hab. Vera Cruz, Liebman. 
“ Frond 4—6 inches long, as thick as a pigeon’s quill, subterete or slightly com- 
pressed, alternately and distichously bi-tri-pinnate ; rachides scarcely conspicuously 
flexuous, obtuse, prolonged, naked beyond the pinnae. Primary pinnae 3—4 inches 
long, secondary an inch and half.” 
II. CHAMPIA. Desv. Harv.ref. 
Frond terete or compressed, branched, tubular, constricted at intervals, and 
furnished internally at the constrictions with transverse membranous diaphragms 
which divide the tube into chambers; diaphragms connected by a few longitudinal, 
confervoid filaments ; walls of the frond composed of polygonal cellules, in one or 
many rows. Conceptacles ovate, with a terminal pore. Placentae one or many, 
basal, much branched, confervoid, connected with the walls by confervoid threads, 
and bearing on the ends of the branches densely crowded ovoid or obconic spores. 
Tetraspores tripartite, scattered through the superficial cells of the branches and 
ramuli. 
The genus now called Champia was founded in 1804 by Thunberg under the 
name Mertensia, a name previously given by Dr. Roth (1797) to a well-known 
Boragineous plant of North America. Thunberg’s original species, Ch. lumbricalis, 
a native of the Cape of Good Hope, remained for about thirty years the sole mem- 
ber of the genus ; but recently two others, C. compressa from the Cape, and C. 
Tasmanica from Van Pieman’s Land, have been added. These three constitute the 
genus Champia as generally understood by algologists, and as it appears restricted 
by Prof. J. Agardh in his Sp. Alg. vol. 2, p. 368. I venture now to add to them 
such species of Lomentaria of authors (Chylocladia of Greville and other British 
writers) as have ovate conceptacles furnished with a terminal pore ; because I find, 
on carefully examining their sporaceous nucleus, that it is formed exactly on the 
type of that of Champia lumbricalis, and not at all as in Lomentaria half or mis, the 
type of the true Lomentaria!. In our Ch. parvula and Ch. salicornoides the placenta 
is less paniculate than in Ch. lumbricalis? but nevertheless is much branched, as 76 
laurenciacea:. 
V. 
may readily be seen if a conceptacle from which the spores have been shed be care- 
fully dissected. The placenta in such conceptacles will be found not unlike a bird- 
cage or the open net-work of a clathroid fungus, nearly filling the cavity, and con- 
nected with the surrounding walls by cross threads. This is precisely the structure 
in Ch. lumbricalis, compressa and Tasmanica, as well as in Chylocladia a finis, Harv. 
(Ner. A ustr. t. 29), which therefore I now remove to Champia. Chylocladia Novce 
Zealandice, Hook, and Harv., whose conceptacles are unknown, is probably also a 
Champia. The genus so constituted forms a natural group, all the species having 
a constricted frond divided into loculi by transverse septa. I differ with my friend 
Prof. J. Agardh in regard to its nearest affinities ; he referring his Champia to the 
neighbourhood of his recently amended genus Chylocladia (founded on Chrysymenia 
clavellosa of his former writings), whilst I am of opinion that it is much more nearly 
connected with Lomentaria. 
1. Champia parvula, Harv.; tufts globose, dense ; frond irregularly branched, 
ramuli scattered; branches and ramuli constricted at intervals of once or twice their 
diameter; conceptacles scattered. Chylocladia parvula, Grev. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 
210. Lomentaria parvula, Zanard. J. Ay. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 729- Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 864. 
Hab. On the smaller algae, &c. between tide marks. Nantucket, Miss Mitchell. 
Seaconnot, Newport and Narragansett Pier, Prof. Bailey and Mr. Olney. Peconic 
Pay, Prof. Bailey and W. II. H. Hellgate, New York, Mr. Hooper and Mr. Cong- 
don. Key West, W. H. H., Dr. Blodgett (71) and Prof. Tuomey (38). (v. v.) 
Tufts globose, often intricate, tw~o to four inches in diameter. Fronds as thick 
as sparrow’s quill, very irregularly branched ; the branches sometimes somewhat 
pinnately compounded, all or most of the divisions alternate ; sometimes and more 
frequently several times irregularly forked below, and inordinately branched above. 
Branches and ramuli very patent, linear, ending in a blunt point. The main 
divisions are either regularly constricted and septate throughout, at intervals of 
once and half their diameter, or are sub-cylindrical and obsoletely constricted in the 
lower part ; all the lesser branches and ramuli are obviously articulato-septate. 
Conceptacles scattered over the branches, very prominent, conical or ovate, thick- 
walled. Colour brownish red, purplish, or waxy yellow. Substance softly cartila- 
ginous. It closely adheres to paper in drying. 
A variable plant. Most of our specimens nearly agree with common European 
varieties. One, received from Mr. Congdon, is more pinnate than the others, and ra- 
ther more robust. Another variety found by Mr. Hooper at Greenport is much more 
slender than usual, scarcely thicker than hog’s bristle, with the constrictions obsolete, 
or not visible without close examination. I have British specimens nearly similar. 
2. Champia salicornoides ; frond cylindrical and inarticulate at the base, nodoso- 
constricted upwards, whorled with one or more sets of short moniliform, obtuse v. 
LAURENCIACEiE. 
branches ; internodes about as long as broad ; conceptacles conical, scattered. (Tab. 
XIX. B.) 
Hab. At Key West, IF. H. H. (27), Dr. Blodgett (72). (v. v.) 
Boot discoid. Fronds two or three inches high, about a line in diameter, tufted. 
Stems at first filiform, cylindrical and solid for half an inch or more, then distended 
and either continued as a single articulato-constricted simple stem, or dividing into 
a tuft of such stems. These upper stems are regularly constricted at short inter- 
vals, and are thickest in the middle and gradually taper to the base and apex. 
Branches opposite or whorled, similarly constricted, the lowest longest, and in fully 
developed specimens furnished with a second or third series of shorter branches and 
ramuli. All the lesser divisions are nodose, the internodes about as long as broad. 
The conceptacles are conical, scattered over the ramuli, their walls very thick and 
the sporiferous nucleus very densely tufted. Tetraspores very minute, dispersed 
through the ramuli. Substance softly cartilaginous. In drying it closely adheres 
to paper. 
This has a habit very similar to that of Lomentaria Mediterranean J. Ag. with 
which I had at first confounded it, but it is readily distinguished by its very differ- 
ent conceptacles, the nucleus of which is not correctly given in our plate, jigs. 5, 6, 
which were taken from a hastily examined and imperfect specimen. The structure 
of the sporiferous nucleus is exactly the same as in Ch. parvula, from which this 
species differs very much in ramification. I gathered very few specimens at Key 
West. 
Plate XIX. B. Fig. 1. Champia salicornoides, the natural size. Fig. 2, section 
of a branch to show the hollow chambers and diaphragms ; jig. 3, branch with 
conceptacles ; jig. 4, a conceptacle ; jig. 5, section of the same (the contained nucleus 
incorrectly drawn) ; jig. 6, nucleus (incorrect) ; jig. 7, spores ; all more or less 
magnified. 
III. LOMENTARIA. Endl. excl. sp. 
(Gastridium, Lynb. Chylocladia, Grev. ; Harv. Phyc. Brit. excl. sp.) 
Frond (at least the branches) tubular, constricted at regular intervals and divided 
by internal membranous diaphragms into chambers filled with a watery juice and 
traversed by a few longitudinal confervoid filaments ; walls of the frond composed 
of polygonal cellules in one or many rows. Conceptacles spherical, without orifice : 
sporiferous nucleus globose, very dense, consisting of many obconic, subsessile 
spores radiating from a minute basal placenta. Tetraspores tripartite, scattered 
through the superficial cells of the branches and ramuli. LAURENCIACEiE. 
V. 
The type of this genus, restricted by the above diagnosis, is Fucus kaliformis, 
Good and Woodw. (Chylocladia kaliformis, Grev. and of other British writers,) to 
which are added the other species of the Grevillean genus Chylocladia, which have 
similarly organised conceptacles. In the structure of the frond there is a very 
close affinity with Champia, but the difference in the sporiferous nuclei in the two 
genera is too important to admit of their union. A still greater difference in the 
fructification separates the reformed genus Chylocladia, as now understood by Prof. 
J. Agardh. 
I adopt the name Lomentaria for the present genus in deference to the authority 
of Endlicher, Montagne, Kiitzing, and J. Agardh, and in order to avoid confusion 
in nomenclature ; but it unfortunately happens that L. articulata, Lyngb. the plant 
originally called Lomentaria by Lyngbye, and to which he restricted his genus, 
must be removed from the modern genus as at present adopted by botanists.. Dr. 
Greville, long ago (Alg. Brit. p. 114) remarked that his genus Gastridium, after- 
wards called Chylocladia, included two generic types, indicated by differences in 
fructification, a character which, at the time he wrote, was not considered of suffi- 
cient importance apart from others, to justify the dismemberment of the genus. 
One of these types, comprising Ch. kaliformis, ovalis, and others with similar fruc- 
tification, constitutes the modern Lomentaria ; the other, comprising Ch. clavellosa, 
articulata, and others, the reformed genus Chylocladia, J. Ag. Now should the 
spirit of genus-splitting proceed further at a future time, and Ch. articulata, on 
account of its articulated frond, be separated from the species of Chylocladia with 
tubular fronds, it must either receive a new name, or if its old one, stolen for the 
present genus, be restored to it, we shall have to find a name to supply the defi- 
ciency, and perhaps Gastroclonium of Kiitzing may then be applied to the group 
typified by Ch. kalformis. 
1. Lomentaria ovalis, Endl. ; frond cylindrical, solid, irregularly dichotomous, 
naked below, above beset with simple, elliptical, or elongated and nodoso-articulate 
tubular ramuli. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 118. Gastroclonium ovale, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 
865. Yar. /3. Coulteri ; frond robust, livid purple, with very obtuse, obovate, sim- 
ple ramuli. (Tab. XIX. A.) Yar. 7. subarticulata, Turn.; ramuli long, linear, con- 
tracted and jointed, Turn. Hist. t. 81, n. 
Hab. On the Pacific Coast. /3. at Monterey, California, Dr. Coulter. 7. Nootka 
Sound, Mr. Menzies, 1787. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
In Dr. Coulter’s specimens the stems are tufted, six to eight inches high or more, 
cylindrical, solid, thicker than crow-quill, dichotomous, flexuous with rounded axils. 
Branches erect, somewhat corymbose, sparingly divided, usually naked for the 
greater part of their length, densely beset near the summit with elliptic-oblong or 
clavate, simple, hollow, very obtuse ramuli, and here and there furnished with a 
few short, lateral branchlets ending in a tuft of similar bag-like ramuli. The walls 
of the ramuli are thick, composed of several rows of angular, coloured cellules. V. 
CORALLINACiE. 
79 
Conceptacles not seen. Tetraspores of large size are scattered through the walls of 
the ramuli. Colour, judging from dried specimens, a dark lurid purple, turning 
greenish in decay. Substance tough, rigid when dry. In drying, it does not 
adhere to paper. 
This is of firmer and more rigid texture and of darker colour than the ordinary 
European L. ovalis, and at one time I considered it specifically distinct. Recently 
I have seen and examined Mr. Menzies’ Nootka specimen, which is much more like 
some of the dwarf English states of the species, and I am now of opinion that it is 
better to retain my L. Coulteri as a variety only. 
There is much agreement in external habit between L. ovalis and Chrysymenia 
uvaria, but the fructification is widely different. 
Plate XIX. A. Fig. 1, Lomentaria ovalis var. Coulteri, the natural size. Fig. 
2, a ramulus with tetraspores; jig. 3, small portion of a section of the wall of the 
same; jig. 4, cross section of one of the solid branches. 
2. Lomentaria? saccata, J. Ag.; “ Stem solid, short, densely branched, support- 
ing obovate, vesicular ramuli attenuated at base into a slender petiole; tetraspores 
scattered through the ramuli; conceptacles numerous, approximate, scarcely hemi- 
spherical, inflated, sub-immersed.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 738. Dumontia saccata, 
Grev. MS. 
Hab. California, Herb. Grevitte. 
“ Stems scarcely an inch high, as thick as a pigeon’s quill, terete, solid, irregularly 
much branched. Ramuli sub-heterogeneous, emerging from the branches, borne on 
setaceous petioli, saccate, resembling obovate, ellipsoid, inflato-tubulous bags, col- 
lapsed when dry, three to ten lines in length, and two to six in diameter. Concep- 
tacles densely aggregated. Colour a blackish purple. Substance of the stem car- 
noso-cartilaginous ; of the ramuli membranaceous.” 
This species is wholly unknown to me. 80 
CORALLINACEiE. 
y. 
Order III. CORALLINACEiE. 
Corallinece, Lamour. Cor. Class, p. 244. Dne. Class, p. 63. Endl. 3d. Suppl. p. 
48. Harv. Ner. Austr. p. 92. Lindl. Veg. King. p. 25. Corallinece and Spongitece, 
Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. pp. 387, 385. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. pp. 695, 699- Corallinidce and Nulli- 
poridce, Jolinst. Brit. Lith. p. 205. 
Diagnosis. Rigid, stony, articulated or crustaceous, mostly calcareous sea-weeds, 
purple when recent, fading, on exposure, to milk-white, composed of closely packed? 
elongated cells or filaments, in which carbonate of lime is deposited in an organized 
form. Spore-threads short, tufted in the base of encysted conceptacles, furnished 
with a terminal pore, simple, each thread at length separating into four spores. 
Natural Character. Boot, when manifested, an expanded, crustaceous disc, 
often spreading widely over the rock or shell to which it is attached. Frond calca- 
reous, effervescing strongly when thrown into acid, the cells of which it is composed 
secreting carbonate of lime in an organized form within their walls, and calcareous 
matter being also deposited on the surface of the cells and between their interstices- 
The whole compound frond then appears to the eye as if coated with enamel, and 
when broken, seems equally stony within. On maceration in acid, the rigid sub- 
stance becomes soft and pliable, and sub-transparent, and the cellular tissue is 
obtained free from lime. The cells composing the axis or medullary part of the 
stem are long, slender and vertical, either closely packed together and overlapping 
at the ends, or disposed in filamentous series. Those which immediately surround 
this central layer are shorter and curved outwards, and the cells of the periphery 
are very minute. A longitudinal section of the stem has frequently a transversely 
banded appearance, from the cells of which it is composed being nearly of equal 
length and so placed that their ends stand on a level. 
In outward habit there is considerable variety among these plants. The lowest 
forms of the order are simply incrustations, spreading like the least organized 
of the crustaceous lichens, over the surface on which they grow, and like 
them usually extending from a central point in successive concentric circles of 
growth. Some are mere films, as thin as tissue paper ; others are thick and 
stone-like, the crust rising into prominences or sinking in depressions. The sur- 
face of the thicker crusts is very frequently papillated with conical wart-like 
prominences, scattered or densely aggregated. In the more advanced kinds these 
lengthen into cylindrical processes, and become branched, the branches often so 
densely crowded that little more than their ends are visible, in which case the y. 
CORALLINACEiE. 
81 
mass resembles a stony head of cauliflower, or some of the incrustations of similar 
aspect so often seen in calcareous spar caves. Others are more shrub-like or arbo- 
rescent, and in others the branches become compressed, or flattened into leafy 
lobes. In the genus Mastophora, the most leaf-like plants of the Order, there is less 
carbonate of lime deposited than in most others, and the fronds are proportionably 
flexible ; they are fan-shaped, with fastigiate leafy laciniae, and have a habit very 
similar to that of some species of Zonaria. All the above varieties of form are 
found in the sub-order Nulliporece (Spongitece, Kiitz). The true Corallines or 
Corattinece are filiform, somewhat compressed, pinnated or dichotomous, the 
branches composed of strings of calcareous articulations or internodes, truncated at 
the upper extremity and rounded at the lower, each articulation connected with 
that above and below it by a flexible node or joint formed of cellular tissue, in 
which no calcareous matter is deposited. In the majority, the calcareous inter- 
nodes are separated by minute flexible nodes, often hidden under the projecting 
edges of the internode, and only to be seen on close examination. But in some 
species of Amphiroa the flexible node is elongate, and even occasionally longer 
than the calcareous internode, the branches of such species looking like a number 
of beads or bugles, distantly placed on a connecting thread. In some of these 
latter the surface of the node is occasionally armed with minute calcareous plates 
or tubercles. The form of the internode varies extremely ; often in the same 
species ; or even in different parts of the same individual, in which it is common 
to find the articulations of the stem, the branches and the ultimate ramuli having- 
distinct forms. In many the internodes are cylindrical; in others oval or com- 
pressed ; in others flat and with an irregular outline ; but the most common forms 
are cordate and cuneiform, the upper angles or shoulders of the internode often 
extending into ears or horns. 
The fructification is not perfectly ascertained, and the position and affinities of 
the order are therefore uncertain. It is not without hesitation that I now give the 
name of four-jointed spore-threads to the little bodies found tufted in the base of the 
conceptacles, and which in another place (Phyc Brit. t. 201, 222, 252) I have 
figured and described as zonate tetraspores. If we are to judge of their nature by 
their aspect, we shall certainly, with Decaisne and other writers, regard them as 
tetraspores ; but if by the position they occupy within conceptacles formed on the 
type of those of Polysiphonia, we shall pronounce them spore-threads. If they 
were not four-parted, they would very closely resemble the spore-threads of a Poly- 
siphonia ; and they occupy a place exactly similar, being transformations of the 
same parts of the frond, and similarly protected within conceptacles, whose form 
and origin are identical with those of the conceptacles in Polysiphonia. So that 
morphologically speaking, we are compelled to regard them as spore-threads. If 
this be their real nature, it may be worth enquiry whether the supposed tetraspores 
of Phacelocarpus and Apophlcea are not to be regarded as strings of spores, being found 
lodged within hollow conceptacles, to the walls of which they are attached. I am 
aware that other conceptacles have been described in Phacelocarpus, but after an 
examination of many specimens I have failed to detect perfect spores within them, 
and consequently consider them as merely abortive efforts at fructification ; an 
VOL. IV. ART. 5. COR ALLIN ACEiE. 
82 
V. 
opinion rendered more probable by their position, which is the same as that of the 
fertile branchlets. 
The conceptacles in the Corallineae are either formed out of the terminal articula- 
tions of the lesser branches, as in Corallina, and Jania ; or on some part of the 
surface of the middle and lower articulations, as in Amphiroa. But frequently 
spurious conceptacles, equally furnished with spore-threads as the normal ones, 
sprout out irregularly from any part of the stem or branch. This I have re- 
peatedly observed in Corallina squamata and C. officinalis, whose whole surface is 
sometimes densely warted with such irregular fructification. 
The Corallinaceae, under some form or other, are dispersed through most parts of 
the ocean, and at depths varying from the highest level of ordinary tides to many 
fathoms below low-water mark. The crustaceous kinds in particular abound on 
the stones and in shallow places, where, however, they seldom exhibit more than 
an expanded crust. Within the tidal limits, from the level of half-tide to low-water 
mark, they flourish, fruiting abundantly. Beyond the tidal limit, in water of 5, 10, 
15, or even 50 fathoms in depth, they are still numerous, and frequently constitute 
vast banks, made up of unattached fronds heaped together without order, of which 
those alone on the surface of the bank are in a vegetating state. In such places, 
though the frond is very luxuriant, fructification is seldom formed. It is extremely 
probable that many of these deep-water forms, now regarded as specifically different 
from those found within tide marks, are merely barren varieties of the tidal species, 
altered by a different locality. The true corallines are very rare in the colder sea, 
in which alone C. officinalis attains a very high latitude. They are more abundant 
towards the tropics, and seem to be particularly numerous and beautiful on the 
shores of the Australian continent. As yet we can claim few within the limits of 
the North American Flora, but probably when the Pacific coast shall have been 
explored many new species will reward the collector. On the whole, the order is 
greatly more numerous in the Pacific than in the Atlantic Ocean. 
Until recently the Corallinacece, and other calcareous Algae, such as Halimeda, 
were confounded with the polypiferous Zoophytes, with which division of the 
animal kingdom they had been united by Ellis, who, nevertheless, figures the 
spore-threads of C. officinalis with his usual care. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
Sub-order 1. Corallines. Frond filiform, pinnate or dichotomous, jointed. 
I Corallina. Conceptacles terminal, urceolate, simple. Frond pinnated. 
II. Jania. Conceptacles terminal or axillary, turbinate, tipped with two horn-like 
ramuli. (Frond in our species dichotomous.) 
III. Amphiroa. Conceptacles conical, scattered on the surface of the middle and 
lower articulations. v. 
COR ALLIN AC EM. 
Sub-order 2. Frond crustaceous, foliaceous or shrubby, not jointed. 
IV. Melobesia. 
I. CORALLINA, L. 
Frond filiform or compressed, calcareous, articulated, mostly pinnate. Nodes 
very short, striseform. Conceptacles ovate or urceolate, formed from the terminal 
articulation of the branches and ramuli, furnished with an apical pore, and contain- 
ing in the base of the cavity a tuft of erect, pyriform or club-shaped, at length 
four-parted spore-threads. 
1. Corallina officinalis, Lin. ; decompound pinnate ; the lower articulations 
cylindrical, twice as long as broad ; the upper slightly obconical, round-edged (not 
ancipital), their upper angles blunt; the ultimate ramuli cylindrical, obtuse. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 222. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 705. 
Hab. On stones and shells. Halifax, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Fronds two to four inches high, twice as thick as hog’s bristle, distichous, decom- 
pound pinnate. Branches pinnate or bi-pinnate, especially at the top, sometimes 
naked below, often fastigiate or corymbose, erecto-patent; pinnules mostly simple, 
attenuate. Articulations of the stem as long or twice as long as broad, sub-cylin- 
drical ; of the branches more or less cuneiform, with rounded shoulders; of the 
ramuli linear, cylindrical, or compressed, the terminal one either obtuse or pointed. 
Conceptacles formed either from the terminal articulation of a pinna, or from the 
surface of any of the articulations of the stem or branches, ovate. Colour dark 
lurid-purple when growing, becoming chalk-white when bleached. 
A very variable plant, according to the depth of water at which it vegetates. It 
is probably common on the American shores, though I have not received it from 
my correspondents. 
II. JANIA, Lamour. 
Frond filiform or compressed, calcareous, articulated, dichotomous, or (in some 
Australian species) decompound pinnate. Nodes very short, striaeform. Concep- 84 
CORALLINACE.E. 
y 
tacles urn-shaped, formed from the axillary articulation of the uppermost branches 
(mostly two-horned), furnished with an apical pore, and containing in the base of 
the cavity a tuft of erect, pyriform or club-shaped, at length four-parted spore- 
threads. 
This genus scarcely differs from Corallina. The species are generally smaller 
and more slender, and those of North America are dichotomous, at least in the 
main divisions, and therefore easily known from the pinnated Corallines. Many 
of the Australian species of Jania, comprising the section Haliptilon, are however 
decompound pinnate. 
1. Jania rubens, Lamour. ; frond dichotomous, fastigiate, setaceous ; articulations 
of the principal branches and ramuli cylindrical, about four times as long as broad. 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 252. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 709- 
Hab. At Key West, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Fronds half an inch to an inch high, densely tufted, many times forked, as thick 
as hog’s bristles ; branches erect or spreading, gradually tapering to the extremities. 
Articulations cylindrical in all parts of the frond ; those near the base very short, 
the upper ones gradually longer ; those in the middle region from four to five 
times as long as broad. Colour a pale red. 
2. Jania Cubensis, Mont.; frond dichotomous, fastigiate, setaceous, the branches 
naked or pinnated with short, simple or forked, opposite ramuli ; articulations of 
the lower branches subcylindrical, of the upper cuneate with rounded shoulders, of 
the ramuli cylindrical, three or four times as long as broad. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 709- 
Id ab. Parasitical on Digenia simplex, and other Algse, at Key West, W. H. II., 
Prof. Tuomey (71). 
Tufts dense, an inch in height, fastigiate, often spreading widely. Fronds as 
thick as hog’s bristle, dichotomously divided, the branches patent or sometimes 
recurved, either destitute of ramuli (when the plant is hardly to be known 
from J. rubens) or pinnellated throughout with short ramuli, one or two lines in 
length. Famuli distichous, or three together, simple and spinelike or forked, some- 
times trifurcate and now and then lengthened and pinnellated. Articulations in the 
lower part subcylindrical, the upper ones more cuneate. Colour a dull red. 
My specimens seem to agree very closely with a small authentic specimen kindly 
communicated to me by Dr. Montagne. 
3. Jania capillacea ; minute, dichotomous, capillary, with wide axils ; branches y. 
COR ALLIN ACEiE. 
85 
recurved, squarrose; articulations cylindrical, four to six times as long as 
broad. 
Hab. Bahia Honda, Prof. Tuomey. (70). (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
I cannot satisfactorily refer the specimen received from Prof. Tuomey to any 
described species. It most resembles J. rubens in written character, but is much 
smaller and more slender, having more the aspect of J. antennina, Kiitz. from which 
its much longer articulations separate it. 
III. AMPHIROA. Lamour. 
Frond terete, compressed, or flat, calcareous, articulated, dichotomous or pinnated. 
Nodes cartilaginous, more or less evident, sometimes elongate, naked or covered with 
tubercles. Conceptacles conical, wartlike, sessile on the disc of one of the articu- 
lations, furnished with an apical pore, and containing in the base of the cavity, a 
tuft of erect pyriform, at length four-parted spore-threads. 
An extensive genus, chiefly found in the Southern and Pacific Oceans, where 
many of the larger and more beautiful species abound. A few occur in the 
Mediterranean, and in the Tropical Atlantic. There is much variety of habit 
among them, and Decaisne has divided the genus into four subgenera, two only of 
which are represented in the North American Flora. The species of the first sub- 
genus have a habit quite peculiar, and are much more brittle than any other of the 
jointed Corallines. Those of the second group have the habit of Corallina, from 
which they are only to be known by the fructification. 
Sub-genus 1. Euamphiroa. Articulations linear, elongate, terete or subcompressed. 
Conceptacles scattered, numerous. 
1. Ampiiiroa fragilissima, Lamour. ; frond dichotomous, robust, attenuated 
upwards, very fragile ; the axils wide, and branches spreading ; articulations cylin- 
drical, smooth, four or five times as long as broad. Lamour. Cor. p. 298. Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 700. Ellis and Soland. Cor. t. 21, Jig. d. (not characteristic). 
Hab. Florida Keys. Key West, W.H.H. (v.v.) 
Fronds 2—3 inches high, very fragile, as thick as sparrow’s quill below, gradually 86 
CORALLINACEiE. 
V. 
attenuated upwards, many times dichotomous, the articulations below the fork bifid 
at the apex, each lobe running out into the commencement of the arms of the forks. 
Axils wide. Branches divaricate. Articulations cylindrical, smooth, not swollen at 
the extremities, the nodes very short, indicated by a line only. Colour livid purple, 
fading to dirty white. 
An exceedingly fragile species, of which it is almost impossible to preserve more 
than broken fragments. 
2. Ampiiiroa debilis, Kiitz.; frond setaceous, dichotomous, fastigiate, very fragile; 
branches divaricating ; articulations many times longer than broad, cylindrical, 
thickened at each extremity ; conceptacles numerous, subsecund. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 
p. 700. 
Hab. Florida Keys. Key West, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Fronds 1—2 inches high, as thick as hog’s bristle, repeatedly and pretty regu- 
larly dichotomous, occasionally trichotoinous, the articulations below the dichotomy 
similar to the rest (not bifid or two branched). Branches spreading to all sides. 
Articulations generally but one between each furcation, cylindrical, those of the 
lower and middle regions of the frond incrassated at each end, the upper ones not 
so. Interstices or nodes simple, scarcely uncovered. Conceptacles numerous on the 
lower articulations, generally several ranged along one side of the internode. 
A much smaller plant than the preceding, with differently shaped articulations. 
I have not seen any authentic specimen of Kiitzing’s plant, which came from Cuba, 
but my specimens collected within eighty miles of Havana seem sufficiently to 
agree with his description. 
3. Amphiroa cretacea, Endl. ; “ dichotomous, diffuse, thick, chalky or ash- 
coloured ; articulations cylindrical, approximate, 1-2 lines long, once and a-half or 
twice as long as their diameter ; branches distant, flexuous and recurved, cylindri- 
cal or conical at the apex.” Kiitz. Sp. Ala. p. 701. Post, and Rupr. lllustr. p. 20. 
t, 40, Fig. 104. 
Hab. IJnalaschka, Postels and Ruprecht. 
Sub-genus 2. Arthrocardia. Articulations strongly compressed, frequently 
winged at the sides, cuneate or obcordate. Conceptacles conical, scattered. 
4. Amphiroa (Arthrocardia) California, Dne. (?); subdichotomous or irregu- 
larly branched ; articulations strongly compressed, with a sub-evident midrib, the 
lowermost cuneate, the upper broadly obcordate with blunt upper angles ; con- 
ceptacles two to four on each fertile articulation. Dne. Corail. p. 112 t Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg. 704. A. Hookeri, Harv. in Hook. Herb. y. 
COR ALLIN ACEiE. 
Hab. Monterey, Decaisne. St. Francisco, Barclay. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
The St. Francisco specimens are three or four inches long, twice or thrice irregu- 
larly forked, the ultimate divisions dichotomous, the lower ones irregularly pinnated 
with numerous, lateral, simple branches. All the articulations are strongly com- 
pressed, the sides depressed, the central part raised and rib-like ; the lower ones of 
the larger branches as well as of the lower divisions are cuneate, the upper gradu- 
ally broader and more cordate, with much produced but rounded upper angles ; the 
terminal articulations narrow. Conceptacles large, on my specimens generally in 
pairs on each articulation, but sometimes four or five on the lower ones. 
I have not seen any authentic specimen of the plant of Decaisne, who describes 
it thus ; “ dichotomous ; articulations compressed, and frequently cuneate, and 
generally furnished with four conceptacles on each face characters which do not 
strictly apply to my specimens, which nevertheless, I hesitate to describe as new. 
5. Amphiroa (Arthrocardia) tuberculosa, Endl.; “ dichotomous ; dirty white or 
rosy violet ; lowest articulations subterete, once and half as long as broad, upper 
dilated, more or less deeply obcordate, uppermost sub-approximate, irregularly 
cuneate-rhombic, sometimes linear, tuberculated at the back and margin ; some of 
the tubercles perforated ; branches scattered, subsimple, clavate or emarginate at 
the apex.” Kiltz. Sp. Alg. p. 704. Corallina tuberculosa, Post, and Rupr. 111. p. 20, 
t. 40, jig. 100. 
Hab. Island of Sitcha, Postels and Ruprecht. 
I‘have seen no specimen of this or of the preceding species. 
MELOBESIA. Lamour. 
Frond attached by its lower surface or free ; either flattened orbicular, sinuated 
or irregularly lobed ; or cylindrical and branched ; never articulated, coated 
with a calcareous deposit. Conceptacles conical, scattered over the surface of the 
fronds or partly immersed, furnished with an apical pore, and containing in the 
base of the cavity a tuft of erect, oblong, four-parted spore-threads. 
The North American species of this genus have not yet been carefully examined 
or collected. Probably several occur along the coast, and will be found either 
encrusting tidal rocks or stones, or lying at the bottom of harbours in from five to SPH^ROCOCCOIDEiE. 
V. 
twenty fathom water. Authors enumerate many forms which are probably but 
variable shapes assumed by the same species at different times. Thus M. membran- 
acea,farinosa,verrucata and pustulosa of Lamouroux, appear scarcely to differ from 
each other except in age and luxuriance. By Dr. Johnston the whole are regarded 
as abnormal states of CoraUina officinalis. 
Order IV. SI'HyEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
J. Ag. Sp. Gen. and Ord. Floridearum, p. ix. Part of Delesseriece and Splicm'ococ- 
coideoe, J. Ag. Alg. Medit.p. 116 and 148. and of Endl. 3d. Suppl. Harv. Man. Ed. 
% §c. 
Diagnosis. Rosy, purplish, or blood'red sea-weeds, with an inarticulate, cartila- 
ginous or membranaceous, leaf-like or filiform frond, composed either of polygonal 
or of cylindrical cells. Conceptacles with or without a terminal pore. Spores 
roundish or elliptical, formed in moniliform filaments rising from the basal pla- 
centa, all the cells of the spore-threads gradually changing into spores. Tetraspores 
variously disposed. 
Natural Character. Root almost always discoid, rarely branching. Frond 
much diversified in habit, structure, and colour. Most of the North American 
genera are more or less perfectly leaf-like ; the leaf, in the least organised, being an 
expansion of irregular form, cleft either vertically or laterally, without symmetry, 
and destitute of central rib or of veins. In others the lower part of the frond is 
thickened in the centre into a broad, sub-defined midrib, which becomes less 
evident toward the upper portion of the membrane, and gradually disappears 
where the laciniae become expanded. In others numerous irregular veins, which 
are confluent toward the base of the frond, spread out one from another like the 
rays of a fan and traverse a greater or less portion of the membrane, generally 
becoming obsolete in its upper divisions ; sometimes standing apart and sometimes 
anastomozing. In others—and these are the most completely organized—the leaf- 
like body is symmetrical, furnished with a percurrent, filiform midrib, which is a 
continuation of the stipes or root-stem, and which becomes stem as it is gradually 
divested of the membraneous border. This takes place with age, and thus old 
fronds of the same species have often a much branched stem bearing numerous 
leaves ; all which fronds originated in a single leaf whose stripped midrib was 
converted into stem, and then put forth new frondlets, to undergo a similar 
metamorphosis. The only North American genus with filiform fronds is Graci- SPHflEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
89 
laria, and one of its commoner species (G. multipartita) exhibits every stage 
between a nearly cylindrical, much branched, bush-like frond and a flattened, 
laciniated membrane. 
The internal structure of the frond presents* as many varieties as the outward 
form. Most of the membranaceous fronds are composed of polygonal cellules, not 
longer than their breadth, those of the surface stratum frequently tabulated. Some- 
times the interior cellules are of large size compared to the exterior, and gradually 
diminish as they approach the surface of the frond, the outer stratum being com- 
posed of minute dot-like cells : in other cases all are nearly of equal diameter. 
In several the axial or medullary region is occupied by cylindrical cells joined end 
to end into filaments, which are either solitary, or more commonly bundled toge- 
ther or closely compacted into an internal midrib. In others almost the whole 
internal substance of the frond is composed of a plexus of such filaments, but this 
structure is rare in the Order, and confined to some genera of the southern hemi- 
sphere. As a general rule, an opaque, inarticulate frond, composed of polygonal, 
tabulated or roundish cellules, is characteristic of these Algse. 
The colour is of various tints, mostly brilliant ones. Some of the finest and 
purest carmine, crimson and blood-red hues seen among marine plants, are found 
in this Order. Others are purple-lake, of greater or less brilliancy ; and a few, 
chiefly of the filiform kinds, are dull-red, brownish or whitish, tinted with various 
pale shades of red, or greenish yellow, the latter colours indicating a weak or 
blanched growth. 
The distinctive character of the Order is found in the structure of the sporiferous- 
nucleus, which consists of a dense tuft of simple or branched, moniliform spore- 
threads radiating from a cellular placenta fixed in the base of the cavity of an 
external conceptacle. The conceptacle is of various forms ; bottle-shaped with a 
prominent orifice, conical, hemispherical or spherical, in the latter cases generally 
destitute of a pore, and emitting the spores only on the bursting of the pericarp. 
The walls of this conceptacle are membranous, thick or thin, composed of one or 
of several strata of cellules. The cavity is generally large, rarely quite filled by 
the nucleus. The placenta sometimes projects into the cavity so as to fill one-half 
of the space, and sometimes is but slightly developed. It is always cellular, and 
generally solid ; sometimes, however, hollowed out beneath. The whole surface is 
densely covered with vertical or radiating simple or dichotomous spore-threads, 
each consisting of numerous ellipsoidal or roundish cellules which are gradually 
converted into spores, the terminal cell ripening earlier than the others. 
The tetraspores are either tripartite or rarely zone-parted, and are either dispersed 
over the whole frond, or more frequently collected into definite groups or sori, 
which are sometimes borne in proper leaf-like processes of the frond. They are 
always sunk among the superficial cells ; never collected in nemathecia, but some- 
times lodged in thickened wart-like prominences rising from the membrane. 
Many of the genera of this Order are widely dispersed. The Delesserice and JVito- 
phylla are among the most beautiful of leafy sea-weeds, and are found between 
the parallels of 30° and 60° north and south of the equator, but are more abundant 
on the European than the American Atlantic coasts. On the North American 
YOL. IV.—ART. 5. 90 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEAC. 
y. 
Atlantic coast, indeed, Nitophyllum is scarcely more than represented. In South 
America, especially among the indented shores of Terra del Fuego and the islands 
and channels near Cape Horn both these genera abound, as they also do in New 
Zealand and Van Dieman’s Land. Nitophyllum venosum is one of the largest and 
most splendid of South African Rhodosperms, its brilliant fronds being sometimes 
two or three feet in breadth. Delesseria Leprieurii, which is found in the Hudson river 
at Westpoint, sixty miles from the sea, and in the estuaries of several rivers of the 
Southern States, was first discovered in the Sinnamar river, Cayenne ; and has been 
also found in New Zealand ; a singularly sporadic distribution. Delesseria querci- 
folia of the southern hemisphere is scarcely distinguishable from D. sinuosa of the 
northern ; the southern D. crassinervia chiefly differs from the northern D. Fbypo- 
glossum by the thickness of its midrib ; while D. ruscifolia is found in both 
northern and southern hemispheres. It is curious that Hymenena and Botryo- 
glossum are found in South Africa and California, the latter genus also at 
the Falkland Islands. Grinnellia is exclusively American, and is one of the most 
beautiful and characteristic Algae of the Atlantic coast. Sphoerococcus is European. 
Several genera are exclusively from the Southern Ocean, many being Australian. 
Gracilaria is found from the tropics to very high latitudes at either side of the line, 
and G. confervoides and G. multipartita are instances of cosmopolitan*species. 
Of economical species the only ones deserving notice are the Gracilariee, many 
of which are largely used in India and China, both for food and in the preparation 
of glues and varnishes. G. lichenoides or Ceylon moss is a common ingredient in 
soups and other compound dishes in the East, and is even exported to Europe for 
similar purposes. It may also be made into jellies and blanc-manges, and is said to 
be better than Carrigeen (Chondrus crispus) for all the uses to which that plant is 
applied. All the Gracilariee readily boil down into a gelatine, and probably are 
nearly equally valuable. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NOETH AMERICAN GENERA. 
Tribe 1. Delesserhl®. Frond membranaceous, leaf-like ; the surface cells 
tabular, polygonal, of large size. Spore-threads radiating in a circle from a de- 
pressed, basal placenta. Tetraspores contained in definite sori. 
* Fronds symmetrical, midribhed. 
I. Grinnellia. Conceptacles scattered over the membrane. 
II. Delesseria. Conceptacles formed in the midrib, or in a lateral vein. 
* * Fronds unsymmetrical, ribless or obsoletely ribbed, or traversed by irregular 
branching veins. 
III. Botryoglossum. Frond thickened in the middle, obsoletely midribbed ; the 
rib broad, vanishing towards the end of the laciniae. y. 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
IY. Hymenena. Frond ribless, traversed by numerous, subparallel, anastomosing 
veins. Sori linear, between the veins. 
Y. Nitophyllum. Frond ribless, either veinless or traversed by obsolete, slender, 
branching, irregular veins. Sori roundish, scattered. 
Tribe 2. Spilerococceje. Frond flat, compressed, or cylindrical, cartilaginous or 
coriaceous, the surface cells roundish, very minute. Placenta conical, projecting 
far into the conceptacular cavity. Tetraspores mostly dispersed among the surface 
cells. 
* Tetraspores oblong, transversely divided (zonate). 
YI. Calliblepharis. Frond flat, irregularly cleft, fringed with marginal lobes. 
* * Tetraspores cruciate or triangularly divided. 
YII. Gracilaria. Frond terete, compressed or flat. 
VIII. Corallopsis. Frond constricted at regular intervals or nodoso-articulate. 
I. GRINNELLIA. (Nov. Gen.) 
Frond rosy red, leaf-like, delicately membranaceous, areolated, symmetrical, 
traversed by a slender, percurrent midrib. Conceptacles scattered over the surface 
of the membrane, bottle-shaped, with a prominent orifice : placenta basal, somewhat 
prominent, crowned with a pulvinate tuft of subdichotomous spore-threads, whose 
terminal cells are earliest ripened. Spores elliptic-oblong or roundish. Tetraspores 
tripartite, immersed in scattered, shapeless, cellular warts. 
The remarkable plant which I propose as the type of this genus is peculiar to 
the eastern shores of North America, along which it ranges from Cape Cod to New 
Jersey. It abounds in Long Island Sound and New York Harbour, where it con- 
stitutes one of the most ornamental features of the submarine flora. It was ori- 
ginally described by the elder Agardh as a species of Delesseria, a genus which, as 
then understood, comprehended almost every Alga wflth a red, membranous, leaf- 
like frond, and included also within its limits Plocamium and Stenogramme. From 
the restricted genus Delesseria it is readily known by the position of the coneep- 
tacles, which organs in Delesseria are invariably placed either on the principal 
midrib or on one of its lateral branches. To Nitophyllum (Aglaiophyllum, Mont.) 92 
SPHJ£ROCOCCOIDEiE. 
V. 
our plant has also been referred, but, besides the form of the conceptacle, Grinnellia 
differs from Nitophyllum in having a perfectly symmetrical frond, furnished with 
a single percurrent midrib. In some examples this midrib is very slender, but I 
believe it may always be distinctly traced, at least in the living plant ; and when 
the frond is bifid, as it occasionally is, the midrib regularly bifurcates, one arm pur- 
suing each branch. A further characteristic, showing the difference between this 
midrib and the irregular veins of Nitophyllum, is that in Grinnellia the midribs of 
old fronds become gradually stripped and converted into stems, and are then 
often proliferous ; perfectly formed, ribbed leaflets springing from them. The only 
other genus of which it is necessary to speak is Hemineura (Harv. Ner. Austr. t. 45) 
but the different nervation and ramification, as well as the position of the concep- 
tacles, afford sufficiently obvious distinctions. 
The generic name, Grinnellia, is bestowed in honour of Henry Grinnell, Esq. 
of New York, whose noble conduct in promoting the search after the missing Arctic 
Expedition of Sir John Franklin justly entitles him to the respect and gratitude 
of every man of science. Doubtless there will be other and more worthy memo- 
rials ; but yet it seems to me that a beautiful marine plant may not unfitly preserve, 
among the Algologists of America and England, a kindly remembrance of an act 
of disinterested kindness to wanderers at sea, or let me rather say, a naval action 
to which both Nations may look back with undivided feelings. 
1. Grinnellia Americana.—Delesseria Americana, Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 173. J. 
Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 681. Aglaiopliyllum Americanum, Mont, in An. Sc. Nat. 3d. Ser. 
vol. xi.p. 63. Cryptopleura Americana, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 872. (Tab. XXI. B.) 
Hab. On stones and shells, in four or five fathoms. Abundant in Long Island 
Sound and New York Harbour, (v. v.) 
Root scutate. Frond densely tufted, leaf-like, from one to two feet in length, 
and from one to four inches in width at the widest part, lanceolate, tapering to the 
base, and usually also to the apex, but sometimes very obtuse and sometimes bifid, 
delicately membranaceous, waved and often curled at the margin, traversed by a 
slender, slightly wavy, central nerve, which runs through the frond from the base 
to the apex, gradually becoming more slender upwards, being as thick as hog’s 
bristle in the lower part of the leaf and as fine as human hair towards the tip. 
The frond usually consists of a single leaf, or of three or four leaves springing a 
short way above the base of a common stem ; but when the membrane of the leaf 
is destroyed by the waves, as often occurs, the old midrib survives and throws out 
numerous leaflets, and the frond becomes compound. Such secondary leaflets are 
usually small and densely crowded. Fructification of both kinds abundantly pro- 
duced and scattered thickly, over both surfaces of the membrane. Conceptacles 
resembling in form ancient lacrymatories or the wide glass jars in which sulphuric 
acid is commonly sold, depressed hemispherical, with a more or less prominent ori- 
fice. the neck varying in length on the same plant in different conceptacles. The SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
v. 
93 
walls are thin ; the sporiferous nucleus depressed, not filling the cavity ; the spores 
ellipsoidal, the terminal ones ripening much earlier than the rest. Tetraspores tri- 
partite, immersed in fleshy, prominent warts, variously lobed and distorted. Colour 
a brilliant lake-red, quickly becoming orange and soon perishing in fresh water. 
Substance very thin. Surface areolated with large hexagonal cells. In drying, it 
closely adheres to paper. 
Plate XXI. B. Fig. 1. Grinnellia Americana, the natural size. Fig. 2 and 3, 
conceptacles of different forms ; fig. 4, a conceptacle divided vertically ; fig. 5, 
spore-threads ; fig. 6, a wart with tetraspores ; fig. 7, the same, divided vertically ; 
jig. 8, a tetraspore ; all more or less magnified. 
II. DELESSERIA. Lamour. Grev. ref. 
Frond rosy-red (very rarely purple), leaf-like, laciniate or branched, delicately 
membranaceous, areolated, symmetrical, traversed by a percurrent midrib. Concep- 
tacles sessile on the midrib or on a lateral nerve, globose, without orifice : placenta 
basal, more or less prominent, crowned with a pulvinate tuft of simple or subdicho- 
tomous spore-threads whose terminal cells are earliest ripened : spores elliptical or 
roundish. Tetraspores tripartite, grouped in definite spots or sori, occupying por- 
tions of the frond or of separate leaflets. 
With the exception of D. sanguinea, Ag. which has a sporiferous nucleus of a 
very different structure and now forms the genus Wormskioldia of J. Agardh, I 
retain most of the species included in Dr. Greville’s restriction of the genus. By 
Kiitzing these are arranged in his genera Phycodrys and Hypoglossum, groups 
which I regard as subgenera only. The species are numerous and many of them 
are widely dispersed. Of the following, D. tenuifolia and D. involvens, now first 
described, have been found only on the Florida Keys. 
Sub-genus 1. Phycodrys, Kiitz. Frond pinnatifid or sinuated. 
1. Delesseria sinuosa, Lamour.; stem (at length) elongated, branched, beset with 
oblong or obovate, deeply sinuated or pinnatifid, toothed, penni-nerved leaves ; 
nerves opposite. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 259. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 691. Phycodrys 
sinuosa, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 874. Fucus sinuosus, Turn. Hist. t. 35. E. Bot. t. 822. 
Hab. Arctic Sea Coast, Mr. Seeman. Halifax, W. H. H. Boston Bay, Mr. 
Emerson, Dr. Durkee, Sfc. Newport, Prof. Bailey, Mr. Olney, dye. 94 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
y. 
Frond originating in a single, oblong or obovate, sinuous or deeply pinnatifid 
leaf, 4—8 inches long and from one to four inches broad, denticulate at the margin, 
furnished with a strong percurrent midrib, and with opposite, lateral nerves or veins 
set at an angle with the midrib of about 45°. As the frond grows larger the first 
formed leaf becomes more deeply laciniated, the lacinise which were at first little 
more than denticulations lengthening, widening, and becoming again pinnatifid. 
The membrane of the older parts decays and the denuded midribs are thickened 
into filiform, imperfectly winged stems and branches, which bear from their sides 
and apex numerous leaves resembling the original one. Such specimens are often 
very bushy and dense. The midribs are usually unbranched, but are sometimes 
forked. The margin of the frond, which in most cases is merely denticulate, is 
occasionally bordered with slender, simple or fimbriated lacinuhe, or fringed with 
great numbers of minute, accessory frondlets. Conceptacles hemispherical, formed 
from the substance of the midrib or of one of its lateral nerves. Tetraspores in 
sori generally lodged in minute marginal leaflets, rarely dispersed over the mem- 
brane in patches following the courses of the lateral nerves. Substance membrana- 
ceous. Colour a purple lake, turning rather brownish in drying. It does not 
adhere strongly to paper. 
A specimen from Dr. Durkee has dispersed tetraspores, and unites this species 
with the D. quercifolia of the Southern Hemisphere, which Kiitzing nevertheless 
places in a different genus. 
In deep water the frond often becomes very narrow, with filiform lobes, produced 
into long tendrils. Some of my Halifax specimens exhibit this character. 
2. Delesseria jimbriata, Delapyl.; “ leaves of the ribbed, oppositely veined frond 
obovate, pinnatifid; laciniae nerveless or having a vanishing nerve, at length 
separated as proper, linear-oblong, serrated and sinuous leaflets ; sori of tetraspores 
lodged in marginal, acute and acutely toothed fimbriae, sub-geminate ; conceptacles 
sessile on the parenchyma of the frond.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 690. 
Hab. Newfoundland, De la Pylaie ; fide J. Agardh. 
Sub-genus 2. Pteridium, Kiitz. Frond alternately or dichotomously branched, rose-red. 
3. Delesseria denticulata, Mont. ; frond alternately decompound or irregularly 
pinnatifid, costate ; branches linear, the primary ones alternate, the secondary often 
opposite, denticulate or fimbriato-ciliate at the margin ; the lamina penninerved 
with opposite, oblique veinlets ; sori linear, at each side of the midrib near the ends 
of the lacinias. Mont, in An. Sc. Nat. Ser. 3. xii. p. 223. D. alata, var. denticulata, 
Mont. 1. c. xi. p. 62. 
Hab. Shores of Labrador, M. Lamare Piquot, in Herb. Montagne. Brandy Pot 
Island, River de Loup, Mr. Allom. (v. s. in Herb. T. 0. D.) V. 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
95 
Of this plant I have as yet seen only small specimens, insufficient to enable me 
to give as full a description as I could wish. The primary frond is four or five 
inches or more in length, often a quarter to half an inch broad, linear, membra- 
nous, traversed by a strong midrib, which gives off at acute angles alternate 
branches, one running through each primary lobe, and giving off similar branchlets 
to the succeeding lobes. The lamina throughout is linear, extending at each side 
of the midrib like a wing, of variable breadth in different specimens, and closely 
penninerved with microscopic, articulated, obliquely ascending opposite veinlets, 
each of which runs out into a marginal tooth or lacinula. These marginal denticu- 
lations are sometimes minute, sometimes prolonged into linear, acute, ciliafform 
processes. Tetraspores in linear-sori, extending at each side along the midrib, near 
the apex of the smaller latinise. Axils acute. Colour a purple-rose-red. Substance 
delicately membranaceous. 
4. Delesseria alata, Lamour.; frond irregularly dichotomous or alternately de- 
compound, costate ; branches linear, quite entire at the margin ; the lamina (some- 
times very narrow) penninerved with opposite, oblique veinlets ; sori either at the 
apices of the segments or in proper leaflets. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 683. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 247. Hypoglossum alatum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 877. Delesseria angus- 
tissima, Griff.—Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 83. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 686. (an extreme 
form, nearly destitute of membrane.) 
Hab. Boston Harbour, Mrs. Mudge, Dr. Durkee, &c. (v. v.) 
Frond distichous, two to four inches high or more, much branched, linear, from 
half a line to half an inch broad, alternately decompound, in a manner between 
dichotomous and pinnate ; branches having a cartilaginous midrib winged at each 
side with a narrow or broadish membrane, which is occasionally obsolete. My 
American specimens are not in fruit. Colour a bright purple-lake. Substance 
membranaceous. In drying, it does not adhere strongly to paper. 
I am not aware of this species being found south of Cape Cod. The specimens 
from Boston are of small size and very narrow, many of them as narrow as D. 
angustissima, Griff., but in all that I have seen there is an evident wing to the 
midrib. 
5. Delesseria serrata, Post, and Rupr.; “ stipes winged, compressed, much 
branched ; branches winged, alternately pinnatifid and bipinnatifid; segments 
linear, costate, serrated at the margin and incised or pinnated in the upper part; 
sori punctiform, aggregated at each side of the rib along the whole length of the 
segments. Post, and Bupr. Illust. p. 15. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 696. Hypoglossum 
serratum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 876. 
Hab. Parasitical on the stipes of Ptilota asplenioides, at Unalaschka, Postels and 
Puprecht. 96 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
V. 
6. Delesseria corymbosa, J. Ag.; “ frond subfiliform, dichotomo-corymbose, the 
upper segments linear, obtusely acuminate, slightly incurved above the axil, very 
entire at the margin.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 684. 
Hab. Greenland, Vahl, fide J. Agardh. 
7. Delesseria rostrata, J. Ag.; “frond subfiliform, pinnato-dichotoinous, the 
upper segments patent, linear, acuminate, very entire at the margin ; conceptacles 
immersed in the terminal segments, thrice as thick as the excurrent beak-like point 
of the ramulus and shorter than it; sori of tetraspores elongated below the sum- 
mit of the segments.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 685. 
Hab. Greenland, Fabricius, Vahl., fide J. Agardh. 
Sub-genus 3. Hypoglossum, Kiitz. Frond undivided, oblong or lanceolate, 
proliferous from the midrib ; rose-red. 
8. Delesseria Hypoglossum, Lamour.; frond linear-lanceolate, tapering at each 
end, repeatedly proliferous from the opaque, inarticulate midrib with leaflets of 
similar form ; at length much branched. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 2. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, 
p. 693. Hypoglossum Woodwardi, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 875. Var. /3. ovalifolium, J. Ag. 
leaves oblong, obtuse or subobtuse, not attenuated. Var. <y.filiforme, Menegh.-, leaves 
exceedingly narrow, much attenuated at both ends. 
Hab. Shores of Carolina and Georgia. Charleston Harbour, the three varieties 
common, Prof. Gibbes, W.H. H. Anastasia Island, Dr. Durkee. (v. v.) 
Frond originating in a simple, lanceolate leaf, which, in the American specimens 
is seldom more than three or four inches long and a quarter inch wide. This leaf is 
delicately membranaceous, and has a percurrent, slender, inarticulate midrib formed 
of numerous, closely packed cylindrical cellules. As the plant developes, the midrib 
throws out at both surfaces numerous similar leaves which in turn bear others ; and 
thus by the repeated production of new series of leaves from the midrib of the 
older, the plant at length becomes a leafy ball, very dense Avith crowded foliage. 
The margin is entire and generally flat. The membrane is composed of polygonal 
cells of which those next the midrib are nearly equal-sided hexagons, those next 
them oblong, and those toward the margin gradually smaller and more cylindrical. 
Conceptacles globose, on the midrib. Tetraspores in oblong or linear sori, disposed 
in pairs at opposite sides of the midrib in the smaller leaves. Colour a brilliant car- 
mine-lake. Substance delicately membranaceous. The plant quickly becomes 
orange and decomposes in fresh Avater, and in drying closely adheres to paper. 
In var. 7. the leaves are frequently much arched, exceedingly narroAV, and taper- 
ing to a very slender point. This variety remarkably contrasts Avith var. /3. whose y. 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
97 
leaflets are as blunt as those of D. ruscifolia. Both varieties accompany the ordinary 
form in Charleston Harbour, the most northerly station hitherto ascertained for D. 
Hypoglossum in America. 
9. Delesseria tenuifolia; frond filmy, pale rose-red, broadly linear, obtuse, flat, 
repeatedly proliferous from the capillary, articulated midrib with leaflets of similar 
form; at length much branched, fastigiate. (Tab. XXII. B.) 
Hab. At Key West, Feb. 1850, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Frond originating in a linear, obtuse, perfectly flat leaf, one or two inches long 
and about two lines in breadth, of extreme tenuity, and furnished with a percurrent, 
articulated midrib composed of a triple row of cells, of which the central cell is 
cylindrical and more deeply coloured, the border cells half-hexagonal; the three 
cells taken together forming a hexagonal areole or articulation of the midrib. This 
primary leaf emits others from its midrib, and the process is repeated till there 
results a much branched, fastigiate, globose frond, whose lower branches (the de- 
nuded midribs of the primary leaves) are thickened to the diameter of a hog’s 
bristle. I have not seen conceptacles. Tetraspores occur in very small sori placed 
one at each side of the midrib near the tips of the young leaves. The substance of 
the membrane is exceedingly thin and semi-transparent. The cellules toward the 
midrib are large and polygonal, not regularly hexagonal, but nearly so; those 
toward the margin oblong or cylindrical, disposed in lines at an angle of 45° with 
the midrib. Colour very pale. In drying, it adheres most closely to paper. 
Thin and delicate as are the leaves of D. Hypoglossum, those of the present species 
are much more so, and, when dry, appear as a mere glossy film on the surface of 
the paper. Under the microscope, it is easily known from JD. Hypoglossum by the 
structure of the midrib, and the disposition of the cellules of the membrane, while 
its pale colour and extreme tenuity sufficiently mark it to the naked eye. In the 
form of the leaf it resembles D. ruscifolia, but in other respects abundantly differs 
from that strong-growing species. 
Plate XXII. B. Fig. 1, Delesseria tenuifolia, the natural size. Fig. 2, some 
leaves, with sori in their apices; fig. 3. apex of a leaf enlarged to show the structure 
of the membrane; fig. 4, a tetraspore;—all magnified. 
10. Delesseria involvens ; frond filmy, pale rose-red, linear-lanceolate, attenuate, 
having the apex strongly involute, bordered with oblique bullate undulations 
repeatedly proliferous from the articulated midrib with leaflets of similar form ; at 
length much branched and fastigiate. (Tab. XXII. A.) 
Hab. At Key West, Feb. 1850, W. H. H., Dr. Blodgett, (v. v.) 
The mode of composition of the frond is the same as in the last species ; a pri- 
YOL. IY.—ART. 5. SPILEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
98 
V. 
raary leaf, by repeated proliferous development, resulting in a much branched, subdi- 
chotomously or secundly divided, globose, fastigiate frond, two or three inches in 
diameter. Each individual leaf is from half an inch to an inch Ions; and about half 
a line broad, narrow linear-lanceolate, obtuse at the base, much attenuate at the 
extremity, which is invariably, on very numerous specimens which I have exa- 
mined, strongly rolled inwards, and cannot be unrolled without difficulty, imme- 
diately rolling up again when released. The margin is quite entire ; within it is a 
wide border, occupying more than a third part of the breadth of the leaf, composed 
of narrow cylindrical cells disposed in obliquely ascending lines at an angle of 
about 45° with the midrib ; and throughout this border the membrane is raised up 
in oblong undulations having a common direction with the lines of cells, and 
appearing more strongly coloured than the surrounding parts. The portion of the 
lamina between the border and midrib is composed of hexagonal cells of which the 
innermost are largest. The midrib is of the same structure as in D. tenuifolia, but 
formed of larger cellules. In old specimens it becomes, when denuded, thickened 
into the setaceous stem and branches of the compound frond. Conceptacles very 
convex, more than hemispherical, borne on the midrib. Tetraspores in small irre- 
gular sori, one at each side of the midrib in the smaller leaves. Colour a pale rosy 
red. Substance extremely thin and delicate. In drying, it adheres most closely to 
paper. 
Plate XXII. A. Fig. 1. Delesseria involvens, the natural size. Fig. 2. Some 
leaves, growing proliferously \ fig. 3. a leaf, highly magnified to show the structure ; 
fig. 4, tetraspores lying among the surface cells ; all more or less highly magnified. 
Sub-genus 4. Caloglossa, Harv.; Frond dichotomous, articulato-constricted, rooting 
at the forks, livid purple. 
11. Delesseria Leprieurii, Mont. ; frond livid-purple, linear, dichotomous, either 
rooting or proliferous at the forks ; the space between each furcation linear-lanceo- 
late ; the ultimate divisions attenuate, bifid at the apex ; midrib articulated, three- 
tubed ; conceptacles nearly spherical, on the midrib ; tetraspores in lines obliquely 
drawn from the midrib to the margin near the apices of the branches. Mont. An. 
Sc. Nat. 2nd ser. vol. xiii. p. 196, t. 5, fig. 1. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 682. Hypo- 
glossum Leprieurii, Kiitz. Sp.Alg. p. 875. (Tab. XXII. C.) 
Hab. In tidal rivers, growing on stones, woodwork, or on phsenogamous water 
plants, &c. Discovered in Xorth America by Prof. Bailey in the Hudson at West 
Point, and found more recently in the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, S. Carolina, and 
in several rivers of Georgia and Florida. Apalachicola, Capt. Pike. (106). (v. v.) 
Frond one to two inches high, from half a line to a line in diameter, many times 
regularly dichotomous, constricted at the forks, and traversed by a slender midrib. 
At the point where the midrib bifurcates, there is generally formed a small rootlet 
or process by which the plant attaches itself when young. Afterwards, when the v. 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
divisions are more erect, these expand into frondlets of similar shape to the original, 
being at first simple, then forked, and at length repeatedly dichotomous. The mid- 
rib is formed of a triple row of cylindrical cells of equal length ; the membrane, of 
hexagonal cells set in lines extending obliquely from the midrib to the margin, and 
gradually of smaller size as they recede from the midrib. The conceptacles are very 
rare, and are formed at the expense of the rootlike process at the furcations. They 
contain within a thin wall strings of conoidal spores borne on a large cellular, basal 
placenta. Tetraspores are more frequently found, and occupy the summits of the 
leaves, where they are set in obliquely ascending lines. Colour a livid purple, 
fading to green. Substance membranous, not very closely adhering to paper in 
drying. 
A very distinct and curious little species of a colour most unusual in this genus, 
recalling forcibly the colour of the Bostrychice, plants found in similar situations. 
I have only seen conceptacles in one or two specimens from Cooper River, but 
tetraspores are common in Westpoint individuals. These latter are more slender 
and much more attenuate at the apices than those from Charleston ; a circumstance 
to be anticipated not merely from the difference of climate, but chiefly from the 
large admixture of fresh water in the stream of the Hudson at sixty miles above 
its mouth. 
Plate XXII. C. Fig. 1. Delesseria Leprieurii, the natural size. Fig. 2, a branch 
to show ramifications and rootlets ; Jig. 3, apex of a branchlet, to show the struc- 
ture ; Jig. 4, portion with a conceptacle formed ; Jig. 5, vertical section of a eoncepta- 
cle \ Jig. 6, spores ; all more or less highly magnified. 
BOTRYOGLOSSUM. Kiitz. 
Frond purplish red, with an opaque, cartilaginous stem expanding upwards into 
an irregularly cleft, coriaceo-membranaceous, areolated lamina, traversed in the 
lower part by an obsolete, vanishing midrib. Conceptacles scattered, sub-hemi- 
spherical, with a prominent orifice ; placenta basal, crowned with a pulvinate tuft 
of moniliform spore-threads, whose terminal cells are earliest ripened. Tetraspores 
tri-partite, grouped in definite spots or sori, occupying portions of the frond or 
lodged in accessory leaflets. 
Under this genus I include Neuroglossum, Kiitz. which merely differs from Botryo- 
glossum of the same author in haying its tetraspores lodged in intra-marginal sori 
instead of in foliaceous marginal processes, a character which I consider of such 
fninor importance that I am not sure that it is even of specific value, much less 
generic. In Delesseria sinuosa, Nitophyllum laceratum, and even in our Botryoglossum 100 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
V. 
platycarpum both positions of tetraspores occur. Indeed I am by no means con- 
vinced that Kiitzing’s Neuroglossum Binderianum is specifically distinct from B. 
platycarpum* 
Kutzing has, as I think unadvisedly, referred Jeannerettia lobata, Hook, and Harv. 
(Ner. Austr. t. 4.) to this place, overlooking the nature of its stichidia, which, in 
my opinion, clearly indicate an affinity with Rhodomelacece. However, as the con- 
ceptacular fruit is as yet unknown, it may be premature to regard the question 
decided. 
1. Botkyoglossumplatycarpum, Kiitz.; sori of tetraspores (generally) lodged in 
small leafy processes, which either fringe'the margin or are dispersed over the 
surface. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 881. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 676. Fucus platycarpus, 
Turn. Hist. t. 144. Delesseriaplatycarpa, Ag. Syst. p. 252. (Tab. XXI. A.) 
Hab. Monterey, California, Mr. Douglas ! Dr. Coulter ! Dr. Sinclair ! Capt. 
Wilkes ! (v. v.) 
Boot a large conical disc, throwing out lateral branches. Fronds twelve inches 
long or more, irregularly di-trichotomous or palmate-parted, divided nearly to the 
base into numerous linear-cuneate laciniae, which are either simple, or again simi- 
larly divided. The lower part of the frond and of its divisions is furnished with a 
very broad, flat midrib, which spreads over the greater part of the disc. This 
midrib is cartilaginous and very thick below, but becomes thinner and less defined 
above, and at length disappears in the upper and wider portions of the cuneate 
laciniaB. In young fronds the margins of the lacinise are either deeply crenate or 
obtusely pinnatifid, the lobes being sometimes deep, sometimes shallow, always 
very obtuse with bluntish or rounded interspaces. In some specimens the lacinia 
is merely repand. In old plants the margin is frequently worn away and much 
jagged, the membrane being reduced to a narrow wing-like border to the broad 
midrib. In fertile specimens the eroded margin produces a multitude of minute, 
leaf-like, roundish or lobed processes half a line to a line in breadth, sometimes 
scattered, but more frequently densely crowded and forming a thick fringe to the 
segment. In these processes are sometimes found tetraspores immersed in thicken- 
ed central discs ; and sometimes conceptacles. The tetrasporic fruit is most com- 
mon. A thin slice of the frond shows several rows of muriform cells, of which the. 
central row is of larger size. The outer row alone contains coloured matter. 
When the membrane is viewed vertically, the surface appears areolated with hexa- 
gonal cells, among which may be traced faint indications of internal, branching 
veins. Colour a dark purplish red, becoming browner in drying. Substance carti- 
laginous and thick. It scarcely adheres to paper in drying. 
The tetraspores are by no means confined to the marginal leaflets. In some of 
* Since this was prepared for the press, I observe that Professor J. Agardh unhesitatingly unites these plants. Sp. 
2,p. 676. y. 
SPH^EROCOCCOIDEiE. 
101 
Douglas’ and Coulter’s specimens, where the margin is uninjured, they are congre- 
gated in large, dense, linear intra-marginal sori, extending along the sides of the 
laciniae. Toward the apices the sori are linear, branching and anastamosing, as in 
Hymenena; and all three characters of sorus, the simply intermarginal, the branching 
and anastamosing, and that placed in the extramarginal leaflet, may sometimes be 
found on the same root! The existence of such specimens considerably weakens 
the claims of B. Binderianum to specific distinction. 
Plate XXL A. Fig. 1. Botryoglossum platycarpum, the natural size. Fig. 2, 
marginal leaflet, with sorus; jig. 3, a tetraspore ; jig. 4, portion of the areolated 
surface ; jig. 5, section through the frond ; the latter figures magnified. 
IV. HYMENENA. Grev. 
Frond rosy red, expanded, irregularly laciniated, unsymmetrical, membranaceous, 
areolated, without midrib, but everywhere traversed with numerous prominent, 
anastomosing, subparallel nerves. Conceptacles sessile on the nerves, depressed in 
the centre (umbilicate), with an orifice ; walls very thick ; placenta basal, slightly 
prominent, crowned with a depressed tuft of dichotomous spore-threads whose ter- 
minal cells are earliest ripened. Tetraspores tripartite, in long linear sori lodged 
in the spaces between the nerves, or in marginal leaflets. 
This genus, which is perhaps too closely related to the preceding, chiefly differs 
in the absence of midrib, and in the numerous anastomosing nerves which supply 
its place. It is distinguished from Nitophyllum by the form of the conceptacle and 
the thickened substance. The linear disposition of tetraspores occurs in the three 
genera. 
1. Hymenena jissa, Grey. ; frond palmate, the laciniae linear-cuneate, undulate, 
obtuse, erect, very entire at the margin. Harv. Her. Austr. p. 1L8, t. 44. Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 873. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 674. Fucus venosus, Turn. Hist. t. 138. 
Hab. Monterey, California, Capt. Beechey ; Capt. Wilkes, (v. v.) 
Root branching. Fronds six to twelve inches high, palmate, or irregularly 
dichotomous, broadly cuneate in outline. Lacinice linear-oblong, simple or lobed, 
undulate, with an entire margin. Every part of the: frond is traversed by closely 
placed, longitudinal, anastomosing prominent nerves, on which the conceptacles are 
formed, and between which the tetraspores are scattered in long lax sori. The 102 
SPHfEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
V. 
colour when recent is a brilliant purplish lake, reflecting prismatic hues, especially 
when viewed through water. The substance is rather rigid, containing much saline 
matter and mannite. In drying, it does not adhere to paper. 
I do not possess American specimens of this plant, and transfer this description 
from Ner. Austr. p. 118. An outline drawing of Capt. Wilkes’s plant sent to me 
by Prof. Bailey seems to accord well with my Cape of Good Hope specimens, and 
I formerly examined one of Capt. Beechey’s which appeared also similar. 
2. Hymenena fimbriata, Post, and Rupr.; frond palmate or multifid, the segments 
cuneate, deeply lobed, round-topped, traversed by numerous dichotomous nerves 
which coalesce into a broad compound nerve or imperfect midrib toward the base ; 
the margin of fertile specimens fimbriate with small, roundish leaflets. Post, and 
Rupr. Illustr. p. 15, t. 38. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 873. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 674. Hy- 
menena Jissa, ft. marginata, Harv. in Rot. Beech. Voy.p. 407- 
Hab. St. Francisco, Dr. Sinclair. Golden Gate, Capt. Pike (21). Norfolk Bay, 
Postells and Ruprecht. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Frond 12—14 inches long, with a linear-cuneate stipe three to four inches long, 
nearly filled in its lower part with a broad cartilaginous midrib. As the frond 
gradually widens upwards, the midrib branches into numerous strongly elevated 
nerves which divide more and more, distributing themselves among the lacinise of 
the palmate or multifid membrane. Each segment is broadly linear, half an inch 
to an inch wide, cuneate, rounded at the top, two thirds or more of its surface 
occupied by the dichotomously branched, longitudinal nerves, which in some spe- 
cimens are very strongly elevated, with deep furrows between them, in others less 
evident and even somewhat obliterated. The margin in young specimens is flat and 
smooth, in older ones fimbriate with minute roundish processes, which bear the 
fructification. Tetraspores in the thickened marginal lobes, precisely as in Botryo- 
glossum. Structure, of several rows of quadrate, muriform cells. Colour a dark 
purple-lake. Substance rigid. It does not adhere to paper. 
This plant has so much in common with Botryoglossum platycarpum, that it is 
hardly natural to place them in different genera. 
Y. NITOPHYLLUM. Grev. 
Frond rosy-red or purplish, expanded, irregularly laciniated, unsyminetrical, 
delicately membranaceous, are'olated, without midrib, either altogether destitute of 
nerves or having towards the base a few irregular, branching, vanishing nerves. 
Conceptacles sessile, scattered, globose, without orifice j placenta basal, crowned with V. 
SPH.EROCOCCOIDEflS. 
103 
a pulvinate tuft of simple or dichotomous spore-threads whose terminal cells are 
earliest ripened : spores elliptical or roundish. Tetraspores tripartite, grouped in 
definite spots or sori, variously dispersed over the frond. 
This genus is nearly related to Delesseria, from which it is only to be distinguished 
by its unsymmetrical frond destitute of a single percurrent midrib. This character 
will generally be found sutficient readily to distinguish these groups, but some 
species of the southern hemisphere exhibit intermediate stages ; as Delesseria dicho- 
toma and Nitophyllum multinerve which sometimes approach each other inconveniently 
near. 
A considerable number of species have been described, which Kiitzing divides 
into three genera, Aglaiophyllum, Schizoglossum, and Cryptopleura, distinguished by 
some differences in the structure of the frond. Aglaiophyllum is limited to those 
species which are altogether nerveless, and have a membrane composed of a single 
stratum of large cellules: Cryptopleura to those in which nerves are more or less 
obvious, with a similarly constructed membrane : and Schizoglossum to such nerve- 
less species as have a membrane composed of more than one stratum of cellules. 
I do not adopt these genera, because I find the characters untenable. The more or 
less nervated frond varies even in the same species ; Schizoglossum Gmelini, Kiitz. for 
instance, which ought, by generic character, to be nerveless, is frequently abun- 
dantly supplied with nerves, much more abundantly than Cryptopleura Bonnemai- 
soni and C. Crozieri. The character founded on compound structure is equally 
nugatory, for Cryptopleura lacerata, which is, moreover, the type of the genus so 
called, has a frond constructed of more than one row of cellules, contrary to the 
generic character. There is, indeed, a most close affinity in structure between S. 
Gmelini and C. lacerata, and they cannot be separated generically without violence. 
With respect to nomenclature, I prefer retaining the name Nitophyllum, under 
which this genus was first defined, although it may not be constructed on classical 
principles, to adopting the modern, more classical, but less euphonious, and as I 
think unnecessary Aglaiophyllum of my friend Dr. Montagne. The change of long 
established names, except in cases of clear necessity, is very objectionable ; and if 
all names in natural history were to be rejected that are not founded according to 
strictly classical rules, a large number of new synonyms would soon be added to the 
copious list already a burden to the science. 
One of the more distinctive features of the marine flora of the Atlantic coast of 
America as compared with that of Europe is, as has been already noticed in our in- 
troduction (Part i, p. 24), then early total absence of species of Nitophyllum, a genus 
which abounds on the European coasts, where many kinds are dispersed from the 
shores of Scotland to those of Spain, and in some places in such profusion that they 
give the chief character to the vegetation, at certain depths. In contrast to this I 
can only as yet claim, for the North American seaboard, a few scraps, almost too 
imperfect for determination. Very different is the case on the shores of South 
America, beyond the tropic, where the genus flourishes in many fine species, as also 104 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEfiE. 
y. 
on the South African continent, and along the southern shores of Australia and 
New Zealand. 
1. Nitophyllum punctatum. Var. ocellatum., Grey.; frond linear, many times 
dichotomous, fastigiate, the axils rounded and apices blunt; sori scattered over the 
lower segments of the frond. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 203, jig. 1. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 
659- Nitophyllum ocellatum, Grev. Alg. Brit.—Grev. Scot. Crypt, t. 347. Aglaio- 
phyllum ocellatum, Mont.—Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 867- 
Hab. At Key West, W. H. H. (39). Smithville, N. Carolina (?), Mr. C. Cong- 
don. (v. v.) 
The Key West specimens are about two inches high, exceedingly thin and filmy, 
divided nearly to the base into repeatedly dichotomous lacinise, which are about a 
quarter inch wide. The margin is flat or slightly undulated. The sori are of 
large size, nearly orbicular, irregularly scattered on the laciniae. Colour a delicate 
rosy red. Substance very soft and flaccid. It adheres most closely to paper in 
drying. 
The specimens examined are very similar to a specimen from Catania, Sicily, 
preserved in Herb. T.C.D. They are smaller and more delicate in substance than 
the ordinary British form of this variety ; but in so variable a species no importance 
attaches to such minor differences. 
Mr. Congdon’s specimens from the mouth of the Wilmington river are very 
imperfect and destitute of fructification, but, so far as I can judge, belong to the 
ordinary form of N. punctatum. It is to be hoped that some southern collector may 
ascertain the fact. 
2. Nitophyllum laceratum, Grev. ; frond sessile or shortly stipitate, dichotomous, 
traversed by numerous slender, branching, and anastomosing nerves ; segments 
linear, variously cleft and lobed, waved at the margin, obtuse ; spots of tetraspores 
oblong, either intra-marginal or borne on distinct leafy processes of the margin. 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 267- J- Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 657. Cryptopleura lacerata, Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 870. Fucus laceratus, Turn. Hist. t. 68. E. Bot. t. 1067- 
Hab. Newfoundland, De la Pylaie, fide/. Aqardh. Golden Gate, California, Cant. 
Pike (47). (v. v.) 
Frond (in the Californian specimens examined) six to eight inches long, cleft 
nearly to the base into numerous linear segments half an inch wide below, 
branched alternately or subpalmatifid above, each ultimate lacinia a quarter inch 
wide, linear oblong, obtuse, erect, the axils rounded. The whole substance of these 
specimens is traversed with slender, branching, immersed veins, very visible when 
the frond is examined with a pocket lens. Tetraspores either in linear, intra-mar- 
ginal, longitudinal sori, or in little, roundish marginal leaflets. Colour a livid V. 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
105 
purple-red. Substance rigidly membranaceous. In drying, it imperfectly adheres 
to paper. 
I he specimen examined accords very well with some of those from the wrest 
coast of Ireland where this species abounds, and where it exhibits many variations 
in breadth and ramification. It is easily recognised from all its congeners except 
N. Gmelini by the position of the sori. We have not perhaps sufficient data yet 
to determine whether Hymenena fimbriata be anything more than an extravagant 
variety of this plant, as I have sometimes supposed. 
VI. CALLIBLEPHARIS. Kiitz. 
Frond flat, cartilagineo-membranaceous, dichotomo-pinnate, often margined with 
wing-like segments or ciliate, formed of two strata of cells ; the medullary cells 
roundish-angular, longitudinal, of large size, in several rows ; the cortical minute, 
coloured, in one or two rows. Conceptacles sessile on the marginal processes, with 
a thick pericarp, containing on an elevated basal placenta a dense tuft of fastigiate, 
moniliform spore-threads forming ellipsoid spores from their upper articulations. 
Tetraspores oblong, zonate, lodged in the peripheric cells of the frond (dispersed), 
or of the marginal processes. 
Separated by Kiitzing from Rhodymenia, on account of the very dissimilar struc- 
ture of the conceptacular nucleus, and the zonate division of the tetraspores. This 
last character distinguishes it from Gracilaria, from which also it differs by a 
peculiar habit. The species are of a very deep and brilliant red while growing, 
but become darker, sometimes almost black, in drying. Their substance is thicker 
than that of most of the membranous plants of the Order. They are natives of the 
Northern and Southern Oceans. 
1. Calliblepharis ciliata, Kiitz. ; root branching ; frond shortly stipitate, thick, 
subcartilaginous, dull-purplish red, lanceolate or forked, irregularly pinnated with 
lanceolate or bifid segments, which are attenuated at the base ; the margin, and 
often the disc, more or less furnished with subulate processes in which the con- 
ceptacles are lodged ; tetraspores collected in cloud-like patches, dispersed over 
the lamina. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 755. J. Ay. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 619- Rhodymenia ciliata, 
Grev. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 127- Fucus ciliatus, Turn. Hist. t. 70, fig. a—e. E. 
Bot. t. 1069- Var. fi. cirrhata ; frond very narrow, dichotomous, the apices cirrhi- 
form, repeatedly forked. 
Hab. Boston Bay, W. H. H. Var.A dredgedin Halifax Harbour, W. H H.{v. v.) 
YOL. IY. ART. 5. 106 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
y. 
My American specimens of this plant are neither numerous nor quite satisfac- 
tory. One from Boston Bay is not unlike some of the smaller forms of the species 
as known in Europe. It is about four inches long, partly dichotomous, partly 
pinnated with lateral, simple lacinim, the margin closely fringed with slender, sub- 
filiform, simple or slightly branched processes from a quarter to half an inch in 
length. The colour is dark red, inclining to purple ; and though it has perhaps 
more the technical characters of C. jubata, its aspect and substance are those of 
C. ciliata. 
The Halifax specimens were dredged in deep water, to which circumstance I 
attribute their peculiarities. They are but two or three inches in height; one of 
them is half an inch wide at the widest part, but the usual breadth is from one to 
two lines or less. The frond is cuneate at base, twice or thrice forked, the apices of 
the last divisions drawn out into filiform points which are repeatedly forked toward 
the summit. The margin is fringed with slender lobes, from one to two lines to 
upwards of an inch in length, in the latter case often dichotomous. Can these be 
Rhodophyllis veprecula, J. Ag.? 
VII. GRACILARIA. Grey. J. Ag. ref. 
Frond either filiform, compressed, or flat, narrow, carnoso-cartilaginous, dichoto- 
mous or irregularly decompound, composed of two strata of cells; the inner 
stratum of large, roundish-angular longitudinal cells, more or less filled with 
granular matter ; the outer of minute, coloured cellules in vertical lines. Concep- 
tacles sessile on the branches, hemispherical or conical, with a thick pericarp at 
length opening by a terminal pore, containing, on an elevated basal placenta, 
densely tufted, dichotomous, fastigiate, moniliform spore-threads radiating to every 
side ; spores evolved in the upper articulations. Tetraspores oblong, cruciate, dis- 
persed among the surface cellules of the branches and ramuli. 
This genus, originally proposed by Dr. Greville in his Algae Britannicoe, has been 
amended by Prof. J. Agardh by the rejection of such species as do not accord with 
the above characters. It is the same as the Plocaria of Endlicher, and, to a great 
extent, as the first section of Kiitzing’s genus Splicerococcus. The name Plocaria 
Candida was given by Nees von Esenbeck to the Ceylon moss of commerce (Gra■ 
cilaria lichenoides?), and has been extended to the Grevillio-Agardhian genus by 
Endlicher on the plea that it had the priority in order of publication. But I agree 
with Professor Agardh in regarding the mutation of an established generic name 
as being in this instance uncalled for, inasmuch as the name Plocaria (which has 
very little the priority over Gracilaria) was given in ignorance of the natural 
affinities of the plant so-called, Nees believing it to be a lichen ; nor is it very v. 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
certain whether the author intended to include in his description one or many 
species. 
The type of this genus is the Fucus confervoides, Lin.; a widely dispersed plant, 
found from the tropics to a high latitude in both hemispheres. G. midtipartita has 
also very considerable geographic range. Many of the species, perhaps all, may 
be reduced by boiling to a tasteless gelatine, which when properly seasoned is 
palatable and considered wholesome. Some of the tropical species, particularly 
G. lichenoides, yield a very tenacious jelly. 
1. Gracilaria cervicornis, J. Ag.; membranaceo-cartilaginous, flattish, pinnately 
decompound; pinnae linear, dentate, the ultimate ones often filiform, teeth very 
acute ; conceptacles hemispherical, apiculate, on the disc of the upper lacinise near 
the margin. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 604. Siphoero coccus cervicornis, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 
775. Rhodymenia cervicornis, Montagne. Voy. Ronite, p. 108. Fucus cervicornis, 
Turn. Hist. t. 121. 
Hab. Gulf of Mexico, J. Agardh. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Frond six or eight inches long, pinnately much branched, the upper branches 
more or less dichotomous. Main rachides flat, one or two lines broad, linear ; 
branches not half that breadth, the upper ones very narrow and subterete. Mar- 
ginal teeth very acute. Colour in the dry state dull brownish, with a purple tinge. 
Substance rigid. 
Of this plant I possess only South American specimens. 
2. Gracilaria multipartita, J. Ag.-, frond compressed or flat, dull purplish-red, 
deeply cleft vertically in an irregularly dichotomous or palmate manner; lacinia3 
linear-wedge-shaped, acute ; conceptacles conical, very prominent, numerous, scat- 
tered. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 600. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 15. Sphcerococcus poly car- 
pus, Grev. Crypt. Scot. t. 352. Fucus granateus, Turn. Hist. t. 215. Yar. ft. angustis- 
sima ; frond exceedingly narrow, almost filiform below, compressed, irregularly 
dichotomous, the apices frequently palmatifid. 
Hab. Pacific Coast, California, Douglas ! Capt. Pike ! Massachussetts Bay, Capt. 
Pike ! Long Island Sound and New York Harbour, Prof. Bailey ! Mr. Hooper ! 
W. H. H, &c. Charleston Harbour, Prof. Gibbes ! W. H. H, &c. ft. at Providence, 
Rhode Island, Prof Bailey ! Mr. S. T. Olney ! Longbranch, New Jersey, Miss 
Morris. Charleston, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Frond six to twelve inches long, extremely variable in breadth and in its rami- 
fication. Stem short, at first sub-filiform, compressed, soon expanding into the 
cuneate base of a flat, multifid frond, somewhat flabelliform in outline, and more 
or less deeply cleft vertically into numerous lacinke, varying in breadth from quar- 108 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
y. 
ter to half an inch or more. These laciniaj are sometimes strap-shaped and nearly 
simple, or having at one side a few lateral lobes ; sometimes they are secondly or 
alternately multifid ; sometimes nearly regularly dichotomous, sometimes palma- 
tifid; and frequently the summits of long, nearly simple lobes are shortly palmate. 
Apices acute, somewhat attenuate, often jagged or irregularly cleft. Axils rounded 
but not very wide. The colour is a dark brownish purple, changing to greenish on 
exposure. The substance is thickish, cartilaginous, and rather brittle. Conceptacles 
prominent, and generally very abundant on the branches of fertile specimens. In 
drying, it adheres to paper. 
Yar. which Prof. Bailey finds growing in vast quantities on a sandy bottom, 
is for the most part so exceedingly slender that it may readily be taken for a distinct 
species, or even confounded with G. confervoides. I have however distinctly traced 
the connection between the narrowest form and the ordinary one, and this through 
an extensive series of specimens collected from various localities. Even among 
Prof. Bailey’s specimens from Providence there is considerable variation in breadth 
and flatness. 
3. Gracilaria compressa, Grev.; frond succulent, brittle, somewhat compressed, 
alternately or subdichotomously branched ; branches long and mostly simple, 
tapering to a fine point ; conceptacles ovate or subglobose, sessile, prominent, 
numerous, scattered. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 593. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 205. Sphcero- 
coccus lichenoides, Grev. Crypt. Scot. t. 341. 
Hab. Gulf of Mexico, at Vera Cruz, Kiitzing, Sp. Alg.p. 774. (v. s. in Herb. 
T.C.D.) 
I have not seen any American specimen of this plant. British ones are 6—12 
inches long, the branches 1—2 lines in diameter, succulent and brittle, of a beautiful 
transparent lake-red. Some varieties of Solieria chordalis have externally a consi- 
derable resemblance to this, but the fructification and the internal structure of the 
frond are widely different. 
4. Gracilaria confervoides, Grev.; frond cartilaginous, cylindrical, filiform, irre- 
gularly (often very slightly) branched ; branches long, subsimple, erect, attenuate ; 
ramuli few, tapering at each end ; conceptacles sessile, scattered, roundish or conical. 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 587. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 65. Fucus confervoides, L. Turn. 
Hist. t. 84. E. Bot. t. 1668. Yar. /3. longissimus, frond very long, nearly simple, 
naked or with a few filiform lateral branches. 
Hab. Key West, Mr. Binney, Dr. Blodgett (46). Apalachicola, Capt. Pike (36). 
Yar. /?. dredged in Charleston Harbour, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
The ordinary specimens of this variable species are six or eight inches long, as V. 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
109 
thick as sparrow’s quill, gradually attenuate upwards, more or less branching, 
sometimes very much branched, irregularly decompound, the branches alternately 
cleft or subdichotomous. The lesser divisions are mostly distichous, either alter- 
nate or secund, and are commonly virgate with a few short lateral ramuli, always 
attenuate to the acute apex. Axils rounded. Conceptacles scattered over all the 
branches, prominent, as large as rape-seed. Colour when growing in deep water 
a dark, dull purple or brownish, much paler in shallow places, and fading on expo- 
sure to a waxy white. Substance rigid, cartilaginous. 
Yar. /3. is often six feet long and quite simple, or -with a few short lateral ramuli. 
Its peculiarities appear to result from its place of growth, and intermediate forms 
connect it with the ordinary much branched varieties. 
5. Gracilaria armata, J. Ag. ; frond robust, cartilaginous, subcompressed, 
divaricately much branched, distichous ; larger branches forked, their divisions 
multilid ; lesser branches and the subulate, curved ramuli generally secund ; axils 
very obtuse ; conceptacles ellipsoidal, depressed, scattered on the larger branches. 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 591. Sphcerococcus armatus, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 774. 
Hab. Key West, Dr. Wurdeman, W. H. H. (49), Dr. Blodgett (58 and 68), 
Prof. Tuomey (15). (v. v.) 
Fronds densely tufted, six to eight inches long, as thick as crow’s quill below, 
attenuated upwards, excessively, but very irregularly branched. All parts of the 
ramification are much divaricated. The main branches either arise several together, 
from nearly the same point of a short, erect stem, or they divide in an irregularly 
dichotomous manner, one arm of the fork being frequently suppressed. In this 
way the branch becomes zig-zag flexuous with secund divisions. The tendency to 
secund ramification is greater in the minor divisions, almost all the smaller upper 
branches being secund and set with several linear-subulate, secund, incurved or 
arching ramuli, the lowermost of which are an inch long, the rest gradually shorter. 
Colour varying from a dark brownish purple to dirty white. Substance cartilagi- 
nous, but softer than in G. confervoldes. Conceptacles scattered over the branches, 
not very prominent, longer than their breadth, obtusely conical, with thick walls. 
In drying, the frond shrinks much, and imperfectly adheres to paper. 
6. Gracilaria divaricata ; frond cartilagineo-membranaceous, succulent, sub- 
terete, collapsing and piano-compressed when dry, divaricately much branched, 
sub distichous ; branches irregularly dichotomous, zig-zag or secund, very patent, 
attenuated to a fine point, copiously furnished with lateral, horizontal, simple or 
forked ramuli, apices all very acute ; fr ? 
Key West, Prof. Tuomey. (No. 13.) (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) spha:rococcoide,e. 
V. 
A single specimen only seen by me. Frond about four inches long, a line or 
rather more in diameter at the base, much attenuated upwards, very much branched 
in a very irregular manner, between dichotomous and secundate, the main divisions 
frequently secund, and then dichotomously multifid. Principal branches and their 
divisions distichous. Famuli irregularly inserted, nearly at right angles with the 
branches, two or three lines long, simple or forked, very acute, the bifid ends 
divaricating. Colour a purplish red, fading to white. Substance much more tender 
than in G. confervoides. Fruit unknown. 
7. Gracilaria Poitei, Lam. ; frond terete, very thick and robust, cartilagineo- 
corneous, dichotomously decompound, fastigiate, densely branched ; branches 
erecto-patent, with rounded angles, dichotomo-multifid or furnished with lateral 
short ramuli, the apices very obtuse, rounded or truncate or sometimes incrassated 
and distorted ; conceptacles obtusely conical, depressed, scattered on the larger 
branches. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 596. Fucus Poitei, Lam. diss. p. 63, t. XXXI. jig. 
2, 3. 
Key West, rare, W. H. H. {48). (v. v.) 
Fronds (in my specimens) about three or four inches high, varying in diameter 
from the thickness of a pigeon’s quill to that of a goose quill, shrinking very much 
in drying, somewhat flabelliform in outline, rising at first with an undivided, 
erect stipe, then forking and afterwards repeatedly irregularly divided; the 
branches opposite, alternate or secund, fastigiate or nearly so, dichotomo-multifid, 
of nearly equal diameter throughout. Axils rounded. Lateral ramuli few, chiefly 
near the ends of the branches. Apices very obtuse, rounded or truncate, sometimes 
much thickened, and occasionally hollowed out into cups twice or thrice as wide as 
the branch. Conceptacles plentiful, obtusely conical, with a wide mouth opening by 
a largish pore. Colour a livid purple, fading to greenish white. Substance carnoso- 
cartilaginous when recent, rather horny when dry. It does not adhere to paper in 
drying. 
My specimens are more robust than those described by Agardh, but as some are 
of much greater diameter than others, I do not attribute much importance to this 
character ; and in most other respects our specimens seem to agree pretty well. 
One of mine is well supplied with conceptacles. 
8. Gracilaria damoecornis, J. Ag. ; “ frond terete, very thick, carnoso-cor- 
neous, decompound-dichotomous, subfastigiate ; branches sub-erect, often incurved, 
below subsecundly, above subdivaricately ramulose; ramuli very patent, acumi- 
nated from a broader base.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 598. 
Hab. On the Atlantic coast of North America, J. Agardh. 
Unknown to me. v. 
SPHiEROCOCCOIDEiE. 
9. Gracilaria caudata, J. Ag. ; “ frond terete, thick, carnoso-corneous, elon- 
gated and laterally ramulose ; branches below dichotomo-ramulose, above prolonged, 
nearly naked, segments acuminate ; conceptacles hemispherical, scattered over the 
whole frond.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 598. 
Hab. Gulf of Mexico, J. Agardh. 
Unknown to me. 
10. Gracilaria? Blodgettii; frond cartilagineo-membranous, irregularly dichoto- 
mous or alternately decompound, filiform, the axils rounded ; branches and ramuli 
very much attenuated at the base, acute ; fructification unknown. 
Hab. Key West, Dr. Blodgett, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Frond five or six inches long, as thick as sparrow’s quill, cylindrical or subcom- 
pressed, not much attenuated upwards, irregularly much branched, the branches 
and their divisions either alternate or secund, here and there forked, but not 
regularly dichotomous. All the branches and their minor divisions and the ramuli, 
which are few and scattered, taper very much to the base and are attenuated to an 
acute point; the lesser ramuli are spindle-shaped. No fruit has been detected. A 
cross section shows a lax medullary stratum, formed of a few very large, dis- 
tended, thin-walled, irregularly polygonal cells, with some smaller but similar 
external cells ; and a periphery of very minute, vertically subseriate, coloured 
cellules. Substance rather rigid when dry. Colour faded in all the specimens yet seen. 
A curious plant of doubtful affinity. The ramuli taper to the base fully as 
much as in a Chondria, but there is no articulated polysiphonous axis. The 
structure is not very different from that of other Gracilarice, and the habit is 
sufficiently like. I have seen no specimens but those received from Dr. Blodgett, 
to whom this species is inscribed. 
YIII. CORALLOPSIS. Grev. 
Frond subterete, succulent, articulato-constricted ; branches proliferous from the 
constriction, composed of two strata of cells ; the inner of very large, oblong cells, 
smaller toward the circumference ; the outer of minute, coloured cellules in a sub- 
simple row. Conceptacles on the primary branches, hemispherical, inflated with a 
thick pericarp at length opening by a pore, containing on an elevated basal placenta 
densely tufted, fastigiate spore-threads radiating to all sides ; spores obovate, formed 
in the upper articulations. Tetraspores unknown. 112 
GELIDIACE2E. 
y. 
Nearly related to Gracilaria, from which it chiefly differs in the constricted coral 
or cactus-like frond. 
1. Corallopsis Salicornia, Grev. ; frond from the base articulato-constricted, 
di-trichotomous, articulations swollen upwards, club-shaped, three or four branches 
springing from the summit of each. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 582. Sphcerococcus Sali- 
cornia, Ag. Ic. Ined. t. 8. 
IIab. Unalaschka, Chamisso. 
Frond 5—6 inches long, articulate throughout; the articulations an inch long, 
very slender at the base, gradually swollen upwards, truncate and slightly hollowed 
at the apex. From the summit of each joint spring three or four similar articula- 
tions, and thus the frond lengthens proliferously. Substance when moistened 
fleshy, when dry cartilaginous. 
This curious plant I only know through the figure and descriptions above quoted. 
Order V. GELIDIACEAB. 
Hypneaceoe, Gelidiece and Solieriece, J. Ag. Sp. Gen. and Ord. Alg arum, pp. viii. ix. 
xi. Part of Cryptonemece and Splicer ococcoidece, J. Ag. Alg. Medit. Endl. 3d. Suppl. 
Harv. Man. Ed. 2. dfc. 
Diagnosis. Purplish or blood-red sea-weeds, with an inarticulate, cartilaginous 
or horny, filiform or flattened frond ; the axis (at least) composed of longitudinal 
confervoid filaments ; the superficial cellules minute. Conceptacles half immersed, 
prominent towards one or both surfaces. Spores attached either to a net-work of 
slender filaments filling the cavity of the conceptacle, or to a fibro-cellular placenta 
which either adheres to one wall of the cavity, or runs through its centre, dividing 
it into two loculi. 
Natural Character. Foot either discoid or branching. Fronds almost always 
tufted, often very densely so, and sometimes forming inextricable matted or pulvi- 
nate masses, mostly filiform, either cylindrical or compressed, rarely flattened and 
somewhat leaf-like, generally much branched. The ramification is commonly pin- 
nate, the frond often many times compounded ; sometimes it is irregularly alternate 
or secund, rarely and very imperfectly somewhat dichotomous ; sometimes the y. 
GELIDIACEJE. 
113 
sub-simple branches are densely clothed with irregularly inserted ramuli. In 
Suhria and Ptilophora the branches are flattened, traversed by a distinct midrib ; 
in the other genera, they are either cylindrical or compressed ; in the latter case 
thickened in the middle, but without a perfect midrib. The structure of the frond 
varies considerably in minor points, chiefly in the greater or less development of 
cylindrical, axial cells. In the typical genus Gelidium the whole structure is very 
dense ; the axis composed of a bundle of very slender cylindrical cells, associated in 
filamentous series, and very strongly soldered together ; the periphery, of minute 
roundish cells formed into vertical filaments ; and the intermediate stratum, of 
seriated cellules having a direction partly longitudinal, but curving outwards 
towards the periphery. The whole frond, therefore, is constructed of confervoid 
filaments strongly glued together. Iu Eucheuma the axial and peripheric strata, 
both well developed, have an arrangement not dissimilar to that of the same regions 
in Gelidium, but the intermediate layer is composed of polygonal cellules forming a 
honey-combed substance. In Solieria the axial stratum is very lax, in the young 
frond made up of a few distantly set anastomosing and interlaced filaments, but 
gradually with age it becomes dense; still it never attains to the closely interwoven 
and firm axis of Eucheuma ; the peripheric layer is very thin, and the intermediate 
stratum of honey-combed cells forms the larger portion of the frond. At length in 
Hypnea we find an axis reduced to a few slender filaments or even to a single fila- 
ment ; a periphery of one or two rows of minute cellules, and a frond almost 
entirely constituted of the honey-combed cells belonging to the intermediate 
stratum. All these varieties of structure appear to constitute a regular series of 
successive degradations ; and though in comparing together Gelidium with Hypnea 
the difference is very great, yet when these genera are looked upon as the extreme 
types of a natural group in one of which the axial, and in the other the inter 
mediate stratum is in excess, I think it will be seen that they are brought together 
through Eucheuma and Solieria, which exhibit axial and intermediate strata in 
various proportions. In external habit, too, and in substance, there is considerable 
resemblance between the Gelidia and the Hypnece. 
If, in like manner, we compare the structure of the pericarp and its contents in 
these genera, I think we shall find a greater similarity than is apparent on a cursory 
view ; taking, as before, Gelidium to express the most developed, and Hypnea the 
least developed type of the Order. In all the genera the spore-threads have few 
articulations, but one or at most two or three spores ripening on each thread. 
The spores are sometimes pyriform, sometimes roundish, slightly drawn out at one 
end, but there is no very marked dissimilarity. The tendency is towards the pro- 
duction of pyriform spores, and is more strongly evidenced in some than in others. 
The great differences are found in the placentation, and these are so marked as to 
have led Professor Agardh to place in three Orders the genera which I propose to 
unite under one. To assimilate the placentation we must bear in mind that the 
placentae originate in this group not at the apex of the mass of axial cellules, or 
of a lateral branch from the axis, as is the case in the Spheerococcoidece, Laurenciacece, 
and Rhodomelacece, but from the sides of the axial filaments themselves, which are 
continued through the cavity of the conceptacle from its base to its apex. In most 
VOL. IV.— ART 5. 114 
gelidiacea:. 
Y. 
genera of the Order this is obviously the case, the conceptacle arising from a 
swelling in the middle of a branchlet which is continued beyond the swollen part. 
In such a case the portion of the substance which constituted the axis of the frond 
below and above the conceptacle becomes the placenta while passing through the 
cavity. In Eucheuma, where the whole branchlet is encysted, this structure is less 
apparent, but the filaments which connect the suspended placenta of that genus 
with the walls of the conceptacle show that the axis does not terminate at the 
placenta, these filaments being continuations of it. In Pterocladia an anomalous 
structure arises from a different cause, namely from the conceptacular cavity being 
formed not at both sides of the axis as in Gelidium, but at one side only. The 
result is, that the portion of the axis that bears spore-threads, instead of passing 
through the centre of the cavity, occupies its inner face as a parietal placenta. 
Taking this view of the placentation, the connection between the conceptacles of 
Gelidium and of Hypnea may be easily understood. In Gelidium, as has been 
already said, the axis is in excess, while in Hypnea it is deficient ; and the placentae 
being a development of the axis, we should expect a corresponding relation in the 
placentation of these genera. And such is the case. In Gelidium a dense, fibro- 
cellular placenta, corresponding with the dense axis, divides the conceptacle 
through the middle of which it runs into two loculi, and bears spore-threads 
on both surfaces. In Hypnea the spore-threads spring from slender, cobweb-like 
filaments running through the cavity. The structure of Solieria is intermediate, 
there being in the conceptacle of that genus a fibrocellular placenta suspended in 
the cavity by filaments connected with the surrounding walls, and bearing spore- 
threads over the whole outward surface. This genus and Eucheuma, which has an 
analogous structure, appear to me to connect Hypnea so far with Gelidium as to 
render it advisable to place them in the same group. And possibly Chcetangium 
also, when carefully compared with Pterocladia, may be found, notwithstanding its 
remarkable characters, to have a close relationship. 
The Gelidiaceae, as here defined, are remarkable for their beauty, the sportive 
forms wfiich many species assume, and the wide geographical range of some. Geli- 
dium cartilagineum has been noticed for the brilliant variety of the colours which it 
puts on under the bleaching action of the sun and air, before it fades altogether ; 
but Hypnea musciformis, Eucheuma isiforme, and several others are equally brilliant 
under similar circumstances. Gelidium corneum, a most variable plant, is found 
throughout most parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, if we except high north- 
ern and southern latitudes. It is however both rare and of small size on the eastern 
coast of North America, though on the Pacific coast it is apparently common and 
attains large dimensions. Solieria chordalis, so abundant on the American shore, is 
of rare occurrence and rather local in Europe. Hypnea musciformis abounds in all 
tropical and subtropical seas. Suhria and Ptilopliora are only known at the Cape of 
Good Hope, and Pterocladia is one of the most abundant and characteristic of New 
Zealand Algae. Caulacanthus, associated with Hypnea by Professor Agardh, is of 
doubtful affinity, its conceptacles being unknown ; and I rather incline, with 
Kiitzing, to place it near Endocladia. V. 
GELIDIACEiE. 
115 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
Suborder 1. Conceptacles divided into two cells by a longitudinal 
axial placenta which bears spores on both surfaces. 
I. Gelidium. Frond compressed, rigid, decompound-pinnate. 
Suborder 2. SouiERiEiE. Conceptacles having a central, fibro-cellular placenta 
connected with the walls by slender filaments, and bearing spores on all sides. 
II. Eucheuma. Frond terete, cartilaginous, horny when dry, shrub-like. Concep- 
tacles ovate, external, sessile on the ramuli. 
III. Solieria. Frond terete, succulent, flaccid. Conceptacles half immersed in the 
substance of the filiform branches. 
Suborder 3. Hypneace2e. Conceptacles traversed by arachnoid filaments, to which 
clusters of spores are attached. 
IY. Hypnea. Frond filiform, much branched ; branches virgate, clothed with 
subulate ramuli, their apices often hooked. 
1. GELIDIUM. Lamour. J. Ag. ref. 
Frond firmly cartilaginous, linear, compressed, decompound-pinnate. Substance 
very compact, composed of three strata ; the axis of densely interwoven, longitu- 
dinal, tenacious filaments, formed of very long, cylindrical cellules ; the intermediate 
stratum of small polygonal cellules set in diverging lines, the periphery of minute 
cellule's arranged in moniliform filaments at right angles with the axis. Conceptacles 
immersed in the ramuli, prominent on both surfaces, two-celled ; the dissepiment 
longitudinal, connected with the walls of the cavity by slender filaments. Spores 
pear-shaped, on slender funiculi, attached to both surfaces of the medial dissepiment. 
Tetraspores cruciate, immersed among the surface cellules, in subdefined sori near 
the ends of the ramuli. 
The frond is distichous, almost always pinnate, rarely subdichotomous with pin- 
nated lesser branches. It is very narrow, compressed or two edged, rarely quite 116 
gelidiacea:. 
V. 
cylindrical, of a firm, tenacious substance and densely compacted structure, and 
Avhen dry is very rigid, almost horny. When growing, the colour is a purplish red 
of greater or less intensity. On exposure to the air or immersion in fresh water 
and subsequent drying, this purple changes through various brilliant tints of red, 
orange and yellow to a waxy or glassy white, retaining a polished surface even 
when completely bleached. Both kinds of fructification are lodged in the smaller 
ramuli or pinnules, at some distance below their extremity. The tetraspores form 
little sori, or cloudy patches, and generally occur in slightly expanded, obtuse 
ramuli, sometimes in the ordinary pinnules and sometimes in minute accessory or 
special processes of the rachis. The conceptacles whose remarkable structure was 
first, I believe, correctly described by Prof. J. Agardh (Advers. p. 42) are very 
curious and beautiful microscopic objects. They are formed in the substance of the 
fertile ramulus, rising towards each of its flat surfaces like little hollow blisters, 
opposite each other, leaving as a dissepiment between them the flattened axial 
stratum of the branchlet ; so that it would be more correct to describe them as 
binate, opposite conceptacles, than as a two-celled conceptacle, which is the appa- 
rent structure. 
1. Gelidium corneum, Lam our.; frond two edged, flat or sub-terete, purplish 
red, two to four times pinnated ; pinnulae narrowed at base, linear, entire, obtuse, 
rarely subacute, those containing the tetraspores club-shaped or obovate, very 
obtuse ; conceptacles below the apex of the ramulus. Harv. Pliyc. Brit. t. 53. J. Ag. 
Sp. Alg. 2, p. 469. Kiitz, Sp. Alg. p. 764. Fucus corneus, Huds.—Turn. Hist, 
t. 257. E. Bot. t. 1970. 
Hab. Pacific and Atlantic Coasts. Russian America, Postells and Ruprecht. 
California, Dr. Coulter, Capt. Pike. Portland, Maine, Capt. Pike (54). Red Hook, 
New York Bay, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Walters, &c. Sullivan’s Island, Charleston, Prof. 
Gibbes, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
A most variable plant. Dr. Coulter’s Californian specimens are three or four 
inches high, broadly ovate in outline, the lower branches being long, the upper 
gradually shorter, very densely set and about three times pinnated ; the pinnae and 
pinnules patent, tapering to the base, very blunt at the apices, either rounded or 
subtruncate. The colour is a dark brownish purple. The specimens from New 
York and Maine are very much smaller, rarely more than an inch and half high, 
scarcely thicker than hog’s bristle, less strongly compressed and more flabelliform 
in outline, the frond and its principal branches being naked below, and pinnated 
only above the middle. The Charleston specimens are very similar, but less decom- 
pound and the ramuli are not so blunt. These latter are in conceptacular fruit, 
the conceptacle lodged about the middle of the pinnules, or occasionally even in 
one of the pinnae toward the base. y. 
GELIDIACEiE. 
2. Gelidium serrulatum, J. Ag. ; “ caulescent, stem two-edged, naked below; 
frond three to four times pinnate ; pinnules dilated from a narrower base, cuneate- 
linear, the younger serrulate at the margin, the fertile subsimple, obovate, serrated 
curled and twisted, containing numerous tetraspores.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 472. 
Hab. Gulf of Mexico. At Guayra, Venezuela, Liebman. 
This is said to resemble a robust state of G. corneum., from which it is readily 
known by the serrulated pinnules. 
3. Gelidium cartilagineum, Grev. ; root much branched ; frond elongate (12—18 
inches) two edged, purple or changeable, decompound-pinnate ; pinnae patent, with 
rounded axils, linear, very entire, somewhat flexuous, twice or thrice compound ; 
pinnules mostly opposite ; tetraspores in the incrassated tips of the ultimate 
pinnules. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 337- J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 473. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 
763. Fucus cartilagineus, Turn. Hist. t. 124. E. Bot. t. 1477. 
Hab. California, D. Douglas ; Dr. Coulter ; Lieut. Wood. (v. v.) 
Boot a mass of much branched, rigid fibres. Fronds in our Californian speci- 
mens about twelve inches long, a line in diameter, compressed, two-edged, becoming 
flatter upwards, three or four times pinnate. Stems naked in the lower half, pin- 
nated above the middle ; primary pinnce elongate, patent, alternate or sub-opposite, 
naked below, pinnate or bi-tri-pinnulate above. All the lesser pinnules issue at 
very obtuse angles, with a distinctly rounded axil; they are either alternate or 
opposite, sometimes quite simple, sometimes decompound. Specimens with tetra- 
spores have generally more sub-divided pinnules, the tetraspores being lodged in 
the thickened, gland-like apices. Substance cartilaginous, horny when dry. When 
growing the colour is very dark brownish purple-red, but on exposure to the air it 
changes through various brilliant tints of red, orange, yellow, and greenish to a 
horny white. It does not adhere to paper in drying. 
4. Gelidium Coulteri; frond very narrow, piano-compressed, sub-naked below, 
decompound-pinnate above ; pinnae close together, distichous, once or twice com- 
pounded, pinnules tapering to the base, acute, the fertile ones spindle-shaped, acute- 
and often aculeate. 
Hab. California, Dr. Coulter, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Densely tufted, three or four inches high, less than half a line in breadth, com- 
pressed or two-edged, bare of branches below, closely pinnate above the middle; 
the pinnae one or two lines apart, of various lengths, the lowest longest and most 
compound, once or twice pinnulated. Pinnulce closely set, distichous, the lower 118 
GELlDIACEiE. 
V. 
ones short, subulate, acute, simple, the upper longer and once or twice compounded 
with similar pinnules. All the pinnules are acute, more or less constricted at their 
insertion, and many of them denticulate at the margin or set with distichous, 
tooth-like ramuli, which probably afterwards lengthen into pinnules. The fertile 
pinnules (containing tetraspores) are incrassated in the middle, spindle-shaped, and 
very generally furnished with marginal spine-like processes. Colour a very dark, 
blackish purple. Substance rigid, horny when dry. It does not adhere to paper. 
In aspect this plant is most like G. spinulosum, J. Ag., but the fertile ramuli are 
very different. 
II. EUCHEUMA. J. Ag. 
Frond terete or piano-compressed, carnoso-cartilaginous, horny when dry, decom- 
pound, usually spiny or tuberculated, solid, composed of three strata ; the medullary 
stratum, of densely interwoven, elongated, anastomosing longitudinal filaments ; 
the intermediate, of several layers of roundish-angular cells, gradually smaller 
outwards ; the cortical, of minute, coloured cellules set in radiating filaments, at 
right angles to the axis. Conceptacles ovate, sessile on the ramuli, furnished with a 
terminal pore, containing within a very thick pericarp a central, fleshy placenta 
suspended within the cavity, and attached by numerous confervoid filaments to the 
walls ; spore-threads simple or branched, issuing from all sides of the placenta, 
three or four roundish, oblong, or sub-pyriform spores formed in each 
thread. Placenta often hollow. Tetraspores immersed in the cortical stratum, 
scattered, zonate. 
This genus is formed, by Prof. J. Agardh, for several tropical or sub-tropical Algaa 
with shrub-like, robust, cartilagineo-corneous, mostly spinous, tuberculated fronds. 
They were formerly placed either in Splicer ococcus, Gracilaria, Hypnea or Gigartina, 
from all which genera, as now understood, they ditfer in structure and fructifica- 
tion. The conceptacles, however, are only known with certainty in our American 
species, and have a structure in some respects connecting the Sphcerococcoidece 
(among which Prof. Agardh now arranges this genus) and the Gelidiacece, as here 
defined. To me the placentation appears so similar to that of Solieria that I am 
unwilling to separate these genera widely; while I admit that the moniliform 
spore-threads show an affinity with Gracilaria. 
1. Euciieuma isiforme, J. Ag.; frond fruticose, very robust, decompound, muck 
branched; branches spreading to all sides, the lesser branches often opposite or V. 
GELIDIACEiE. 
119 
whorled, simple, whorled at short intervals with broadly subulate, acute or obtuse, 
spine-like ramuli. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 627 ? Sphcerococcus isiformis, Ag. Sp. Alg. 
1, y>. 271 ? Kiitz. Sp. p. 777. Hypnea Wurdemanni, Harv. MSS. (Tab. XXIV.) 
Hab. Abundant at Key West, Dr. Wurdeman, Dr. Blodgett, IK. H. H. Bahia 
Honda, Pro/*. Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Pw/fo a foot or more in diameter, globose, composed of many stems branching in 
all directions from a central point. Stems of the larger specimens nearly half an 
inch in diameter at base, soon dividing into several simple branches six or eight 
inches long, as thick as swan’s quills at the base, tapering gradually to the diameter 
of a crow’s quill at the summit, furnished throughout, at distances of two or three 
lines, with lateral, opposite, whorled, or scattered secondary branches which spread 
to all sides. These branches are from four to six inches long and in large speci- 
mens bear another series of similar branches. They, as well as the main stem, are 
nodose or swollen at short intervals, the nodes armed with three or four or more 
verticillate, spreading spines. Spines one to three lines long, from a broadly coni- 
cal base tapering to an acute point ; in old specimens and toward the base of the 
larger branches obtuse, mamillaeform or sub-obliterated. The ends of the branches 
are sometimes incrassated into a subglobose head, which is either simple or lobed 
and plaited like the inflorescence of Celosia cristata. In fertile specimens the 
whorled spine-like ramuli are much less regularly disposed. Conceptacles borne on 
the ramuli, one, two or more on each ramulus, variously placed, often terminal, 
ovate, with a minute pore ; walls very thick, composed of two strata, the inner of 
many rows of polygonal cells, the outer of radiating moniliform filaments : placenta 
central, suspended in the cavity by numerous, confervoid filaments connecting it on 
all sides with the walls of the conceptacle, cellular, often hollow within, bearing 
moniliform, densely crowded, simple or branched spore-threads on every side. Spores 
roundish oblong, the terminal one sub-pyriform. I have not seen tetraspores. 
Colour when recent a dark full red, becoming scarlet, orange and yellow, and at 
length semitransparent and horn-like on exposure. Substance firmly cartilaginous. 
In drying, the frond shrinks very much, and if strongly pressed will adhere, though 
imperfectly, to paper. 
The first specimens of this truly noble plant which I received were collected by 
the late Dr. Wurdeman, and, believing them to belong to an undescribed species, I 
wished to bestow his name upon it. Afterwards, on carefully reading the character 
given by the elder Agardh of his Sphcerococcus isiformis, described from West Indian 
specimens, it appeared to me that it had many points in common with Dr. Wurde- 
rnan’s plant, and I therefore communicated by post a small branch of the latter to 
Professor J. Agardh, requesting him to compare it with that described by his 
father, and to give me his opinion as to their identity. In reply he informs me 
that our Key West plant “ looks like a different, though nearly related species ; the 
S. isiformis Ag. being a far more gelatino-cartilagineous and coarser plant, with a 
somewhat different and transparent tint of red, and all the spines obtuse, even the 
young ones.” This opinion was formed on a small branch such as could be sent in 120 
GELIDIACEiE. 
V. 
a half ounce letter, but I fear the differences indicated do not amount to specific 
characters ; for I find, among some hundred specimens which have passed through 
my hands, great diversity in diameter and in the comparative obtuseness of the 
spines ; and the colour depends very much on the longer or shorter exposure to 
alternate sunlight and rain. Should, however, future observations show that I 
have confounded two species, the present will, I hope, bear the name of Dr. Wurde- 
man, its estimable discoverer at Key West. 
Plate XXIV. Fig. 1. Euciieuma isiforme, the natural size. Fig. 2, part of a 
branch with conceptacles ; Jig. 3, section of a conceptacle ; Jig. 4, spore-threads ; Jig. 
5, semi-section transversely of a branch; Jig. 6, a longitudinal' section through the 
same ; more or less magnified. 
III. SOLIERIA. J. Ag. 
Frond cylindrical, subcartilaginous, succulent, fruticose, composed of three strata ; 
the axis (or medullary stratum) consisting of longitudinal, anastomosing filaments ; 
at first few, afterwards densely interwoven ; the intermediate stratum of several 
rows of roundish cells, of which the inner are large, the outer successively smaller 
and more angular ; the cortical of two or three rows of minute, coloured cellules. 
Conceptacles immersed in the axial region of the branch, but prominent to one side, 
the walls formed of a dense plexus of filaments derived from the axis ; placenta 
fibrocellular, central, suspended in the cavity by slender filaments connected with 
the walls: spores pedicellate, pear-shaped, covering the whole surface of the placenta. 
Tetraspores transversely parted, (zonate) dispersed among the peripheric cellules of 
the branches and ramuli. 
The frond is cylindrical, irregularly branched, of a somewhat tender substance, 
crisp when quite recent, but soon becoming flaccid. When young the axis is ex- 
ceedingly lax, and the branches are almost hollow, the axial region being occupied 
by a watery gelatine, through which a few distant, longitudinal, anastomosing fila- 
ments are dispersed. Toward the base of the frond and in older specimens the 
axis is much more dense, and finally, when the growth is fully matured, it becomes 
a compact plexus filling up the vacant space, and solidifying the branch. The 
intermediate stratum, or the region between the axis and coloured periphery, in like 
manner, becomes more compound with age, the addition of new cells being made 
on the outside; and the cells of the innermost row are always of much greater 
diameter than those of the exterior rows. The periphery does not undergo much 
change. The conceptacles appear externally like obtusely conical tubercles with a 
dark coloured core, scattered profusely over the branches of fertile specimens. A GELIDIACEiE. 
121 
V. 
cross section through one of them shows that they are deeply sunk in the substance 
of the branch, being wholly formed out of a portion of the axial filaments. The 
walls are constructed of filaments, derived from the axis, and very densely inter- 
woven together, and invest the sporiferous nucleus on all sides, enclosing it as 
within a sac. Numerous slender filaments proceed from the inner face of the walls 
to a central placenta, formed likewise of a dense plexus of filaments. The whole 
exterior surface of the placenta is densely clothed with pedicellate, oblong or pear- 
shaped spores, which are either simple, or (perhaps with age) divided transversely 
into two or more, chained sporules. The tetraspores are of small size, and scattered 
without order through the surface cells of the branches and ramuli. 
In external habit and even in the internal structure of the frond there is a very 
close similarity between the species of this genus and of Bhabdonia, so much so, 
indeed, that it is impossible to tell, without examining the conceptacular fruit, to 
which of these genera any individual specimen may belong. The sporiferous 
nucleus is however very different, but I know of no other characters by which to 
distinguish Bhabdonia; and before I became aware that the American specimens now 
to be described were identical with the European Solieria chordalis, I had referred 
them without hesitation to Bhabdonia. The genus Solieria was founded by Prof. J. 
Agardh on an Alga first found at Cadiz, and which had been referred by the elder 
Agardh originally to Sphcerococcus ; then to Delesseria ; and which was afterwards 
associated with Gracilaria by Dr. Greville, and with Gigartina by Dr. Montagne, 
from all which genera, as now reformed, it is needless to say that it is abundantly 
different. In external habit it most resembles Gracilaria (Plocaria), and may even 
be confounded with G. compressa ; and before structure of frond and of nucleus 
were minutely examined it might very well have found a place in the group so 
called. Though originally observed in Europe, it seems to be much more abundant 
along the American shore, where its range extends from Long Island to Florida. 
]. Solieria chordalis, J. A g.; frond alternately decompound; lateral branches 
long, virgate, tapering to the base and apex, and furnished with more or less copious 
linear-fusiform, acuminate ramuli ; conceptacles copious, half immersed in the 
branches. J. Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 157. J• Ag.Sp. Alg. 2, p. 723. Kiitz. Sp. Alg, p. 
748. Delesseria chordalis, Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 189. Gigartina Gaditana, Mont, in 
Webb. Ot Hisp. t. 7. (Tab. XXIII. A.) 
Hab. Abundant in Long Island Sound, from Cape Cod to New York, Prof. 
Bailey, &c. Longbranch, New Jersey, Miss Morris. Charleston Harbour, H. W. 
Ravenel, Esq. and W. H. H. Apalachicola, T. Drummond, Dr. Chapman. Key 
West, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Frond from six to twelve or fourteen inches long, from half a line to nearly two 
lines in diameter, much branched but very variable in the ramification. Commonly 
a subsimple stem is set throughout at short distances with many lateral branches, of 
which the lowest are longest, the rest successively shorter upwards. These branches 
VOL. IV.—ART 5. GELIDIACEiE. 
122 
V. 
are six or eight inches long, undivided, but furnished with copious lateral second- 
ary branches, which are either similarly decompound once or twice or are furnished 
with a few scattered, short, erect or spreading ramuli. Sometimes the division is 
carried on to many sets of alternate branches and ramuli, and then the fronds are 
exceedingly bushy ; sometimes the frond divides near the base into many virgate 
branches having a second series of naked secondaries, two to four inches long. All 
the lesser branches and ramuli are linear-fusiform, tapering to a much contracted 
base and attenuate to a fine point. Conceptacles obtusely conical, half sunk in the 
branches and ramuli, through which, in fertile specimens, they are plentifully scat- 
tered. Tetraspores dispersed. Colour a dark red, becoming blood red on exposure. 
Substance somewhat cartilaginous, but tender, decomposing in fresh water. In dry- 
ing, it shrinks much and closely adheres to paper. 
I have many varieties of this sportive plant from the American shores. At Fort 
Hamilton, New York, Mr. Hooper pointed out to me a squarrose form of a very 
dark colour, more slender than usual, the branches distorted and very irregular and 
the ramuli either patent or recurved: and Capt. Pike and Mr. Calverley have since 
communicated many similar specimens from Red Hook. At first sight this form 
looks very distinct from the deep-water varieties, but the microscopic structure is 
the same, and I hesitate to separate it specifically. The Apalachicola specimens also 
have a slightly different aspect from the common form. 
Before I had seen the fructification of this species I believed it to be a Rhabdonia 
and had distributed it among my friends as R. Baileyi, named in compliment to 
Prof. Bailey, from whom I received the earliest specimens. It so perfectly resem- 
bles in ramification the West Indian R. tenera, J. Ag. that except by the structure of 
the sporif'erous nucleus, which Prof. Agardh has examined in the latter, I do not see 
how they are to be distinguished. 
Plate XXIII. A. Fig. 1. Solieria chordalis, the natural size. Fig. 2, longitudi- 
nal section of a branch, with tetraspores in situ ; jig. 3, tetraspores ; jig. 4, trans- 
verse section through a branch and conceptacle ; jig. 5, small portion of the same, 
to show structure more plainly )jig. 6, spores ; the latter figures more or less highly 
magnijied. 
IY. HYPNEA. Lamour. 
Frond cylindrical, cartilaginous, irregularly much branched and set with awl-shaped 
ramuli. Axis consisting of a few slender, longitudinal filaments or filiform cellules, 
(sometimes wanting) ; intermediate stratum of several rows of oblong, polygonal 
cells, void of endochrome ; periphery of one or two rows of minute, coloured cel- 
lules. Conceptacles hemispherical, without orifice, formed on the ramuli, and con- 
taining numerous roundish clusters of pedicellate spores attached to slender, par- 
tially anastomosing filaments which traverse the cavity. Tetraspores transversely 
parted (zoned), clustered together in swollen ramuli. GELIDIACEiE. 
V. 
123 
The fronds in all the species are much branched, and generally densely tufted, 
sometimes formed into cushion-like or mossy mats, whence the generic name, 
derived from Hypnum, a well known genus of mosses. The branches are frequently 
virgate, clothed throughout with awl-shaped, spreading or divaricated ramuli; but 
there is much difference in ramification between the sterile and fertile fronds of the 
same species, which makes the determination of these plants often a matter of no 
small difficulty. 
In arranging the American species, I gladly adopt the views of Prof. J. Agardh, 
who in his recent admirable work (Sp. Gen. et Ord. Algarum, vol. 2, p. 438-455) 
has revised the genus, casting out Algae which had been erroneously placed in it, 
and establishing the true congeners on a more certain basis. And I may take this 
opportunity of confessing that I have myself been guilty in this matter, having 
formerly associated with Hypnea, Cystoclonium purpurascens, a plant of very opposite 
affinities. 
Section 1. Virgate. Sterile fronds tufted, with virgate branches clothed with 
subulate ramuli, the older ramuli constricted at the base ; tetrasporiferous fronds 
similar, having tetraspores immersed in pod-shaped ramuli; conceptaculiferous 
fronds divaricately much branched. 
1. Hypnea musciformis, Lamour.; fronds tufted, virgately branched; branches 
filiform, in the lower part clothed on all sides with subulate ramuli, incrassated and 
somewhat naked below the apex, which is often strongly hooked inwards ; mature 
ramuli tapering to both ends ; those bearing tetraspores incrassated and pod-like in 
the middle ; those with conceptacles spinescent, divaricately branched. J. Ag Sp. 
Alg. 2, p. 442. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 758. Hypnophycus musciformis, Kiitz. Phyc. t. 60, 
fig. 4. Fucus musciformis, Wulf.—Turn. Hist. 1.127. Esper, t. 93. 
Hab. New Bedford, Massachusetts, Dr. M. B. Roche. Sullivan’s Island, South 
Carolina, Prof. Gibbes, W. H. H. Anastasia Island, Dr. Durhee. Key West, Mr- 
Binney, W. H. H., Dr. Blodgett (17), Prof. Tuomey (19). Pine Islands and Key 
Biscayne, Prof. Tuomey (8, 11, 32). Pacific Coast, at Nootka Sound, Mr. Menzies 
1787. (v. v.) 
Fronds densely tufted, four to eight inches long, as thick as sparrow’s quill below, 
attenuated upwards, irregularly decompound, generally with an evident stem set 
with copious, lateral, virgate branches, the lowest of which are the longest, and 
most of them, as well as many of the secondary branches, incrassated toward the 
apex and strongly hooked or revolute, sometimes circinate. Branches once or twice 
compound, for three-fourths of their length furnished on all sides with very slender 
subulate ramuli, one to three lines long, as thick as hog’s bristle, acute, at length 
constricted at the base, patent, densely or laxly set, gradually fewer toward the 
ends of the branches, where, especially in the incrassated and hooked extremities, 
they are secund along the outer side of the branch. In some specimens these GELIDlACEiE. 
V. 
124 
ramuli are very densely crowded, so that the branches are completely echinate with 
them, in others they are few and far between. Tetraspores zoned, lodged in pod- 
like swellings in the middle of fertile ramuli. The capsuliferous plant (of which I 
have not seen American specimens) has the branches everywhere clothed with 
divaricately branched, spinous ramuli, on which the conceptacles are formed. Colour 
a dark purple, changing to green, or occasionally into a coral red. Substance carti- 
laginous and brittle when recent. In drying, it shrinks and adheres imperfectly to 
paper. 
2. Hypnea (?) crinalis ; stem elongated, subsimple ; branches lateral, closely set, 
virgate, very long, filiform, setaceous, attenuated, straight, having a few scattered, 
subulate, erect ramuli; fructification unknown. Harv. MS. in Herb. T. C. D. 
Hab. California, Dr. Coulter, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Stems ten to twelve inches long or probably more, as thick as hog’s bristle or some- 
what thicker, undivided, filiform, furnished throughout at intervals of two or three 
lines with long, simple, similar branches, 6—8 inches long, about the thickness of 
horsehair, attenuated, naked or having a few, minute, subulate, erect ramuli scattered 
along them. Ramuli generally two or three lines apart, about a line long, erect or 
erecto-patent, sometimes copious, sometimes nearly wanting. Colour a dark brown- 
ish purple. Substance cartilaginous. Fruit unknown. Structure rather different 
from that of the genus, the peripheric stratum being developed into moniliform 
strings of cellules. 
This has the external habit of Hypnea, but till its fructification shall be dis- 
covered must remain among the doubtful species, as its structure is somewhat 
different from the typical. Its cells do not readily expand in water, and muriatic 
acid dissolves the membranes rapidly, so that I have not been able to obtain as clear 
a view of the internal cells as I could wish. 
Section 2. SpiNULiGERiE. Sterile fronds intricately tufted, branches patent, alter- 
nately decompound, and beset with thorn-like ramuli acuminated from a broad, 
conical base ; tetrasporiferous fronds similar, having tetraspores immersed in the 
base or swollen middle of the ramuli. 
3. Hypnea divaricata, Grev. ; intricately tufted, alternately branched ; branches 
not projecting far beyond the tuft, spinulose throughout, less beset toward the 
straight apices ; spines spreading on all sides, the upper ones sub-secund, patent, 
simple or compound, acuminated from a broad base ; tetraspores lodged in the 
tumid bases of the ramuli ; conceptacles three or four together on divaricate, 
branching ramuli.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 448. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 759. (Excl. Syn. 
Turn.) 
Hab. On the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Liebman, fide J. Ag. y. 
GELIDIACEiE. 
125 
I have not seen any American specimens of this plant, which I know only from 
Australian and Mauritian examples. 
4. Hypnea cornuta, J. Ag. ? frond decompound, irregularly much branched ; 
branches widely spreading, both larger and smaller laxly set with scattered, 
spirally inserted, divaricating, broadly subulate, acute ramuli, which are either 
simple or forked, and occasionally fasciculate ; ends of the branches sometimes 
naked, straight.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 2,p. 449. 
Hab. Key West, Prof. Tuomey, (7 and 33a), St. Croix, Miss Mix. 
Frond (in my specimens) three to four inches long, as thick as sparrow’s quill, 
attenuated upwards, very much branched ; the branches alternate or secund, one or 
two lines asunder, short and long irregularly mingled together, widely spreading 
with obtuse axils, decompound three or four times; their apices produced and some- 
what bare of ramuli, straight, simple or dichotomous. Ramuli more or less copious, 
scattered along the larger and smaller branches, very patent or divaricate, half a 
line to a line long, subulate, rising from a broad base, very acute, simple or forked, 
sometimes two or three from the same point. Colour a full dark red. Substance 
cartilaginous. 
I have not seen any authentic specimen of Agardh’s plant to which I refer the 
specimens described. His specific character is as follows:—■“ H. cornuta ; caespitosa 
alterne ramosa, ramis extra csespitem parum porrectis, per totam longitudinem laxe 
spinulosis apice subdenudato-rectiusculis, spinulis quoquoversum egredientibus 
patentibus, aliis simplicibus a basi latiore acuminatis rigidis, aliis stelluheformibus 
vivide rubris, capsuligeris rectis spinulis simplicibus obsitis.” 
5. Hypnea cervicornis, J. Ag.; “ intricately tufted, sub-decumbent, divaricately 
much branched and beset with similarly divaricately branched ramuli ; fertile 
branches projecting beyond the tuft, more densely ramulose, ramuli spreading on 
all sides, very patent, mostly ramellose ; those bearing tetraspores tumid above the 
base, ending in a simple or branching point; those with conceptacles similar.” J. 
Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 2,p. 451. 
Hab. Gulf of Mexico, on the Mexican coast, Liebman,fide J. Agardh. 
Section 3. Pulvinatac. Sterile fronds densely pulvinate, intricately much branched, 
the branches concrete, cohering; fertile emerging beyond the matted tuft, not en- 
tangled together. 
6. Hypnea pannosa, J. Ag. ; sterile fronds pulvinate, intricately much branched, 
branches concrete, the exterior ones conical, acuminate ; fertile ones emerging 126 
SPONGIOCARPEOE. 
y. 
beyond the tuft, naked at the base, pyramidally branched beyond the middle ; 
branches thick, rather obtuse, those bearing tetraspores sub-unilaterally warted at 
the base and pod-like below the apex, containing one or more sori. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 
vol. 2, p. 453. 
Hab. On the Pacific coast of the Mexican Republic, Liebman. 
Order YI. SPONGIOCAEPE/U 
Spongiocarpece, Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 69- Part of Cryptonemiece, J. Ag. Alg. Medit. 
p. 81. Endl. 3d Suppl. p. 36. Harv. Man. Ed. 2, p. 131. Part of Gigartineoe, 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 724. Part of Chondriece, J. Ag. Sp. Gen. and Ord. Alg. vol. 2, 
p. x. 
Diagnosis. Brown-red, cartilaginous, fruticose (cylindrical and branching) sea- 
weeds, almost wholly composed of confervoid, interlaced filaments closely set in 
firm gelatine. Sporiferous nucleoli numerous, globose, many associated together in 
external, wart-like, amorphous excrescences, formed of vertical, confervoid, filaments. 
Spores large, obconical, radiating from a central point of each nucleolus. 
Natural Character. Boot an expanded fleshy disc. Frond cylindrical, firmly 
cartilaginous, shrub-like, dichotomously branched, composed of three sub-distinct 
strata of cells, all disposed in filamentous series. The medullary layer, occupying 
more than half the diameter of the frond, is composed of densely packed, longitu- 
dinal, elongated, cylindrical, branched and anastomosing filaments, from which are 
given off towards all sides the filaments of the intermediate layer. These are com- 
posed of large, elliptical, ovate, or oblong, coloured cells, set in dichotomous fila- 
ments which curve outwards, gradually passing from an erecto-patent to a 
horizontal position. From the ends of these filaments spring those of the cortical 
layer, which are perfectly horizontal, (that is, vertical to the surface of the erect 
branches), very slender, composed of minute oblong cells formed into dichotomous, 
fastigiate series. The ends of these filaments, more deeply coloured, constitute the 
periphery. 
In specimens about to produce spores, the cortical layer grows out in places into 
oblong, irregularly shaped warts which extend along the branches, sometimes for 
the space of half an inch. These warts are of a pale, flesh-colour, and wholly Y. 
SPON GIOC ARPEiE. 
127 
composed of slender, dichotomous filaments, exactly like those of the cortical layer 
from which they spring. Among these filaments, within the wart, are formed 
innumerable globose nuclei or spore-clusters, attached to the filaments; each sur- 
rounded by a broad pellucid limbus and consisting of many obconical spores 
radiating from a minute central placenta. Each spore is enclosed in a gelatinous 
perispore ; and the pellucid limbus which surrounds the nucleus seems to be formed 
by the contact of the numerous gelatinous perispores. It is therefore to be 
regarded as spurious. 
Tetraspores are formed in the upper, slightly swollen branches. They are 
deeply sunk among the peripheric filaments, oblong, and at length cruciately 
parted. 
This Order is founded on a single genus composed of a solitary species, so 
remarkably distinguished by its fructification from all other known genera of 
Algae that it can scarcely be referred without violence to any established group. 
In external habit of the frond, as well as in internal structure, there is a very close 
resemblance between Polyicles and Furcellaria (a genus of Cryptonemiacece), so close 
indeed that these two genera have frequently been united, and even in the last 
work of Professor Kiitzing, an author not remarkable for avoiding generic analysis, 
Polyides rotundus is described as a species of Furcellaria. In the fructification of 
these genera, however, there is so wide a difference that if we are to regard struc- 
ture of the sporiferous nucleus as a surer guide to natural affinities than structure 
of frond, we must place them at nearly opposite ends of the systematic arrange- 
ment. Another and very opposite affinity for Polyides has recently been indicated 
by Professor J. Agardh, who, in his tabular distribution of the Floridese, places it 
among his Chondriece, the proper type of which group is Laurencia. This relation- 
ship is no doubt inferred from the size and form of the spores, which may be com- 
pared with those of Lomentaria rather than with those of any other of the Chondriece ; 
but in the absence of any indication of nearer affinity between these genera, the 
mere form of the spores will hardly be thought sufficient. The appearance and 
structure of the fronds are very dissimilar, and the details of the fructification 
abundantly unlike. In the Chondriece (our Laurenciacece) a single sporiferous 
nucleus is enclosed in a hollow conceptacle, formed out of the end of a truncated 
branch, and of the most perfect type which the conceptacle attains among the Rhodo- 
spermatous Algae. The contained nucleus is attached to a basal placenta, and 
therefore terminates the axis of growth. Such a structure is extremely different 
from what we have above described in Polyides, and though very unwilling to mul- 
tiply Orders, I cannot consent to the ordinal association of genera differing so 
widely in fructification. In my opinion Polyides is more nearly related either to 
the Gelidiacece or Helminthocladiece, though scarcely to be placed among either. In 
the external aspect of the fruit there is much resemblance to Peyssonnelia, but 
much dissimilarity in the nature of the nucleus. So long ago as 1830 Dr. 
Greville proposed Polyides as the type of a separate Order, and I now revert to 
his views. SQUAMARIEiE. 
128 
y. 
I. POLYIDES. Ag. 
This being the only genus, the character is the same as that of the Order. 
1. Polyides rotundas, Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 70, t. 11. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 95. 
Poly ides lumbricalis, Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 392. Spongiocarpus rotundas, Grev. FI. 
Edin. Furcellaria lumbricalis, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 748. Phyc. Gen. t. 72. Fucus 
rotundas, Turn. Hist. t. 5. E. Bot. t. 1738. 
Hab. Boston Bay, Mr. G. B. Emerson, Capt. Pike. Newport, Rhode Island, 
Prof. J. W. Bailey, (v. v.) 
Root a spreading disk. Fronds several from the same base, two or more inches 
high, as thick as crow-quill, rising with an undivided stipe to a third or a fourth of 
the height, then forking, and afterwards repeatedly dichotomous. The axils are 
rounded, the apices somewhat attenuated and sub-acute, of equal length, giving the 
frond a fan-shaped outline when spread on paper. Colour a very dark red brown. 
Substance cartilaginous. It does not adhere to paper in drying. 
Our American specimens are of small size, about two inches high, and are not in 
fruit. In all characters of structure, &c. they are the same as the European. 
Order VII. SQUAMARIEiE. 
Squamarieee, J. Ag. Sp. Gen. and Ord. Alg. 2, p. 485. Part of Spongiocarpece, J. 
Ag. Alg. Medit. Harv. Man. fyc. Part of Clieetophorece and Porphyrece, Kiitz. 
Diagnosis. Lichenoid, encrusting or horizontally expanded red-brown seaweeds, 
rooting by the under surface, composed of vertical filaments closely set in firm 
gelatine. Spores in moniliform strings lodged in external wart-like excrescences 
formed of vertical, confervoid filaments. 
Natural Character. This Order is designed to include several anomalous 
Algae which agree in a common habit, so far as the frond is concerned, but whose v. 
SQUAMARIEiE. 
fructification is yet too imperfectly known to enable us to declare whether the 
connection be one of analogy or of affinity. Of the eight genera placed here by 
Prof. J. Agardh, the sporiferous nucleus is known only in one. It is therefore 
premature to say much of the natural character of the Order. 
The plants here associated are either gelatinous, cartilaginous, coriaceous or mem- 
branaceous expansions, more or less completely attached by their under surfaces to 
the substances on which they grow. Some few are parasitic on other Algae, but the 
greater number adhere to rocks and stones either in the sea or in fresh water streams 
or rivers. The crust is irregularly orbicular, enlarging by successive additions to its 
margin, and in the membranous genera is sometimes furnished with concentric lines 
of growth. In the least developed genus (Actinococcus) the whole frond, scarcely 
more than a line in diameter, is globose, composed of moniliform filaments set in 
transparent gelatine, and radiating from a common base. Of this type two 
parasitic respectively on Cliondrus crispus and Phyllophora Brodicei, and which may 
therefore be expected to occur on the North American coast, have been described. 
Petrocelis and Cruoria form widely expanded, skin-like patches of a firmly cartila- 
ginous substance, and dull purple brown or occasionally olive green colour, on the 
surface of rocks and stones between tide marks in Northern Europe. Like Actino- 
coccus they consist of beautifully beaded strings of cells set in gelatine. Hilden- 
hrandtia forms thinner and more decidedly membranous, red, or brown-red skins, 
sometimes merely films, on stones and pebbles, and differs from the preceding as 
well by the much denser structure of the frond as by having tetraspores lodged in 
minute cavities indicated by dotlike pores scattered over the surface of the crust. 
In its structure and in this fructification there is some affinity with Melobesia, but it 
wants the deposit of carbonate of lime which distinguishes that genus. 
Some or all of the genera just named are probably represented on the North 
American coast, but in the absence of positive evidence of the fact I can do no more 
than request the attention of collectors to them. They are all obscure 
unattractive plants, which may easily escape detection. 
I. PEYSSONNELIA. Dne. 
Frond membranaceous or coriaceous, horizontally expanded and rooting by fibrils 
emitted from the lower surface, composed of two strata of cellules ; the lower 
stratum of horizontally elongated, cylindrical cellules disposed in radiating fila- 
ments cohering laterally into a membrane ; the upper of vertically elongated 
cellules, also arranged in concrete filaments at right angles with those of the lower 
stratum. Fruit of both kinds lodged in superficial warts composed of vertical 
confervoid filaments. Spores roundish, in moniliform strings. Tetraspores oblong, 
cruciate. 
VOL. IY.—ART. 5. 130 
SQUAMARIEiE. 
Y. 
The frond expands horizontally, and is either closely adnate to the substances on 
which it lies and to which it is attached by means of minute, root-like processes, 
forming a thin downiness on the lower surface, or it is attached by its lower half 
only and free at the extremities. It is either orbicular or variously lobed at the 
margin, the lobes fastigiate, circumscribed by a curved line and more or less fan- 
shaped, often lying on one another in an imbricate manner, and marked on the 
upper surface by faint concentric lines of growth. The substance in the smaller 
species is delicately membranaceous, in the larger, thicker and more leathery. 
The structure is entirely composed of cylindrical cellules twice or thrice as long as 
their diameter and firmly set in filaments which closely cohere together and form 
the membranous or coriaceous substance. These filaments are disposed in two 
strata. The lowest are horizontal, radiating from a central point in the orbicular 
fronds, and from the base of the fan-shaped ones ; they form the substratum or 
basis of the membrane, and by their development determine its limits. From the 
upper surface of the membrane so formed spring the obliquely vertical filaments of 
the upper stratum which are closely combined into a crust of greater or less thick- 
ness, their length determining the thickness : and as they arise from the radiating 
filaments of the lower membrane, their terminal cells also form radiating lines on 
the upper surface. 
The fructification is lodged in shapeless, depressed warts irregularly scattered 
over the upper surface, and formed of vertical confervoid filaments resembling 
those of the upper stratum but less closely concrete. These warts sometimes con- 
tain spores, and sometimes tetraspores, on separate plants. The spores are formed 
consecutively, one in each cell of the vertical filaments, and are therefore set in 
moniliform strings, simple or branched according to the nature of the filaments 
composing the wart. A portion of the wart is thus converted into a sporiferous nu- 
cleus, the remainder consisting of barren paranemata which serve the purposes of a 
conceptacle. The tetraspores, in the warts which produce them, are lodged among 
the bases of the paranemata, several in the same wart, but never placed in strings, 
each tetraspore being formed of an arrested and transmuted filament. They are 
pedicellate and at maturity divide into four equal parts placed crosswise. 
The type of this singular genus is the Fucus squamarius of Gmelin ( Turn. Hist, 
t. 244) a native of the Mediterranean, long misunderstood by botanists, and placed 
by the elder Agardh in Zonaria, to which its flabelliform fronds suggested a rela- 
tionship. Its true characters were pointed out nearly about the same time by 
Decaisne and Zanardini, both of whom proposed it as the type of a new genus dis- 
tinguished alike by external habit and by the curious tetrasporic fructification. 
Montagne, more recently, has described the sporiferous nucleus and thus completed 
the generic character. To this original species several have since been added, of 
which the two following are claimed for the North American flora. 
1. Peyssonnelia Dubyi, Crouan ; frond membranaceous, orbicular or lobed, 
attached by the whole of its under surface. Crouan, Ann. Sc. Nat. 1844, p. 368, 
t. 11, B. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 71. J. Ay. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 501. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 691. y. 
HELMINTHOCLADEiE. 
131 
Hab. On corals, &c. at Key West, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Fronds from half an inch to an inch in diameter, delicately membranaceous, 
orbicular or reniform, closely applied by the whole inferior surface to the object 
on which they grow, and to which they are attached by minute rootlets, freely 
emitted from the membrane. Upper surface finely striate, the striae radiating 
from the centre to the circumference, composed of hexagonal, seriated cells. Mar- 
gin circumscribed, flat. Colour toward the centre of the frond dark-red brown, 
paler and redder toward the margin. I have not seen fruit on the American spe- 
cimens, which in other respects closely resemble those from the West of Ireland. 
2. Peyssonnelia imbricata, Kiitz. ; “ depressed, adnate, red-black, coriaceous, 
irregularly sub-orbicular, lobed, imbricated, rugose, the lobes rounded.” Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 694. 
Hab. Newfoundland, Fenormand, fide Kiitzing. 
Order Till. HELMINTHOCLADEiE. 
Helminthocladece, J. Ag. Sp. Gen. and Ord. Alg. 2, p. 410. Part of Cryptonemece, 
J. Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 81. Harv. Man. Ed. 2, p. 131. 
Diagnosis. Gelatinous, or gelatino-membranaceous, rosy or purple (cylindrical) 
sea-weeds, almost wholly composed of confervoid filaments set in loose gelatine. 
Sporiferous-nucleus immersed in the frond, destitute of pericarp, spherical, formed 
of branching spore-threads radiating from a central point, and bearing minute, 
roundish spores. 
Natural Character. Root discoid, little developed. Fronds cylindrical or com- 
pressed, rarely somewhat flattened, dichotomous, pinnate, or shrub-like, sometimes 
very much branched, composed wholly or in great part of slender cylindrical or 
moniliform filaments variously combined together and lying in a transparent gela- 
tine of greater or less consistence. The axis of the frond is in all cases formed of 
a bundle of longitudinal threads, interlaced together and frequently anastomosing, 
generally compactly united by a rather tenacious gelatine, and giving off, on the 
outside of the bundle, numerous horizontal filaments whicli terminate in those of HELMINTHOCLADEiE. 
y. 
132 
the periphery. These latter are generally moniliform, either elongated and free 
one from another, or abbreviated and combined by firm gelatine into a thin mem- 
brane. In the suborder Liagorece they are invested with a secretion of carbonate 
of lime. 
The sporiferous nucleus is not contained within any conceptacle, but freely sus- 
pended among the threads of the peripheric stratum, by which it is surrounded 
and involucrated. It consists of a spherical ball composed of innumerable slender, 
articulated, branching filaments radiating from a common central point, and bear- 
ing small, oval spores on the ends of the branches. Such is the structure in the 
first suborder at least. In Scinaia, however, I think I have seen, under a highly 
magnifying power, a cellular membrane as described by Montagne, but denied by 
Prof. J. Agardh, investing the ball of spore-threads. Tetraspores have only been 
observed in Nemalion, where they are formed in the terminal cellules of the peri- 
pheric filaments. 
The close mutual relationship of the genera here associated will be generally 
admitted ; with perhaps the exception of Scinaia, should the fact of its possessing 
an external membrane to the nucleus be established. However this may be, the 
internal structure of its nucleus bears a near resemblance to that of the typical 
genera. The fructification of the Liagorece is not yet fully known, but the habit 
and nature of the frond are so similar to those of the Gloiocladece that there is nothing 
to invalidate the juxtaposition, at least, of these Algae. Dudresnaia, Crouania, and 
Gloiosiphonia, which were formerly arranged among Gloiocladece, differ essentially 
in the structure of the sporiferous nucleus, and are now properly placed by Prof. 
Agardh, the two former in Ceramiacece, the latter in Cryptonemiacece. In those 
Orders they represent, by analogy, the present group. 
The geographical distribution of these plants is extensive. Of the five genera 
yet known four are North American ; two of these, Helminthora and Nemalion, being 
also European ; Liagora common to all tropical and sub-tropical regions ; and 
Scinaia dispersed north and south of the equator through the Atlantic and Pacific 
basins. Helminthocladia has, as yet, only been found in Europe. None are applied 
in the arts. 
SYNOPSIS OP THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
Sub-order 1. Gloiocladeae. Periphery formed of moniliform filaments lying 
in rather loose, transparent gelatine. 
I. Helminthora. Axis laxly cellular within (the interior filaments much dis- 
tended). Frond decompoundly much-branched. 
II. Nemalion. Axis cord-like, composed of closely interlaced, very slender filaments. 
Frond sparingly dichotomous. y. 
HELMINTHOCLADEiE. 
133 
Sub-order 2. Periphery membranous, very thin, composed of angular 
cellules. 
III. SciNAIA. 
Sub-order 3. Liagoreje. Periphery formed of moniliform filaments, lying in gela- 
tine and more or less invested with a deposit of carbonate of lime. 
IY. Liagora. 
I. HELMINTHORA. J.Ag. 
Frond cylindrical, gelatinous, elastic, much branched, with a filamentous axis 
clothed with a continuous periphery of filaments, invested with a loose jelly ; axis 
composed of concrete, parallel, longitudinal, articulated filaments of which the 
interior are of large diameter compared with the exterior; periphery of dichotomous 
moniliform, fastigiate, horizontal filaments emitted laterally by those of the axis. 
Sporiferous nuclei immersed among the filaments of the periphery, spherical, com- 
posed of numerous clavate spore-threads, radiating from a central point. Tetra- 
spores unknown. 
This genus is proposed by Prof. Agardh for the Dudresnaia divaricata of authors 
whose want of accordance with Dudresnaia and affinity with Nemalion I had already 
indicated in the Phycologia Britannica. From Nemalion it differs in external 
habit, but chiefly by the structure of the axis, which is here composed of parallel 
filaments, concrete together, but not intertwined, and of different diameters, the 
inner ones being distended, and void of endochrome ; the outer, from which those 
of the periphery are derived, of much greater tenuity and furnished with colouring 
matter. 
1. Helmintiiora divaricata, J. Ag.; frond filiform, pale red, very much branched, 
branches opposite or alternate, horizontal, decompound ; ramuli numerous, divari- 
cate, scattered, obtuse. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 2, p. 416. Dudresnaia divaricata, J. 
Ag. Alg. Medit.p. 85. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 110. Nemalion divaricatum, Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 713. 
Hab. Key West, Dr. Blodgett (No. 60). (v. v.) 
Of this plant I have seen but a single American specimen, collected by Dr. 
Blodgett. It is about three inches long, rather thicker (in the dry state) than hog’s 
bristle, with an undivided stem furnished with several lateral, horizontal branches 134 
HELMINTHOCLADEiE. 
V. 
which are three or four times compounded, the divisions irregularly alternate, and 
spreading at right angles. The ramuli scattered, cylindrical and obtuse. Peripheric 
filaments irregularly branched, moniliform. Nuclei abundant. 
Possibly this may be distinct from the European plant. The axial and peripheric 
filaments are rather more robust than in British specimens with which I have com- 
pared Dr. Blodgett’s, but in other respects, internal and external, the two plants 
nearly coincide. The structure of the nuclei offers nothing peculiar. 
1. NEMALION. Duty. 
Frond cylindrical, gelatinous, elastic, dichotomous, with a cord-like axis clothed 
with a continuous periphery of filaments invested in gelatine ; the axis composed 
of elongate, simple, longitudinal, interlaced filaments forming a medullary column, 
and surrounded by anastomosing threads from which issue the horizontal, dichoto- 
mous, fastigiate, moniliform filaments of the periphery. Sporiferous-nuclei immersed 
among the filaments of the periphery, spherical, composed of numerous clavate 
spore-threads radiating from a central point. Tetraspores “ formed in the terminal 
cells of the peripheric filaments, triangularly divided, with prominent sporules.” (J. 
Ag.) 
The fronds are worm-like, either nearly simple or dichotomously branched, of a 
dull purple colour, and a highly elastic, gelatino-cartilaginous substance, shrinking 
very much in drying. A cross-section shows a very densely compacted medullary 
cord or axis composed of interwoven, twisted, slender, longitudinal filaments, 
giving off obliquely to all sides horizontal, dichotomously-divided branches which 
form the periphery. The evolution of the frond is thus described by Prof. J. 
Agardh:—“ The different strata of the frond seem to me to be formed in an oppo- 
site direction. First, unless I am deceived, the peripheric stratum begins to be 
developed, from the base upward, by progressive evolution ; some of the branches 
emitted by the peripheric filaments constitute the peripheric stratum, but others 
are erected, with a direction more vertical, giving off on their outer side new peri- 
pheric filaments, and on their inward side longitudinal filaments. These latter, at 
first, by an oblique course are directed towards the centre of the axis ; then they 
take a downward direction, by a longitudinal course. In some respects, therefore, 
the mode of growth of the Endogenous stem is imitated. The filaments proceeding 
downwards are inarticulate and cylindrical; those growing upwards are articulated, 
and more or less contracted at the dissepiments. So that one may describe the 
stratification as threefold ; a medullary stratum formed of longitudinal, simple fila- 
ments, an intermediate of obliquely horizontal, anastomosing filaments and a peri- 
pheric of horizontal, dichotomous, fastigiate filaments.” y. 
HELMINTH OCLADEiE. 
1. Nemalion multifidum, J. Ag.; frond dichotomous, with rounded axils. J. Ag. 
Sp. Alg. vol. 2, p. 419. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 36. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 712. (Tab. 
XXIX. C.) 
Hab. Bangor, Maine, Mr. Hooper. Newport, Prof. Bailey. Narragansett Pier5 
Mr. Olney. Providence, Mr. Girard, Mr. Thurber. Portland, Capt. Pike. Little 
Compton, Mr. Geo. Hunt. (v. v.) 
Fronds six to ten inches long, as thick as crow’s quills or thicker, worm-like, 
distantly forked, either regularly dichotomous or sub-palmate, the lesser branches 
frequently terminating in four or five finger-like lobes. Axils rounded. Apices 
very obtuse. Substance very elastic, firm. In drying, it shrinks very much, and 
closely adheres to paper. It is of a dull brownish purple colour. 
Plate XXIX. C. Fig. 1. Nemalion multifidum, the natural size. Fig. 2, cross 
section of the frond ; fig. 3, peripheric filaments ; fig. 4, nucleus separated ; the 
latter figures magnified. 
2. Nemalion virens, J. Ag. ; “ frond compressed, gelatinous, horny when dry, 
short, repeatedly forked, by degrees attenuated.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 2,p. 420. 
Hab. Pacific coasts of the Mexican Republic, Liebman. 
“ Frond as thick as a pigeon’s quill, three inches long, below whitish with a yel- 
lowish tinge, green above ; when dry cartilaginous.” 
III. SCINAIA. Bivona. 
( Ginannia, Montagne.) 
Frond terete or compressed, dichotomous, gelatinoso-membranaceous, filled with 
fluid gelatine, traversed by a fibrous axis from which slender, dichotomous, hori- 
zontal filaments radiate towards the membranous periphery which is formed of a 
thin layer of roundish-angular cells. Sporiferous nuclei suspended within the mem- 
branous walls of the frond, spherical, (invested with a very thin membranous peri- 
carp ?) composed of innumerable, branching, fastigiate, articulated spore-threads 
radiating from a central point, and bearing pyriform spores. Tetraspores unknown. 
The frond in the typical species is rosy red, dichotomously branched and fasti- 136 
HELMINTHOCLADEiE. 
V. 
giate, always regular in its ramification, but very variable in size and in substance. 
The widest specimens are always the most delicately membranaceous and gelatinous, 
the narrower ones being much firmer and of darker colour. The branches are 
bag-like, and filled with a half slimy, half watery gelatine, which may be squeezed 
from them, and which, being exuded in drying, causes the filmy remains of the 
plant to adhere very strongly to paper. The axis is composed of a densely inter- 
woven rope-like bundle of very slender, longitudinal filaments, and is much more 
strongly developed in some specimens than in others ; sometimes being reduced to 
a few threads, sometimes of considerable diameter, appearing in the dried plant 
like a strong midrib. A considerable space, filled with gelatine, intervenes between 
this axis and the membranous periphery, which is, however, organically connected 
with the axis throughout by innumerable obliquely-horizontal dichotomous filaments, 
or branches issuing from the axial threads, and terminating in the periphery. 
These constitute the intermediate stratum of the frond. The periphery is composed 
of one or two rows of roundish, coloured cellules, as it were the apices of the 
excurrent filaments of the axis, united together into a membrane. 
The sporiferous nuclei, which are almost always to be found, are abundantly pro- 
duced in all parts of the frond. They are suspended immediately within the 
membranous walls, or among the upper dichotomies of the excurrent, horizontal 
filaments. Professor Agardh describes them as naked, and as such I formerly 
figured them in Phycologia Britannica ; but a recent examination, carefully made 
with a high magnifying power, favours the existence of a thin, membranous peri- 
carp, composed of hexagonal cells, as described by Dr. Montagne. On removing 
some nuclei and pressing them gently between two pieces of glass, I repeatedly 
have seen a thin torn membrane among the dispersed sporethreads, and which most 
probably invested the ball. I have not, however, been able, by any other means, 
to obtain a view of it. 
I follow Professor Agardh in adopting the name Scinaia, proposed, it would 
appear, so long ago as 1822, though overlooked until recently. I regret being 
obliged to lay aside that of Ginannia, under which the genus has been generally 
adopted, but the stringent laws of priority allow me no choice. 
1. Scinaia furcellata, Bivona ; frond cylindrical, tender, uniformly dichotomous, 
fastigiate, equal or here and there constricted ; apices obtuse. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 
2, p. 422. Ginannia furcellata, Mont.—Harv. Phyc. Brit.t. 69- Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 715. 
Myelomium furcellatum, Kutz. Phyc. Gen. t. 73,/. 1, Viva furcellata, E. Bot.t. 1881. 
Hab. Newport, Rhode Island, Prof. Bailey. Key West, W. II. H. (v. v.) 
Frond two to four inches long or more, cylindrical, varying much in diameter, 
sometimes as thick as a swan’s quill and sometimes not thicker than a sparrow’s 
quill, many times forked, regularly dichotomous, level-topped, the branches when 
displayed having a definite, semicircular outline. Lower dichotomies sub-distant, 
upper successively closer together. Axils and apices blunt. Substance more or less v. 
HELMIN THOCL ADEiE. 
gelatinous. Fructification generally present. Colour a fine rosy or lake-red, becom- 
ing darker and browner in drying. 
The largest of my Key West specimens is quarter of an inch in diameter, most 
of the others scarcely the tenth of an inch. 
This species, first noticed on the east coast of England about fifty years ago, has 
been brought from very distant localities. It is found in Europe from the Baltic 
Sea to the shores of Spain, and in the Adriatic ; in Africa at the Cape of Good 
Hope ; in Tasmania and New Zealand ; and on the coasts of Chili and of the Sand- 
wich Islands. 
IY. LIAGORA. Lamour. 
Frond terete or compressed, dichotomous or pinnate, at length coated with a cal- 
careous deposit, with a filamentous axis and continuous stratum of peripheric fila- 
ments ; axis consisting of elongated, branching, interlaced, longitudinal filaments ; 
periphery of horizontal, articulated, moniliform, much branched filaments. Fructifi- 
cation imperfectly known. 
Under this genus are placed several Algce of a gelatinous substance, formed of 
interlacing, longitudinal and horizontal confervoid filaments, and coated at matu- 
rity with a crust of carbonate of lime, organically deposited by the cellules of the 
frond. In consequence of this calcareous coating, Lamouroux placed the genus 
among the Tubularian Zoophytes ; an association which could only be made on 
the most cursory observation of dried specimens. The elder Agardh therefore 
early restored the genus to the Florideous Algae, to which group their colour indi- 
cates an affinity, while the structure of the frond is so very similar to that of Hel- 
minthora or Nemalion, that, even in ignorance of the fructification, we should be 
disposed to place them near those genera. The only other association which needs 
to be spoken of is that proposed by Decaisne, who refers Liagora to his Batracho- 
spermece. Against this arrangement the chief obstacle is that the Batrachospermece 
are fresh water Algae and of the Chlorospermatous division, while Liagorce are 
marine and Rhodospermatous. It is true that some of them turn green in drying, 
but they also at the same time partially decompose, and we know that almost any 
red marine Algae will in decay assume a green tinge. On the other hand Thorea, 
and even some species of Batrachospermum itself, become violet when dry. I have 
not seen fructification, which Prof. J. Agardh describes as “ protruding beyond the 
calcareous crust ; and composed of innumerable club-shaped, naked spore-threads 
radiating from a central point.” 
All the species are natives of the warmer parts of the sea, particularly of coral 
VOL. IV. ART. 5. 138 
HELMINTPIOCLADEiE. 
V. 
reefs and islands. Of the described species four or five occur in the Mediterranean, 
and one extends along the Atlantic coast of Europe as far north as Brest, the 
highest latitude attained by the genus. Probably many remain to be described, 
but require careful attention in a living state for their correct determination, as all 
change considerably, and some can scarcely be recognized in a dried state. Several 
reputed Galaxauroe of the section Microthoe, perhaps all the species of that section, 
appear to me to belong to Liagora, but I have not had good opportunities of exa- 
mining them. 
* Fronds covered with a continuous calcareous deposit. 
1. Liagora valida ; frond robust, repeatedly dichotomous, fastigiate, with rounded 
axils, becoming when dry whitish with red-brown apices, covered with a thin con- 
tinuous, calcareous deposit ; apices obtuse, not attenuated ; filaments of the peri- 
phery repeatedly forked, fastigiate, moniliform, their cells elliptical. (Tab. XXXI. 
A.) 
Hab. Sand Key, Florida, W.H.H. (v. v.) 
Fronds tufted, two to three inches long, half a line in diameter, terete when 
fresh, becoming compressed in drying, repeatedly and nearly regularly dichotomous 
from the base, the axils rounded, the apices obtuse and divaricating, not at all 
attenuate. Calcareous coat thin, but uniformly spread, completely coating the 
peripheric filaments in the lower part of the frond, less dense near the ends of the 
branches, allowing the tips to project beyond it. When dry, the coated portion of 
the frond assumes a chalky whiteness. On removing the lime by acid, the peri- 
pheric stratum resembles that of Helminthora. The peripheric filaments are three 
or four times divided, the articulations of equal diameter throughout, the lower 
ones sub-cylindrical, the upper successively more elliptical and contracted at the 
dissepiments. The colour when recent is a pale pinky red, which is partially 
retained in the microscopic view of the re-moistened plant. 
This may have been previously described as a Galaxaura of the section Microthoe, 
but I am not possessed of materials sufficient to decide the point. 
Plate XXXI. A. Fig. 1. Liagora valida, the natural size. Fig. 2, portion of a 
branch from which the lime has been removed ; jig. 3, axial and peripheric filaments ; 
Jig. 4, a peripheric filament ; jig. 5, apex of the same ; the latter figures more or 
less magnified. 
2. Liagora pinnata; stem sub-simple, closely set throughout with lateral 
branches, which spread toward every side ; branches pinnate, or sub-bipinnate, the 
pinnse frequently opposite, the pinnules irregularly placed, cylindrical, obtuse, 
spreading ; calcareous deposit thin, continuous ; apices reddish-brown when dry ; 
filaments of the periphery not much branched, irregularly dichotomous, fastigiate, 
not beaded, their cells about twice as long as broad, cylindrical. (Tab. XXXI. B.) v. 
HELMINTHOCLADEiE. 
139 
Hab. Sand Key, Florida, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Frond about three inches long, about as thick as sparrow’s quill, with a leading 
stem set at short intervals with branches an inch or two in length, spreading to 
all sides, the lowest short, the middle ones longest, the rest shorter upwards. 
Branches mostly pinnated, sometimes forking or sub-bipinnated, the larger ones 
occasionally more compound, all the divisions very patent. Famuli opposite or 
alternate, cylindrical, obtuse. When dry, the frond, as usual, becomes compressed 
and loses colour ; the older aud more coated parts turn white, the younger change 
to a dark reddish brown; under the microscope exactly a “ pepper and salt,” or 
mottled with specks of white and brown. The peripheric threads are simpler, less 
regularly forked, and more cylindrical than in the preceding species, their cells 
being scarcely constricted at the ends. Colour when growing, a pale pinky red. 
Substance cartilagineo-gelatinous. In drying, it closely adheres to paper. 
Plate XXXI. B. Fig. 1. Liagora pinnata ; the natural size. Fig. 2, part of a 
branch ; jig. 3, peripheric and axial filaments ; jig. 4, a peripheric filament; jig. 5, 
apex of the same ; all more or less magnijied. 
3. Liagora ceranoides, Lamour.; “ frond compressed, canaliculate at one side 
from the base to the apex, dichotomously branched, fastigiate, clothed with a 
continuous crust, apices forked, sub-diverging, the younger ones purplish red.” 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg., ml. 2, p. 426. 
Hab. Vera Cruz, Liebman. 
It must be borne in mind that the above description has been made from dried 
specimens, and the compressed, canaliculate frond may refer only to the dried plant. 
I am not acquainted with this species, which is said to agree with L. viscida in size 
and ramification. 
* * Fronds covered with a powdery calcareous deposit. 
4. Liagora leprosa, J. Ag. ; frond terete, (compressed when dry) repeatedly 
dichotomous, fastigiate, with rounded axils, covered with a pulverulent calcareous 
deposit, whitish when dry, with the ends of the branches greenish ; filaments of 
the periphery fiabelliform in outline, excessively di-trichotomous, moniliform, the 
ultimate cellules very minute. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 427- Kiitz. Sp. Alg., p. 539- 
(Tab. XXXI. C.) 
Hab. Vera Cruz, Liebman. Sand Key, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Frond tufted, one to two inches high, as thick as sparrow’s quill, terete when 
recent, compressed or channelled at one side when dry, repeatedly and very regu- 140 
HELMINTHOCLADEiE. 
V. 
larly dichotomous from about an inch above the base, without lateral branches ; 
the segments fastigiate, sub-corymbose. Axils all very obtuse. Apices blunt, 
rounded or emarginate in the dried specimen. On removing the calcareous matter 
with muriatic acid, the axis is seen to be composed of many very slender, cobwebby, 
hyaline, long-jointed, cylindrical filaments, from which issue laterally toward the 
outside the horizontal peripheric filaments whose apices constitute the continuous 
surface of the frond. These are pedicellate or unbranched for a third of their 
length, then forked, and afterwards excessively di-trichotomous, all the branches 
fastigiate, composed of elliptical or globose cells, strung together like the beads of 
a necklace ; the ultimate cellules exceedingly minute, and appearing dot-like even 
under a high magnifying power. Colour when growing a pale pinky red, soon 
changing on exposure, and fading altogether during the process of drying. The 
dried plant is coated with a powdery, calcareous deposit, and white, except the ends 
of the branches, which become green. The substance is soft, between gelatinous 
and cartilaginous, and the plant rapidly decomposes. In drying, it adheres closely 
to paper. 
I should not have ventured to refer my specimens as above, had I not received a 
specimen of Professor Agardh’s plant from that author himself, and found it to 
agree with my Sand Key specimens in every particular. The differences in our 
descriptions arise from his having seen and examined dried specimens only. 
Plate XXXI. C. Fig. 1, tuft of Liagora leprosa, the natural size. Fig. 2, portion 
of a branch ; jig. 3, axial and peripheric filaments from the same.; jig. 4, part of 
one of the lesser branches of a peripheric filament; fig. 5, apex of a division of 
the same ; the latter figures more or less highly magnified. 
5. Liagora pulverulenta, Ag. ; “frond compressed, sub-canaliculate, terete 
above, dichotomous, with many lateral proliferous branches, covered with a powdery 
crust; the apices divaricate, obtuse ; the younger ones purpurascent.” J. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. vol. 2, p. 427- Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 538. 
Hab. Vera Cruz, Liebman. 
I am not acquainted with this species. y. 
WRANGELIACEJE. 
141 
Order IX. WRANGELIACEJE. 
Wrangeliece, J. Ag. Sp. Gen. Ord. Alg. vol. 2, p. 701. Part of Ceramiacece, J. 
Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 69- Endl. 3d. Suppl. p. 34. Harv. Man. Ed. 2, p. 156. Part 
of Callithamniece, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 664. 
s 
Diagnosis. Rose-red, filiform, articulate or inarticulate sea-weeds, furnished with 
a monosiphonous, articulated axis. Sporiferous-nucleus naked, formed of branching 
spore-threads radiating from a fixed point, or whorled round minute lateral ramuli. 
Spores pear-shaped, formed in the terminal cell of the spore-thread. 
Natural Character. Boot a small disc. Fronds filiform, much branched, 
alternately decompound or decompound-pinnate, the branches either opposite or 
alternate, articulate or inarticulate, the inarticulate species traversed by an arti- 
culated, monosiphonous axis, round which smaller stratified cellules are gradually 
deposited. The younger portions of the frond in the typical genus are always eon- 
fervoid, or composed of a single row of cellules placed end to end in an articulated 
thread. The cell-walls are thick, pellucid, and of a softish substance, soon decom- 
posing in fresh water. The endochrome, when recent, is generally a brilliant rosy 
red or purple-lake tint, which is sometimes partially preserved in drying, but fre- 
quently it becomes browner in drying, and in several species changes to a dark 
brown or even black. This a good deal depends on the state of individual speci- 
mens, as the shade of colour varies in the same species. 
The sporiferous nucleus is not enclosed within any conceptacle, nor is it immersed 
in the frond, but exposed wholly naked, or at most surrounded with involucral 
ramuli, which close over it without contact. It consists of many branching spore- 
threads, either springing in a globose cluster from the end of a shortened branch, 
or whorled round the middle portion of minute, lateral ramuli. These spore- 
threads at maturity bear on the branches solitary, pear-shaped spores, formed by a 
transmutation of the terminal cells. The tetraspores are only known in some 
species of Wrangelia. They, also, are naked, scattered along the monosiphonous, 
confervoid ramuli, each tetraspore being formed of a ramulus shortened to a single 
cell. 
At present this Order consists of two genera, one removed from the Ceramiaceie, 
the other from the Gloiocladeae. In the structure of the frond and in the whole 
external habit, Wrangelia so perfectly resembles a Ceramiaceous plant that some of 
its species have been, at different times, referred either to Griffithsia or to Callitham- 
nion, and so far as structure may indicate affinity there is a near agreement between 
Callithamnion and Wrangelia. But here the relationship ends, for the nature of the WR A NGELI ACEiE. 
142 
y. 
sporiferous nucleus in these genera is widely different. In Callithamnion the nucleus 
is a naked favella or encysted cell filled with a mass of disconnected spores origina- 
ting in the repeated division of the endochrome of the mother cell ; in Wrangelia, 
as already described, it is a tuft of spore-threads bearing pear-shaped pedicellated 
spores. If therefore the structure of the nuclei is to be our guide in arrangement, 
the resemblance of Wrangelia to Callithamnion is one of analogy only, these genera 
representing each other in the series to which they respectively belong. 
Naccaria, which is associated with Wrangelia by Prof. J. Agardh, appears at first 
sight to have little affinity with it, differing especially in the wholly inarticulate 
frond. This character is, however, of minor importance, as is seen in Ceramiacece, 
where some genera are inarticulate ; or even in Wrangelia itself, where the older 
portions of the stem and branches in several species are opaque. A comparison of 
the sporiferous threads of Naccaria with those of Wrangelia will show an agree- 
ment in essential structure ; and the differences in the nuclei are chiefly in the 
arrangement of the parts, the spore-threads of Wrangelia radiating from the end of 
a truncated branch, those of Naccaria being whorled round the ramuli. I think, 
therefore, a true relationship between these genera has been established. 
WRANGELIA. Ag. 
Frond filiform, decompound-pinnate, articulated, one-tubed ; the internodes naked 
or coated with minute cellules, the nodes clothed with opposite or whorled, byssoid, 
articulated ramelli. Sporiferous-nucleus terminal, involucrated, the involucre 
formed of byssoid ramelli, the nucleus composed of a dense tuft of radiating pyri- 
form spores, formed of the terminal cells of the spore-threads. Tetraspores naked, 
sessile on the sides of the ramuli, spherical, triangularly divided. 
In some species the frond is pellucidly articulate throughout, each internode 
formed of a single, cylindrical, thick-walled cell, filled with a brilliant carmine 
endochrome, and separated from the internodes above and below it by a hyaline 
diaphragm. In others the younger parts of the frond alone exhibit this perfectly 
articulated structure ; the older portions being more or less fully coated with a 
stratum of small cellules ; and in some other species the whole of the stem and 
branches are rendered opaque by these accessory cells, and the articulated structure 
of their fronds can only be ascertained by a careful dissection. In all the species 
the ultimate ramelli, which are often of a byssoid tenuity, are single-tubed and 
pellucidly articulate, and they generally spring from each node throughout the 
frond. They are minute, pinnately or dichotomously compounded, mostly whorled, 
but sometimes distichous, and, in that case opposite each other. It frequently V. 
WRANGELIACEiE. 
143 
happens that the ramelli are longer at one side of the stem than at the other, the 
long and short filaments alternating from node to node. 
The sporiferous-nucleus generally terminates a short branch. It is destitute of 
any proper coating or pericarp, but is surrounded and often closely invested by a 
whorl of byssoid ramelli. It consists of a tuft of spore-threads, radiating from the 
apex of the branch, and bearing terminal, pear-shaped spores. The tetraspores are 
scattered along the ramelli, of whose metamorphosed branches they are formed; 
they are spherical or ellipsoidal, sessile, and triangularly divided. 
Of this genus, which was originally founded on our W. penicillata, several species 
are now known, dispersed through the Atlantic and Southern Oceans. Some of 
them have the external habit of Grifjithsia, others of Callithawmon, and others of 
Dasya, genera to which, in their fructification, they have but little affinity. In 
the nature and position of the tetraspores, indeed, there is a close resemblance be- 
tween Wrangelia and Callithamnion ; but the structure of the sporiferous-nucleus 
obliges us to place them widely apart. From Dasya the monosiphonous frond 
affords an easily-seen distinction, independently of fructification. 
1. Wrangelia penicillata, Ag. ; frond ultra-setaceous, decompound-pinnate, dis- 
tichous, the stem and larger branches corticate, opaque, the lesser branches articu- 
late ; ramelli whorled round the nodes, repeatedly dichotomous, of nearly equal 
diameter throughout, obtuse, their articulations contracted at the dissepiments, 
4—8 times as long as broad. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 708. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 664. 
(Tab. XXXIV. B.) 
Hab. Key West, very abundant. W. Id. //., Dr. Blodgett, Prof. Tuomey, &c. 
(V V.) 
A most variable plant in aspect, according to the greater or less development of 
the primary and secondary branches ; but when this is borne in mind, easily recog- 
nisable under all its forms. The branching is uniformly distichous, and decom- 
pound-pinnate. Sometimes it is nearly simply pinnate, with few and distant pinnm; 
sometimes a few alternate long branches, or primary pinnse, are set with minute 
alternate pinnules 2 or 3 lines long ; sometimes the frond is closely and regularly 
thrice or four times pinnated, each branch having an ovate or lanceolate outline 
and fern-like aspect ; and between these extreme forms there are endless varieties. 
In all cases the branches are whorled at every node with very soft, repeatedly 
dichotomous, confervoid filaments, which are very frequently longer at one side of 
the branch than at the other. The articulations of these ramelli are 4 to 6 or 8 
times as long as broad, swollen upwards, the dissepiments much contracted, and 
the terminal cell obtuse. The stem and larger branches are coated with small 
cellules, and thus appear opaque and inarticulate ; in the smaller branches the 
cellular coat is less uniformly spread, and the ultimate or youngest branches are 
pellucidly articulate. The sporiferous nucleus is globose, and usually terminates 
the shorter branches. It is surrounded by an involucre composed of copious 144 
RHODYMENIACEiE. 
V. 
ramelli, which often overtop it, and completely hide it. Antheridia frequently 
occupy the position of tetraspores. They consist of minute spherical tufts of 
dichotomous, radiating filaments attached to the sides of the ramelli. I have not 
found tetraspores on the American specimens. When quite fresh the frond is of a 
beatiful rosy red, and sometimes this is partially preserved in drying ; but more 
commonly, especially if the specimen be suffered slightly to decay, it turns dark 
brown or blackish in the drying process, and stains the paper of the same colour. 
The substance is very flaccid and tender, soon decaying in fresh water. 
I was at first disposed to regard our American plant as distinct from the Euro- 
pean W. penicillata, and had proposed to call it W.filicina, but a careful comparison 
of numerous specimens has shown that the distinctions on which I had relied are 
insufficient. 
Plate XXXIY. B. Fly. 1 and 2, different varieties of Wrangelia penicillata, the 
natural size. Fiy. 3, one of the smaller branches, with its whorled ramuli; fiy. 4, a 
small portion of the stem or of a large branch ; fiy. 5, cross section of the same; fiy. 
6, a fertile branch, with terminal involucre and nucleus ; fiy. 7. nucleus (not quite 
correctly drawn) ; fiy. 8, spores from the same; fiy. 9, vertical view of a whorl of 
ramuli, to shew the excentric position of the branch; the latter figures more or 
less maynified. 
2. Wrangelia plebeia, J. Ag. ; “ fronds corticate, sub-pinnately branched, and 
verticillately ramellose at the nodes, penicillate at the apex ; ramelli repeatedly 
dichotomous, the terminal cells acute, articulations of the ramelli contracted at the 
dissepiments, 4—5 times as long as broad.” J. Ay. Sp. Aly. vol. 2,p. 708. 
Hab. At Yera Cruz, Mexico, Liebman. 
Probably, as Professor Agardh suggests, only a variety of the preceding species. 
Order X. RHODYMENIACEiE. 
Bhodymeniece, J. Ay. Sp. Gen. and Ord. Alyarum, p. 373. Part of Bhodymenia- 
cece, Harv. Man. Ed. 2, p. 120. Part of Sphcerococcoidece and Delesseriacece, Auct. dfc. 
Diagnosis Purplish or blood-red sea-weeds, with an inarticulate, (flat, com- 
pressed or filiform) membranaceous frond, composed chiefly of polygonal cells ; 
the surface cells forming a continuous coating. Nucleus lodged in an external 
conceptacle, simple or formed of several nucleoli. Spores at first associated in moni- Y. 
RHODYMENIACEiE. 
liform, branching strings issuing from a placenta, at length massed together with- 
out order. 
Natural Character. Root mostly a mere disc, sometimes, as in Plocamium, 
branching. Frond membranaceous in substance, very variable in general habit and 
branching. Most commonly the membrane is flat, narrow, or expanding into broad 
dichotomously or irregularly cleft expansions, without trace of midrib or veins. 
In one genus only ( Wormskioldia) nerved leaves, of definite form and delicately 
membranous areolated substance, occur. In Plocamium the frond is linear, often 
very narrow, much branched in a pinnate order, flat or compressed, with or without 
midrib. In Rhabdonia it is terete, the exterior strata composed of the ordinary 
polygonal cells, the axis of closely interwoven cylindrical cells disposed in fila- 
ments. 
The sporiferous nuclei are always lodged in proper conceptacles, external or 
partly immersed, usually hemispherical and destitute of apical pore, sometimes open- 
ing at the apex, or even furnished with a prominent orifice. These conceptacles 
are either marginal or scattered over the surface, or (rarely) formed in proper 
leaf-like processes. Within a densely cellular pericarp, a basal or central placenta 
is often largely developed ; from it issue toward all sides dense tufts of branching 
spore-threads, either united in a single nucleus or divided into several, which are 
sometimes separated by barren filaments running from the placenta to the pericarp. 
The sporiferous threads are moniliform, branched, articulated, each articulation 
containing at an early stage a simple mass of endochrome, but by repeated cell- 
division the contents of each cell is finally converted into a cluster of spores, 
held together by the dilated cell-wall. The clusters thus originated, being con- 
fined within the narrow cavity of the conceptacle, are closely pressed together and 
at length massed into nuclei or nucleoli without obvious order. The spores, also 
by reason of pressure, become irregularly angular or wedge-shaped. The tetra- 
spores are roundish or oblong, and variously parted ; and are either dispersed 
among the surface cells, or collected in definite sori, or lodged in proper leaflets. 
This order has recently been proposed by Professor J. G. Agardh to include a 
few genera which, on account of the very different structure of their conceptacular 
fruit, he has rejected from the Sphcerococcoidece ; a measure rendered necessary by 
the new principles of arrangement developed by that author. These plants, 
however, so closely resemble the genuine Sphcerococcoidece in external habit, and 
even in the internal structure of the stem and leaves, that recourse must some- 
times be had to an accurate microscopic analysis of the contents of the concepta- 
cle, before the student can ascertain the proper place in the system of the plant 
under examination. This is notably the case in the genera Wormshioldia (founded 
on Delesseria sanguinea, Ag.) and Delesseria (D. sinuosa, (f’C.), two genera with 
fronds of precisely similar texture and appearance, but with a fructification of a 
structure so different that we are compelled to place them not only in different 
Orders, but in different Series. If this seems an unnatural distribution, as it cer- 
tainly is contrary to long established prejudice, let it be remembered that there are 
species of Cactus, Stapelia, and Euphorbia equally resembling each other in habit, 
YOL. IV.—ART. 5. 146 
RHODYMENIACEiE. 
y. 
but equally differing in fructification; and that in every natural arrangement 
characters derived from the structure of the fructification are to be preferred to 
all others. 
All the genera of this Order are widely dispersed. Rhodymenia has species in 
the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans, as well as in the temperate and tropical zones. 
Euthora and Rhodophyllis characterise high northern and high southern latitudes. 
One species of Plocamium is cosmopolitan, while the rest, fourteen in number, are 
confined to the southern hemisphere. Rhabdonia, the only remaining genus, has 
tropical and Australian species. 
Among the useful plants the most remarkable is Rhodymenia palmata, the Dulse 
or Dillisk of the Irish {see Introd. Part 1 ,p. 33) ; and among the most beautiful are 
Euthora cristata, WormsJcioldia sanguinea, and the various species of Plocamium,— 
all highly prized by collectors of “ Ocean flowers.” 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
* Frond flat, dichotomous or irregularly laciniate or multifid. 
f Sporiferous nucleus simple, surrounded by a gelatinous integument. 
I. Rhodymenia. Frond stipitate, leaf-like, dichotomous, or palmate. 
ff Sporiferous nucleus compound, formed of several nucleoli more or less confluent. 
II. Euthora. Frond dichotomo-pinnate or laciniate, often very narrow. Tetraspores 
cruciate. 
III. Rhodophyllis. Frond dichotomous, often fringed with marginal lobes. 
Tetraspores zonate, 
** Frond linear, piano-compressed, pectinato-pinnate, the ramuli alternately secund in 
threes or fours. 
IV. Plocamium. Tetraspores zonate, contained in marginal spore-leaves. 
*** Frond terete, alternately decompound. 
V. Rhabdonia. Conceptacles half immersed in the branches. Tetraspores zonate, 
dispersed through the superficial cells. y. 
RHODYMENIACEiE. 
YI. Coedylecladia. Conceptacles external, sessile. Tetraspores cruciate, lodged in 
proper, pod-like ramuli. 
I. RHODYMENIA. Grev. 
Frond flat, membranaceous, dichotomous or palmate, often proliferous from the 
margin or disc, composed of two strata of cells ; the inner cells oblong, the superfi- 
cial minute, in few vertical rows. Conceptacles scattered over the frond, sessile, 
hemispherical, with a cellular pericarp at length opening by a terminal pore ; 
sporiferous filaments very numerous, emitted from a basal placenta, and forming a 
simple nucleus surrounded by a gelatinous pellicle. Tetraspores either collected in 
cloud-like patches, or dispersed over the frond among the superficial cellules, 
roundish, cruciate or tripartite. 
This genus, as originally constituted, included a large number of plants which 
had a resemblance in habit to each other, but which a more accurate examination 
has shown to belong to several widely separated types of structure : hence the 
genera Euthora, Rhodophyllis, Rallymenia, Callophyllis, Calliblepharis, Sarcodia, 
have been formed at its expence. The generic character, as here given, is that 
fixed by Prof. J. G. Agardh. It reduces the species now placed in Rhodymenia to 
about a dozen at the most ; and, small as this number is, they naturally divide into 
two sections or sub-genera, distinguished not less by peculiarities of fructification 
than by minor external characters. In the first section the tetraspores are scattered 
through the surface cellules over the whole frond ; the fronds are of large size, 
purplish or dull-red, sub-simple or irregulariy palmatifid, and the stem is but little 
developed. In the second the tetraspores are confined to definite sori, placed 
immediately below the ends of the lobes ; the fronds are dichotomous, of a bright 
red or rosy, and the stem is always considerable, and sometimes branched. The 
species of this latter section have a habit very similar to that of Phyllophora. 
1. Palmatce: tetraspores scattered in cloudy patches over the whole frond. 
1. Rhodymenia pertusa, J. Ag. ; stipes short, cartilaginous, compressed, expand- 
ing into a broadly lanceolate, sub-undivided, membranaceous, blood-red lamina (one 
to three feet in length) attenuated at the base; conceptacles very numerous, densely 
scattered over the surface of the frond. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 376. Rhodymema 
Wilkesii, Bail, and Harv. in Bot. Expl. Ex. cum leone, ined. Porphyra pertusa, Post, 
and Rup. Alg. Ross. p. 20, t. 36. 
Hab. Straits of St. Juan de Fuca, Capt. Wilkes, (v. s.) Greenland, Wormskiold. 148 
RH 0D YMENI ACEiE. 
V. 
Root scutate. Fronds tufted, rising with a compressed stem, which, at half an 
inch to an inch from the base becomes flattened, cuneate, and gradually widens, 
until it passes into the base of a broadly lanceolate lamina, from one to three feet 
long, and from four to eight or ten inches wide. Lamina much attenuated at the 
base, commonly quite simple, sometimes forked ; the newer portions formed, as in 
Laminaria, between the apex of the cartilaginous stem and the base of the expan- 
sion. Colour pale blood-red, fading into greenish. Conceptacles as large as poppy- 
seed, spherical, extremely numerous, half immersed in the lamina and scattered 
thickly through three-fourths of it, commencing at the apex and extending toward 
the base. 
This fine species was originally published under the erroneous generic name of 
Porphyra ; and as such it escaped the notice of Prof. Bailey and myself when, in 
examining the Algae of Wilkes’ Exploring Expedition, we proposed to give Capt. 
Wilkes’s name to what we rightly considered a Rhodymenia, and believed to be an 
unpublished species. Meantime, Professor Agardh having received specimens of 
the so-called Porphyra pertusa, and at once perceiving that they were referable to 
Rhodymenia, has sanctioned the specific name pertusa in his recently published 
Species Algarum. I am therefore constrained to adopt this name, in preference to 
that which my friend Bailey and I had proposed. It is given by its author in allu- 
sion to certain roundish holes often to be found in the membranes, but which 
appear to me to be casualties, such as occur in very many of the membranous 
Algae, as in Ulva latissima, &c. I have received from Dr. Ruprecht an authentic 
specimen of his plant, and find it identical in species with the specimens brought 
home by Wilkes. These latter are, however, of much greater size and in more 
perfect condition. 
2. Rhodymenia palmata, Grev. ; frond coriaceous or membranaceous, purple, 
broadly wedge-shaped, irregularly cleft, palmate or dichotomous, sometimes repeat- 
edly laciniate ; the margin flat and even, sometimes winged with leaflets ; tetra- 
spores distributed over the whole frond in cloud-like spots. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 217 
and 218. J. Ay. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 376. Splicer ococcus palm atus, Kiitz. Sp. Aly.p. 781. 
Fucus palmatus. Lin.—Turn. Hist. Fuc. t. 115. E. Bot. t. 1306. Dulse or Dillislc, 
vulg. 
Hab. Parasitical on littoral Fuci, Laminarice, etc. Halifax, W. H. H. Boston 
Bay, Dr. Asa Gray, Air. G. B. Emerson, etc. Long Island Sound, Prof. Bailey1 
Air. Hooper, etc. Common, (v. v.) 
Frond 6—12 inches long or more, from one to four or six inches broad, cuneate 
at the base, and generally broadly cuneate in outline, vertically cleft in a sub-pal- 
mate manner ; sometimes quite simple, sometimes cloven nearly to the base into 
innumerable slender ribbons. The margin is generally flat, but is often furnished 
at intervals with simple or forked leaf-like lobes, giving a pinnate character to the 
frond. Apices obtuse. Axils generally acute. Substance firmly membranous or V. 
RHODYMENIACEtE. 
149 
leathery, not adhering to paper except after a long maceration in fresh water. 
Colour a deep brownish purple. 
In some specimens dredged in Halifax Harbour the frond is very much broader 
than its length, but little divided, and having the margin very much waved. The 
substance is thinner than in the common form, which occurs abundantly at Halifax. 
3. Riiodymenia? interrupta, Grev. ; frond membranaceous, irregularly divided, 
sub-dichotomous ; the lacinise divaricated, linear, constricted at short intervals; the 
terminal lobes digitate ; axils and apices rounded. Grev. in Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. 
xiv. p. 423, t. xxvi. Jig. 1. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 382. 
Hab. Arctic Sea, Lieut. W. N. Griffiths, (v. s. in Herb. Cl. Dnae. Griffiths.) 
Base unknown. Frond (broken) eight or ten inches long, irregularly dichoto- 
mous, the terminal lobes digitate or pedate. Lacinice widely spreading or divari- 
cate, about half an inch wide, linear, repeatedly but irregularly constricted at short 
intervals in a nodose manner ; the margin undulate. Axils very obtuse, rounded, 
from half an inch to an inch wide. Apices rounded, somewhat wider than the 
latinise. Nemathecia wart-like, small, clustered, growing from the margin or the 
disc of the lower segments. Substance thin. Colour a dull red, rather brownish 
below. It does not adhere to paper. 
A thin slice shows two or three rows of large, polygonal, empty medullary cells, 
with a thin exterior coating of coloured, minute cells, gradually smaller towards 
the circumference. This structure is different from that of Phyllophora Brodicei; to 
an extravagant form of which variable plant this curious species bears some resem- 
blance. I have to express my thanks to Mrs. Griffiths for allowing me to examine 
the single specimen brought home by her son from the Arctic regions, being that 
from which Dr. Greville’s figure was made, and the only one known to exist at 
present in any Herbarium. 
2. Palmettce: tetraspores aggregated'in distinct sori below the tips of the lacinice. 
4. Riiodymenia Palmetta, Grev. ; stipes cylindrical, sub-simple, expanding into a 
fan-shaped, rose-red frond, more or less deeply cleft dichotomously ; laciniae linear- 
wedge-shaped, with broad rounded interstices and a very entire, flat margin ; apices 
either erose or rounded ; conceptacles marginal or scattered ; tetraspores cruciate, 
forming deep-red sori in the dilated apices. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 134. J. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. 2, p. 378. Splicerococcus Palmetta, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 782. Fucus Palmetta, 
Esper. t. 40. Turn. Hist. t. 73. E. Bot. t. 1120. 
Hab. On shells and stones in deep water and on the stems of Laminarise. Halifax, 
W. H. H. (v. v.) RHODYMENIACEiE. 
150 
y. 
As yet my only authority for claiming American Citizenship for this plant, is a 
single fragment picked up at Halifax. It is about an inch and half high, and three- 
forked at half an inch from the base, the lobes linear, cuneate, dichotomous, spread- 
ing ; the outline fan-shaped ; the ultimate lobes slender. One or two imperfectly 
developed conceptacles are sessile on the ultimate laciniae, about the middle. It is 
to be hoped that some more fortunate collector may obtain satisfactory specimens. 
II. EUTHORA. J. Ag. 
Frond membranaceous, flat, dichotomo-pinnate, composed of two strata of cells ; 
those of the inner stratum, oblong, large ; of the outer, coloured, minute, in few 
rows. Conceptacles marginal, sub-spherical, with a closed cellular pericarp (com- 
posed of concentrical layers of cellules at one point radiating) ; sporiferous filaments 
very numerous, radiating from a central placenta, which is suspended in the cavity 
of the pericarp by sub-simple filaments ; the fertile spore-threads forming roundish 
masses of spores from their upper cells. Tetraspores cruciate, lodged in the 
thickened apices of the frond. 
Separated from Rhodymenia, where it had been placed by Greville, by Professor 
Agardh, on account of the different structure of the conceptacles, a character no 
doubt of grave importance, although difficult to be seen without a careful dissection ; 
and this is difficult to accomplish, owing to the minuteness of the object to be cut 
through. In Rhodymenia the placenta projects from the base of the cell, and 
throws up from its upper surface masses of spore-threads, which finally unite into 
a single globose nucleus ; in Eutliora the placenta is in the centre of the cavity, 
where it is suspended by cord-like filaments drawn from it to the surrounding 
walls, and the spore threads issue from it on twery side. This is the essential dis- 
tinction. Another character is noticed by Prof. Agardh in the structure of 
the walls of the pericarp, which in Eutliora are composed of several sub-concentric 
layers of cells, except at one spot, where the cells are set in lines radiating, like the 
spokes of a wheel, from the nucleus outwards, and indicating probably, as Prof. 
Agardh suggests, the point where the wall first gives way to permit the escape of 
the spores. 
1. Euthoka cristata, J. Ag. ; frond fan-shaped, membranaceous, sub-dichotomous 
or somewhat pinnately-multifid, the segments dilated upwards and repeatedly sub- 
divided ; lesser divisions alternate, linear, laciniate at the ends, and often fimbriate V. 
RHODYMENIACEiE. 
151 
at the margin ; conceptacles spherical, marginal ; tetraspores contained in the 
thickened tips of the lacinice. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 385. Rhodymenia cristata, 
Grev.—Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 307. Callophyllis cristata, Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 747. Fucus 
cristatus, L.— Turn. Hist. t. 23. 
Hab. Arctic coast, Lieut. W. N. Griffiths, R. N. Abundant from Halifax 
(W. H. H.) to Cape Cod, many varieties, Mrs. Asa Gray, Mrs. Mudge, Dr. Durkee, 
&c. (v. V.) 
Frond one to three inches high, distichous, excessively branched, more or less 
fastigiate, flabelliform, the expansion of the branches equal to the length of the 
frond. Branches linear, varying in breadth from the diameter of a hog’s bristle to 
one or two lines or more, sub-dichotomously, palmately, or alternately decompound, 
the divisions successively narrowed. Sometimes the whole frond is sub-dichoto- 
mous and nearly equally narrow ; sometimes decompound-pinnate, and sometimes 
a few broad, pinnatifid laciniaB are bordered by finely-cut ramuli. The frond is not 
perfectly flat, when narrow, but two edged, slightly convex in the centre. Concep ■ 
tacles abundant, spherical, marginal, as large as poppy seed, dark coloured. Tetra- 
spores cruciate, thickly congregated in the thickened and dark coloured tips of the 
laciniae. Colour a beautiful crimson lake, becoming scarlet on steeping in fresh 
watei1’. Substance somewhat cartilaginous. It shrinks in drying, and but imper- 
fectly adheres to paper. 
Most of my Halifax specimens are of the narrow varieties, some so narrow and 
multifid as closely to resemble the smaller and slenderer forms of Plocamium coc- 
cineum. In Boston Bay, where the plant occurs in great profusion and beauty, 
broad and narrow varieties are nearly equally common. The geographic range of 
this species is alluded to in our Introd. p. 23. 
III. RHODOPHYLLIS. Kutz. 
Frond flat, membranaceous, dichotomously cleft, often with marginal lobes, com- 
posed of two strata of cells: cells polygonal, those of the medullary stratum larger, 
longitudinal; of the outer, vertical, in few rows. Conceptacles mostly marginal, 
sub-spherical, with a closed pericarp (composed externally of radiating, internally 
of concentrically arranged cellules); sporiferous filaments very numerous, radiat- 
ing from a basal placenta ; the fertile ones forming roundish masses of spores from 
the uppermost cells. Tetraspores zonate, immersed in the frond or in its marginal 
lobes. 
A small genus typified by Bhodymenia bifida, Grey. (Fucas bifidus, Turn.), and 152 
RHODYMENIACEiE. 
V 
now including four species, three of which are natives of the northern and one of 
the southern hemisphere. It differs from the restricted genus Rhodymenia partly 
by the structure of the nucleus, and partly by the zonate tetraspores. The generic 
name here adopted was proposed in 1847 by Kiitzing, who probably overlooked 
the name Wigghia which I suggested (Phyc. Brit. t. 32) some few months earlier. 
Hoping to find some future opportunity of honouring the memory of Mr. Lilly 
Wigg, I cheerfully acquiesce in the change. 
1. Rhodophyllis Veprecula,J. Ag.; “frond dichotomo-decompound, and pinnated 
at the margin ; pinnae lanceolate or linear, eiliate ; cilia subulate, short or the 
longer ones forked ; conceptacles densely clustered at the base of the cilia, often 
confluent; tetraspores numerous, lodged in the cilia.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 390. 
{excl. Syn. Beechey.) 
LIab. Greenland, Agardh. 
“ Two to three inches high ; the segments sometimes scarcely a line, sometimes 
three or four lines broad, eiliate, the cilia either very short and subulate, or half an 
inch long and once or twice forked. Conceptacles clustered around the base of the 
shorter cilia. Colour rose-red or brownish. It scarcely adheres to paper.” ♦ 
This plant I have not seen. Prof. J. Agardh seems to doubt whether it may not 
more properly be referred to Calliblepharis. His quotation of “ Rhod. ciliata /3. 
microphylla, Bot. Beech. Yoy. p. 164,” is incorrect. 
IY. PLOCAMIUM. Lamour. (reform.) 
Frond sub-cartilagineo-membranaceous, linear, piano-compressed, pinnately decom- 
pound (tbe pinnules alternately secund in pairs, or in threes and fours): composed 
of two strata of cellules ; the inner cellules longitudinal, oblong, the outer poly- 
gonal, coloured, small. Conceptacles sessile or pedicellate, hemispherical, with a 
cellular pericarp finally opening by a pore ; sporiferous filaments very numerous, 
radiating in several tufts (some generally barren) from a basal placenta ; the fertile 
forming masses of spores from their upper cells. Tetraspores lodged in proper 
spore-leaves (stichidia), oblong, zonate. 
A beautiful genus, readily distinguished by tbe very peculiar ramification. The 
frond in all is linear, distichously branched, two-edged or flat, sometimes membran- 
aceous and furnished with a midrib, sometimes thickened and cartilaginous, pin- V. 
RHODYMENIACEiE. 
153 
nately decompound. The pinnules are of two kinds ; the primary or lowest in 
position are generally simple, short, acute, either subulate or cultrate, and are set 
distichously at alternate sides of the branch; the secondary are pinnulate or pec- 
tinato-decompound, and spring singly, or two, three, or four consecutively from 
above the axil of their primary, in the space between its place and that of the next 
primary at the opposite side of the stem. In this way, the ramuli throughout the 
frond are alternately geminate, ternate, quaternate, etc. In one section of the 
genus, peculiar to the southern hemisphere, the ramuli are geminate ; that is, each 
primary subtends but one secondary ramulus ; in the other section, to which our 
P. coccineum belongs, two or more secondaries are ranged above each primary. All 
the species are remarkable for their brilliant colour. 
1. Plocamium coccineum, Lyngb.; frond narrow, cartilaginous, piano-compressed, 
decompound; ramuli alternately ternate or quaternate, the lowest of each series 
subulate, very entire, the upper pectinate on their upper edges ; conceptacles 
marginal, solitary, sessile ; spore-leaves on the inner faces of the pectinate ramuli, 
divaricately branched. Haw. Phyc. Brit. t. 44. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 395. Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg, p. 883. Fucus coccineus, Huds. Turn. Hist. t. 59. E. Bot. t. 1242. 
Hab. San Francisco, California, Dr. Sinclair, Capt. Pike. Boston Bay, Miss 
Hawkshurst. (v. v.) 
Captain Pike’s specimen is about four inches high, a line broad, alternately and 
distantly branched, the stem and branches two-edged, but not much compressed 
below, flatter above. Branches decompound in their upper half. Bamuli generally 
alternately ternate or quaternate, the lowest ramulus subulate, about a line long, 
the two above it elongate, compound in a similar order. Stichidia formed from 
the ultimate ramuli of the upper divisions of the branches, palmate or dichoto- 
mous, the divisions truncate. Colour a dark lake-red. Substance cartilaginous. 
It imperfectly adheres to paper. 
The rarity of Plocamium coccineum on the eastern shores of North America is 
very remarkable, considering that it is common on the Atlantic shores of Europe, 
and throughout a very wide extent of the Southern Ocean. The Californian 
specimen above described is more robust, more cartilaginous, and less compressed 
than any that I possess from other quarters, but offers no peculiarity of ramifica- 
tion by which it can be distinguished. 
Y. RHABDONIA. Haw. 
Frond terete, decompound, somewhat tubular ; tube partially filled with longitu- 
dinal, branching and anastomosing filaments ; the peripheric stratum composed of 
YOL. IV.—ART 5. 154 
RHODYMENIACE.E. 
V. 
polygonal cellules, smaller toward the surface. Conceptacles immersed in the 
branches beneath the peripheric stratum, but prominent to one side, the walls 
formed of a dense plexus of filaments derived from the axis ; placenta fibro-cellular, 
central, suspended in the cavity by slender filaments connected with the walls ; 
spore-threads emitted in tufts from all sides of the central placenta, moniliform, 
forming strings of spores in their articulations. Tetraspores dispersed through the 
superficial stratum of the frond, oblong, zonate. 
I have already remarked under Solieria the very close resemblance, in external 
habit and in the structure of the frond, between the species of that genus and of 
the present one. Indeed, except in the development of the spores,—a character, 
however, which obliges us to refer them to widely distant Orders—the two genera 
are undistinguishable. Rhabdonia was founded on two Australian Algae, very 
similar in aspect to the plant now to be described ; and Prof. Agardh has added 
four others, one of which is a native of the West Indies, and may possibly occur 
at Key West. 
1. Rhabdonia Coulteri, Harv.; frond filiform, setaceous and bare of branches 
below, gradually incrassated upwards, pinnate or sub-bi-pinnate above ; pinnae and 
pinnulae patent, lineari-fusiform, attenuate at the base, obtuse or sub-acute ; concep- 
tacles plentiful, half immersed, hemispherical ; tetraspores of large size, dispersed. 
(Tab. XXIII. B.) Hypnea Coulteri, Harv. in Bot. Expl. Exp. ined. 
Hab. Monterey, California, Dr. Coulter. North West Coast, Capt. Wilkes, (v. s. 
in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Root a large disc, throwing off creeping fibres. Fronds densely tufted, 6—8 
inches high, not thicker than hog’s bristle below, gradually thickened upwards to 
the diameter of a crow’s quill. Stem once or sometimes twice forked within an 
inch or two of the base, afterwards simple, naked for half its length, closely pin- 
nate or occasionally bipinnate in its upper half, the pinnse a line or two apart, very 
patent, 2—3 inches long, the barren ones as thick as sparrow’s quill, the fertile 
ones twice or thrice that thickness. The pinnules when present are in all respects 
similar, but are very irregularly placed, often secund. Conceptacles large, plenti- 
fully lodged in the lesser branches, prominent to one side, as if hemispherical or 
sub-conical. Tetraspores dispersed in the branches. Colour a very dark, brownish 
red. Substance cartilaginous. It shrinks and scarcely adheres to paper in drying. 
Barren plants are setaceous, irregularly divided, and scarcely dilated upwards. 
Tab. XXIII. B. Fig. 1. Rhabdonia Coulteri; the natural size. Fig. 2, longi- 
tudinal section of a branch, showing tetraspores lodged in the surface cells ; jig. 3, 
small portion of the periphery of the same, with two tetraspores ; jig. 4, transverse 
section of a branch, cutting horizontally through a conceptacle ; jig. 5, portion of V. 
R HODYMENI ACEiE, 
the same, showing part of the peripheric stratum, of the fibro-cellular wall and 
placenta, and of the tufts of spore-threads issuing from the latter; more or less 
magnified. 
YI. CORDYLECLADIA. J. Ag. 
Frond filiform, irregularly branched, carnoso-cartiiaginous, formed of two strata 
of cells ; medullary layer of oblong, longitudinal cells, cortical of roundish, 
coloured, sub-seriated, vertical minute cellules. Conceptacles sessile on the branches, 
sub-spherical, furnished with a cellular pericarp at length perforate, containing a 
densely packed globular mass of roundish-angular spores, formed by the evolution 
of much-branched filaments issuing from a basal placenta. Tetraspores immersed 
in the periphery of pod-like ramuli, oblong, cruciately parted. 
The type of this genus is Gracilaria erecta, Grev. (Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 177.) ; 
a little plant, known only on the shores of the British Islands. In the above quoted 
figure, which in other respects is characteristic, the tetraspores are incorrectly re- 
presented as being zonate, instead of cruciate, as I find them to be on a renewed exa- 
mination. The two following species are only doubtfully referred to this genus, 
their fruit being as yet unknown. 
1. Cordylecladia ? Huntii; fronds densely tufted, springing from a common, 
expanded, crust-like disc, livid purple, tereti-compressed, once or twice forked or 
secundly branched ; branches subulate, attenuate, acute ; fruit. . . . ? 
Hab. Narragansett Bay, Mr. Geo. Hunt. (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Common crustaceous base, an inch or more in diameter. Fronds densely tufted, 
2—3 inches high, setaceous below, twice as thick as hog’s bristle above, evidently 
compressed, especially in the upper portion, erect, sub-simple, irregularly divided ; 
sometimes once or twice forked, sometimes with one or two secund lateral branches, 
sometimes both forked and secundly branched. Branches filiform, attenuated, 
acute. Fruit unknown. Colour a livid purplish, fading into white. Substance 
cartilaginous, rather soft, adhering to paper in drying. Medullary stratum com- 
posed of polygonal cells, filled with granules and smaller towards the margin ; 
cortical of minute, coloured sub-seriated cells. 
In the absence of fruit this must remain doubtful. I have as yet seen but a 
single specimen, which I place in this genus from its strong outward resemblance 156 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
V. 
to C. erecta, from which it differs in being evidently compressed, and in the dull 
purple colour. 
2. Cordylecladia ? irregularis ; frond filiform, more or less hollow, setaceous, 
rigid, densely tufted, irregularly branched, somewhat pinnate ; branches few, 
opposite or secund, widely spreading, simple, obtuse. 
Hab. Key West, Prof. Tuomey, (5) Dr. Blodgett, (45) W. H. H. (55) (v. v.) 
Frond in densely matted tufts, rising from fibres ? two to three inches high, as 
thick as hog’s bristle, rigid, mostly hollow in the centre, very irregularly branched. 
Some specimens are pretty regularly pinnate, or sub-bi-pinnate, the pinna? mostly 
opposite ; others (and these are more common) are set with numerous, lateral, 
secund branches, which occasionally bear a second series of secund branchlets ; 
and some fronds have both kinds of branching in different parts. All the branches 
are patent, of unequal lengths. Colour a dark reddish brown, turning green in 
fresh water, or in decay. A cross-section shows a single row of oblong, coloured, 
peripheric cells, within which are several rows of irregularly polygonal partially 
coloured cells, gradually of larger size towards the centre of the axis, where there 
is an irregular cavity (or deficiency of cells) of greater or less diameter. Substance 
rigid. No fructification seen ; but some of the tips of the branches are slightly 
expanded, as if designed to contain tetraspores. In drying it scarcely adheres to 
paper. 
I am very doubtful of the generic relation of this plant, but can think of no 
more convenient place to put it, the fruit being unknown, than in this genus. 
Order XI. CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
Cryptonemece and Gigartinece, with part of Dumontiece, J. Ag. Sp. Gen. and Ord. 
Algarum, pp. 165, 229, 346. Cryptonemece (excl. gen.) J. Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 66. 
Endl. 3d. Suppl. p. 36. Harv. Man. Ed. 2, p. 131, <fc. 
Diagnosis. Purplish or rose-red sea-weeds, with an inarticulate (cartilaginous, 
horny, coriaceous, or gelatinous, rarely membranaceous) frond, composed wholly 
or in great part of articulated confervoid filaments, compacted together by gelatine ; 
the membranous species sometimes composed of polygonal cells gradually smaller 
toward the surface. Nucleus either sunk in the frond or lodged in an external Y. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
157 
conceptacle, simple, or formed of several associated nucleoli. Spores congregated 
without order in the fertile cells or nucleoli. 
Natural Character. Root seldom more than a mere disc, rarely accompanied 
by creeping fibres, or forming a prostrate mat from which numerous stems arise. 
Frond extremely various in size and in outward form, sometimes scarcely an inch 
in height, sometimes (in the Iridcece) two or more feet in length and breadth. 
Sometimes it is filiform, and then frequently dichotomous, more rarely pinnately 
parted ; sometimes a stipes, soon compressed above the base, gradually widens up- 
wards into an expanded, simple or dichotomous lamina, which is occasionally 
obsoletely midribbed below. Some laminae are in such cases proliferous, new 
frondlets springing either from the surface or apices of the old. Sometimes the 
frond forms a cylindrical, or moniliformly-constricted, undivided or branching 
tube, the hollow either filled with air or with loose watery gelatine through which 
a few filaments are dispersed ; and sometimes it is completely bag-like, much in- 
flated, ovate or sub-globose. 
The substance of the frond is as various as the form. It is frequently cartilagi- 
nous, gelatino-cartilaginous, or fleshy, sometimes quite gelatinous ; rarely coria- 
ceous, and still more rarely membranaceous ; in this last case the membrane has 
much the substance of parchment. It is usually opaque, sometimes semi-trans- 
parent, never exhibiting proper articulations to the eye ; but when dissected and 
thin slices are examined under the microscope, the whole substance of a large 
majority of the plants of this Order, or a greater or less portion of the frond in 
the remaining species, is seen to be composed of innumerable, slender, confervoid 
filaments, lying in a transparent gelatine, and variously combined together. These 
filaments are sometimes cylindrical with long articulations, sometimes moniliform, 
like strings of roundish or oblong beads, and both forms often occur in the same 
frond. Cylindrical filaments are more commonly found in the middle or medullary 
portion, and are then always longitudinal in direction, running parallel with the 
longitudinal axis of the stem or branch. Moniliform filaments are very common 
in the periphery or external stratum, where they lie at right angles with the longi- 
tudinal axis, or vertical to the surface of the frond. Sometimes these radiating 
peripheric filaments issue directly, as lateral branches, from the longitudinal ones of 
the axis ; sometimes a net-work of anastomosing filaments, or a stratum composed 
of large, roundish cells, imperfectly ordinated in rows, intervenes: and in a few 
cases, (as in Callophyllis) the medullary region is composed of large, roundish 
cells, each cell encompassed by a net-work of very delicate filaments. Such 
genera conduct us to others in which the frond becomes less and less perfectly 
composed of filaments ; roundish and polygonal cells being more and more intro- 
duced into its construction. Thus, in the tribe Tylocarpece, the whole central por- 
tion of the frond is made up of polygonal or honey-combed cells, the periphery 
alone exhibiting a filamentous character, and even this often in a very imperfect CRYPTONEMIACE2E. 
158 
V. 
degree. These latter genera lead us at once in structure to the 
from which they can be known only by the structure of the nucleus. 
The sporiferous nucleus is very frequently sunk in the frond, beneath the filaments 
of the periphery; where it either lies suspended among those of the inner stratum, 
or it is encompassed by a dense plexus of filaments, forming a sort of immersed 
conceptacle, not unlike the coccoon of a chrysalis. In a few cases (as in Chrysy- 
menia, Chylocladia, Gigartina, etc.) it is lodged in an external globose or hemi- 
spherical conceptacle, with or without a terminal pore ; and in Stenogramma many 
compound nuclei lie within a linear, rib-like conceptacle, running through the 
middle of the leaf. 
The Order naturally divides itself into two sub-orders, distinguished from each 
other by the greater or less complication of the nucleus. These have been recently 
elevated by Prof. Agardh into the rank of Orders, but as it appears to me rather 
unnecessarily ; the difference in nucleatic structure being one of degree only, and 
the plants of both sub-orders having a most intimate relationship in structure and 
habit. In our first sub-order (Gigartineje) the nucleus originates in several con- 
gregated, fertile cells, filled at first with dense granular matter or endochrome. 
These, as the fruit matures, enlarge, while the matter contained in each divides into 
numerous spores; and each original cell is thus converted into a nucleolus of spores, 
retained within the expanded cell-wall ; which then forms (till it disappears) a 
membranous periderm to the nucleolus. The whole nucleus, or aggregation of these 
nucleoli, appears at first divided by pellucid lines, marking the boundaries of the 
mother-cells ; but all traces of these generally disappear before the spores are 
emitted, and at this advanced stage it is not always easy to recognise the proper 
structure. In our second sub-order ( CryptonemevE ) the nucleus originates in a single 
cell, which undergoes similar changes to those just described as occurring in the 
numerous mother-cells of the first sub-order. 
The tetraspores are either dispersed among the cellules of the periphery, or collect- 
ed into definite, superficial, or immersed sori; and in a few cases are formed in 
external wart-like bodies of irregular shape, called nematliecia. They are some- 
times zonate, but more commonly cruciate. 
This is one of the largest Orders of Rhodosperms, and is dispersed through all 
latitudes from the Arctic regions to the Equator. Thirty-five genera are described 
by Agardh, twenty-three of which we already claim for the North American Flora ; 
and probably when our coasts have been more fully examined, several others may 
be added. 
Among the useful plants of the Order is Chondrus crispus or Carrageen, so well 
known as an ingredient in blanc-manges and jellies ; and many others, particular- 
ly of the genera Iridcea and Gigartina, numerous large species of which are common 
on the Pacific coasts, have similar properties. v. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
159 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
Sub-order 1. GIGARTINEiE. Nucleus compound ; consisting of several congre- 
gated nucleoli, or roundish masses of spores. 
Tribe 1. Tylocarpea; : Frond rigid, compact; its inner stratum composed of 
roundish, polygonal cells; its outer of closely packed, vertical, minute fila- 
ments. Tetraspores contained in external, raised sori or warts. 
* Frond leaf-like, flat. Conceptacles external. 
I. Stenogramma. Frond dichotomous, membranaceous, rose-red. Conceptacles 
linear, rib-like, medial on the lobes of the frond. 
II. Phyllophora. Frond stipitate, flabelliform, cleft. Conceptacles roundish, scattered. 
** Frond linear, compressed or filiform. Conceptacles immersed. 
III. Gymnogongrus. Frond sub-terete, compressed or flattish, sub-cartilaginous. 
IV. Ahnfeltia. Frond terete, horny. 
Tribe 2. : Frond membranaceous or coriaceous, its inner stratum 
composed either of longitudinal filaments, or of polygonal cells surrounded by 
a net-work of filaments ; its outer stratum of roundish or polygonal cells, 
smaller towards the circumference, the cortical cellules disposed in minute 
vertical filaments. 
* Frond cylindrical, alternately decompound. 
V. Cystoclonium. 
* * Frond flat, its inner stratum composed of large, roundish cells, surrounded by a net- 
work of anastomosing filaments. 
VI. Callophyllis. Frond dichotomous, bright red. 
*** Frond flat, its inner stratum composed of longitudinal, interlaced filaments. 
VII. Kallymenia. Frond sub-sessile, expanded, indefinite in form. 160 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
V. 
VIII. Constantinea. Frond caulescent, branched ; the branches expanding into 
carnoso-coriaceous definite laminas. 
Tribe 3. Eu-gigartineas : Frond cartilaginous, wholly composed of innumerable, 
slender, anastomosing, longitudinal and horizontal filaments, set in a firm, 
pellucid gelatine. Tetraspores collected in sori. 
* Nucleus lodged within a pseudo-pericarp, composed of densely interwoven filaments. 
IX. Gigartina. Frond terete or flat, mostly branched. Conceptacles external, 
globose. 
X. Iriieea. Frond flat, simple or vaguely cleft. Nuclei immersed in the frond. 
** Nucleus imm,ersed in the frond, without definite border. 
XI. Chondrus. Frond dichotomous, flabelliform. 
Tribe 4. Endocladieac : Frond cartilaginous, terete, sub-tubular, formed of a soli- 
tary, longitudinal, articulated, axial filament, from which short, horizontal, 
fastigiate filaments issue on all sides, and are united by firm gelatine into a 
continuous peripheric stratum. 
XII. Endocladia. Peripheric filaments whorled. 
XIII. Gloiopeltis. Peripheric filaments alternate. 
Sub-order 2. CRYPTONEMEiE. Nucleus simple; consisting of a single round- 
ish mass of spores. 
Tribe 5. : Frond membranaceous or sub-gelatinous ; its inner 
stratum (sometimes obsolete in the tubular fronds) composed of elongated 
filaments variously anastomosing ; its outer stratum of one or more rows of 
roundish-polygonal cells, smaller towards the surface, and coalescing into a 
membranous cortical layer. 
* Frond rigidly membranaceous, flat and leaf-like. 
XIY. Cryptonemia. 
** Frond either filiform or flat, very lax within, or sometimes tubular and inflated. 
f Conceptacles external with a definite pericarp. 
XY. Chylocladia. Conceptacles external, sessile, conico-acuminate, containing a 
mass of spores surrounded by a gelatinous limbus. Frond tubular, linear. CRYPTONEMIACEJE. 
161 
y. 
XVI. Chrysymenia. Conceptctcles half immersed in the frond, obtuse or acute, 
containing a very dense, depressed-spherical mass of minute spores attached 
to a basal placenta. Frond compressed or inflated, hollow or subsolid. 
ff Sporiferous nuclei immersed in the frond. 
XVII. Halymenia. Frond flat or compressed, dichotomous or pinnate. 
fff Nuclei unknown (station in the Order doubtful.) 
XVIII. Halosaccion. Frond membranaceous, tubular or inflated ; the walls of 
the tube composed on the inside of roundish polygonal cells ; toward the 
surface of minute, oblong, vertically seriated cellules. 
Tribe 6. Nemastomeae : Frond cartilaginous, coriaceous or gelatinous, wholly com- 
posed of filaments ; the inner stratum longitudinal, interlaced, the outer ver- 
tical to the surface and dichotomo-fastigiate. 
* Nuclei lodged in terminal, pod-like branches. 
XIX. Fuecellaria. Frond terete, dichotomous, fastigiate. 
** Nuclei lodged in terminal, wart-like excrescences. 
XX. Acrotylus. Frond terete, simple or forked, cartilaginous. 
*** Nuclei dispersed through the unaltered frond. 
f Frond compressed or flat, solid, and of very compact substance. 
XXI. Prionitis. A stratum of roundish cells interposed between the medullary 
and peripheric strata, which are composed of filaments. 
XXII. Grateloupia. Destitute of intermediate stratum ; medullary stratum of 
densely interwoven filaments ; periphery of vertical, moniliform, closely 
packed filaments. 
ff Frond tubular, membranous or gelatinous. 
XXIII. Catenella. Frond membranous, moniliform ; constricted at regular 
intervals as if jointed. Nuclei in minute, contracted ramuli. 
XXIV. Gloiosiphonia. Frond gelatinous, filiform. 
YOL. IV. ART 5. 162 
cryptonemiacea:. 
V. 
I. STENOGRAMMA. Harv. 
Frond rose-red, membranaceous, flat, dichotomous and proliferous from the 
margin, composed of two strata ; the inner of several rows of roundish-polygonal 
empty cells, the outer of minute coloured cellules. Conceptacles (resembling a 
midrib) linear, traversing the medial portion of the fertile lobes ; containing, 
within a thick pericarp composed of radiating cellules, numerous dense clusters 
of roundish spores, massed together without order ; the clusters affixed to all sides 
of the pericarp. Nematliecia superficial, wart.-like, scattered, formed of vertical, 
moniliform filaments, whose articulations are at maturity changed into strings of 
cruciate tetraspores. 
The rare and singular Alga which at present constitutes this very distinct genus 
was first found at Cadiz in Old Spain by M. Cabrera, and described by the elder 
Agardh in 1823, under the name Delesseria interrupta; the linear conceptacles 
which are seen on the lobes of fertile specimens having been regarded by the great 
Swedish Algologist as an interrupted midrib. About ten years subsequently, a 
solitary specimen, larger and less delicately membranous than the Spanish plant, 
was brought from California by Capt. Beechey, and described by me in the Botany 
of Beechey’s Voyage as Stenogramma Californica. I did not at that time suspect 
that it had any connexion with the Del. interrupta of Agardh, which I only knew 
by the short description given in the Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 179. Some years passed 
without more being added to the history of this plant. At length, in 1839, Dr. 
Montagne published a figure in Webb’s Otia Hispanica of the Delesseria interrupta, 
continuing the Agardhian name. Afterwards, in 1846, the same author found in 
Bory’s Herbarium a specimen, said to have been gathered on the coast of France, 
agreeing in character with my S. Calif ornica ; and then for the first time perceived 
the relationship which the Del. interrupta, Ag. bore to it. He accordingly removed 
the latter plant to the genus Stenogramma, calling it S. interrupta. Late in the 
autumn of the same year, 1846,* Dr. John Cocks discovered S. interrupta in 
Plymouth Sound, on the south coast of England, and afterwards dredged it several 
times in 5—6 fathoms water, the specimens being attached to small stones. All 
the specimens hitherto seen either produced the linear conceptacles, or were barren. 
The tetrasporic fruit was communicated to me in 1848 by Miss Gilford, who dis- 
covered it on the Somersetshire coast; but was first described by Dr. Montagne in 
1851 {An. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, vol. 7, p• 481.) from specimens collected in the Tagus, 
near Lisbon, by Dr. Wei witch. In the summer of 1851, I received from New 
Zealand numerous specimens with both kinds of fruit; and in the autumn had the 
pleasure to hail it as a native of Ireland, Mr. Isaac Carroll having dredged specimens 
with conceptacles and tetraspores in Cork Harbour. I have now had the advan- 
tage of examining and comparing together specimens from all the above localities, 
and the result is a conviction that all belong to one species ; though the frond is 
* Misprinted 1847 in Pliyc. Brit. t. 157. V. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
163 
liable to some small variety in substance and ramification. The New Zealand 
specimens are much the largest that I have seen ; but the lobes in the original 
Californian fragment being still broader, it is probable that the specimens hereafter 
to be brought from the latter country will surpass any now in our collections. 
1. Stenogramma interrupt a, Mont. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 157* J- Ag. Sp. Alg. 
2,p. 391. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 873. Deksseria inter rupta, Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 179- 
Mont, in Webb. Ot. Hisp. t. 8. Stenogramma Californica. Harv. in Bot. Beechey, p. 
408. (Tab. XIX. C.) 
Hab. San Francisco, California, Dr. Sinclair. A fragment picked up at Key 
West, Florida, W.H.H. (41.) (v. v.) 
Boot discoid. Frond stipitate, the stipes compressed upwards and passing into 
the cuneate base of a flabelliform, dichotomously cleft lamina, 4—8 or 10 inches in 
length, and as much in expansion. Lacinice linear, obtuse, repeatedly forked ; 
sometimes irregularly dichotomous, sometimes palmately or alternately cleft, and 
often furnished at the edges with proliferous, oblong or forked leaflets. Barren 
fronds, as well as those destined to produce nemathecia, are quite nerveless. In 
fertile or conceptacle-bearing fronds, a slender pseudo-nerve runs through the cen- 
tre of each fertile lobe, commencing just below one of the furcations, and termi- 
nating nearly opposite to a lower fork. In this pseudo-nerve the conceptacle is 
formed, a less or greater portion becoming thickened, dark coloured, hollow within, 
and developing from its medullary cells very numerous nucleoli, which are densely 
aggregated together into a linear, sausage-like nucleus. The tetraspores are 
evolved from the radiating filaments of blotch-like, dark red nemathecia, scattered 
irregularly on both surfaces of the frond, and originating in a transformation of 
the cells of the cortical layer. The substance of the frond is membranaceous, 
rather rigid below, flaccid, and often delicately thin above. The colour is a fine 
clear pinky red. In drying, it scarcely adheres to paper. 
Our figure is taken from the original Californian specimen, now preserved in 
Sir William J. Hooker’s Herbarium, and represents the base of the frond and one 
of the two principal segments into which it divides. This specimen is more rigid 
in substance and darker in colour than ordinary European specimens, but an ex- 
tensive suite from New Zealand connect it with the smallest and most delicate 
varieties. My specimen from Key West is fragmentary and barren, but very like 
some of the smaller European grown fronds. 
Plate XIX. C. Stenogramma interrupta ; the natural size. Fig. 2, the apex of 
a fertile lobe; 3, section through the same (the nucleus not correctly analyzed); 
fig. 4, spores ; the latter figures magnified. 164 
cryptonemiacea:. 
V. 
II. PHYLLOPHORA. Grev. 
Frond stipitate ; the stipes expanding upwards into a rigid-membranaceous, flat, 
simple or cloven lamina, proliferous from the disc or margin, nerveless or faintly 
nerved at base, formed of two strata of cells; the medullary portion of oblong, 
polygonal, empty cells ; the cortical of minute, coloured, vertically seriated cellules. 
Conceptacles sessile or pedicellate, globose or rugged, closed, containing within a 
thick pericarp, a nucleus composed of several coalescing nucleoli or masses of minute 
spores. Nemathecia external, wart-like, scattered, formed of vertical, moniliform 
filaments, whose articulations are at maturity changed into strings of cruciate 
tetraspores. 
The plants of this genus are generally found attached to rocks, near low water 
mark, or at a greater depth on exposed coasts. Their root is an expanded disc, 
from which numerous fronds rise in tufts. The young frond commences by push- 
ing up a filiform stipe, which becomes compressed upwards and passes gradually 
into the cuneate base of a simple, bifid or dichotomous, somewhat flabelliform 
lamina. From the margin or disc of this primary frond others similar to it in 
form but with less developed stipites spring proliferously, and thus the plant 
continues to grow by successive epiphyllous branches. In some species a faint 
evanescent midrib may be traced from the apex of the stipes into the lower part of 
the frond. All are of a rigid substance, scarcely at all adhering to paper in 
drying. Some are of a fine blood-red colour, others livid purplish. The nema- 
thecia or warts containing tetraspores afford beautiful microscopic objects. 
1. Phyllophora Brodicei, J. Ag. ; stipe cylindrical at base, compressed upwards, 
branched, the branches expanding into oblong or wedge-shaped, simple or forked, 
flat, membranaceous laminae, which are frequently proliferous from the summit ; 
conceptacles globose, sessile on the laminae ; nemathecia spherical, pedunculate, at 
the tips of the laminae. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 330. Haw. Phyc. Brit. t. XX. 
Coccotylus Brodicei, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 791. Fucus Brodicei, Turn. Hist. t. 72. E. 
Bot. t. 1966. 
Hab. Dredged in 4—10 fathom water. Halifax, W. H. H. Maine, Mr. Hooper. 
Boston Bay, Mrs. Asa Gray. (v. v.) 
Stem filiform, as thick as sparrow’s quill, 3—4 inches long, compressed upwards, 
irregularly branched, each branch ending in a cuneate, simple or forked, flat 
lamina, very variable in breadth and in the amount of division, and very generally 
proliferous either from the margin or the disc. A large suite of specimens now 
before me exhibit many curious forms ; in some, the laminae are from two to four 
lines wide, cuneate, obtusely bifid or once or twice forked, with a few apical cuneate y. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
165 
frondlets ; in others, the laminae are repeatedly forked, and these strongly resemble 
Rhodymenia Palmetta. In others, a narrow, cufieate, twice or thrice-forked lamina 
has its ultimate laciniae suddenly widened into cuneato-reniform lobes from one to 
two inches wide, and either simple, bifid, trifid, or more commonly truncate and 
eroded at the summit ; these lobes are so much wider than the laciniae which bear 
them, that the latter appear like mere stipites in comparison. Colour a deep, clear, 
and full lake red, becoming darker in drying. Substance rigid. 
I dredged numerous varieties of this plant at Halifax, some of them perfectly 
resembling the common European form ; others altogether peculiar; and others 
approaching so nearly to the Antarctic Ph. cuneifolia, Hook, and Harv. (from the 
Falkland Islands) as to render the specific validity of that plant doubtful. 
2. Phyllophora membranifolia, J. Ag. ; stem cylindrical, filiform, branched ; 
the branches expanding into broadly wedge-shaped, bifid or dichotomous laminae ; 
conceptacles ovoid, stipitate, rising from the branches or laminae ; nemathecia form- 
ing broad, dark-coloured, convex patches in the centre of the laminae. J. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. 2, p. 334. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 163. Phyllotylus membranifolius, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 
p. 790. Fucus membranifolius, Turn. Hist. t. 74. E. Bot. t. 1965. 
Hab. Boston Bay (in fruit), Mrs. Asa Gray, W. H. H. Newport, Rhode Island, 
Prof. Bailey and Mr. S. T. Olney. New York, Messrs. Hooper and Calverley. Long- 
branch, New Jersey, Miss Morris, (v. v.) 
Stem filiform, three to four inches long, as thick as sparrow’s quill, irregularly 
divided ; branches ending in fan-shaped, repeatedly forked, flat laminae, one to two 
inches long. Laciniae cuneiform, widely spreading, with very wide, rounded axils, 
two to four lines broad, obtuse. Conceptacles as large as rape-seed, stipitate, 
scattered on the branches or laminae. Colour a dull brownish-purple or livid. Sub- 
stance rigidly membranaceous. 
III. GYMNOGONGRUS. Mart. 
Froncl carnoso-coriaceons, terete, compressed, or flat, linear, dichotomous, com- 
posed of two strata of cells ; the medullary stratum of roundish-angular, empty 
cells ; the cortical of moniliform, vertical, closely packed, short filaments, formed 
of minute, coloured cellules. Conceptacular-nucleus immersed in the frond, more or 
less prominent, consisting of several associated nucleoli or masses of minute spores. 
Nemathecia external, hemispherical, wart-like, formed of radiating, moniliform fila- 
ments, whose articulations are at maturity changed into strings of cruciate tetra- 
spores. CR YPTON EMI ACE JE. 
V. 
Readily distinguished from the last genus by the narrow, generally sub-terete 
frond, never expanding into membranous leaves, and by the immersed concep- 
tacular fruit. In external habit the Gymnogongri much more nearly resemble 
species of Chondrus, in which genus several were formerly included, but they differ 
from the true Chondri essentially in the structure of their medullary stratum. 
Nearly twenty species are already known, natives of various parts of the world. 
* 
1. Gymnogongrus Torreyi, J. Ag. ; “frond compressed, flattish, dichotomous, 
fastigiate ; the segments linear, very narrow ; the axils rounded.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 
2, p. 319- Sphcerococcus Torreyi, Ag. Sp. 2, p. 254. 
Hab. New York, Prof. Torrey in Herb. Agardh. 
“Frondsa, span long, regularly dichotomous, nearly terete below; segments linear, 
very narrow, scarcely a line broad, gradually attenuated toward the obtuse apices. 
Axils rounded ; all the segments ascending and forked at the summit. Substance 
coriaceo-corneous, rigid. Colour, in the dry state, brownish.” Ag. 
I have not seen an authentic specimen of this plant, but have received from Mr. 
Hooper a small fragment, which may possibly belong to it. It was found at Fort 
Hamilton, and is about an inch high, and half a line in diameter, compressed, 
flabelliform, fastigiate, dichotomous, the segments divaricating, obtuse, or sub- 
truncate, sometimes emarginate. Colour a very dark red-brown. Substance carti- 
lagineo-coriaceous. Structure as in the genus. This specimen resembles G. 
Griffithsice, but is broader and more compressed, and the medullary cells are rather 
different. It is well worth the attention of the Brooklyn Algologists to endeavour 
to clear up the history of this little-known species. 
2. Gymnogongrus tenuis, J. Ag. ; “ fronds tufted, flat, membranaceous, dichoto- 
mous, sub-fastigiate ; segments linear, the upper ones narrower ; conceptacles 
scattered, hemispherically prominent towards one surface of the lamina, flat towards 
the opposite surface.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 31Q. 
Hab. On the shores of the Mexican Republic, Liebman, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Densely tufted, about an inch and half high, diekotomously-decompound, the 
upper segments narrow or multifid. Axils sub-acute. Colour purplish. Substance 
membranaceous, thin. 
Nearly related to G. Norvegicus but thinner in substance, of a purplish colour, 
and with more prominent conceptacles. I am indebted to Senator Binder of Ham- 
burgh for an authentic specimen. 
3. Gymnogongrus Norvegicus, J. Ag. ; frond linear, dichotomous, flat, fastigiate ; V. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
167 
the axils patent, rounded ; apices obtuse ; conceptacles imbedded in the upper 
segments, numerous, slightly prominent toward both surfaces ; nemathecia sessile, 
hemispherical, densely scattered over both surfaces of the frond. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, 
p. 320. Chondrus Norvegicus, Lamour.—Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 187- Oncotylus Nor- 
vegicus, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 789. Fucus Norvegicus, Turn. Hist. t. 41. E. Bot. t. 1080. 
Chondrus dubius, Mont. FI. Alg. p. 117- 
Hab. Penobscot Bay, Maine, Mr. J. Hooper, (v. v.) 
The only American specimen of this species which I have yet seen is two inches 
long, about a line in diameter, and irregularly dichotomous ; about four or five 
times forked, the segments linear, divaricating, and the axils remarkably rounded. 
It bears two or three young nemathecia ; and the cellular structure is exactly as in 
the European plant. Notwithstanding the northern locality from which it comes, 
Mr. Hooper’s specimen much more nearly resembles the narrow Algerian variety 
called Chondrus dubius by Montagne, than any specimen I possess from the English 
or Irish coasts. 
4. Gymnogongkus linearis, J. Ag. ; frond stipitate, slightly channelled or flattish, 
dichotomous, fastigiate ; segments linear, somewhat thickened at the margin, very 
entire, the terminal ones obtuse, rounded, and dilated ; nemathecia sub-globose, 
plentiful on the upper laciniae, and almost always protruded on the concave surface 
of the lobe. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 325. Chondrus linearis, Grev.—Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 
738. Fucus linearis, Turn. Hist. t. 220. 
Hab. At Port Trinidad, Pacific Coast, Lat. 41° 12' N., A. Menzies, Esq. (v. s. in 
Herb. Menzies). 
Frond four to six inches high, stipitate. Stipes sub-cylindrical, and as thick as a 
crow’s quill at the base, very soon compressed, then flattened, somewhat channelled, 
one to two lines in diameter, two to three inches long, forked at the summit, after 
which the flabelliform frond is repeatedly dichotomous. Lacinice linear, slightly 
channelled, the terminal ones broader and cuneate, very obtuse or subemarginate ; 
or else bifid, each apex truncate. Nemathecia very convex, as large as rapeseed. 
Colour a dark red-brown, more rufous in the tips. Substance cartilaginous. It 
does not adhere to paper in drying. 
In aspect this species is not unlike Chondrus crispus, but is widely different in 
structure. 
IV. AHNFELTIA. J. Ag. 
Frond cartilagineo-corneous, subterete, dichotomous or secundly proliferous, com- 
posed of two strata or cells ; the medullary stratum of very slender, densely packed 168 
cryptonemiacea:. 
V. 
elongated cells, longest towards the centre, shorter toward the margin ; the cortical 
of moniliform, vertical, closely packed, short filaments formed of minute coloured 
cellules. Conceptacular nucleus immersed in the frond, sub-prominent, consisting of 
several associated nuclei or masses of minute spores. Nematliecia (?) external, sur- 
rounding the branches, wart-like, formed of radiating, very densely packed, slender 
filaments 
Nearly related apparently to tlie last genus, with which I have formerly felt dis- 
posed to unite it. It differs, however, in the much greater density of cellular 
structure and more rigid substance of the frond. The typical species, A. plicata, is 
widely dispersed, being common on both shores of the Atlantic, in the Pacific 
Ocean, and extending into high southern latitudes. The other species are local, 
and comparatively little known. 
1. Ahnfeltia plicata, Fries ; frond horny, terete, filiform, very irregularly 
branched, entangled ; branches di-trichotomous, with lateral proliferous often se- 
cund ramuli; axils rounded, apices curving upwards, the terminal shoots elongate. 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 311. Gymnogongrus plicatus, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 789. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 288. Fucus plicatus, Turn. Hist. tab. 180. E. Bot. tab. 1089- fi-fos- 
tigiata ; frond more regularly dichotomous, the apices of equal length, Gymnogon- 
grus fastigiatus Post, and Rupr.! Alg. Russ. p. 16. 
Hab. Boston Bay, Mr. G. B. Emerson, Dr. Asa Gray, &c. Rhode Island, Prof. 
Bailey. New York, Mr. Calverley. fi. Unalaschka, WosnessensJcy! Halifax, W. H. H. 
Boston Bay, Mr. Emerson, (v. v.) 
Fronds densely tufted, often forming intricate bundles some inches in diameter 
and 9 or 10 inches long. Stems filiform, twice as thick as hog’s bristle, very irre- 
gularly branched, more or less dichotomous, especially below ; the lesser divisions 
often lengthened and beset with lateral alternate or secund, erecto-patent branch- 
lets. In var. /3. the tufts are often perfectly level-topped as if clipped with a 
shears ; the fronds regularly dichotomous with distant lower forks and approxi- 
mate upper ones. Colour a blackish purple. Substance very rigid and wiry. It 
does not adhere to paper in drying. 
I have been favoured by Dr. Ruprecht with an original specimen of his Gymno- 
gongrus fastigiatus, but can by no means distinguish it from a fastigiate variety of 
A. plicata which accompanies the ordinary form in Boston and Halifax Harbours. 
2. Ahnfeltia gigartinoides. J. Ag.; “ frond carnoso-corneous, terete, dichotomous 
and secundly decompound-proliferous ; the proliferous ramuli very patent, obtuse ; 
the segments erect from the rather acute axils, the terminal ones elongate.” J. 
Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 311. Gymnogongrus gigartinoides, Kiitz, Sp. Alg. p. 789- CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
V. 
169 
Hab. On the Pacific Coast of the Mexican Republic, Liebman ! (v. s. in Herb. 
T. C. D.) 
Closely related to the preceding species, but more robust (half a line in diameter), 
and softer when moistened, soon decomposing if kept in fresh water. 
3. Ahnfeltia ? pinnulata ; frond rigid, terete, irregularly branched ; branches 
few, elongate, subsimple, compressed above, and more or less closely pinnulated 
with setaceous, short ramuli. 
Hab. At Key West, rare, W. H. H. (42.) (v. v.) 
Frond twice as thick as a hog’s bristle, 4—5 inches long, terete below, sub- 
compressed above, very irregularly branched, and chiefly from the lower part. 
Branches long, arched or straight, sub-simple, either quite naked or set at distances 
of a line or two apart with setaceous, horizontally patent ramuli. These are two 
to four lines long, alternate or opposite, sometimes fasciculate or'imperfectly whorled, 
but mostly distichous, as thick as a hog’s bristle, distant or crowded. Colour a dull, 
blackish, purple. Substance rigid and wiry, as in A. plicata. The structure of the 
medullary stratum is very compact and dense, and nearly as in A. plicata ; but the 
cortical stratum is very narrow, composed of very minute cells, in few rows. 
I found but two specimens of this plant at Key West. It seems to me to be a 
well-marked species, and related to the plants of this genus, if not a genuine con- 
gener ; a fact which cannot be ascertained without more complete data. 
Y. CYSTOCLONIUM. Kutz. 
Frond carnoso-membranaceous, terete, decompoundly branched, composed of 
three strata of cells; medullary stratum cord-like, formed of elongated, longitudinal, 
interwoven confervoid filaments, anastomosing and dichotomous, their branches 
arching outwards among the large rounded cells of the intermediate stratum ; cells 
of the cortical stratum small, roundish-angular. Conceptacles half immersed in the 
branches, containing within a thick closed pericarp (formed from the cortical layer) 
a compound nucleus, consisting of several nucleoli or masses of minute spores, 
separated by sterile filaments. Tetraspores dispersed through the cortical layer of 
the branches, zonate. 
This genus, as originally proposed and admirably illustrated by Kiitzing, in his 
Phycologia Generalis (p. 404, t. 58, tig. I.) is readily distinguished from all neigh* 
YOL. IY.—ART. 5. CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
170 
V. 
bouring genera by the structure of the frond detailed above. In external habit 
the typical species more resembles the Gracilario, among which it was placed by 
Dr. Greville ; or the Hypnece (among which, in the Phycologia Britannica, I most 
unnaturally intruded it) than any of the genera with which the structure of its 
sporiferous nucleus associates it. In the structure of the frond, as well as in habit, 
there is a near approach also to Rhabdonia, and to Solieria; from both which 
genera, as well as from Gracilaria and Hypnea, the structure of the nucleus 
widely separates it. This latter character, obviously the first in value as indi- 
cating natural affinities, brings it into the present Order. Cystoclonium purpu- 
rascens, our only species, is common throughout the Northern Atlantic, extending 
on the European side from the glacial ocean to the southern coasts of France. 
1. Cystoclonium purpurascens, Kiitz. ; frond terete, sub-pinnately decompound, 
much branched; branches alternate, elongate, set with alternately decompound 
rarnuli which taper to each end ; conceptacles lodged in the ramuli, one or more 
forming nodose swellings in each ramulus. J. Ay. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 307. Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 756. Hypnea purpurascens, Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 116. Fucus purpurascens, 
Turn. Hist. t. 9- E. Bot. t. 1243. 13. cirrhosa ; the branches drawn out into long, 
twisted tendrils. 
Hab. On littoral fuci, &c. Common from Halifax to New York Harbour. 
Squan, New Jersey, Miss E. Morris. /3. Rye Beach, New Hampshire, Miss Frotli- 
ingham. (v. v.) 
Fronds six to twelve inches long or more, as thick as a crow’s quill below, attenu- 
ated upwards, excessively branched and bushy, alternately decompound; main 
branches lateral, elongate, spreading, set with two or more series of smaller 
branches, the last bearing irregularly scattered subulate ramuli: branches and 
ramuli acute, tapering to the base. Conceptacles imbedded in the ramuli, one, two, 
or more in each, forming a chain of nodes, the conceptacle being much wider than 
the place where it is lodged. Colour a dark brownish purple or brown, sometimes 
pale. Substance between cartilaginous and membranaceous, shrinking in drying. 
The frond imperfectly adheres to paper. 
/3. is a singular form in which the ramuli are converted into spirally twisted 
tendrils, which coil round neighbouring plants. 
VI. CALLOPHYLLIS. Kite. 
Frond carnoso-membranaceous, blood-red or rosy, flat, dichotomous or sub-pin- 
nate, formed of two strata of cells ; the medullary stratum of large roundish cells, v. 
cryptonemiacea:. 
smaller toward the surface, each cell surrounded by a net-work of anastomosing 
cellules; cortical stratum formed of vertical, moniliform filaments. Conceptacles 
immersed in the disc or margin, sub-prominent, roundish, containing within a 
closed pericarp (formed from the cortical layer) a compound nucleus consisting of 
several nucleoli or masses of minute spores, separated by a net-work of slender 
fibres. Tetraspores immersed in the frond, scattered, cruciate. 
A genus of splendidly-coloured Algas, chiefly natives of the southern hemisphere. 
Fronds blood-red, or scarlet-lake, flat, nerveless, dichotomous or somewhat palmate, 
the laciniae broader upwards, lobed at the extremity, and frequently fimbriate 
along the margin. The internal structure of the frond is very peculiar. The 
medullary portion consists of two or more, sometimes of many, rows of large, empty 
cells separated by narrow interspaces, through which a delicate net-work of cob- 
webby filaments permeates. The cortical layer is formed of more or less evolved 
moniliform, vertical, coloured filaments, set in firm transparent gelatine. Formerly 
these plants were included in Ehodymenia, of which genus they have externally the 
habit, but from which they abundantly differ in the structure of the frond and of 
the sporiferous-nucleus. 
1. Callophyllis laciniata, Kiitz.; frond sub-cartilaginous, bright red, palmate or 
flabelliform, cleft into numerous, broad, wedge-shaped segments which are again 
divided dichotomously ; apices obtuse ; the margin of fertile specimens curled and 
fringed with minute ciliary processes, in which the conceptacles are lodged. J. Ag. 
Sp. Alg. 2, p. 299- Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 744. Ehodymenia laciniata, Grev.—Haw. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 121. Fucus laciniatus, Turn. Hist. 69. E. Bot. t. 1068. 
Hab. Pacific coast, Mr. Menzies ! 1788. California, Beechey. Atlantic coast, at 
Cape Henlopen, Miss Morris, (v. v.) 
Apparently very rare on the American coast. I have as yet only seen a solitary, 
small, but unmistakable specimen from the Atlantic side of the Continent; and it 
is difficult to conceive that so conspicuous a plant should be overlooked by collec 
tors were it not extremely rare. 
VII. KALLYMENIA. J. Ag. 
Frond carnoso-membranaceous, flat, irregularly cleft or divided into indefinitely- 
circumscribed lobes, composed of three strata of cells ; the medullary stratum of 
densely interwoven, branching and anastomosing articulated filaments ; the inter- 172 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
V. 
mediate of large, roundish-polygonal, seriated cells; the cortical of minute, roundish, 
vertically seriated cellules. Conceptacles immersed in the frond, prominent to both 
surfaces, roundish, containing within a sub-definite pericarp (formed from the 
cortical layer) a compound nucleus consisting of several nucleoli or masses of 
minute spores. Tetraspores formed from the superficial cellules, scattered, cruciate. 
Fronds intensely and generally brilliantly-coloured, blood-red or crimson lake, 
rarely purplish or brownish, of a thickish, membranous, or somewhat cartilaginous 
substance, soft to the touch, flat, either quite sessile or somewhat stipitate, irregular 
in form and in division. In the young state the lamina is generally quite simple, 
roundish, oblong, obovate or reniform ; but in age, either from a natural tendency 
to split, or from the action of the waves, it becomes much divided ; sometimes 
reduced to narrow ribbons ; and sometimes, by new proliferous growths from the 
injured margin, fringed with small lobes or frondlets. Several species have been 
described, but owing to the great irregularity of form, they are difficult to charac- 
terise, and botanists are not agreed as to their exact limits. I have now to add 
one to the number, which, though founded on very imperfect specimens, I am un- 
willing to omit from the present Essay. 
1. Kallymenia Pennyi. 
Hab. Dredged on a shingly bottom, in 15—20 fathoms water, in Assistance Bay, 
Arctic coast, Dr. Sutherland, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Fragments of leaves three to five inches long, and three to four inches broad, 
but too much injured to enable me to determine the proper outline, are all that I 
have yet seen of this supposed new species. They resemble K. reniformis ; but 
when thin slices of both are placed together on the table of the microscope, the 
membrane of K. Pennyi is seen to be only half the thickness of that of K. reniformis, 
with the medullary net-work more lax, and the cortical cellules larger. The struc- 
ture seems essentially the same. The colour of the dried specimens is a dark, full- 
red, somewhat brownish. 
At the request of my friend Prof. Dickie of Belfast, I name this interesting plant 
in honour of the intrepid commander of the Arctic Searching Expedition, Capt. 
Penny, “ by whose energy and determination Dr. Sutherland was enabled to reach 
the locality where it was found.” Dickie in litt. CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
173 
y. 
VIII. CONSTANTINEA. Post, and Rupr. 
Frond caulescent, branched ; branches sub-terete, expanding into carnoso-coria- 
ceous, flat, definite laminae, composed of three strata of cells; the medullary stratum 
of sparingly anastomosing, interwoven, articulated filaments ; the intermediate of 
rounded cells ; the cortical of very minute, coloured cellules. Conceptacular nucleus 
immersed in the substance of the leaves, consisting of numerous nucleoli, each sur- 
rounded with a gelatinous limbus, and containing a mass of minute spores. Tetra- 
spores lodged in external warts (nemathecia), oblong, zonate. 
Nearly related to the preceding genus in artificial character, but differing in the 
position of the tetraspores, and very dissimilar in external form. Instead of 
vaguely shaped, stemless fronds, we have here a regularly branching frond, fur- 
nished, from its earliest age, with a distinct stem. At first the stem is simple, 
bearing at its summit a peltate or reniform lamina : by a renewed growth the stem 
pushes onward through the base of the first leaf (which thus becomes perfoliate or 
amplexicaul to the new stem) and forms a new leaf at its summit; and so the frond 
lengthens, new leaf-bearing internodes continually rising through the bases of the 
older leaves. After a while they spring in pairs from each leaf-base, and thus the 
branching becomes normally dichotomous; but as one internode of the fork is often 
abortive, old specimens are frequently irregularly decompound. 
Three species of this curious genus are known ; two of them confined to high 
latitudes in the Pacific Ocean ; the third to very deep water in the Mediterranean 
Sea, having been dredged by Prof. Edwd. Forbes in 50 fathoms. 
1. Constantine a Sitchensis, Post, and Rupr.; “stem terete, branched, annulated; 
internodes separating the rings four times as long as their diameter ; branches ex- 
panded at the summit into an orbicular, peltate, entire lamina.” Post, and Rupr. 
Illustr. p. 18, t. 40, /. 88. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 295. Neurocaulon Sitchense, Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 744. 
Hab. Isle of Sitcha, Russian America. 
I have seen no specimens of this rare and singular Alga. 174 
CRYPTO NEMI ACEiE. 
V. 
IX. GIGARTINA. Lamour. (J. Ag. ref.) 
Frond carnoso-cartilaginous, flat or cylindrical, simple or variously branched, 
composed of two strata of cells ; the medullary stratum of cylindrical, articulated 
filaments, anastomosing into a very lax net-work ; the cortical of moniliform, 
vertical, dichotomous filaments set in firm gelatine. Conceptacles external, globose, 
finally perforate, containing within a saccate placenta (?) formed of closely inter- 
woven filaments, a compound nucleus consisting of many confluent nucleoli or 
masses of roundish-angular spores. Tetraspores collected into dense, sub-prominent 
sori, lodged beneath the superficial cells, roundish, cruciate. 
Fronds very variable in external habit, sometimes filiform, and either pinnated 
or dichotomously multifid : sometimes compressed or channelled on one side, some- 
times completely flat. The flat species are often expanded into broad, leaf-like, 
simple or proliferously ramose fronds. The substance in all is thick, between 
fleshy and cartilaginous, elastic and generally tough when recent; firm, crisp, and 
somewhat horny when dry. The structure in all is very similar, the inner stratum 
of the frond consisting of a very lax network of filaments traversing a pellucid 
gelatine ; the outer of vertical, dichotomous, moniliform filaments issuing from 
the outer meshes of the internal network. (See Plate XXVII. C.jig. 3.) 
This genus, as reconstructed by Prof. J. G. Agardh, is very closely related on 
the one hand to Iridcea and on the other to Chondrus. From the former it is 
only to be known by having its nuclei lodged in external conceptacles, instead of 
being wholly immersed in the frond ; from the latter by the same character, and 
by having the nucleus protected by a closely woven coccoon-like plexus of fila- 
ments. Some of the species have the external habit of Chondrus, in which genus 
they were formerly placed, and others as strongly resemble species of Iridcea. 
Sect. 1. Eu-gigartina. Fronds linear, com,pressed or subterete, pinnately com- 
pound. Conceptacles sessile, marginal on the pinnules. 
1. Gigartina canaliculata, Harv. ; frond linear, concave on one surface, convex 
on the other, naked below, forked or irregularly branched beyond the middle ; 
branches distichously pinnate or bi-pinnate ; pinnrn patent; pinnules short, spine- 
like, divaricating ; conceptacles formed in abbreviated, spiniferous pinnse. Harv. 
in Beechey Voy.p. 490. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 272. Chondroclonium canaliculatum, 
Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 741. (Tab. XXVII. C.) 
, S 
Hab. Shores of California, Douglas, Coulter, Capt. Pike (26, 30.) (v. s. in Herb. 
T. C. D.) CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
175 
V. 
Root accompanied by creeping, branched fibres which throw up numerous, erect 
stems. Fronds densely tufted, two to four inches high, from half a line to a line in 
breadth, nearly flat, but the margins incurved towards one side, making a channel 
in the middle of the disc ; the stem naked for an inch or more above the base, then 
forked, the segments either simple or again forking, naked below, closely pinnated 
or bi-pinnate in the upper half. Pinnce distichous, opposite or irregularly placed, 
from a quarter to half an inch or more long, very patent, simple or set with divari- 
cating, spine-like pinnules. The pinnules in some specimens are mere thorn-like 
ramuli, but in others are multifid, either irregularly so, or somewhat dichotomous, 
all the ultimate divisions being remarkably squarrose. Apices acute. Conceptacles 
imbedded in the substance of the pinnae or pinnules, one or more in each, very 
frequently armed with minute awl-shaped spines, colour very dark blackish purple. 
Substance cartilaginous. It does not adhere to paper in drying unless previously 
softened by long steeping in fresh water. 
A well marked species, probably not uncommon on the Pacific coast. 
Plate XXVII. C. Fig. 1. Gigartina canaliculata ; the natural size. Fig. 2, 
portion of a frond with conceptacles ; somewhat magnified. Fig. 3, longitudinal 
slice of a branch, showing the internal structure ; highly magnified. 
2. Gigartina mollis, Bail, and Harv. ; frond cartilaginous, piano-compressed, 
linear, distichous, pinnately branched ; branches alternate or opposite, erect, taper- 
ing at the base, naked below, pinnated above ; ultimate ramuli narrow, sub-filiform. 
B. and H. in Bot. Expl. Exped. 
Hab. Pacific Coast at Puget’s Sound, Capt. Wilkes, (v. s. in Herb. Expl. Ex.) 
Frond three to four inches high, from one to two lines in breadth, distichously 
branched, once, twice, or thrice pinnated, the pinnse (and pinnules) all very erect, 
naked below, closely set with pinnules above, narrowed to the base and apex, some- 
times forked and then each division pinnated. Colour purple. Substance cartilagi- 
nous, soon decomposing if moistened after having once been dried, and then closely 
adhering to paper in drying. 
Of this I have only seen the few specimens collected in Capt. Wilkes’ Expedition. 
So far as these enable me to speak, the species appears different from any previously 
described. 
Sect. 2. Mastocarpus, Kiitz. Frond thick, dichotomous or sub-pinnate, the seg- 
ments fiat, widening upwards, cuneate or oblong, sometimes very broad. Conceptacles 
formed in papilliform processes issuing from both surfaces of the expanded frond. 
t 
3. Gigartina mamillosa, J. Ag.; frond flattish, channelled, linear, decompound- 
dichotomous, fastigiate ; upper segments wedge-shaped, bifid ; papilhe issuing from 
the disc and margin, tongue-shaped, each containing a single roundish conceptacle. 176 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
V. 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 273. Harv. Phyc. t. 199- Mastocarpus mamillosus, Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 733. 
Hab. Newfoundland, Agardh. Penobscot Bay, Dr. Aaron Young ! Newbury- 
port, Massachusetts, Capt. Pike ! Unalaschka, Lutke! California, Dr. Coulter ! 
(v. V.) 
Frond three to six inches high, either regularly or very irregularly dichotomous, 
flattish, channelled on one side, convex on the other, the segments more or less 
broadly wedge-shaped, simple or forked, the primary ones in the old specimens 
throwing out, in a proliferous manner from their surface, numerous similar wedge- 
shaped, channelled simple or forked secondary segments. Margin of the frond 
incurved, either quite entire and simple, or fringed with small lobes. The surface 
of all the segments, primary and secondary, especially on the concave side, is very 
frequently densely set with lobules, or filiform or mamilliform processes of various 
lengths, some mere tubercles, others linear-wedge-shaped frondlets from a quarter 
to half an inch long. In these the roundish or ovate conceptacles are lodged. 
Colour a very dark purple. Substance rigid, somewhat horny when dry. It does 
not adhere to paper. 
The specimens from Unalaschka are broader and shorter than those from Cali- 
fornia. I have not seen any from Newfoundland. 
4. Gigartina microphylla, Harv. ; frond foliaceous, flat, lanceolate, mostly sim- 
ple (occasionally bifid or trifid), attenuated to the base into a long, slender, lineari- 
cuneate stipe ; both surfaces very densely echinate with minute spindle-shaped 
soriferous papilke, and the margin fringed with similar processes. Rhodymenia ? 
microphylla, Harv. in Beech. Voy. p. 164. Mastocarpus Harvey anus, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 
p. 734. (Tab. XXVIII. A.) ‘ 
ITab. Monterey, California, Douglas ! Coulter ! (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Root expanded, fleshy, composed of many confluent discs. Fronds tufted ; the 
stipes at first cylindrical, as thick as a sparrow’s quill, soon flattened, gradually 
widening upwards for two or three inches ; then either forked or trifid, or simply 
passing into the base of a linear-lanceolate leaf-like lamina, twelve or fourteen inches 
long or more, an inch or an inch and half wide, and gradually fining off to an acute 
point. Both surfaces of the lamina are densely clothed with minute, subulate or 
spindle-shaped processes ; and the margin is also closely fringed with similar ones, 
which are sometimes lengthened out into marginal lobes from half an inch to an 
inch in length, and fringed and muricated like the primary leaf. In fertile speci- 
mens the papillae are incrassated. Sori one or more in each papilla," immersed, 
globose, consisting ’of moniliform strings of cruciate tetraspores. I have not seen 
conceptacles. Substance cartilaginous, thinner than in G. Radula. Colour a deep, 
brownish red. V. 
cryptonemiacej:. 
177 
Plate XXVIII. A. Fig. 1. Gigartina microphylla ; the natural size. Fig. 2, 
small portion of the lamina, with four fertile, soriferous papilke ; magnified. Fig. 
3, section of a papilla, through a sorus, and 4, a tetraspore ; both highly magnified. 
5. Gigartina spinosa, Kiitz. ; frond somewhat channelled below, thick, cuneate 
at the base, linear-lanceolate, simple or once or twice forked (the segments some- 
times sub-pinnate) ; the margin fringed, and the surface densely muricated with 
mamilliform or filiform, simple or multifid, acute processes, in which the concep- 
tacles are immersed. Mastocarpus spinosus) Kiitz. in Bot. Zeit. 1847, y?- 21. Iridcea 
stiriata,Harv. in Beech. Voy.p. 409- (Fcccl. Syn.) Gigartina ornithorhynchos, J.Ag. 
1849. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 274. (Tab. XXVIII. B.) 
Hab. California, Douglas ; Coulter, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Root discoid. Fronds densely tufted, six to eight inches long, flat or somewhat 
channelled below, rising with a short cylindrical stem, as thick as a crow’s quill, 
which soon becomes flattened, and gradually widens into the base of the linear- 
lanceolate lamina. Lamina either simple, tapering to both ends, or more frequently 
once or twice forked, or irregularly 3—4 cleft vertically, the segments in the 
dichotomous varieties cuneate, those of the others more lanceolate and longer. In 
some specimens the margin is pinnated with lanceolate or linear wing-like lobes an 
inch or more in length. Both surfaces are bristled with spine-like, obtuse or acute, 
simple or compound papillae in which the conceptacles are borne. Conceptacles as 
large as rape-seed, globose, immersed in the middle or towards the end of the 
papillae, the subulate apex of which often extends beyond the conceptacle like 
the bill of a bird. Colour a dark red brown or dull purple. Substance coriaceo- 
cartilaginous, thick and coarse. In drying it shrinks considerably, and does not 
adhere to paper. 
I formerly confounded this species with G. stiriata, to which some of the speci- 
mens bear a near resemblance, but our plant is less thick and much less gelatinous, 
and appears to be sufficiently characterised. 
Plate XXVIII. B. Fig. 1. Gigartina spinosa ; the natural size. Fig. 2, a 
compound papilla, bearing several conceptacles ; magnified. Fig. 3, segment of a 
thin section of a conceptacle, shewing a portion of the external wall and of the 
compound nucleus ; fig. 4, spores from the same ; both highly magnified. 
6. Gigartina exasperata, Bail, and Harv. ; frond stipitate; stipes expanding 
into a coriaceo-membranaceous, broadly lanceolate, entire frond, incrassated at the 
margin, eroso-dentate and with marginal lobules, both surfaces densely muricated 
with simple or branched spinous processes in which the conceptacles are lodged. 
Bail, and Harv. in Bot. Expl. Exped. 
Hab. Fort Nesqually, Puget’s Sound, Captain Wilkes, (v. s. in Herb. Expl. Exp.) 
YOL. IY. ART. 5. 178 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
V., 
Frond two to three feet long, six to ten inches wide, rising with a short stem 
which soon dilates into a simple, lanceolate lamina, jagged and irregularly dentate 
at the margin, and rough all over both surfaces, with short simple or forked spines- 
Substance thin, but coriaceous when dry. Colour a fine purple. Conceptacles formed 
towards the base of the lamina, in the marginal or discal spines. 
Nearly allied to G. Radula, but much thinner in substance. 
7. Gigartina Radula, J. Ag. ; frond stipitate; stipes somewhat channelled, 
simple or branched ; the branches expanding into thick, fleshy, flat, oblong, ovate, 
elliptical or obovate entire lamina?, which are either naked or densely muricated with 
papilliform processes, in which the conceptacles are imbedded. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, 
p. 278. G. papillata, Harv. in Beechey (not of Ag.) Mastocarpus corymbiferus, Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 734. Fucus bracteatus, Turn. Hist. t. 25. 
Hab. North West Coast, Menzies. California, Douglas ; Coulter, Capt. Pike, (v. v.) 
Fronds (in the Californian specimens) six or twelve inches long or more, three to 
four inches wide, cuneate or slightly channelled at the base, obovate, obtuse or sub- 
acute, sometimes ovato-lanceolate, thick, carnoso-coriaceous, the upper half more or 
less densely echinate on both surfaces, with mamilliform, acute or obtuse, simple or 
multifid processes. Colour a dark brownish red. A very variable species, common 
in the Southern hemisphere and on the Pacific coasts. The Californian specimens 
which I formerly referred to G. papillata, Ag. are pretty constantly obovate and 
quite simple, obtuse, tapering much to the base ; but some are lanceolate, and one 
is very irregular in shape. At the Cape of Good Hope, where this species is pro- 
fusely common, many forms occur together ; some having perfectly simple fronds ; 
others dividing near the base into many segments, or secondary fronds, each of 
which is stipitate, ovate, obovate or lanceolate. In others each segment is deeply 
bifid, and in others the frond is somewhat palmate. Specimens bearing tetraspores 
are quite smooth, destitute of papilla?. 
On a careful comparison of the Californian specimens on which Kiitzing’s Masto- 
carpus corymbiferus is founded, with numerous specimens of G. Radula collected at 
the Cape, I do not see how they are to be distinguished : and this opinion is formed 
from an examination of a much fuller suite of specimens than Kiitzing, to whom I 
communicated those which he describes, had before him. 
X. IRIDiEA. Bory. 
Frond gelatinoso-carnose, flat, snbsimple, composed of two strata of cells ; the 
medullary stratum of cylindrical, articulated filaments, anastomosing into a very lax V. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
net-work ; the cortical of moniliform, vertical, dichotomous filaments, set in a firm 
gelatine. Sporiferous nucleus immersed in the substance of the frond, roundish, en- 
closed in a saccate placenta (?) formed of closely interwoven filaments, consisting 
of many confluent nucleoli or masses of minute spores. Tetraspores collected into 
dense sori lodged beneath the superficial cells, roundish, cruciate. 
Technically this genus can only be distinguished from Gigartina by having its 
nuclei immersed in the inner substance of the frond, and not contained in external 
tubercles or conceptacles. The structure of the frond is similar in both genera, but 
the Iridcece have generally simpler, less regularly cleft, and more widely expanded 
laminae, of a brighter colour and more glossy surface. Their substance is soft, be- 
tween fleshy and membranous when fresh, somewhat cartilaginous when dry, soon 
dissolving into gelatine if again moistened after having been once dried. Many 
species have been described, but I fear often on insufficient data, and I regret that 
the materials at my command are insufficient to enable me to say, whether all or 
how many of the following species ought to be retained. 
1. minor, J. Ag.; “ frond ovate oblong, sub-simple, smooth, abruptly 
attenuated into an evident, flattish stipes.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 252. 
Hab. California, Douglas. 
“ Fronds gregarious, 2—3 inches high, an inch broad, rising with an elongated 
flattish stipes nearly an inch long, then abruptly cuneately expanded into an ovate 
or oblong, entire lamina, which is either smooth or verrucated with sub-prominent 
conceptacles ; rounded and very obtuse at the apex. Colour livid, brownish. 
Substance gelatinous, cartilaginous when dry.” J. Ag. 
2. Iridjea laminarioides, Bory ; frond stipitate, linear* obovate or sub-lanceolate, 
simple or cloven into numerous narrow obovate or lanceolate lacinise ; nuclei 
densely scattered, sub-prominent, J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 253. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 
726. 
Hab. Russian America, Postels and Euprecht. California, Douglas ! Coulter ! 
(v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Stipes one to two inches long, cylindrical at the base, soon cuneate and com- 
pressed, gradually widening to half an inch, and then suddenly expanding into the 
base of a narrow, obovate or oblong, linear frond, one to two feet long, obtuse, or more 
or less acute or acuminate at the apex. Sometimes the frond divides a little above 
the apex of the stipes into numerous frondlets ; but this chiefly takes place in spe- 
A A 2 180 
CRY PTONEMI ACEiE. 
V. 
cimens which have grown again after having been injured. Barren specimens are 
perfectly smooth ; nucleiferous ones are densely verrucose with the very abundant, 
closely set, depressed, hemispheroidal nuclei. Specimens containing tetraspores are 
smooth, but closely dotted over the surface with minute, deep coloured sori. Colour 
a dull brown red, sometimes purplish, fading into greenish. Substance rather thick, 
coriaceous, not very glossy. 
My specimens from Douglas (can they be Agardh’s J. minor ?) are smaller than 
some of those from Dr. Coulter, but appear to be specifically the same. 
3. cor data, J. A g.; “frond cordate-ovate, sub-acuminate, smooth, abruptly 
passing into a very short channelled stipes.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 254. Fucus cor- 
datus, Turn. Hist. t. 116. 
Hab. Banks Island, on the N. W. Coast, Menzies. 
Fronds said to be about a foot long and six inches wide, oblong-cordate, sub- 
acute, flattish or undulate at the margin. 
4. Iridtea punicea, Post, and Rupr. ; “ lamina membranaceous, orbicular in out- 
line, fixed by the margin or lower surface, plaited, here and there perforated, entire 
or eroso-dentate, of a deep crimson-lake colour.” Post, and Rupr. Illustr. p. 18. 
Hab. Isle of Sitcha, Postels and Ruprecht. 
5. Iridasa pinnata, Post, and Rupr. ; “ lamina membranaceous, thickened, linear, 
regularly bi-tripinnate, purple ; pinnae and pinnules linear, divaricate, narrowed at 
the base, very entire or ciliato-pinnate at the margin.” Post, and Rupr. Illust. p. 
18. 
Hab. Norfolk Bay, N. W. Coast, Postels and Ruprecht. 
Said to resemble Calliblepharis jubata in habit, but to have the structure of 
Iridcea. May it not rather be a species of Gigartina, possibly our G. mollis? 
XI. CHONDRUS. Stack 
Frond carnoso-cartilaginous, flat, dichotomous, fastigiate, composed of two strata 
of cells ; the medullary stratum of cylindrical, articulated filaments anastomosing y. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
181 
into a dense network ; the cortical of moniliform, vertical filaments, set in firm 
gelatine. Sporiferous nuclei immersed in the substance of the frond, somewhat 
prominent toward one surface, roundish, consisting of many confluent nucleoli or 
masses of minute spores. Tetraspores collected into dense sori lodged beneath the 
superficial cells, roundish, cruciate. 
A small genus better distinguished from Iridcea by its external habit and firmly 
cartilaginous substance than by any structural character. Its type in the well- 
known Chondrus crispus or Carrageen (Irish moss), a common littoral plant on both 
sides of the Atlantic. 
1. Chondrus crispus, Lyngb.; frond stipitate, flabelliform, dichotomous, fastigiate, 
flat, the segments linear-cuneate; nuclei oval, prominent to one surface of the 
frond, depressed to the other. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 246. Harv. Pliyc. Brit. t. 63. 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 735. Fucus crispus, Linn.—Turn. Hist. t. 216, 217- F. Bot. t. 
2285. 
Hab. Rocks between tide marks, common on the Atlantic Coast from the shores 
of British America to those of Long Island, (v. v.) 
Frond three to six inches high or more, stipitate, the stipes 1—2 inches long, 
narrow cuneate, gradually widening to the first fork. Lamina flabelliform, fasti- 
giate, many times regularly dichotomous, with patent, rounded axils ; apices either 
obtuse or acute. In some specimens the width of the lacinias is only a line or two, 
and they are nearly of equal breadth throughout; in others the laciniaa are half an 
inch to an inch or more in breadth, decidedly wedge-shaped, flat or very much 
curled. The substance is between horny and cartilaginous, rigid when dry. Colour 
varying from a dull livid purple to greenish and yellowish. Sori of tetraspores (like 
little drops of blood) scattered over the segments. 
2. Chondrus affinis, Harv. ; frond stipitate, flabelliform, dichotomous, slightly 
concave or channelled on one side, convex on the other ; segments linear-wedge 
form ; nuclei abundant, scattered through the segments, prominent to both sur- 
faces. Harv. in Beech. Voy. p. 408. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 247. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 
737. 
Hab. California, Douglas ; Coulter, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Densely tufted, two to four Inches high. Fronds rising with a linear, wedge-form 
stipes, one to two inches long, and somewhat channelled, then forking, and after- 
wards repeatedly dichotomous, with patent, linear, or wedge-form, slightly chan- 182 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
V. 
nelled segments and rounded axils; the upper divisions not always regularly 
dichotomous, but sometimes winged with lateral, secondary segments. Margin of 
the frond a little thickened and indexed. Nuclei as large as poppy-seed, thickly 
scattered over the segments, spheroidal, most prominent to the channelled surface 
of the frond, slightly convex to the convex surface. The plexus of filaments com- 
posing the medullary stratum is very lax ; the filaments of the cortical layer are 
minute, moniliform, and densely set. Colour a dark, brownish purple. Substance 
cartilaginous. It scarcely adheres to paper. 
This plant closely resembles C. crispus in external character, but is of a much 
softer substance and laxer structure, soon decomposing in fresh water. 
XII. ENDOCLADIA. J. Ag. 
Frond terete, cartilaginous, much branched, muricated with minute spines ; the 
axis consisting of a single, articulated, monosiphonous filament, coated with minute 
cells, from which issue whorls of horizontal, radiating, dichotomous, fastigiate, 
moniliform filaments, whose apices, united by a firm gelatine, form the exterior coat 
or periphery of the frond. Conceptacles hemispherical, sessile on the ramuli, contain- 
ing, within a closed pericarp, numerous laxly aggregated nucleoli of angular spores. 
Tetraspores (according to Kiitzing) exserted, seriated, aggregated in amorphous 
nemathecia bursting from the tumid upper branches. 
A curious and distinct genus, consisting of two species, one of them a native of 
the Southern Atlantic, the other of the North Pacific Ocean. The frond has exter- 
nally the habit of a small Gigartina, but a cross section of the stem, as shown in 
our Plate XXVII. B.jig 4, shows a very different structure. 
1. Endocladia muricata, J. Ag.; frond densely tufted, irregularly much branched ; 
branches flexuous, variously divided, set in the upper part with numerous, divari- 
cated, awl-shaped ramuli ; the whole frond muricated with very minute, conical or 
bifid spinules. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 237- Gigartina muricata, Harv. in Bot. Beechey, 
p. 409- Post, and Eupr. Illust. p. 16. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 751- Acanthocladia 
muricata and A. hamulosa, Eupr. ! ! (Tab. XXVII. B.) 
Hab. Sitcha, Dr. Mertens ! California, Beechey ! Coulter ! Wosnessensky ! Capt. 
Pike ! (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Fronds densely tufted, an inch or two in height, as thick or twice as thick as 
hog’s bristle, irregularly branched ; stems either sub-simple, or once or twice forked, 
flexuous, having several arching, simple or sub-simple lateral branches, beset, espe- 
cially toward the ends, with short, crowded, similar branchlets. Both primary and V. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
183 
secondary branches taper to a fine point, and are muriculated on all sides with very 
minute, broadly subulate or conical, simple or slightly bifid spines. The frond is 
formed of a simple, jointed axial filament of large diameter, with internodes con- 
taining endochrome and about thrice as long as broad, coated externally by a thin 
stratum of minute cellules, from which radiate to all sides numerous, dichotomous, 
moniliform, horizontal filaments, whose apices, strongly soldered together, unite to 
form the periphery. The substance is firmly cartilaginous, rigid when dry. Colour 
a very dark-red brown. Conceptacles spherical, sessile on the ramuli. 
Dr. Ruprecht’s Acanthocladia hamulosa is in all respects identical with my Gigar- 
tina muricata, first described in the Botany of Beechey’s Voyage. His A . muricata 
is more slender and less regularly muricated than most of my specimens, but I do 
not consider it specifically different. I have not seen any specimens of Agardh’s 
E. vernicata. 
Plate XXVII. B. Fig. 1. Tuft of Endocladia muricata, the natural size. Fig. 2, 
part of a frond with conceptacles ; fig. 3, apex of one of the muricated branches ; 
fig. 4, transverse section of the stem ; fig. 5, longitudinal section of the same ; fig. 
6, vertical section of a conceptacle ; the latter figures more or less highly magnified. 
XIII. GLOIOPELTIS. J. Ag. 
“ Frond cylindrical, tubular, lubricous, cartilaginous, dichotomous and branched, 
composed of two strata; a monosiphonous, articulated, flexuous, axial filament runs 
through the empty tube, and throws off at alternate sides, di-tri-chotomous, corym- 
boso-fastigiate, moniliform, horizontal filaments, which (united by a loose gelatine), 
form the peripheric stratum. Conceptacles hemispherical, containing within a peri- 
carp finally opening by a pore, numerous laxly aggregated nucleoli separated by 
barren filaments running from an axial placenta to the pericarp. Tetraspores 
oblong, cruciate, scattered among the moniliform, peripheric filaments.” J. Ag. 
Two species, with neither of which am I acquainted, constitute the present genus; 
one of them (the Fucus tenax, Turn. Hist. t. 125) a native of the Chinese seas, and 
used extensively in the arts of China and Japan ; the other a minute plant from 
the Northern Pacific, which I give below as being probably a native of Russian 
America. 
1. Gloiopeltis furcata, J. Ag. ; “ dwarf, tufted ; fronds rising from a minute 
crust, erect, filiform, attenuated at both ends, simple or sparingly forked.” J. Ag. 
Sp. Alg. 2, p. 235. Dumontia furcata, Post, and Rupr. Illustr. p. 19. Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 719. 184 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
Y. 
Hab. In the Northern Pacific, Mertens. 
“ Crust minute, tuberculose, adhering to stones. From this crust spring the 
fronds, which are half an inch high, rarely an inch, more or less crowded, terete, 
attenuate at each end, simple or twice or thrice forked, with patent branches. 
Colour purplish. Substance cartilaginous.” 
XIY. CRYPTONEMIA. J. Ay. 
Frond flat, rigidly membranous, sub-caulescent, proliferous or branched, com. 
posed of three strata of cells ; the medullary of elongated, branched, densely inter- 
woven filaments ; the intermediate of roundish cells, towards the surface passing 
into the minute cells of the cortical layer. Nuclei (favellae) immersed, prominent 
to one surface, simple, consisting of numerous roundish spores, contained within a 
hyaline membrane, at length discharged through a superficial pore. Tetraspores 
collected into roundish, wart-like sori, lodged either in special leaflets or beneath 
the apices of the leaves, oblong, cruciate. 
Plants with the rigid substance and the external habit of Phyllophora, from which 
they are well distinguished both by the different structure of the frond and the 
simplicity of the nucleus. This latter character, combined with the different dispo- 
sition of the tetraspores and the rigid substance, distinguishes them from Kallymenia 
to which the internal structure of the frond allies them. Six species are described, 
four of which are peculiar to the southern shores of Europe, and two to the warmer 
regions of America. One of these last is described below. 
1. Cryptonemia crenulata, J. Ag. ; stipes short, soon expanding into a broadly 
cuneate, bifid or repeatedly forked frond, eroso-denticulate (or rarely snb-entire) at 
the margin, and proliferous with similarly forked, broadly proliferous frondlets. 
J. Ay. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 225. Phyllophora crenulata, J. Ay. Kiitz. Sp. Aly. p. 791- 
Hab. Common at Key West, Florida, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Fronds densely tufted, about six inches long, with a short cylindrical stipes as 
thick as a crow’s quill and half an inch long, which rapidly expands into the cu- 
neate base of a membranous, simple or forked lamina. This lamina is one to two 
inches wide below the first fork ; its segments half an inch wide, linear or wedge- 
shaped, with acute axils, obtuse or truncate apices, and generally an eroso-denticu- v. 
cryptonemiacej:. 
185 
late and minutely curled margin. Sometimes the margin is quite entire and flat. 
The primary lamina is frequently proliferous from the summit or disc of its lobes 
with similar secondary fronds ; and these in large specimens bear tertiary ones, the 
whole resulting in a broadly fan-shaped general outline. Colour a clear, deep lake- 
red, changing to greenish-white in fresh water. Substance rigidly membranaceous. 
It does not adhere to paper. The medullary stratum is formed of densely inter- 
woven filaments; outside which are several rows of coloured, polygonal cells, the 
innermost being large, the rest successively smaller; the superficial ones very 
minute. 
XV. CHYLOCLADIA. Grev.—J. Ag. ref. 
Frond terete or sub-compressed, (rarely nodoso-articulate,) alternately or pin- 
nately-decompound, tubular ; the tube empty, or traversed by a few slender, longi- 
tudinal filaments ; the periphery formed of several rows of roundish-angular cells, 
successively smaller to the surface. Conceptacles external, conical or apiculate, at 
length pierced by a pore, containing a nucleus enclosed in a hyaline mucous enve- 
lope, surrounded by a net-work of anastomosing filaments ; the spores “ originating 
in the cells of filaments radiating from a placenta, at length” numerous, massed 
together. Tetraspores triangularly parted, dispersed among the superficial cells of 
the branches. 
I adopt this genus as now, by Prof. J. Agardh, restricted to the Fucus clavellosus, 
Turn. Hist. t. 30, and its allies. Among these latter, however, I place the F. arti- 
culatus, Lightf. notwithstanding its difference of habit, because, as correctly pointed 
out by Dr. Greville, (Alg. Brit. p. 114) the structure of its conceptacle, both ex- 
ternally and internally, is similar to that of F. clavellosus. I have not verified the 
mode of development of the spores as given in the generic character on Prof. 
Agardh’s authority ; the specimens which I have at hand exhibiting only the nu- 
cleus as it eventually becomes, namely, a cluster of disorderly spores contained 
within a mucous integument, closely resembling a “ favella.” 
1. Chylocladia Bailey ana ; fronds tubular, cylindrical, densely tufted, short, 
irregularly much branched ; branches (mostly arching) divaricated, secund or 
scattered, their lesser divisions mostly secund, and furnished with a few secund, 
spindle-shaped ramuli tapering to the base and apex. C. divaricata, Harv. MSS. 
(not of J. Ag.) (Tab. XX. C. Fig. 1.) /3 filiformis ; very slender, elongate, with 
longer and less arching branches. (Tab. XX. 0. Fig. 2) y. ? valida ; frond robust, 
firm, sometimes with arching, unilateral ramification ; sometimes sub-alternately 
pinnate. 
VOL. IV.—AKT 5. CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
186 
V. 
Hab. Dredged in four or five fathom water. Yars. a and /3, Peconic Bay, abund- 
antly, Prof. Bailey and W. H. M. Narragansett Pier, Mr. Olney. Providence, Prof. 
Bailey. Weymouth Pier, Quincey, Massachusetts, Dr. Durkee. 7, abundant in 
Charleston Harbour, S. Carolina, Prof. Gibbes and W. H. H. (y. v.) 
Tufts globose, two to three inches in diameter, dense and often intricate, sub-fas- 
tigiate. Fronds in vars. a and j3 as thick as hog’s bristle, branched from the base 
in a very irregular manner, all the divisions standing at considerable angles and 
much divaricated. In var. a all the branches are strongly arched back, or revo- 
lute, destitute of branchlets on the concave side, and this ramification is repeated 
several times. In ft the tendency to secund ramification is nearly as great as in a, 
but the branches are straighter and more attenuate. In 7, which may possibly be 
a different species, the frond is as thick as sparrow’s quill, of firmer substance, and 
the ramification partakes sometimes of the character of «, sometimes of fi. Concep- 
ceptacles unknown to me. Tetraspores immersed in the smaller ramuli. Colour a 
pinky red, becoming darker and somewhat brownish when dried. In drying, it 
adheres closely to paper. 
I formerly distributed this plant under the MS. name C. divaricata, a name which 
must be laid aside if the Fucus divaricatus, R. Br. be correctly referred by Prof. 
Agardh to this genus. Nor am I certain whether the specific name now imposed 
be more than provisional, as future observation may show our plant to be identical 
with the Ch. uncinata of the Mediterranean, a point which I have not at present the 
means of determining satisfactorily. 
However this may be, our vars. a and /3 appear to form a well marked species. 
Perhaps var. 7 should be separated ; being much more robust, more readily re- 
covering its form after having been dried, and when pinnulated, not unlike some 
stutes of Ch. clavellosa. 
Tab. XX. C. Fig. 1. Chylocladia Bailey ana, var. a ; fig. 2. var. /3 ; both of the 
natural size. Fig. 3, part of a branch of var. 7, with ramuli, containing tetra- 
spores ; magnified. Fig. 4, cross section of a branch of var. 7; and fig. 5, portion 
of the same, variously magnified. 
2. Chylocladia rosea, Harv.; fronds sub-stipitate, distichously-pinnate or bi-pin- 
nate ; pinnae and pinnules elliptic oblong, obtuse or sub-acute, much constricted 
at the base, compressed, opposite. Harv. in Pliyc. Brit. t. 301 and t. 358 A. 
Hab. On small Algae in tide-pools, rare. Newport, Rhode Island, Mr. George 
Hunt and Mr. S. T. Olney. ($. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Dr. Durkee. (v. s. in 
Herb. T. C.D.) 
Fronds densely tufted, one or two inches high, one to two lines broad, compressed, 
twice or thrice pinnate ; the pinnae distichous, opposite or rarely alternate, or by 
suppression unilateral, oblong-linear, much constricted at the base, obtuse, the 
lowest longest, the rest gradually smaller ; pinnules elliptical, very obtuse. Colour, v. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
a beautiful rosy red or purplish lake. Substance delicately membranaceous. It 
closely adheres to paper in drying. 
Dr. Durkee’s specimen, noticed above, is irregularly branched, the primary stems 
filiform and straggling; the secondary either pinnated or furnished at one side only 
with pinnules. I have seen British specimens similar to this in ramification. 
XVI. CHRYSYMENIA, J. Ag. ref. 
Frond subterete, compressed, or flat, tubular or solid, branched ; the tube some- 
times nearly empty or with a few percurrent longitudinal filaments, sometimes 
filled with interlaced filaments ; peripheric stratum composed internally of large, 
roundish-angular, inflated cells, externally of minute, coloured, vertically seriated 
cellules. Conceptacles half immersed in the frond, hemispherical or with a promi- 
nent orifice, containing a simple nucleus (favella) fixed to a basal placenta, sur- 
rounded by anastomosing filaments, and consisting of very numerous, densely- 
packed minute spores enclosed within a membrane. Tetraspores cruciate, scattered 
among the superficial cells of the frond. 
This genus, as at present constituted, includes plants of very different habit, and 
in some respects of different structure. In the genuine species (sections Halichrysis 
and Chrysymenia, J. Ag.) the frond is dichotomous or pinnated, evidently tubular, 
but having the tube sometimes compressed, sometimes inflated, nearly empty, or 
traversed by a very few slender filaments, which are often obsolete in the full- 
grown plant. In our section Cryptarachne, the frond, which is either flat or cylin- 
drical, is more or less densely filled with anastomosing, branched, often closely in- 
terwoven filaments, but the external habit of the species is not very dissimilar to 
that of the former sections. Finally, in the section Botryocladia, J. Ag. a much 
branched, filiform, solid stem bears inflated ramuli, having the proper structure of 
the genus. The species of this section depart widely in external habit from the 
rest; and yet they are perhaps nearer in affinity to the typical species than are 
those of our section Cryptarachne. 
Sect. 1. Chrysymenia (Halichrysis and Chrysymenia, J. Ag.) ; frond compressed or 
inflated, evidently tubular; the tube empty or nearly so. 
1. Ciirysymenia Enteromorpha ; frond saccate, fusiform, somewhat compressed, 
delicately membranaceous, proliferously-decompound ; secondary fronds and their 188 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
y. 
tertiaries strongly constricted at the base, tapering to the apex, springing without 
order from all sides, and from the apex, of the primary frond. 
Hab. Key West, Florida, rare, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
The full-grown, compound frond is eight or ten inches long or more, and nearly 
as much in the expansion of the branches. It originates in a simple, saccate, 
oblong frond, one to two inches long and about half an inch in diameter, rising 
from a short, cartilaginous stipes, one to two lines long. This primary sac throws 
out very irregularly, from its sides and apex, numerous secondary sacs of equal 
breadth, but generally of greater length, three to four inches long, strongly con- 
stricted at the base, or rather minutely stipitate, linear-oblong or somewhat obovate 
and obtuse. These sacs of secondary order, in their turn give off tertiary sacs, 
which are generally a quarter inch in diameter, more fusiform than the secondary 
ones, tapering to the apex, and bearing other smaller, more tapering, irregularly set, 
sac-like ramuli. In large specimens these latter bear others, and thus the frond 
continues to become compound by successive proliferous repetitions of sac-like 
branches. Substance delicately membranaceous, somewhat gelatinous within. The 
walls are composed of an inner row of large, empty cells, defended externally by 
two or three rows of minute, polygonal, coloured cellules. Tetraspores abundantly 
scattered through the cells of the outer coating. Colour, a delicate, rosy-red. In 
drying, it closely adheres to paper. 
This plant so much resembles some varieties of Halymenia ligulata, that I had at 
first mistaken it for one of the forms of that sportive species, nor was it till a trans- 
verse section assured me that it belonged to a different genus, that I discovered my 
error. On more closely examining the specimens, an external character is readily 
found in the ramification ; the present species, though it eventually becomes ex- 
cessively compound, being constituted of numerous series of perfectly simple frond- 
lets growing one on the other, and never, that I have seen, forking, as do the ramenta 
of Hal. ligulata. Under the microscope, the different structure of the two plants is 
very obvious. 
2. Chrysymenia halymenioides ; frond compressed, broadly linear, cuneate at the 
base, dichotomous, fastigiate ; the axils rounded, and the lacinias divaricated, very 
obtuse ; conceptacles hemispherical, prominent, scattered. (Tab. XX. A.) 
Hab. Thrown up from deep water. Key West, very rare, W. H. //., Dr. Blod- 
gett. (v. v.) 
Root scutate. Fronds one or more from the same base, three to four inches long, 
a quarter to half an inch wide in the widest part, rising from a slender, filiform 
base, rapidly widening upwards to the first fork ; thence broadly linear and repeat- 
edly and pretty regularly dichotomous. Sometimes from a wounded part a dense y. 
CRYPTOKEMIACEiE. 
tuft of dichotomous branches spring, making the habit very bushy. The axils are 
singularly rounded, the laciniae very widely spreading, and the apices remarkably 
obtuse. The frond is tubular, but strongly compressed and almost flattened. Its 
walls are thin ; the inner stratum composed of polygonal, inflated, empty cells of 
large size ; the outer of very minute, coloured cellules, set in densely packed, 
vertical filaments. Conceptacles plentifully scattered over all the lower laciniae, be- 
tween hemispherical and conical, prominent. Tetraspores dispersed through the 
superficial cells of distinct plants. Colour, a clear, rosy red, becoming brownish in 
drying. Substance soft and lubricous, full of juice. It adheres closely to paper in 
drying. 
This is nearly related to the Mediterranean C. dichotoma, J. Ag. ; but appears, 
judging by the description, to differ in some respects. It has much of the external 
aspect of some varieties of Halymenia ligulata, whence our specific name. 
Plate XX. A. Fig. 1. Chrysymenia halymenioides ; the natural size. Fig. 2, 
transverse section of a lacinia, cutting through three conceptacles; jig. 3, portion of 
the surface, viewed vertically )fig. 4, section of the wall of the frond with immersed 
tetraspores ; jig. 5, tetraspores ; jig. 6, section of a conceptacle ; jig. 7, nucleus from 
the same ; jig. 8, spores ; the latter figures more or less highly magnified. 
Sect. 2. Cryptarachne ; frond flat, compressed or cylindrical, sub-solid; the medidlary 
stratum composed of interlaced, anastomosing, branching filaments. 
3. Chrysymenia (Cryptaraciine) Agardhii; frond gelatino-membranaceous, flat, 
dichotomously cleft, lacinke cuneate at the base, tapering to the extremity, undu- 
late, unequally eroso-dentate at the margin ; the marginal processes sometimes 
lengthening into linear lobules ; conceptacles acuminate, scattered over the laciniae. 
(Tab. XXX. A.) 
Hab. Thrown up from deep water, Key West ; rare, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Frond six or eight inches long, as much or more in expansion of the laciniae, 
having a wide, cuneate base, one to two inches long and an inch and half broad, 
at once dividing into several laciniae, in a somewhat palmate order. These 
laciniae are simple or forked, or palmatifid, cuneate at the base, about an inch wide 
at the widest part, tapering to both ends, undulate, with the margin rarely quite 
entire, more commonly eroso-denticulate. Marginal teeth horizontally patent, very 
unequal in size, sometimes mere processes a line or two in length, sometimes half 
an inch long and a line broad. Conceptacles scattered over the laciniae, rather 
prominent, conical, with the orifice very prominent and slightly oblique. The 
medullary stratum consists of a dense web of branching and anastomosing fila- 
ments ; the intermediate of several rows of empty cells, of which the inner are very 
large, the rest successively smaller ; the cortical of very minute, coloured, seriated 
cells, in two or three vertical rows. Colour, a pale rose-red, fading and becoming 190 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
V.' 
brownish in drying. Substance very gelatinous. In drying, the frond shrinks and 
adheres very strongly to paper. 
The name is bestowed in honour of my friend Prof. J. G. Agardh, to whose opi- 
nion (as expressed in a private letter) I yield in retaining this species and its allies 
for the present in Chrysymenia. They differ, as already stated, from the genuine 
species in having a far more obvious plexus of filaments occupying the centre of 
the frond. 
Plate XXX. A. Chrysymenia ? Agardhii ; the natural size. Fig. 2, a section of 
the frond, and Jig. 3, a small portion of the same ; jig. 4, section of a conceptacle ; 
all highly magnified. 
4. Chrysymenia ( Cryptarachne) ramosissima ; frond compressed below, terete 
above, distichously much branched ; branches patent, with rounded axils, tapering 
to the base and apex, successively narrower and repeatedly compound, the lesser 
ones margined with a few spines ; ramuli either filiform, or, when fertile, fusiform, 
acute and irregularly spinulose; conceptacles depressed, or sunk in the fusiform 
ramuli, sphajroidal. (Tab. XXX. B.) 
Hab. Thrown up from deep water ; rare. Key West, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Frond eight to twelve inches long and six to eight inches in the expansion of the 
branches. Main stem sub-simple, rising from a cartilaginous stipe as thick as a 
crowquill, soon widening to half an inch in breadth, compressed, tapering graduall}7 
to the summit, more or less cylindrical above. This principal stem is furnished 
throughout, at short distances, with lateral, very patent, distichous branches, issu- 
ing at very obtuse angles, tapering to the base and apex like the main stem ; of 
various lengths, short and long intermixed without order ; the larger ones repeat- 
edly compound in a similar manner. In some specimens the secondary and tertiary 
branches are very closely set, scarcely more than a line or two apart ; in others 
they are much more distant. The fertile and barren specimens are also very unlike; 
the latter are much more branched, the branches narrower and more finely divided, 
and the ramuli very slender and abundant; the former (like that in our figure) have 
most of the ramuli swollen, broadly fusiform, acute, and sub-dentate. Conceptacles 
lodged in the swollen ramuli, depressed. Colour, when growing, a fine, clear rosy 
red, becoming brownish in drying. Substance membranaceous, filled with loose 
gelatine, which is expelled under pressure, and apt to stain the paper on which the 
specimen is displayed. 
Plate XXX. B. Chrysymenia ramosissima, lower part of a fertile specimen; the 
natural size. Fig. 2, a ramulus containing conceptacles ; jig. 3, vertical section 
through a conceptacle ; jig. 4, longitudinal section of a branch ; jig. 5, filaments of 
the medullary stratum ; jig. 6, transverse section of a branch ; the latter figures 
variously magnified. v. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
5. Chrysymenia ? (Cryptarachne ?) acanthoclada ; stem somewhat distended, 
(laxly cellular with a dense fibro-cellular axis) divaricately much branched, irre- 
gularly decompound ; branches distichous, slender, much attenuated, widely spread- 
ing, zig-zag, alternately decompound, aculeate with short, sub-distichous, spine-like, 
subulate, acute, divaricated ramuli. (Tab. XX Y.) 
Hab. Thrown up from deep water. Key West, very rare, W. II. H. (v. v.) 
Root a spreading disc. Frond solitary ( ?) rising with a stipes half an inch, then 
branching, either forked, trifurcate or laterally decompound, the main branches in- 
crassated, two to three lines in diameter, simple or forked, set with numerous lateral 
branches, which are much more slender, alternately-decompound, and very much 
attenuated at the points, sometimes drawn out almost into setaceous cirrhi. All parts 
of the frond are distichous and divaricate ; the secondary branches strikingly zig- 
zag or bent alternately from side to side. Ramuli thorn-like, one to two lines long, 
acute, patent. Colour, a deep lake-red when fresh, brownish when dry. Substance 
between cartilaginous and gelatinous. It shrinks much and closely adheres to 
paper in drying. Fruit unknown. 
The fruit of this remarkable plant being unknown, its genus is still doubtful, but 
it seems to me to have many points in common with our Ch. ramosissima, and I do 
not think it placed far from its affinities in the present genus. The perfectly dis- 
tichous branching and gelatinous substance are worthy of attention in determining 
its relationship. 
Plate XXY. Chrysymenia ? acanthoclada ; the natural size. Fig. 2, transverse 
section of a branch ; magnified. 
Sect. 3. Botryocladia, J. Ag. ; stem filiform, solid, branching, beset with inflated, 
pear-shaped ramuli. 
6. Chrysymenia uvaria, J. Ag. ; frond cylindrical, solid, dichotomous or irregu- 
larly much branched ; branches filiform, beset with scattered or imbricated, inflated, 
obovate ramuli ; conceptacles depressed, hemispheroidal. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 214. 
Gastroclonium uvaria, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 865. (Tab. XX. B.) 
Hab. Thrown up from deep water. Key West, common, W. H. H. (26), (v. v.) 
Fronds tufted, six to twelve inches long or more, the larger specimens as thick as 
crow-quills, the smaller as thick as sparrow-quills, cylindrical, solid, firmly carti- 
laginous, rigid, irregularly much branched, the lower branches sub-dichotomous. 
Sometimes the upper branches are bushy with a profusion of rod-like or tendril- 
like lesser branches. The stems and larger branches of old specimens are generally 
bare, or furnished with a few imperfectly developed ramuli, but all the younger 
branches, and the whole frond in young specimens, are thickly covered with quad- 
rifarious, obovate, inflated, glossy ramuli. On these ramuli the depressed conceptacles 192 
CRYPTONEMIACEJE. 
V. 
are borne. The colour of the stem and branches is dark red ; of the ramuli a 
brilliant lake. Substance of the ramuli succulent and tender. 
This very beautiful plant is a native also of the Mediterranean Sea and of the 
shores of Brazil. It strikingly resembles Lomentaria ovalis in ramification, but has 
a different structure and fructification. 
Plate XX. B. Fig. 1. Chrysymenia uvaria ; the natural size. Fig. 2, a ramulus 
with conceptacles ; Jig. 3, section of a conceptacle ; both magnified. 
XVII. HALYMENIA. Ag. 
Frond cylindrical, compressed or flat, gelatinoso-membranaceous or fleshy, dicho- 
tomous or pinnated, consisting of a thin, double membrane, separated by a few 
internal, laxly set, articulated, branching filaments; membrane composed internally 
of roundish-angular, empty cells, externally of minute, coloured cellules. Nuclei 
(favellse) immersed in the frond, suspended beneath the membranous wall, simple, 
containing numerous minute, densely packed spores, enclosed within a hyaline enve- 
lope. Tetraspores roundish, cruciate, immersed in the surface cellules, dispersed. 
Rose-red Algae of a very delicate, membranaceo-gelatinous substance, cylindrical 
or flattened, formed of a membranous coating, enclosing a thin watery gelatine, 
through which a few articulated, branching and anastomosing filaments are dis- 
persed. The branching is most frequently dichotomous, rarely pinnated ; often 
proliferous, new frondlets springing irregularly from the sides of the old, especially 
from wounded places. In fertile specimens the favellce are generally equally dis- 
persed in great numbers through every part of the plant. Several species from 
various parts of the world have been described, of which I can as yet claim but two 
as North American : viz. 
1. Halymenia ligulata, Ag.; frond gelatinoso-membranaceous, compressed or 
flatfish, linear and dichotomous or cuneately expanded and sub-palmate, often pro- 
liferous from the disc and margin. J.Ag.Sp. Alg. 2, p. 201. Harv. Phyc. Brit, 
t. 112. Halarachnion ligulatum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 721. Ulna ligulata, E. Bot. t. 420. 
U. rubra, E. Bot. t. 1627- 
Hab. Thrown up from deep water. Key West, a single specimen only. 
W. H. IE (v. v.) 
The only American specimen of this variable plant that I have yet seen is four V. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
inches long, about five inches in the spread of the lacinige, flahelliform, sub-fasti- 
giate, repeatedly and pretty regularly dichotomous, the larger divisions a third of an 
inch wide, the upper gradually narrower, and the ultimate ones a line or less in 
width ; apices acute. Substance, membranaceo-gelatinous. Colour, a fine, clear, 
pinky red. It closely adheres to paper in drying. 
2. Halymenia Floresia, Ag. ; frond gelatino-membranaceous, flat, stipitate, elon- 
gate, pinnately-decompound ; pinnse and pinnules linear, acuminate, acute, patent, 
entire or serrato-ciliate. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 205. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 716. Fucus 
Floresius, Turn. Hist. t. 256. 
Hab. Thrown up from deep water. Key West, rare, W.H.H. (66), Dr. 
Blodgett, (v. v.) 
Root a small disc. Fronds solitary or slightly tufted, six to eight inches long, 
and as much in the expansion of the lacini£e, somewhat ovate in outline, flat, and 
very thin, decompound-pinnatifid. Sometimes the main frond (or rachis) is two or 
three inches wide, with the margin cut into very densely crowded, bi-pinnatifid 
lobes, half an inch wide and two or three inches long ; sometimes the frond is much 
more deeply laciniated, the rachis and principal lacinias not more than half an inch 
wide ; the lacinise once, twice, or thrice compounded ; the secondary ones one or 
two lines wide, and margined with subulate, processes. Axils rounded ; 
apices all acute and attenuated. Colour, a beautiful rosy-red. Substance delicately 
gelatino-membranaceous. In drying it adheres most closely to paper. 
An extremely handsome plant. The Key West specimens, here described, closely 
agree with the Mediterranean ones in Herb. T. C. D. Some are very broad, others 
narrow. 
XVIII. HALOSACCION. Kutz. 
Frond cylindrical or obovate, simple or proliferously branched, hollow, the walls 
formed of two strata of cells ; the inner stratum of two or more rows of roundish- 
angular cells, the outer of oblong, vertically-seriated, coloured cellules. Concep- 
tacles (unknown). Tetraspores cruciate, dispersed among the cortical cells. 
Until the conceptacular fruit of this genus shall be discovered, its proper position 
must be considered doubtful. It is almost entirely constituted of AlgaB from the 
higher latitudes of the Atlantic and Pacific, and includes two distinct groups, each 
characterised by differences of outward form, and by habitat. The Pacific species 
VOL. IV.—ART. 5. 194 
CR YPTONEMI AC EiE. 
y. 
are all obovate, and unbranched ; the Atlantic cylindrical, proliferously-ramulose. 
The substance is rather rigid, and the colour purplish or brownish red. 
Sect. 1. Halosaccion ; frond simple, obovate. 
1. Halosaccion Hydrophora, J. Ag.; frond rigidly membranaceous, obovate- 
oval, turgid, attenuate at the base into a short stipes. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 358. 
Dumontia Hydrophora, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 749. Fucus saccatus, Turn. Hist. t. 241 ? 
Hab. Nootka Sound, Mr. Menzies. Puget’s Sound, Captain Wilkes, (v. s.) 
Fronds tufted, three inches long or more, three quarters of an inch wide, very 
obtuse, oblong or sub-obovate, quite simple, contracted rather suddenly at the base 
into a very short stipes. Substance thickish, like that of parchment, rigid. Colour 
a dull livid purple, passing into green. In drying it does not adhere to paper. 
2. Halosaccion fucicola, Post, and Rupr.; frond simple, membranaceous, obo- 
vate-oblong, gradually attenuated at the base into a stipes. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 
358. Dumontia fucicola, Post, and Bupr. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 720. 
Hab. On Fucus vesiculosus at Sitcha, Liitke. On Laurencice at Monterey, Dr. 
Coulter, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. H.) 
Fronds resembling the last species, but thinner and softer in texture, and brighter 
in colour, purple. 
Sect. 2. Halocoelia, J. Ag. ; frond cylindrical, elongate, beset with similar proliferous 
ramuli. 
3. Halosaccion ramentaceum., J. Ag. ; frond cylindrical, much attenuated at the 
base, simple or irregularly branched, more or less densely beset with lateral, scat- 
tered or crowded, simple or forked, tubular ramenta. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 358. 
Dumontia sobolfera, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 749. Fucus ramentaceus, Linn.—Turn. Hist, 
t. 149. (Tab. XXIX. A.) 
Hab. Greenland, Agardh. Newfoundland, Despreaux. Arctic Coast, Seeman. 
Halifax, W. H. H. Rye Beach, New Hampshire, Miss Frothingham. (v. v.) 
Fronds very densely tufted, ten to fourteen inches long, cylindrical, one to two 
lines wide at the widest part, much attenuated to the base, and more or less tapering 
to the apex, sometimes quite simple, sometimes dividing an inch or two above the 
base into several long simple branches. The frond is rarely naked, usually it is CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
v. 
beset, in its upper half, with quasi-proliferous ramenta, given off without order and 
often very densely fascicled, one to two inches long, filiform, simple or slightly ra- 
mulose, sometimes forked, and very often twisted or otherwise distorted, all tapering 
to the base, and in a less degree to the apex. Colour, a dark lurid purple, paler in 
the ramenta. Substance rigidly membranaceous or sub-coriaceous. In drying under 
pressure, it imperfectly adheres to paper. 
A most variable plant in the number and disposition of its ramenta, but easily 
recognised after it has once been seen. 
Plate XXIX. A. Fig. 1, FIalosaccion ramentaceum ; the natural size. Fig. 2, 
transverse section of the frond ; magnified. Fig. 3, a small part of the same, more 
highly magnified. 
XIX. FURCELLARIA. Lamour. 
Frond terete, dichotomous, fastigiate, solid, composed of three strata of cells ; 
the medullary stratum of densely interwoven, longitudinal, elongate filaments ; 
the intermediate of large, roundish cells ; the cortical of small cellules strung 
together in moniliform, vertical filaments. Fruit of both kinds contained in the 
swollen, pod-like apices of the branches. Nuclei (favellce) simple, immersed, formed 
from some of the cells of the intermediate stratum, numerous in each pod, at length 
often confluent, each containing many large angular spores in a cluster. Tetra- 
spores immersed within the cortical layer, formed in its filaments, large, pear- 
shaped, transversely zoned. 
Very similar in external aspect, and even in the internal structure of the frond, 
to Poly ides rotundus, a plant from which it differs so remarkably in fructification, 
that in a classification founded on differences of fruit, we are compelled to place these 
genera at opposite ends of our arrangement. The only known species, described 
below, is common to a wide extent of the Northern Atlantic Ocean. 
1. Furcellaria fastigiata, Lyngb.—J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 196. Kiitz. Sp.Alg.p. 
749. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 94 and t. 358. Fucus lumbricalis, Turn. Hist. t. 6. E. 
Bot. t. 846. 
Hab. Newfoundland, Agardh. (v. v.) 
Root, a mat of creeping fibres. Fronds 4—8 inches high, nearly a line in diameter, 
tufted, cylindrical, repeatedly dichotomous, the branches of equal height, the axils 
and apices acute. When in fruit, the ends of the branches, for an inch or more, 196 
CRYPTO NEMIACEiE. 
y. 
swell into spindle-shaped, pod-like receptacles, which, when mature, drop olf, leaving 
the branches truncated. In these receptacles either nuclei or tetraspores are lodged ; 
the former sunk among the cells of the intermediate layer, from some of which 
they are evolved ; the latter lying among those of the outer stratum. Colour dark 
red-brown, blackish when dry. Substance fleshy, sub-coriaceous when dry. 
XX. ACROTYLUS. J. Ag. 
Frond terete or compressed, cartilaginous, simple or dichotomous, consisting of 
two strata; the medullary stratum of slender, elongate, branching and anastomosing 
longitudinal filaments ; the cortical narrow, of minute, roundish, densely packed, 
coloured cellules, vertically seriated. Favellce (known only in one species) formed 
in wart-like swellings round the apices, many together, containing within a hyaline 
periderm numerous angular spores. Tetraspores (known only in one species) 
formed in definitely circumscribed spot-like sori (nemathecia) situated below the 
apices of the segments, elongate, surrounded by slender filaments, zonate. 
A small genus founded by Prof. J. Agardh on an East Indian and an Australian 
species, to the former of which the plant now to be described is closely related. 
A. prismaticus, J. Ag. is described as being prismatically three-or-four-angled, a 
character which it certainly possesses when dry ; but I am of opinion that in the 
recent state it is cylindrical, like our A. clavatus, which, if dried without pressure, 
also collapses in a prismatic-angular manner, and equally refuses to recover its 
shape on being moistened after having being dried. 
1. Acrotylus clavatus ; frond, from a filiform stipe, club-shaped, terete, obtuse, 
simple or forked (the branches being then club-shaped,) proliferous from the apex. 
Hab. Thrown up from deep water, Key West, W.H. H. (63). (v. v.) 
Root a small disc. Stipes a quarter to half an inch high, as thick as hog’s bristle, 
filiform, ending in an incrassated collar. Frond springing from the centre of the 
collar, about two inches long, club-shaped, tapering to the base, incrassated and ob- 
tuse at the apex, terete, prismatically shrinking when dried without pressure, and 
not recovering its form on re-moistening, simple or forked. Colour, a very dark 
purplish-red. Substance firmly cartilaginous. Structure very dense. Fruit un- 
known. 
Of this curious plant I collected a very few specimens at Key West, in February, Y. 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
197 
after strong Soutli Westerly gales. They are apparently immature, but unques- 
tionably congenerous with A. prismaticus, with which they agree in structure and 
substance. Possibly mature specimens may be more compound. 
XXI. PRIONITIS. J. Ag. 
Frond compressed or flat, linear, dichotomous or pinnate, proliferous or glandular 
on the disc or margin, composed of three strata ; the medullary stratum very broad, 
of densely interwoven, slender filaments; the intermediate of roundish cells, smaller 
towards the surface ; the cortical of minute, coloured, vertically seriated cellules. 
Nuclei (favellce) immersed either in the frond or its marginal processes, simple, con- 
taining roundish spores within a gelatinous pellicle, at length discharged through a 
superficial pore. Tetraspores oblong, cruciate, dispersed among the cells of the 
cortical layer. 
Rather coarse Algas, of a thick, coriaceous or rigid substance and very dense tex- 
ture, linear, nerveless, pinnate or dichotomous, often much branched, frequently 
margined with minute glands, which afterwards grow out into lobules. Most turn 
very dark in drying. 
The species here brought together have been formerly arranged with Sphcerococcus, 
Gelidium or Grateloupia ; and are nearly related to the latter genus, differing chiefly 
in the more compound structure of the frond. Eight species are enumerated by 
Agardh, all natives of the Pacific Ocean, three being found to the north, and five to 
the south of the equator. 
1. Prionitis lanceolata, Harv. ; frond piano-compressed, linear, alternately or 
irregularly branched ; branches ligulate, attenuate at the base and apex, naked or 
pinnate ; pinnae lanceolate, distichous, mostly opposite ; tetraspores cruciate, im- 
mersed in the pinnules. Prionitis ligulata, J. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 2, p. 189. Gelidium 
lanceolatum, Harv. in Bot. Beechey, p. 164. (Tab. XXVII. A.) /3 angusta ; much 
more slender, forked, with few and nearly naked branches. 
Hab. Prince William’s Sound and Nootka, Mr. Menzies, 1787- California, Doug- 
las ! Dr. Coulter ! /3 St. Francisco, Capt. Pike. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Boot discoid. Fronds tufted, twelve or fourteen inches long, one to two lines 
wide, much compressed or nearly flat, linear, tapering to the base and apex, alter- 
nately branched or pinnate. The primary branches are several inches long, quite 
simple, and either naked or distichously pinnulate. Pinnules about half an inch 198 
CR YPTONEMIA CEiE. 
V. 
long, lanceolate, not very acute ; sometimes longer and then frequently pinnellated 
near the end. Along the margin of the naked branches or pinnae, minute gland-like 
prominences occur at intervals, which I take to be the commencement of pinnules 
that are often arrested in growth. Here and there a branch occurs, constricted in 
the middle as well as at the extremities. Many of the branches bear wart-like 
excrescences. Tetraspores are abundantly found in the lesser pinnae, lying among 
the cortical cells. Colour, a dull brown-red, dark when dry. Substance rigid, be- 
tween coriaceous and horny. It does not adhere to paper. 
/?, which I have from Capt. Pike, is very much more slender, with very few 
branches and scarcely any pinnules. 
The specimens found by Mr. Menzies are of smaller size and more regularly pin- 
nated than many of Douglas’s; but some of Dr. Coulter’s are equally well furnished, 
and thus the two extreme forms are brought together. 
Plate XXVII. A. Fig. 1. Prionitjs lanceolata ; the natural size. Fig. 2, trans- 
verse section of the frond, showing the cellular structure ; jig. 3, small part of the 
same, showing the peripheric stratum with immersed tetraspores, and the interme- 
diate stratum ; jig. 4, tetraspores ; all magnijied. 
2. Prionitis jubata, J. Ag. ; “frond flat, pinnately decompound, pinnse linear, 
tapering at each end, sparingly denticulate at the margin, pinnated above, the pin- 
nas lanceolate-linear.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 190. Gelidium crassifolium, Post, and 
Iiupr. MSS. (not of Grev.) 
Hab. Floating in the sea, between Asia and Russian America, Liitke. 
Three or four inches long, or more, sub-stipitate, the primary lamina narrower 
and thickened. From the upper part of this spring four or five primary pinnae 
nearly in palmate order, an inch and half long, much attenuated at the base, two or 
three lines broad beyond the middle, tapering upwards to the truncate apex. 
Secondary pinnae chiefly towards the apices of the primary, much narrower, 
scarcely a line broad, naked or very sparingly denticulate, pinnate beyond the 
middle, pinnules here and there aggregated, alternate or secund, sub-acute. Colour 
brownish. Substance coriaceous. J. Ag. 
XXII. GRATELOUPIA. Ag. 
Frond compressed or flat, carnoso-membranaceous, dichotomous or more frequently 
pinnate, consisting of two strata of cells ; the medullary of articulated filaments 
densely interwoven and anastomosing, the cortical of short, moniliform, vertical, 
closely set filaments. Nuclei ( favellee) immersed beneath the cortical layer of either v. 
CRYPTONEMIACEJE. 
199 
surface, simple, containing, within a gelatinous hyaline pellicle, numerous roundish- 
angular spores, which are at length discharged through a superficial pore. Tetra- 
spores immersed in the cortical layer, scattered, cruciate. 
Fronds dark brownish red or purple, sometimes livid, changing to green in decay’ 
strongly compressed or flat, narrow-linear or rarely cuneato-lanceolate, very gene- 
rally pinnately decompound, rarely dichotomous ; of a compact structure, and soft, 
membranaceo-gelatinous or carnoso-coriaceous substance, very tough when recent, 
lubricous, and difficult to detach from the rock on which they grow, membra- 
naceous when dry, shrinking much, and generally closely adhering to paper. The 
sporiferous nuclei are sunk in the frond, but slightly prominent, like little pimples, 
to either surface, often of small size, and often aggregated in considerable numbers. 
They communicate with the surface by means of a canal which runs from the 
nucleus through the cortical layer of the frond, its mouth appearing as a superficial 
pore. The species are natives of the Tropical Ocean and of the warmer regions of 
the Temperate zone. One (G.filicina) is found as far north as the south of Eng- 
land. 
1. Grateloupia Gibbesii; frond (one to two feet long) flat, cuneate at the base, 
polymorphous ; lanceolate or wedge-shaped, simple, forked, or alternately multifid ; 
the laciniae very long, lanceolate, acute ; margin entire or repand, or fringed with 
linear lobes which sometimes lengthen into pinnae ; conceptacles immersed in the 
lamina, minute, scattered. (Tab. XXVI.) 
TIab. On the breakwater at Sullivan’s Island, Charleston, South Carolina, Prof. 
Lewis P. Gibbes and W. H. H., January, 1850. (v. v.) 
Fronds densely tufted, six, twelve, twenty inches in length, the laciniae from half 
an inch to an inch and half wide at the widest part, tapering very much to the base 
and apex, flat, coriaceo-membranaceous, and rather thin, with the feel of fine kid 
leather. The ramification is so different in different specimens, that an adequate 
conception of the species can hardly be obtained without the comparison of many 
individuals. In some the frond is quite simple, lanceolate or cuneate, the margin 
flat, naked, or winged with lanceolate lobes on one or both sides. In others the 
frond divides at an inch or two above the base into ten or twelve laciniae ; each 
several inches long, tapering greatly to both extremities, either perfectly flat and 
entire or with the margin undulate and repand, now and then furnished with a few 
secund pinnae. Other specimens have the laciniae forked or even palmate near the 
apex ; and in others a primary, linear lamina is pinnated throughout with linear- 
cuneate, simple or forked lobes. In fact, in the same tuft scarcely two specimens 
are similarly branched. Colour, when growing, a very dark, blackish purple ; 
changing more or less completely to a livid green in drying. Conceptacles, which 200 
CRYPTOXEMIACEiE. 
y. 
I have only as yet seen in an immature state, densely scattered through the 
lobes. 
This is the largest and most fucoid plant in Charleston Harbour, and one of the 
noblest species of the genus. In the belief that it is distinct from the G. Cutleries 
of Valparaiso, its nearest relation, I give it the name of my friend Prof. Lewis R. 
Gibbes, as a memento of a delightful day spent in his company on the shores of 
Sullivan’s Island. 
Plate XXVI. Fig. 1. Grateloupia Gibbesii; the natural size. Fig. 2, a section of 
the frond, magnified. 
2. Grateloupia versicolor, J. Ag. ; “ frond (purple, changing to blackish green,) 
flat, thickish, pinnately decompound ; pinnae linear, tapering at both ends, dentato- 
pectinate at the margin, the young teeth acuminate, at length growing out into 
horizontal, cuneato-linear pinnules.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 181. 
Hab. At St. Augustin, Pacific coast of Mexico, Liebman. 
3. Grateloupia cuneifolia, J. Ag.; “frond (blackish green when dry) flat, cuneate 
or linear, pinnate, here and there dilated and palmate, the margin and disc beset 
with lesser ciliary processes, segments linear, elongate, rather obtuse.” J. Ag. Sp• 
Alg. 2,p. 181. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 732. 
Hab. La Guayra, Gulf of Mexico, Herb. Binder. 
4. Grateloupia prolongata, J. Ag. ; “ frond (violaceous, turning greenish) com- 
pressed, nearly flat, undulated, interruptedly pinnate and proliferous from the disc, 
the apex lengthened out and naked; pinnae linear-subulate from a narrower base, long 
and short intermixed together.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 181. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 730. 
Hab. Pochetti, Pacific coast of Mexican Republic, Liebman, (v. s. Herb. T. C. D.) 
5. Grateloupia filicina, Ag. ; frond piano-compressed, pinnately decompound and 
proliferous from the disc, pinnae narrowed at base, linear, acuminate, the lowest 
longest, and often pinnulate, the upper sub-simple ; nuclei numerous, immersed in 
the disc of the pinnae. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 180. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 730. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 100. Fucus filicinus, Turn. Hist. t. 150. 
Hab. Apalachichola, Florida, Mr. Lounsbury. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
I have seen but a single specimen, which appears identical with some of the Medi- 
terranean forms of this variable plant. v. 
CRYPTONEMIACE M. 
201 
XXIII. CATENELLA. Grev. 
Frond sub-tubular, constricted at intervals as if jointed, dull purple, membra- 
nous ; the axile portion composed of a lax net-work of anastomosing, longitudinal 
filaments, emitting to the periphery dichotomous, moniliform, horizontal branches, 
whose apices, strongly cohering together, form the membranous wall of the frond. 
Nuclei contained in the axile net-work of minute, ovate or roundish ramuli. Tetra- 
spores also in small ramuli, lying among the dichotomous peripheric filaments, 
zonate. 
Small, densely tufted, littoral Algae of a dark purple colour. Fronds rising from 
matted creeping filaments, half an inch to an inch or two in height, vaguely 
branched, constricted into spurious joints, the branches resembling those of an 
Opuntia in miniature. The internodes are somewhat tubular, laterally compressed, 
hollow, except that a very lax net-work of anastomosing longitudinal filaments runs 
through them. From the exterior meshes of this net issue to all sides horizontal, 
dichotomous, moniliform filaments, whose apices, strongly glued together by firm 
gelatine, form the membranous wall of the frond. Conceptacles are very rare. Tetra- 
spores are more frequently found. 
The genus at present consists of two, or perhaps three species, if the form now to 
be described be entitled to specific distinction. 
1. Catenella pinnata ; densely tufted, rising from creeping filaments; stems 
erect, once or twice pinnate ; branches horizontally patent ; internodes oblong, the 
terminal ones acute, all the ramuli divaricate. (Tab. XXIX. B.) 
Hab. On the stems of the mangroves, at high-water mark. Key West, W. H. H. 
(v. V.) 
Fronds densely tufted, forming wide patches, rising from prostrate surculi, which 
are attached to the mangrove trunks by lateral discs. These prostrate surculi throw 
up numerous erect stems, half an inch to an inch high, divaricately pinnate or bi- 
pinnate; the branches horizontally patent, opposite or alternate, either naked or 
having a few secondary branches which are equally patent, the longer ones bearing 
a few ramuli. Branches moniliform ; the lower internodes sub-cylindrical, the 
upper compressed, oblong or sub-lanceolate, the ramuli spindle-shaped, acute or sub- 
acuminate. Colour a dark purple. Substance membranaceous, rigid. It does not 
adhere to paper. 
Perhaps this is only a variety of C. Opuntia ; but it is much more regularly 
pinnated than any form of that species known to me, and the internodes are less 
frequently obovate. 
VOL. IV.—AET 5. 202 
CRYPTONEMIACEiE. 
V. 
Plate XXIX. B. Fig. 1, Catenella pinnata; the natural size. Fig. 2, part of a 
frond, magnified. Fig. 3, transverse section, and fig. 4, longitudinal semi-section of 
an internode ; highly magnified. 
XXIV. GLOIOSIPHONIA. Carm. 
Frond terete, gelatinous, decompoundly much branched ; axis composed of a 
column of densely interwoven, longitudinal, articulated filaments, at length hollow 
and tubular ; periphery of verticillate, moniliform, dichotomous, fastigiate, densely 
packed filaments, set in gelatine. Nuclei (favelloe) immersed beneath the peripheric 
filaments, simple, containing, within a gelatinous envelope, numerous roundish 
spores. Tetraspores unknown. 
This genus at present contains but a single species, a native also of the Atlantic 
Coasts of Europe. It is a brilliant carmine, very much branched, filiform plant, of 
a very tender gelatinous substance, and wholly composed of articulated, confervoid 
filaments, invested with transparent gelatine. A cross section of one of the young- 
est ramuli shows a solitary axial longitudinal filament, from which four verticillate, 
horizontal, dichotomous, fastigiate, moniliform branches issue, whose apices, closely 
pressed together and united by gelatine, constitute the periphery of the branchlet. 
An older branchlet, similarly treated, shows a solid columnar axis formed of the 
union of several filaments, from which spring a proportionably larger number of 
verticillate peripheric strings of cells. As older branches are successively subjected 
to the lens, the axis is seen to be more developed, until it results in a vast number 
of interlaced, anastomosing and branching longitudinal filaments densely packed 
together. Finally, either from distension, or the perishing of the central cells, the 
axis becomes hollow in the centre. Favelloe are generally very abundantly scattered 
through the branches. They are wholly immersed, and appear to be attached to 
the lower branches of the peripheric filaments. Tetraspores are unknown. 
1. Gloiosipiionia capiliaris, Carm.—J.Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 161. Kiltz. Sp. Alg. p. 
714. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 57. Fucus capiliaris, Turn. Hist. 31. E. Bot. t. 2191. 
Hab. Nahant, Mrs. Mudge. Hampton Beach, Dr. Durkee. Chelsea, Miss E. H. 
Brewer. New London, Miss French, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Frond 4—6 inches long, 1—2 lines in diameter, the older parts hollow and 
tubular, the younger filled with longitudinal threads, excessively and irregularly 
branched; the branches spreading towards all sides. Main stem sub-simple, terete, V. 
SPYRIDIACEiE. 
203 
tapering to the base and apex, naked for an inch or two above the base, afterwards 
very densely set with lateral branches, which are many times decompound, with 
several series of lesser branches and ramuli. Bamuli tapering remarkably to the 
base and apex; the alternate ones very slender, setaceous, attenuated. Colour a 
brilliant carmine. Substance elastic, shrinking in drying. It closely adheres to 
paper. 
The American specimens, here described, closely resemble those from Europe. 
Order XII. SPYRIDIACEiE. 
Spyridiece, J. Ag. Sp. Gen. and Ord. Algarum, vol. 2, p. 337. Part of Cera- 
miaceae, J. Ag. and Auct. Harv. Man. Ed. 2,p. 156. 
Diagnosis. Rosy or brown-red sea-weeds, with a filiform, articulate, monosiphonous 
frond, partially or entirely coated with small cellules. Conceptacles external, fur- 
nished with a closed, cellular pericarp, containing numerous nucleoli, formed by the 
transformation of spore-threads radiating from a placenta : these spore-threads are 
much branched, articulated, and produce in their upper cells, by repeated divisions of 
the endochrome, numerous oblong spores, which are at length massed together 
without order. Tetraspores external, on the ramelli. 
Natural Character. Boot an expanded disc. Fronds filiform, articulated, the 
tube coated externally by a stratum of small, polygonal coloured cellules, which at 
length conceal the articulations, except in the young branches. Stem much 
branched, alternately or pinnately compounded, all the lesser divisions clothed 
■with minute, setaceous ramelli. Bamelli simple, pellucidly articulate, or coated at 
the nodes with small cellules. 
Conceptacles external, pedicellate, roundish or lobed, formed by the metamorphosis 
of one of the smaller branches. Pericarp closed, formed of a stratum of polygonal 
cells. Its contents are thus described by Prof. J. Agardh : “ Placenta central, con- 
tinuous from the peduncle, and prolonged to the apex of the cavity, formed of 
dense, dichotomo-fastigiate and anastomosing filaments woven together. Prom this 
central column of the conceptacle issue filaments (as it were branches) radiating in 
all directions, many of them elongated and sterile, some shorter and fertile. The 
sterile filaments are nearly regularly dichotomous, articulated, passing off at the 
apices into the pericarpal cells ; the fertile form many fascicles, directed to the 204 
SPYRIDIACEyE. 
V. 
different lobes ; the younger filaments paniculately branched, with short oblong 
articulations, the mature ones constituting an obconic cluster of spores. These 
spores, which originate in a cell-division of the articulations, are oblong; at length, 
by mutual pressure, angular, separated from one another and held together by a 
firm gelatine.” J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 337. 
The tetraspores are formed along the sides of the ramelli ; either from the evolu- 
tion of new cells or of those of the cortical layer. They are triangularly parted, 
and sessile. 
At present this Order consists of a single genus, separated by Prof. Agardh from 
the Ceramiacece, on account of the very different structure of its conceptacular 
nucleus, a character by which it is more nearly related to the Rhodymeniacece than 
to any other family. The structure of the frond, on the contrary, is identical with 
that of the former family, so much so, that the species of Spyridia were formerly 
referred to Ceramium itself. 
Possibly when the conceptacles of Ballia are better known, that genus will form 
a second in this very distinctly characterised though at present fragmentary Order. 
I. SPYRIDIA. Harv. 
Frond filiform, terete or compressed, decompoundly much branched, composed 
of a single, articulated, thick-walled filament, coated externally with a thin layer of 
small coloured cellules ; and more or less beset with slender, deciduous, articulated 
ramelli. Conceptacles at the ends of short branches or peduncles, involucrated with 
a few ramelli, containing within a closed, membranous pericarp, numerous nucleoli 
of oblong spores. Tetraspores formed along the ramelli, external, sessile, triangu- 
larly parted. 
The few species of this genus yet known to botanists are all natives of the warmer 
parts of the ocean. S. jilamentosa is the most widely dispersed of any, being found 
throughout the tropics of the Eastern and Western Hemisphere ; in the Medi- 
terranean Sea, and along the Atlantic shores of Europe as far as the South of 
England; and on the East coast of North America, from Florida as far North as 
Massachusetts Bay. As might be expected in a plant of such indifference to 
climate, it varies much both in the luxuriance of its filaments and the amount of 
their ramelli; also, though in a less degree, in the primary ramification. Our var. 
refracta almost looks like a species. 
1. Spyridia jilamentosa, Harv. ; frond filiform, decompoundly branched; branches 
alternate, repeatedly divided, rainellose ; ramelli scattered, hair-like, articulate, end- y. 
SPYRIDIACEiE. 
205 
ing in a simple, acute point. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 340. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 46. 
Conferva Griffdhsiana, E. Bot. t. 2312. /3 refracta ; frond robust, sub-dichotomous, 
the branches divaricating, with very wide axils, arched ; the terminal ones fre- 
quently revolute, all but the youngest branches bare of ramelli; ramelli as in the 
ordinary varieties. (Tab. XXXIY. A.) 
Hab. Massachusetts Bay, Capt. Pike. Newhaven, Mr. Hooper. Stonington and 
Newport, Prof. J. W. Bailey. Red Hook, New York, Mr. Walters, Sfc. Greenport, 
Long Island, W. H. H. Key West, Dr. Wurdeman ; W. H. H. /3 at Key West, 
W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Yery variable in size and ramification. Frond three to eight or ten inches long, 
sometimes only as thick as hog’s bristle, sometimes twice or thrice as thick ; gene- 
rally much branched, but very irregular in the order of branching. Branches 
spreading, many times compounded, the younger ones especially beset with hair- 
like ramelli a line or two in length. These ramelli are articulated, each internode 
formed of a single cell which varies in proportionate length and breadth in different 
specimens; the nodes are coated with a ring of small cellules, from some of which 
the tetraspores are evolved in fertile specimens. Conceptacles pedicellate, terminat- 
ing short branches, surrounded by a few involucral ramelli, bi-trilobed, each con- 
taining several distinct clusters of spores. Tetraspores oval, clustering round the 
nodes of the ramelli. Colour a purplish-red, changing through various shades of 
brown to dingy yellow-white. Substance soft, but not lubricous. It does not 
adhere strongly to paper in drying, and is without gloss. 
/3 is a very remarkable variety. The frond is of much greater diameter than in 
the ordinary American forms, and has thinner walls. Our fig. 1 is strictly charac- 
teristic of the extreme form of this variety; and I should have considered it specifi- • 
cally distinct, had not intermediate forms accompanied these strangely straggling 
ones, connecting them with the well-known European vars. nudiuscula, repens, &c. 
By Kiitzing, indeed, these and other varieties, in all some sixteen, are erected into 
species ; but I fear, were the characters given by this author to be regarded as 
specific, it would be easy to quadruple the number of such species, if a sufficiently 
extensive suite of specimens were closely examined. 
Plate XXXIY. A. Fig. 1. Spyridia filamentosa, var. refracta; the natural size. 
Fig. 2, branchlet and ramelli; fig. 3, apex of a ramellus; fig. 4, small portion of the 
stem ; fig. 5, the same cut open longitudinally ; fig. 6, a transverse section of the 
same ; more or less highly magnified. 
2. Spyridia aculeata, Kiitz. ; frond filiform, decompoundly much branched, 
branches excessively divided, ramellose ; ramelli densely set, hair-like, articulate, 
having three or more uncinate prickles at the extremity. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 342. 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 668. (Excl. Syn.) Spyridia Berkeley ana, Mont. FI. Alg. p. 141, t. 
15, f. 6, Kiitz. 1. c. 206 
CERAMIACEiE. 
y. 
Hab. At Sand Key, Florida, W. H. H. (74.) (v. v.) 
Fronds densely tufted, four to five inches long, as thick as sparrow’s quill below, 
gradually attenuated, setaceous above, branched on every side, bushy, excessively 
divided. Branches virgate, two or three inches long, with a lanceolate outline, 
closely set with lateral, simple or alternately compounded lesser branches. All the 
younger parts of the frond are beset with scattered ramelli half a line to a line in 
length, articulated, the nodes more or less coated with accessory cells and the apex 
armed with three (or rarely four) hooked prickles, of which one is terminal and the 
others lateral. Colour a fine purplish lake. Substance soft, soon decomposing in 
fresh water. In drying, it adheres to paper. 
A much more densely branched and more feathery plant than any variety of S. 
jilamentosa which I have seen, and readily distinguished by the hooked spines which 
terminate the ramelli. On many of my specimens some of the branches are in- 
crassated below the apex ; the incrassated portion bare of ramelli and strongly 
re volute, forming a short tendril. They were not found attached, however, by these 
hooks to any neighbouring Algse. 
Order XIII. CERAMIACEiE. 
Ceramiece, J. Ag. Sp. Gen. and Ord. Algarum, vol. 2, p. 1. Ceramiece, J. Ag. 
Alg. Med. p. 69. (in part). Endl. Gen. PI. Suppl. 3, p. 34. Harv. Alan. Ed. 2, 
p. 156, fyc. 
Diagnosis. Rosy or red brown sea-weeds, with a filiform, articulate, or partially 
or entirely corticated, monosiphonous frond; the outer coat (when present) formed 
of polygonal cells. Conceptacles naked or involucrated favelloe; that is, masses of 
roundish-angular congregated spores, enclosed in a hyaline gelatino-membranaceous 
saccate envelope. Tetraspores external or superficial, formed either from the ulti- 
mate ramuli of the simpler fronds, or the cortical cells of the coated ones. 
Natural Character. Fronds generally growing in dense tufts, sometimes 
solitary, rising either from creeping fibres or more commonly from discoid roots. 
In the simpler species, the frond consists of an articulated filament, formed of a 
number of cylindrical cells or articulations, placed end to end. This filament is y. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
207 
either dichotomously, or pinnately branched, the branches being similar to the main 
stem, and always springing from the upper part of each internode (or articulation) 
either from its shoulder, or from a short distance below that point. In some genera, 
a number of such filaments anastomose together so as to form a net-work or sponge- 
like frond, each mesh of the net being usually formed by as many cells or articula- 
tions as it has sides ; none with this habit, however, are yet known as North 
American. In the filiform species the primary, articulated, filamentous frond has 
either the simple structure described above, or it is more or less completely covered 
over and rendered opaque by cortical cellules, which are sometimes developed on 
the outer surface of the primary cell, but often formed within the thickened 
cell-walls. The formation of such cortical cells commences at the nodes and 
proceeds downwards, the lower part of the articulation being the last coated. 
These cells are frequently deposited in linear series, but sometimes form a 
honeycombed surface. In several Callithamnia the stem, which in the young frond 
is pellucidly articulate, becomes as the plant advances in age gradually opaque, by 
the development of numerous longitudinal articulated filaments within the trans- 
parent gelatino-cartilaginous cell walls. These filaments originate at the points 
from which the branches and ramuli spring, and grow downwards toward the base 
of the stem. They are indeed like roots to the branches ; as if each branch sent 
forth many fibrous roots through the substance of the stem ; and in their growth 
they illustrate, analogically, the similar development of wood tissue from the bases 
of leaves. In young specimens of Cal. Baileyi, the gradual progress of formation of 
these filaments may be readily seen. 
In the more compound fronds, such as occur in the genera Ptilota and Micro- 
cladia, no articulation is visible in the stem, because the primary articulated 
filament is enclosed in a cellular coat, composed sometimes of many rows of small 
polygonal coloured cellules. It is only in the very youngest parts of these plants 
that articulations are partially visible ; but, on dissection, the monosiphonous 
filament which characterises all the plants of this Order is found running, as an 
axis, through every part of the frond. These opaque species therefore only differ 
from the pellucidly articulated ones, by the greater development of the cortical 
cellules. 
The conceptacular fruit is of the kind called by Agardh a favella. It is formed by 
the metamorphosis of one of the articulations or primary cells of a branch ; either 
of the terminal cell of a shortened branch, or of one of the upper cells. The cell 
wall dilates, and becomes the transparent envelope or periderm to the spores, which 
are formed by the repeated sub-division of the endochrome of the cell. These 
favellce are frequently in pairs or clusters, and are either naked or surrounded by 
short involucral ramuli. 
The tetraspores are usually tripartite, rarely cruciate, and still more rarely zonate. 
They are very frequently external, either sessile on the sides of the ramuli, or on 
little pedicels, in these cases originating in a transformation of the ultimate divi- 
sions of the frond. Sometimes they are half immersed, and rarely wholly sunk 
among the surface cellules of the compound fronds ; in these cases being formed 
from some of the cortical cellules. 208 
CERAMIACEiE. 
V. 
Antheridia have been found in several. They generally occupy the same position 
on the frond as the tetraspores, and consist of innumerable minute, hyaline cellules 
strung in moniliform filaments, radiating from a central point; each of these tufts 
of filaments being about the size of a tetraspore. 
Seventeen or eighteen genera of this Order are known. Of these the following 
are represented on the North American Coasts. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
Tribe 1. Tetraspores (formed by a metamorphosis of some of the cor- 
tical cellules) more or less sunk in the frond. 
I. Microcladia. Frond not obviously articulate. 
II. Centroceras. Frond articulated, corticated ; the cortical cells rectangular? 
longitudinally seriated. 
III. Ceramium. Frond articulated, more or less corticated ; the cortical cells 
roundish, irregularly distributed. 
Tribe 2. Tetraspores (formed by a metamorphosis of a whole 
ramulus or of an articulation) external, sessile or pedicellate. 
IY. Ptilota. Frond corticated, decompound-pinnate. Favellce involucrate. 
Y. Crouania. Frond gelatinous, articulated; the stem and branches moniliform, 
whorled with minute, densely set ramelli, among which the favellce are sunk. 
YI. Halurus. Frond cartilaginous, articulated ; branches whorled with forked 
ramelli. Favellce involucrate. 
YII. Gribfithsia. Frond gelatino-membranaceous, articulate, dichotomous. Fa- 
vellce involucrate. 
VIII. Callithamnion. Frond articulate, (the stem and branches occasionally sub- 
opaque). Favellce naked. Y. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
209 
I. MICROCLADIA. Grev. 
Frond compressed, decompound-dichotomous, or sub-pinnate, distichous, with an 
articulated axial filament, corticated, opaque; the cortical stratum formed internally 
of large angular cells, externally of minute ones. Favellce sessile on the branches, 
subtended by a few involucral ramuli, and containing, in a hyaline periderm, nume- 
rous angular spores. Tetraspores immersed in the ultimate segments, formed out 
of some of the superficial cells, triangularly divided. 
This genus was founded by Dr. Greville on the Fucus glandulosus of the Banksian 
Herbarium, a little plant found along the European shores from the Coast of Ire- 
land to the South of Spain, as well as in the Mediterranean Sea ; and which 
possibly awaits discovery on the Atlantic shores of America. It closely resembles 
Ceramium rubrum in habit, but is evidently compressed, and much more opaque, 
the cortical layer being formed of several rows of coloured cells. To this original 
species I venture to add the two following from the Pacific Coast. 
1. Microcladia Coulteri; frond inarticulate, compressed, distichous, decompound- 
pinnate ; branches alternate, elongate, simple, bi-tri-pinnate ; pinnae and pinnulae 
piano-compressed, without evident articulation, the ultimate ramuli broadly subu- 
late, acute ; favellae sub-globose or bilobed, sub-tended by two or three short ramuli. 
(Tab. XXXIII. A.) 
Hab. California, Dr. Coulter, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Frond six or eight inches long, half a line in diameter, compressed, becoming 
more so upwards, slightly flexuous, undivided or slightly divided, set throughout, at 
distances of half an inch, with lateral, undivided, virgate branches. These branches 
are erecto-patent, pinnated with shorter branches or pinnae, half an inch to an inch 
or more in length ; the lowest shortest, the rest successively longer to the middle 
of the branch, and thence again shorter to the apex. The pinnce are plano-com- 
pressed, about bi-pinnate, all the divisions alternate and erecto-patent, the ultimate 
ramuli subulate and acute ; the apical laciniae hooked inwards. No articulation is 
externally visible in any part of the stem or ramuli when examined with a micro- 
scope, but the internal articulated axial filament may be seen in some places with a 
pocket lens. A section of one of the upper branches shows a large central tube, 
surrounded by several series of polygonal cells ; the inner large, the rest succes- 
sively smaller to the circumference, which is formed of minute cells. A cross sec- 
tion of the base of the stem has a very different aspect: it exhibits a large central 
tube, though considerably shrunk from that of the branches, surrounded by one or 
more circles of large cells, separated from the central tube and from each other by 
VOL. IV.—ART. 5. 210 
CERAMIACEiE. 
y. 
wide interstices filled with minute, filiform cellules. The stem does not readily re- 
cover its form when moistened after having been dried, and this structure, attempted 
to be shown is jig. 5, is not correctly given ; the specimen from which it was drawn 
not having opened sufficiently. This difference in structure between the branches 
and stem originates in causes exactly similar to those that operate in some Calli- 
tliamnia, in which the branches at first consist of a string of transparent-walled 
cells, but afterwards have their walls filled from above with filaments, issuing from 
the butts of the branches and gradually accumulating toward the base of the frond. 
The favellce are formed on slightly shortened pinnules, and are roundish, subtended 
by two or four subulate ramuli. Colour a purplish red. 
This is so similar to some varieties of Ceramium cancellatum that I had at first 
referred it to that species ; but it is much more robust, more opaque, of a different 
internal structure, and moreover the pinnae and pinnulae, which are lanceolate in 
circumscription, are alternately rather than dichotomously compounded. 
Plate XXXIII. A. Fig. 1. Microcladia Coulteri, the natural size. Fig. 2, a pinna; 
jig. 3, a pinnule with favella ; jig. 4, a longitudinal, and jig. 5, a transverse section of 
the base of the stem (not quite correct); the latter figures more or less highly 
magnijied. 
2. Microcladia borealis, Rupr.; frond inarticulate, distichous, dichotomo-secund, 
many times compounded ; branches arched, virgate, set along their upper sides 
with numerous, secund pectinato-dichotomous, twice or thrice secundly compounded 
branchlets ; ultimate ramuli incurved, acute ; tetraspores in the ultimate ramuli, 
irregularly scattered. Rupr. Alg. Ochotsk. p. 259. Microcladia scorpioides, Harv. MS. 
in Herb. 
Hab. Una Nootka, Dr. Scouler ! Fort Vancouver, 1826, Garry ! Unalaschka, 
Wosnessenski! Golden Gate, California, Capt. Pike ! (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Densely tufted. Fronds three to four inches long, as thick as hog’s bristle, so 
closely coated with peripheric cells that no articulation is visible in any part of the 
frond without dissection. Internal structure as in the genus. The branches and 
all their subsequent divisions, though formed on a dichotomous type, appear from 
the nearly constant regular suppression of one of the arms of the bifurcation to be 
secund. The main branches are arched backwards, long and virgate, and closely 
set with falcato-secund, distichous secondary branches, from half an inch to an inch 
in length, and about a quarter inch apart. Each of these carries on its upper side 
five or six secund ramuli, which are again once or twice compounded in a similar 
manner. This order of ramification seems perfectly regular, without a trace of pro- 
liferous growth. Tetraspores are abundantly scattered through the surface cells of 
the ultimate ramuli in Capt. Pike’s specimen. 
This appears to be a very distinctly characterised species and to belong to the 
present genus, although it bears some external resemblance to Ceramium obsoletum, Y. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
211 
Ag. It is much more opaque than that species, with a smaller axial tube and 
shorter articulations, and the ramification is as orderly as in Plocamium coccineum. 
CENTROCERAS. Kiitz. 
Frond filiform, dichotomous, articulated, corticated with oblong cells, arranged 
round the internode in longitudinal lines. Favellce sessile on the branches, sub- 
tended by a few involucral ramuli, and containing, within a hyaline periderm, many 
angular spores. Tetraspores formed by a transformation of some of the cortical 
cells, projecting from the surface, roundish, triangularly divided. 
Plants with the external habit of Ceramium, from which genus this chiefly differs 
in having the cells of the cortical layer arranged in longitudinal, striseform rows, 
instead of being irregularly placed. Of the following species, which has many 
varieties, and is dispersed very widely through the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 
Prof. Kiitzing has made no less than eight species. 
1. Centroceras clavulatum, Ag. ; frond capillary, rigid, dichotomous, fastigiate, 
at length proliferous from the axils ; apices hooked inwards, lower internodes four 
to six times as long as broad, upper successively shorter; nodes armed with a whorl 
of minute spines ; tetraspores whorled round the nodes of the lesser branches and 
ramuli; favellce geminate, involucrate. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 149. Centroceras sp. 
omnes, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 688. (Tab. XXXIII. C.) /3 crispulum, Mont. ; filaments 
variously curved and twisted, and beset with lateral, squarrose ramuli, Mont. Cuba, 
t. 2,/. 1. 
Hab. Abundant at Key West, on rocks, on the foundations of the Fort and else- 
where near low water mark, W. H. H. (both varieties), Prof. Tuomey, &c. (v. v.) 
Fronds densely tufted, two to four inches long, as thick as human hair, nearly 
of the same diameter throughout, repeatedly and regularly dichotomous, the apices 
fastigiate ; branches straight and erect in var. a, variously twisted and spreading 
in /3, naked, or furnished with lateral, proliferous, forked branchlets, which spring 
either from any node along the stem or often from the axils, especially the upper 
ones. Frond articulated to the base ; the internodes in the lower part several times 
longer than broad, shorter above and very short towards the ends of the ramuli, 
coated with cells arranged in longitudinal strkeform lines ; the cellules toward the 
apex of each internode short, quadrate, gradually longer toward the base, and 212 
CERAMIACEfiE. 
y. 
always longest in the older parts of the frond. The nodes are universally swollen, 
thicker than the internode above and below, each internode sitting in the one below 
it as in a little cup. In the young state each node is crowned with a whorl of 
minute spine-like processes, which are gradually obliterated in age, and are only to 
be found, in old plants, on the youngest branches. Young plants are also covered 
with copious, very slender hairs, afterwards deciduous. Favellee subtended by 
three or four small branchlets. Tetraspores rather prominent, whorled round the 
nodes of the lateral ramuli. Colour a dark purple, passing into brick-dust-red in 
fresh water. Substance rigid and harsh. It does not adhere to paper in drying. 
Plate XXXIII. C. Fig. 1. A tuft of Centroceras clavulatum, the natural size. 
Figs. 2 and 3, portions of filaments of different ages ; fig. 4, apex of a branch ; fig. 
5, internodes of the stem ; all more or less magnified. 
III. CERAMIUM. Lyngb. 
Frond filiform, dichotomous or somewhat pinnate, articulate ; the articulations 
either partially or wholly coated by small cells not arranged in lineal series, 
jFavellee sessile on the branches, subtended by a few involucral ramuli, and contain- 
ing, within a hyaline periderm, many angular spores. Tetraspores formed by a 
transformation of some of the cortical cells, more or less projecting from the 
surface, roundish, triangularly divided. 
The fronds generally grow in dense tufts, seldom exceeding six inches in height, 
and often not half that measurement. The stems vary in diameter from the thick- 
ness of a hog’s bristle, or rather more, to the fineness of a cobweb. Some species 
are so completely corticated with minute coloured cellules as to be nearly opaque ; 
others are beautifully variegated with hyaline and coloured bands alternately 
placed ; the coloured or corticated portion of each cell being that nearest to the 
node, the hyaline band occupying the central region of the internode. Many of 
the species, perhaps all, are, when young, clothed at the nodes with very fine, soft, 
hyaline hairs, which, as the frond advances in age, fall away, leaving the articula- 
tion quite smooth. Other species are armed at the nodes with thorn-like processes 
or prickles, but none of this section have yet been found in North America. 
The number of foo&-species has been largely increased of late years, partly by 
the discovery of new forms, and partly by splitting into several the specific ideas 
(so to say) of the older botanists. Some of these newly proposed species are no 
doubt proper to be retained, but I fear the splitting process has been carried far be- 
yond its legitimate limits. The North American species naturally divide into two 
sections, in the first of which the cortical cells cover over either the whole of the CERAMIACEiE. 
213 
y. 
articulation or the greater portion of it; in the second, they are confined to a 
definite band surrounding the nodes. 
Sect. 1. Rubra ; Frond unarmed (not spinuliferous); the stratum of cortical cells 
decurrent from the nodes, and more or less completely clothing the surface of the 
internode. 
1. Ceramium nitens, J. Ag. ; frond subsetaceous, slightly attenuated upwards, 
irregularly dichotomous, diffuse, the branches widely spreading and divaricating ; 
upper branches zig-zag, with lateral, distant, frequently secund branches and 
ramuli ; ultimate ramuli scattered, subulate, straight at the point ; internodes 
clothed with cells on all parts of the frond, the lower ones twice as long as broad, 
the upper very short. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 130. 
Hab. At Key West, Florida, W. H. H., Prof. Tuomey, No. 18, (v. v.) 
Frond four to eight inches long, not so thick as hog’s bristle, dichotoinously 
branched from the base, all the divisions very patent, often spreading at right 
angles, and sometimes with still greater divergence. The upper forks are equally 
wide with the lower, but are less regular ; one arm of the dichotomy being fre- 
quently shortened to a branchlet. Thus the ramification becomes as it were alter- 
nately zig-zag or secund. Ramuli few or many, filiform, simple, acute, not forci- 
pate at the extremity, distant and very patent. Substance rather firm. Colour a 
full red or brownish. Fruit unknown. Internodes uniformly coated with small 
cells, not much or at all contracted at the nodes. 
I have not seen specimens of Agardh’s plant, and may be wrong in the above 
reference. But be this as it may, I have no hesitation in regarding the plant here 
described as a distinctly marked species, differing from C. rubrum not merely in 
ramification, but essentially in structure. If cross sections of both plants be com- 
pared together under the microscope, the differences may be readily seen. In our 
C. nitens the walls of the monosiphonous frond are very thick, and the peripheric 
cells are set within the pellucid substance of the wall in dichotomous, radiating, 
horizontal series, whose apices constitute the superficial coating. In C. rubrum the 
surface cellules are of large size, not disposed in radiating lines, and a circle of 
empty, polygonal cells surrounds the central tube, as in Microcladia. 
2. Ceramium rubrum. Ag. ; frond robust, setaceous, gradually attenuated, dicho- 
tomous, sub-fastigiate, with or without lateral simple or forked ramuli ; segments 
erecto-patent, the apices either slightly incurved or hooked ; lower internodes twice 
or thrice as long as broad, contracted at the nodes, more or less densely covered 
with surface cellules ; favellse lateral, subtended by three or four short ramuli ; 
tetraspores distributed round the nodes. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 127. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 214 
CERAMIACEiE. 
y. 
p. 685. Haw. Phyc. Brit, t. 181. Conferva rubra, E. Bot. t. 1166. Dillw. Conf. 
t. 34. 
f3 decurrens ; the younger internodes naked in the middle, the older gradually 
covered over with cellules ; frond either regularly dichotomous or furnished with 
lateral, forked ramuli. Ceramium decurrens, Kiitz. Sp. p. 675. Haw. Phyc. Brit. t. 276. 
7 proliferum ; internodes densely covered with cells ; frond dichotomous, beset on 
all sides with numerous, lateral, simple or forked branchlets. Ceramium botryo- 
carpum, Griff.—Haw. Phyc. Brit. t. 215. 
8 secundatum; similar to var. 7, except that the ramuli are very generally 
secund. Cer. secundatum, Lyngb. Hyd. Dan. t. 37, A. 
e squarrosum ; frond of small size, regularly dichotomous, fastigiate, with very 
few and short lateral ramuli ; lower forks distant, with patent axils ; upper very 
close together, very patent, the segments divaricating and apices sometimes 
revolute. 
Hab. Pacific Coast. Atlantic Coast from the Arctic Sea to Charleston, South 
Carolina. /3, Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans. Halifax, W. H. H. New Bed- 
ford, Dr. Roche. 7, Newport, Prof. Bailey. $, Newfoundland, e, growing on Zos- 
tera, Boston Harbour, Mr. G. B. Emerson. Lynn, Mrs. Mudge. (v. v.) 
Frond two to ten inches long, thicker than hog’s bristle below, attenuated up- 
wards and capillary in the ultimate ramuli, pretty regularly dichotomous ; the 
lower forks distant, the upper approximated, with rounded axils and erecto-patent 
slightly converging segments. Y oung specimens are generally simply dichotomous; 
older ones have often numerous lateral ramuli, half an inch in length, simple or 
forked. Sometimes these are very numerous, as in vars. 7 and 8. In var. /8, the 
stem and branches are beautifully variegated with alternate pale and coloured 
bands. In the other varieties the internodes are uniformly coloured. Our var. e is 
a very remarkable form, two to three inches high, fastigiate, with very patent 
squarrose ramification. It almost looks like a distinct species, but seems traceable 
through varying specimens into the common form. Colour, varying through nearly 
every shade of red to orange, yellow, dirty white or greenish. 
Many more varieties than those above enumerated occur on our coasts. The 
above are, however, the most distinctly marked. 
Sect. 2. Diaphana; Frond unarmed {not spinuliferous); the stratum of cortical cells 
confined to a definitely limited band round the nodes ; the internodes diaphanous. 
3. Ceramium Hooperi; fronds rising from creeping surculi, densely matted be- 
low, erect, capillary, irregularly dichotomous ; ramuli scattered, erect, subulate, 
straight, or slightly curved, (the ends of the branches frequently bearded at one 
side with a series of thick, root-like fibres, one rising from every node); articula- 
tions in all parts of the frond of equal length and breadth, the internode formed of Y. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
215 
a single, naked, coloured cell; the node coated with a definite band of large 
cellules. 
Hab. On perpendicular rocks, densely covered with Fuci, near low-water mark. 
Camden, Penobscot Bay, Mr. J. Hooper. Newburyport, Capt. N. Pike. (v. s. in 
Herb. T. C. D.) 
This spreads over the surface of the rock in dense, root-like patches. The 
filaments are an inch or two in height, possibly more in full-grown specimens, 
irregularly dichotomous, and furnished with scattered, lateral ramuli, which are 
either straight, or slightly curved at the point. The stems spring from a mat of 
confervoid fibres ; near the base the cortical layer of the nodes is very narrow, 
the internode being formed of a single, thick-walled cell, containing a dark purple 
endochrome. The nodes in the upper part of the filament have a wider, but always 
a strictly defined band of cortical cells, and the internodes throughout the filament 
consist of a single large cell filled with endochrome. Most of the branches in Mr. 
Hooper’s specimens throw out from several of the nodes, below the tips, a number 
of secund, hyaline, root-like filaments, one-fourth of the diameter of the part from 
which they spring, one rising from the marginal cell of each node. Fruit at present 
unknown. 
I have the more pleasure in naming this curious plant after its discoverer, Mr. 
J. Hooper of Brooklyn, because I believe it to be distinctly marked by the struc- 
ture of its articulations, as well as by its creeping habit. The bearded extremities 
of the branches afford a very unusual character, but I fear to ground a diagnosis 
on them, as they do not occur in a specimen from Capt. Pike, which differs in no 
other respect from those collected by Mr. Hooper. 
4. Ceramium diaphanum, Roth ; filaments setaceous, attenuated upwards, rather 
flaccid, irregularly dichotomous ; the branches set with short, lateral, dichotomous 
ramuli ; internodes colourless, those of the main stems three or four times as long 
as broad, of the ramuli short; nodes swollen, coated with a definite band of pur- 
ple cellules ; favellas near the ends of the branches or of small ramuli; tetraspores 
numerous in each node. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 125. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 193. 
Hormoceras diaphanum, Kiitz. Sp. Ala. p. 675. Conferva diaphana, E. Bot. t. 1742. 
Dillw. Conf. t. 38. 
Hab. Boston Bay, Dr. Durkee. Nahant, Mrs. Mudge. New Bedford, Dr. Roche. 
Providence, Mr. Olney and Prof. Bailey. New York Bay, Messrs. Hooper, Walters, 
Pike, Calverley, &c. Key West, Mr. Binney, Dr. Blodgett, W.H. H. (v. v.) 
Frond two to four inches high, variable in diameter, as thick as hog’s bristle or 
as horse hair below, gradually attenuated upwards and nearly capillary above, 
irregularly dichotomous, with many lateral, dichotomous branchlets of various 
lengths ; apices rarely fastigiate, but more so in some varieties than in others. 216 
CERAMIACEiE. 
V. 
Ultimate ramuli forcipate at the apex. Sometimes the lateral branches are few, 
simply forked, and distantly scattered along the branches, either alternate, or 
secund ; sometimes they are very numerous, springing from nearly every node. 
Internodes hyaline, destitute of cortical cells, those of the lower branches three or 
four times as long as broad, the upper ones successively shorter. Favellce involu- 
crate, mostly sessile near the ends of the lateral ramuli. Tetraspores either in the 
ramuli or the main branches, densely whorled round the node, prominent. Colour 
of the tuft a dark purple. Substance soft, adhering to paper in drying. 
5. Ceramium subtile, J. Ag. ; “ frond capillary, dichotomous, sub-alternately 
branched above, branches elongate, set with patent, forcipate ramuli; lower inter- 
nodes twice or thrice as long as broad, upper successively shorter ; nodes scarcely 
swollen ; tetraspores secund on the outer edge of the segments, rather prominent.’’ 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 120. 
Hab. Yera Cruz, Gulf of Mexico, Liebman. 
Said to be allied to C. gracillimum ; but is of greater diameter, with more patent, 
by no means fastigiate ramuli, shorter lower articulations, less swollen nodes, and 
differently disposed tetraspores. I have not seen any specimens. 
6. Ceramium tenuissimum, Lyngb.; frond capillary, of equal diameter throughout, 
rigid, dichotomous, excessively divided, fastigiate; the axils very patent; inter- 
nodes colourless, those of the middle of the stem from four to six times as long as 
broad, the upper successively shorter ; nodes swollen ; tetraspores very prominent, 
secund on the outer edge of short lateral ramuli, one or more at each node ; favellee 
involucrate, near the tips of short ramuli. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 120. Ceramium 
nodosum, Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 90. Gongroceras nodiferum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 678, 
also G. tenuissimum, Kiitz. 1. c. p. 680. 
Hab. Key West, Florida, W. H. H., Prof. Tuomey, Mrs. Adams. Key Biscayne, 
Prof. Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Tufts two to three inches long, globose, fastigiate. Filaments much finer than 
human hair, many times dichotomous with very patent angles and spreading 
branches and ramuli. Apices diverging, forcipate. The lower forks are distant, 
the upper gradually nearer. The lateral ramuli are either simple or forked, hooked 
in or forcipate at the ends. They bear the fructification of both kinds. Colour, a 
pale or dark purplish red, changing to ferruginous-red in fresh water. Internodes 
of the ramuli very short, of the lower branches successively longer, and 5—6 times 
as long as broad in the lower part of the plant. Nodes generally swollen. 
The American specimens here described are destitute of fruit, and are so far, 
therefore, uncertain ; but in other respects are very similar to European specimens. V. 
CERAMIACEJE. 
217 
7. Ceramium fastigiatum, Harv.; frond capillary, of equal diameter throughout, 
flaccid, dichotomous, level-topped ; the axils acute; internodes pellucid, the lower 
ones nearly colourless, from, four to six times as long as broad, the upper succes- 
sively shorter, and filled with pale rose-coloured endochrome ; nodes banded ; 
favelke sub-terminal, involucrated ; tetraspores prominent, secund on the outer edge 
of the branches. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 119- Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 255. Gongroce- 
ras fastigiatum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 678. 
Hab. Massachusetts Bay, Dr. Durkee, Captain Pike. Greenport, W. H. H. 
Newport, Prof. Bailey, Mr. Olney, cfc. Longbranch, New Jersey, Miss Morris, (v. v.) 
Tufts very dense, fastigiate, soft. Filaments finer than human hair, many times 
regularly dichotomous, the lower axils sub-distant, the upper gradually nearer, not 
widely spreading. Apices of all the branches generally on a level, the ultimate 
divisions forcipate. Occasionally there are a few lateral ramuli. Internodes pellucid, 
but suffused with a pale blush, the uppermost ones filled with rosy endochrome. 
Nodes coated with a definite band of small cells. General colour of the tuft a 
bright lake-red, becoming in fresh water first scarlet and then orange. 
The American specimens are very similar to those from the South of England 
and Ireland. 
8. Ceramium arachnoideum (?) Ag.; tufts fastigiate, dense; filaments capillary, 
attenuated upwards, many times regularly dichotomous ; axils more or less patent? 
the lower distant, the upper close ; apices forcipate, not strongly inflexed ; inter- 
nodes pellucid, the lower ones thrice or four times as long as broad (sometimes 
veiny), upper very short; favelke lateral, subtended by elongating ramuli (at length 
axillary); tetraspores bursting from the outer edge of the nodes, especially of the 
upper branches, solitary or aggregated, very prominent. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 117- 
fi patentissimum ; of small size, the lower furcations distant and very patent; the 
branches ending in dichotomo-multifid, divaricating, corymboso-fastigiate ramuli ; 
internodes of the ramuli extremely short. (Tab. XXXIII. B.) 
Hab. Boston Bay, Dr. Durkee, Capt. N. Pike. Newhaven, Mr. J. Hooper. Bay- 
side, New York Bay, Mr. J. Hooper. Hellgate, Mr. Walters. Yar. /3, Boston Bay, 
Dr. Durkee and Capt. N. Pike. New York Harbour, Mr. Walters and Mr. Hooper. 
(v. s. in Herb. T. 0. D.) 
Fronds very dense, one to two inches in diameter, fastigiate. Filaments rather 
thicker than human hair below, attenuated to the extremity, many times regularly 
dichotomous, the lower forks distant and rather patent, the upper successively closer 
and (except in var. /3) more erect; the apices forked and slightly forcipate, sub- 
obtuse. Nodes coated with a band of cells, not swollen, sometimes constricted ; 
lower internodes hyaline or occasionally striated with coloured, cobweb-like 
filaments which run through the walls, now and then anastomosing ; upper inter- 
YOL. IV.—ART 5. 218 
CERAM1ACEJE. 
V. 
nodes very short, not swollen, except the fertile ones. Favellce lateral on the upper 
branches, not on lateral ramuli, subtended by two or three ramuli which at first are 
short, but afterwards lengthen and divide dichotomously, and then the favellae seem 
sitting in a nest of branches. Tetraspores large and very prominent, bursting 
singly or in clusters from the outer margin of the nodes, especially those of the 
upper divisions. Colour, a brownish purple. Substance, flaccid, adhering to paper. 
Our var. ft is a very remarkable form, and at first I looked upon it as a distinct 
species, but a further comparison of numerous specimens leads me to regard it as 
being merely an extreme variety. I have received it from several correspondents. 
The reference to Agardh, whose plant comes from the Baltic Sea, requires con- 
firmation, as I have seen no authenticated specimen. As a species our American 
plant is allied to C. diaphanum, from which it differs in size and in the mode of 
fruiting ; and to C. fastigiatum and tenuissimum, from which the shorter internodes, 
unswollen nodes and more robust filaments separate it. 
Plate XXXIII. B. Fig. 1. Ceramium arachnoideum, /3 patentissimum ; the natural 
size. Fig. 2, part of a branch, magnified. Fig. 3, some of the nodes and internodes, 
highly magnified. 
9. Ceramium byssoideum; filaments exceedingly slender ( of an inch in 
diameter), soft, dichotomous ; forks distant below, approximate above, the branches 
erecto-patent with acute angles ; the upper branches having a few level-topped, 
forked, lateral ramuli; internodes hyaline, those of the principal stems six or eight 
times as long as broad, of the lesser thrice as long as broad, of the ramuli very 
short; internodes banded, definite, swollen, especially the upper ones; fruit 
unknown. 
Hab. Parasitical on Gorgonke, at Key West, W H. H. Xo. 77. (v. v.) 
Tufts about an inch high, exceedingly soft. Filaments of almost cobwebby fineness, 
repeatedly and pretty regularly dichotomous, the axils all narrow and angles acute. 
Lateral ramuli on my specimens few. Nodes of the ramuli greatly swollen, bead- 
like, much thicker than the internode ; those of the older branches less so, dark 
purple. Colour of the tuft rather pale. 
This is by much the most slender of the genus. Cer. gracillimum, when placed 
beside it on the table of the microscope, looks large and coarse in comparison ; nor 
is there the difference in diameter between the main branches and the ramuli, so 
observable in that species. 
IV. PTILOTA. Ag. 
Frond cartilaginous, compressed, two-edged, decompound, pectinato-pinnate, 
distichous, opaque, having an articulated, inonosiphonous axis enclosed in a thick V. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
219 
cortical stratum of cells ; the inner cells of the cortical layer roundish, the outer 
minute, coloured. Favellce terminal on the lesser ramuli, involucrated with numer- 
ous ramelli, containing within a hyaline periderm, numerous angular spores. Tetra- 
spores on the ultimate pinnules, external, sessile, solitary or aggregate, formed each 
from an internode of the ramulus, roundish, triangularly divided. 
A beautiful genus, strongly marked by its decompound-pinnate, distichous, in- 
articulate, or, rather, internally articulate fronds, which are of larger size, firmer 
texture and more opaque than in most other genera of this Order. All are 
branched on a pinnate model. In some the pinnae and pinnulae are regularly alter- 
nate throughout the branches and lesser divisions. In others they are as regularly 
opposite ; but among those with opposite pinnae two varieties of ramification must 
be carefully distinguished. In some the opposite pinnae are of the same nature, 
either of equal length and exactly similar, or one longer than the other, a longer 
and shorter pinna alternating regularly at each side of the rachis. In others, the 
opposing pinnae are of different natures ; one of them phyllodium-like, always 
remaining unchanged after having once been formed, either entire, serrate or pecti- 
nate ; the other branch-like, pinnately-compound, at first shorter and simpler, 
afterwards lengthened and decompound in similar manner to the larger branches of 
which it is a pinna. The pinnae opposite the phyllodia are often abortive or little 
developed ; whence arises an irregularity of ramification in most species. Often 
too they are very much reduced in size and converted into racemes of fructification. 
Sect. 1. Diversifolije : Pinnce opposite, of different nature, one leaf-like undivided, the 
other (sometimes obsolete) branch-like, pinnatedly-compound. 
1. Ptilota densa, Ag.; frond piano-compressed, two-edged, decompound pinnate; 
pinnae opposite, unlike ; one undivided, falcate, inciso-pectinate along its outer edge; 
the other compound, either lengthening out into a branch, or minute and ramuli- 
form ; branches linear, densely set with the falcate pectinifid pinnae and opposing 
minute multifid ramuli; tetraspores in oblong glomerules alternating with the pin- 
nulae of the multifid ramuli. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 98. Ptilota pectinata, Harv. in 
Beech. Voy. p. 164. (Tab. XXXII. B.) 
IIab. California, Lay and Collie, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Frond several inches long, half a line in diameter, more or less compressed, 
decompound-pinnate, but very irregular in the development of its major pinnae, 
though perfectly regular in the system of construction. Sometimes the major 
pinnae are closely set and furnished with a second or third series also closely placed 
together ; sometimes (as in the specimen we have figured) they are widely distant 
and very unequal in length. Both the larger and lesser branches are opposed, at 220 
CERAMIACEJE. 
V. 
their insertion, to falcate, incurved, leaf-like ramuli, a line or two in length, pecti- 
nate or deeply inciso-dentate along the outer edge. Similar distichous pinnae 
border all the branches at distances of a line or two apart, alternating with each 
other, but opposing minute, multifid ramuli of equal length or very much shorter. 
These ramuli, carelessly examined, appear to be mere heads of densely crowded 
divaricato-multifid ramelli; but are really composed on the same pinnated type as 
the rest of the frond, one pinnule being falcate and pectinate, the other pinnato- 
multifid, or if fertile, altered into a glomerulus of tetraspores. Colour, a full red, 
brownish when dry. Substance rigid, not adhering to paper. 
A very remarkable and distinct species. I have examined an authentic frag- 
ment of Agardh’s P. densa, preserved in Sir Wm. J. Hooker’s Herbarium, and find 
it to agree perfectly with my more recently named P. pectinata. The latter name 
is therefore suppressed. 
Plate XXXII. B. Fig. 1. Ptilota densa ; the natural size. Fig. 2, portion of a 
branch, with pectinate pinnas, and opposing multifid, fertile ramuli; jig. 3, a ra- 
mulus, with clusters of tetraspores ; jig. 4, tetraspores ; the latter figures more or 
less magnified. 
2. Ptilota hypnoides, Harv. ; frond piano-compressed, two-edged, decompound- 
pinnate ; pinnas opposite, unlike ; one undivided, leaf-like, lanceolate or ovato- 
lanceolate, acute, very entire ; the other elongated, pinnated with similar lanceolate 
acute pinnae opposing ramuliform processes ; tetraspores aggregated in oblong 
glomerules, alternating with the pinnules of the lesser branches. Harv. in Bot. 
Beech, p. 164. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 97- Kutz, Sp. Alg. p. 670. (Tab. XXXII. 
A.) 
Hab. California, Messrs. Lay and Collie, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Fronds six to eight inches long, or probably much more, half a line in diameter 
at the base, compressed, two-edged, decompound-pinnate ; the primary branches of 
very unequal lengths, long and short intermixing together, closely pinnated 
throughout at distances of a line or two. One of the pinnae is a simple, leaf-like, 
lanceolate or ovato-lanceolate, acute ramulus, a line in length, never altering with 
age ; the opposite pinna is a branchlet which is either abortive and rudimentary, or 
lengthens out into a branch which is closely pinnated with lanceolate leaf-like pin- 
nules (like those of the larger branches) opposed to minute, pinnulated branchlets 
of their own length or shorter. These latter occasionally elongate, and are com- 
pounded in a similar maimer to the larger branches ; and thus the frond continues 
to be developed. When fertile, however, they remain short, and consist then of 
lanceolate pinnellas alternating with stalked, oblong clusters of tetraspores. Colour, 
a rosy purple. Substance, cartilaginous and firm. In drying, it does not adhere to 
paper. 
A beautiful species, and perhaps not rare ; but as yet very few specimens have 
found their way to Europe. It was first found by Hsenke, whose specimens were V. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
221 
confounded by the elder Agardh with P. asplenioides, from which this species is 
abundantly distinct. 
Plate XXXII. A. Fig. 1. Ptilota hypnoides ; the natural size. Fig. 2, portion 
of a larger and lesser branch, with fertile ramuli ; jig. 3, a fertile ramulus, with 
oblong clusters of tetraspores ; fig, 4, tetraspores ; jig. 5, transverse section of the 
base of the stem ; the latter figures more or less highly magnijied. 
3. Ptilota asplenioides, Ag. ; frond piano-compressed, two-edged, decompound- 
pinnate ; pinnas opposite, unlike; one undivided, serrulated, the other (abortive or) 
pinnately parted; pinnuhe erecto-patent, decurrent, scymitar-shaped, incurved, 
acute, serrulate, areolate ; fruits marginal, supra-axillary, the tetraspores in dense, 
roundish, pedicellate glomeruli ; the favellas involucrate, the branches of the invo- 
lucre pinnellated with articulate, single-tubed ramelli. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, jt?. 98. 
Phodocallis asplenioides, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 674. Fueus asplenioides, Turner, Hist. Fuc. 
t. 62. Fsper. Ic. t. 147- 
Hab. Northern Pacific Ocean. Prince William Sound, Russian America, Mr. 
Menzies. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Frond twelve to eighteen inches long, a line or more in breadth, with a strongly 
compressed stem, which is slightly winged above, two-edged below, very firm, 
opaque and cartilaginous in its lower part, gradually flatter and thinner toward the 
summit, single or divided into several principal branches or secondary fronds. The 
mode of branching is pinnate; the pinnation repeated many times in large specimens 
after a uniform system, which is easily understood by examining one of the lesser 
branches of an old plant, or the apex of the main stem in a younger plant. Such 
branch has a piano-compressed rachis, distichously pinnate with normally opposite, 
but very different looking pinnse. One pinna of each pair is undivided, about two 
lines long arid half a line wide, cultriform, acute, erecto-patent and somewhat 
incurved, more or less distinctly serrated or serrulated, rarely nearly entire, its 
lamina vertical (in the same plane as the flat rachis) the lower edge decurrent or 
gradually fining off into the rachis. The opposing pinna when developed, for it is 
frequently abortive, is many times longer arid is again pinnated on a similar plan. 
In the subsequent divisions of the frond the undivided-cultriform pinnae and pin- 
nules are often alone perfected, and these constantly alternate with each other ; the 
place of the pinnately-parted pinnae being merely indicated by a minute ramulus 
or even reduced to a rapidly obliterated process. In such specimens the frond 
seems alternately pinnatifid, as figured and described by Turner, but the examina- 
tion of a young branch shows that this is a deceptive appearance. The pinnas and 
pinnulae are coated with a uniform surface of small polygonal cells. When held 
between the eye and the light, and examined with a pocket lens, a slender medial 
line (the axial filament) is seen running through the frond, and sending ofl 
branches to each pinnule ; this line of cells, in the pinnule, running nearer to the 
upper than to the inferior margin. The serratures of the margin are very variable CERAMIACEiE. 
y. 
in different specimens. Fruit of both kinds is borne along the margin, either on 
the rachis, above the axil of the pinnules, or, very frequently, along one or both edges 
of the pinnule itself. The tetraspores are densely crowded in little pedicellate heads. 
The favelloe are likewise stalked, and surrounded by involucral pinnated ramelli. 
Colour, a dark brownish red. Substance, cartilaginous. It does not adhere to paper 
in drying. 
Discovered by Mr. Menzies on the North West Coast of America, but seemingly 
much more common in North Eastern Asia, particularly in Kamtschatka, from which 
country I possess several specimens. 
4. Ptilota Californica, Rupr. ; frond piano-compressed, two-edged, virgate, de- 
compound-pinnate ; pinnae and pinnulae opposite, unlike; one undivided denticulate 
or serrate, the other (abortive or) pinnately parted; pinnulae broadly sword-shaped, 
slightly narrowed at base, erecto-patent, incurved, acute, more or less denticulate, 
especially toward the apex, areolated with cells; fruits marginal, the tetraspores (?) 
in densely paniculate, pedicellate glomeruli alternating with the pinnulae; favellae 
similarly placed, involucrate, the branches of the involucre entire or dentate. /3 con- 
cinna; pinnules sharply inciso-serrate. 
Hab. North California, WosnessensJci! Golden Gate, Capt.Pike! Yar. /3, with the 
preceding, Capt. Pike. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Fronds six or eight inches long, repeatedly pinnate, the primary and secondary 
pinnae long and virgate, the rest short, ramuliform. Branches strongly compressed, 
half a line wide, erecto-patent, much attenuated at their insertion. Pinnulae between 
lanceolate and sword-shaped, slightly narrowed, not the least decurrent at base, 
incurved, acute, sometimes almost entire, but generally sharply denticulate, or un- 
equally serrate. Favelloe pedicellate, marginal, solitary or numerous in the spaces 
between the pinnules. Tetraspores appear to occupy the same place, but I have not 
seen perfectly formed ones: in my specimens there are minute, paniculately branched 
glomeruli, but whether intended for antheridia or tetraspores I have not determined. 
Colour, dark purple-red. 
This species is very nearly allied to P. asplenioides, from which it chiefly differs 
in the narrower, not decurrent pinnules, evidently narrowed at the base. It differs 
from P. serrata more in its virgate habit and dark colour than by any very precise 
characters, unless that noticed in the glomeruli of tetraspores may be constant. The 
serratures of the pinnulae are exceedingly variable, each of Capt. Pike’s specimens 
differing in the degree of incision. 
5. Ptilota serrata, Kiitz. ; frond piano-compressed, two-edged, decompound- 
pinnate ; pinnae and pinnulae opposite, unlike ; one undivided serrated, the other 
(abortive or) pinnately parted ; pinnulae broadly subulate, very patent, acute, 
sharply serrated, especially on the outer edge, areolated with cells; fruits marginal, V. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
223 
the tetraspores in conical, pedicellate glomeruli, alternating with the serrated pin- 
nuke ; favellas similarly placed, involucrate, the branches of the involucre entire or 
coarsely toothed, cellular. Kiitz. Bot. Zeit. 1847, p. 36. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 96. 
Ptilota plumosa /3 asplenioides, Lyngb. t. 9, /. 2. (Excl. Syn.) 
Hab. Pacific Coast at Sitcha, Ruprecht. Greenland and Newfoundland, J. Agardh. 
Arctic Coast, Sir John Richardson. Halifax, W. H. H. Boston Bay, Dr. Asa Gray, 
Mrs. Mudge, Mr. Emerson, W. H. H., &c. (v. v.) 
Frond four to six inches long, the stem piano-compressed, half a line in breadth, 
distichously much branched, the branches decompound-pinnate, all divisions of the 
frond very patent, almost issuing at right angles. Pinnae and pinnuke of every series 
exactly opposite, except by accidental suppression, but of different size and aspect: 
one of each pair a line long, horizontal, broadly subulate, sharply serrated especially 
on the outer edge, acute, seldom lengthening and never much lengthened, in the 
older parts of the frond generally broken, or worn : the other pinna elongate, pin- 
nated and lengthening out into a branch which becomes again compounded by its 
pinnas also lengthening in a similar manner. In this way the frond finally consists 
of several series of short-serrated, and of longer-pinnated opposing pinnae. The 
favellce are formed in the apices of the pinnated (or compound) ramuli, which are 
then abbreviated to a line or two in length ; the branches of their involucre are 
subulate, either entire or with three or four coarse teeth. Tetraspores in dense 
conical heads, also formed from suppressed branches, alternating with the serrated 
pinnae. Substance, cartilaginous. Colour, a deep, full red, becoming brighter in 
fresh water. In drying, it does not adhere to paper. 
This has the colour, size, and general aspect of Pt. plumosa, with which I have 
been hitherto accustomed to unite it, nor am I very certain that the characters here 
pointed out as distinguishing it are to be relied upon as sufficient. The strongest 
character will perhaps be found in the tetrasporic fruit : that in the ramification is, 
I fear, less constant. The elder Agardh at one time, and Lyngbye both referred it 
to Pt. asplenioides, from which it is readily distinguished. Agardh afterwards made 
it a variety of Pt. plumosa. Kiitzing in 1847 first gave it a specific name, but sub- 
sequently, in 1849, reduced it again as a variety, under Pt. plumosa. Professor J. 
Agardh, however, restores the species, and points out with his usual acumen the 
characters by which it may be known from Pt. plumosa. 
These characters, so far as they depend on ramification, are not perfectly satisfac- 
tory to me, for I find the serrated ramuli of Pt. serrata showing an occasional dis- 
position to lengthen into branches ; and again, on Pt. plumosa one of the opposing 
ramuli is, in the younger branches, frequently abortive, in which case the ramuli 
are alternately unequal, as in Pt. serrata. If the ramulus which is formed were 
always clearly pinnated as it ought to be in Pt. plumosa, there would be no doubt 
of the validity of Pt. serrata ; but though this is commonly the case, yet I have 
specimens of the former species in which slightly serrated, or nearly entire ramuli 
alternate with pinnated ones in some parts of the frond. Both species occur toge- 
ther in Norway, but Pt. serrata has not yet been found in Britain. Almost all the 224 
CERAMIACEiE. 
y. 
American specimens before me are clearly referable to Pt. serrata; nevertheless, Sir 
John Richardson collected on the Arctic coast both the true Pt. plumosa and Pt. 
serrata. Finally, and this is rather puzzling, I have a specimen from Prince Ed- 
ward’s Island somewhat intermediate in character between both species, but having 
the preponderance in favour of Pt. plumosa, and yet being unlike any European 
specimen of that species which I have seen. 
On the whole I am disposed, for the present, to adopt this species, considering it 
more critically characterised in doubtful cases by its fructification than by its 
ramification. 
Sect. 2. : Pinnae opposite, of similar nature, either both of the same length 
or one longer, one shorter than the other ; the longer alternating on the rachis. 
6. Ptilota plumosa, Ag. ; frond piano-compressed, two-edged, decompound pin- 
nate ; pinnae and pinnulae opposite, similar in form, but one frequently shorter than 
the other, the shorter pinna simply pinnate, not altering ; the longer developing 
into a branch, becoming compound ; ultimate pinnated ramuli, by suppression of 
the opposing ramuli, frequently alternate ; pinnellae subulate, areolated with cells, 
acute; favellae formed either on the pinnae or pinnellae, involucrate, the branches of 
the involucre subulate, entire ; tetraspores on marginal processes of the pinnellae. 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 96. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 80. Fucus plumosus, L.—Turn. 
Hist. t. 60. (excl. var. £.), E. Bot. t. 1308. 
Hab. Parasitical on the stems of Laminarias, &c. Prince William’s Sound, North 
West America, 1787, Mr. Menzies ! Arctic Sea Coast, Sir John Richardson ! Prince 
Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans, (v. v.) 
Very like the preceding in aspect, and only to be known by the characters 
detailed in the above descriptions and remarks. The different position of the 
tetraspores is perhaps the most valid character. 
The true Pt. plumosa is of very rare occurrence in America. That which com- 
monly passes under this name, in collections made to the North of Cape Cod, is Pt. 
serrata ; that in those made to the south of that head-land is Pt. elegans. I have 
examined and compared specimens of the true Pt. plumosa from the above localities, 
with European individuals, and consider them specifically identical. 
7. Ptilota elegans, Bonnem.; frond flaccid, filiform, terete, decompound-pinnate; 
pinnae and pinnulae opposite, similar, both pinnately parted, the opposing one either 
of equal size or one smaller than the other ; the younger pinnae and all the ultimate 
pinnules articulate, composed of a single series of large, sub-quadrate cells, obtuse, 
linear (not attenuated); tetraspores terminating the ramuli, at length polysporous; 
favellas binate, naked, or sub-involucrate, on the pinnae. Bonnem. Hydr. p. 22. 
Kiitz. Phyc. p. 378. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 94. Pt. sericea, Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 191. V. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
225 
Hab. Generally on rocks, rarely on the stems of the littoral Fuci. Boston Bay, 
at Beverley, W. H. H. Newport, Prof. Bailey, Mr. Olney, fyc. Squan Beach, New 
Jersey, Miss Morris, (v. v.) 
Fronds three to six inches long and as much in the expansion of the branches, as 
thick as hog’s bristle at the base, attenuated upwards, terete, not compressed or 
two-edged, decompound-pinnate ; the larger branches irregularly alternate and of 
unequal length, the lesser close together, opposite, either of equal length or one of 
each pair short, the other longer and more compound. The lesser branches are 
linear-oblong or somewhat obovate in outline, their upper subdivisions being 
successively longer than the lower ; they are twice or thrice pinnated. All the 
divisions, except by suppression, are strictly opposite, but towards the extremities 
one of the opposing pinnae is often imperfectly formed. The pinnules and all the 
younger pinnae are articulate, composed of a single row of large, quadrate or slightly 
oblong cells; they are slightly incurved, of equal diameter throughout, very 
obtuse, and those along the outer edge of the rachis are generally longest, and are 
frequently pinnellated at the tips. Tetraspores borne on the tips of the ultimate 
pinnules, at first containing four sporules, afterwards eight or a larger number, 
when they resemble favellae. Colour a brownish purple, rather dark ; a clear 
purple-lake under the microscope. Substance soft. In drying, it closely adheres to 
paper. 
A smaller and softer plant than any of the preceding and readily known by its 
articulated pinnules. 
Y. CROUANIA. J.Ag. 
Frond filiform, gelatinous, nodoso-inoniliform, alternately decompound, consisting 
of an articulated, monosiphonous primary filament (or axis) emitting at the nodes 
densely whorled, minute, dichotomo-fastigiate, gelatinous, free ramelli. Favellce 
near the ends of the branches sub-solitary, atfixed at the base of the whorled ramelli 
and covered by them, containing, within a hyaline periderm, numerous roundish 
spores. Tetraspores fixed at the base of the ramelli, partly hidden by them, 
roundish, triangularly parted or transversely bi-parted. 
Yery flaccid, gelatinous Algae of small size with moniliform branches, resembling 
in habit the species of the fresh water genus Batracliospermum. In artificial 
character they nearly coincide with the species of Halurus, but differ essentially in 
the position of the fructification, and in the substance of which the frond is com- 
posed. The young branches are nearly cylindrical, the whorled ramelli forming a 
scarcely interrupted periphery. As the frond increases in age, the whorls are 
YOL, IV. ART. 5. 226 
CERAMIACEfiE. 
V. 
removed further apart by the elongation of the internodes, and the branches become 
beaded at intervals. 
1. Crouania attenuata, J. Ag.; frond attenuated upwards; the tetraspores 
solitary, triangularly parted. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 105. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 106. 
Callithamnion nodulosum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 651. (Tab. XXXI. D.) 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H'., 68, 69 ; F>r. Blodgett, 56, 61. (v. v.) 
Fronds tufted, one to two inches long, capillary or setaceous, irregularly 
branched ; branches lateral, alternate or secund, or sub-dichotomous, more or less 
divided ; the lower ones moniliform, the upper more and more cylindrical from the 
greater closeness of the whorls of ramelli; the apices attenuated to a fine point. 
Colour, a dull, dark purple. 
The Key West specimens are much infested with calcareous matter and do not 
recover well after having been dried. The magnified sketch in our figure was 
made on the spot, from fresh specimens. 
Plate XXXI. C. Fig. 1. Crouania attenuata ; a tuft, the natural size. Fig. 2, a 
branch ; jig. 3, one of the ramelli from the same ; jig. 4, occasionally trichotomous 
apices of a ramellus ; the latter figures more or less highly magnified. 
VI. HALURUS. Kiitz. 
Frond cartilaginous, filiform, articulated, monosiphonous, irregularly branched ; 
branches clothed at the nodes with short, incurved, dichotomous, whorled ramuli. 
Favellce generally several in a cluster, borne on the apex of a shortened branch, and 
sub-tended by a whorl of involucral ramuli, containing, within a hyaline periderm, 
numerous angular spores. Tetraspores attached to the interior side of the branches 
of an involucre formed of dichotomous ramelli, numerous, spherical, triangularly 
parted. 
This genus has been separated by Kiitzing from Griffithsia, with which it nearly 
but not exactly agrees in the fructification, and from which it differs in external 
habit. The plants of the present group have, except in colour, very much the 
appearance externally of the Cladostephi. 
1. Halurus equisetifolius, Kiitz.; frond irregularly branched, the branches directed 
to every side ; whorled ramuli incurved, forked or dichotomous, densely set, their CERAMIACEiE. 
227 
V. 
articulations four to eight or twelve times as long as broad. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 662. 
J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 90. Griffthsia equisetifolia, Ag.—Harv. Pliyc. Brit. t. 67- 
Conferva equisetifolia, E. Bot. t. 1479. Eillw. t. 54. 
Hab. (A specimen sent to me by Mr. Hooper, of Brooklyn, without locality 
marked; W. H. H.) 
Stems six or eight inches long, robust, much and very irregularly branched 5 
the branches alternate or fascicled, undivided, but set with one or more series of 
lateral branches. All the parts of the frond are clothed with ramelli. On the 
older parts of the stem and branches these form an irregular shaggy coating ; but 
on the younger portions they are regularly whorled at the nodes, once or twice or 
many times forked, imbricated, with the apices generally incurved. The articula- 
tions vary much in length in different specimens. Colour, when recent, a fine dark, 
crimson-lake. Substance firm. It gives out a carmine tint when plunged for a 
short time in fresh water. 
I regret that I cannot say from what part of the American Coast Mr. Hooper 
procured this plant, of which I have as yet seen but a small fragment; but it is 
sufficient for identification. 
VII. GRIFFITH SI A. Ag. 
Frond filiform, dichotomous, articulated, monosiphonous, naked. Favellce gene- 
rally several in a cluster, subtended by a regular involucre formed of numerous 
incurved ramelli, sessile or pedunculate, containing, within a gelatinous periderm, 
numerous angular spores. Tetraspores contained within an involucre formed of 
incurved ramelli, spherical, attached to the inner faces of the ramelli, at length tri- 
angularly parted. 
A large genus of rose-red or crimson, filiform, articulated Algae of a delicately 
membranaceous or sub-gelatinous substance, soon decomposing in fresh water. The 
frond consists of a single series of large, elongated cells, with very transparent 
walls, forming a broad limbus to the brilliantly coloured bag of endochrome con- 
tained within. The branching is on a dichotomous model, occasionally varied by 
the production of lateral branches, or converted partially into a trichotomous type. 
The species are dispersed through the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. I can 
claim only the following as yet for the North American Flora. 228 
CERAMIACEiE. 
V. 
1. Griffitiisia corallina ? Ag.—J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 78, fyc. Yar. /3 globifera ; 
filaments capillary, the lower articulations many times longer than broad, hut 
slightly swollen ; the upper and terminal ones inflated, pyriform or globose. 
Griffthsia globifera, Harv. MS. (Tab. XXXY. A.) 
Yar. 7, tenuis; of small size, all the articulations slender, but slightly swollen 
upwards, the terminal ones attenuated. 
Hab. Yars. ft and y on Zostera, at Green port, Long Island, Prof. Bailey and 
W. H. H. Providence, Mr. Olney. New Bedford, Dr. Roche. Port Jefferson, Mr. 
Lounsbury. Key West, (a fragment only) W. H. H. (v. v.) 
In var. /? the frond is capillary or setaceous, two to three inches high, densely 
tufted, many times dichotomous, more or less fastigiate, the upper branches some- 
times, by abortion, alternate or secund ; the lower axils patent, the upper more 
erect. Internodes more or less swollen upwards, the lower ones many times longer 
than their diameter and little swollen ; the tfpper shorter, either pyriform or 
elliptical; the terminal very frequently globose, much inflated, twice or thrice the 
diameter of that immediately below it. Favellce sessile on the apex of an internode 
of the branches, especially of the upper ones, occupying the position of a suppressed 
arm of a dichotomy, subtended by a few short ramelli, one or more favellse in each 
involucre. Colour rose-red, rapidly discharged in fresh water. Substance soft, 
gelatinoso-membranaceous, closely adhering to paper in drying. 
In var. <y, the frond is one to four inches high, the lower articulations very long, 
some of them cylindrical, others slightly pyriform ; the upper articulations more 
frequently pyriform, and the terminal ones slender, the branches often tapering to 
a fine point. I have not seen fruit on this variety. 
These two varieties appear distinct enough on paper, not merely from each other, 
but from the common European state of Griff, corallina; and at first I had set aside 
var. /3 as a species, characterised by the terminal, vesicular cell. Afterwards on 
gathering a large number of specimens of both forms at Greenport, where they are 
common in August, I found some that had the peculiarities of var. ft and y com- 
bined on the same frond, and others that approached in essential characters to the 
ordinary G. corallina. None, however, that I have seen from America can be said 
to be absolutely similar to those from Europe, as all, however much they may put 
on the characters, are much more slender than any European specimens I have 
seen. Possibly future observations may require the establishment of a new species 
for these American varieties. 
Plate XXXY. A. Fig. 1. Griffitiisia corallina, var. globifera, the natural size. 
Fig. 2, a portion of the frond magnified. Fig. 3, apex with favella ; and fig. 4, 
spores ; highly magnified. y. 
CERAMIACEAS. 
229 
Yin. CALLITHAMNION. Lyngb. 
Frond filiform, branched, articulated, monosiphonous, the stem and branches (in 
many species) at length rendered opaque by the development of decurrent filaments 
in the walls of the primary cells ; ramuli always articulated, monosiphonous. 
Favellce generally binate, axillary or sessile on the branches, naked or nearly so, 
containing, within a hyaline periderm, numerous angular spores. Tetraspores 
naked, sessile or pedicellate, distributed along the ramuli, oblong or globose, trian- 
gularly or cruciately parted. 
A very large genus of beautiful Algas, sometimes minute, never of large size, 
rarely exceeding six inches in length. The fronds in the least developed species 
are but slightly branched, a line or two long, parasitical, forming a down-like 
covering to the plants on which they grow. Others, a little more perfect, grow on 
rocks, on Avhich they form dense, cushion-like tufts, from a quarter inch to an inch 
in height. Some few have their smaller branches and ramuli dichotomously 
multifid. The greater number, however, are branched on a more or less regularly 
pinnate type ; the pinnae and pinnulae either opposite or alternate, rising singly or 
in pairs from the upper extremity of every internode. In some species every part 
is exactly distichous : in others the lower branches and larger divisions spread to 
all sides, while the lesser ones are distichous : and again, in others all the branches 
and their subdivisions spread in every direction. In the smaller species the whole 
frond is pellucidly articulate, composed of a single series of thick-walled, endochro- 
matic cells arranged end to end ; and such is the structure of the young frond in 
all. In the larger species, as the frond increases in age, filaments, originating in 
the bases of the branches, begin to be developed longitudinally in the substance of 
the walls of the frond. At first they are few and short, afterwards numerous and 
prolonged in a downward direction, and at last they completely fill the wall, 
rendering it opaque and concealing the articulations completely. In the strongest 
growing species the walls become at length very much thicker than the enclosed 
tube, and completely filled with such decurrent filaments. 
The species are often very difficult of determination, forming numerous and most 
puzzling varieties. They often require very copious materials to work on before 
they can be well understood, and in some cases I labour under the disadvantage of 
having received imperfect materials. Some of the following species present so 
many forms, that before I had compared together very extensive suites, I was dis- 
posed to separate into four or five what I now regard as a single species. And 
though my friend Prof. Agardh has considerably curtailed the species as described 
by other writers, I fear that of the sixty-three which his work still admits, several 
should be struck off. To come to right conclusions on this point, the species should 
be studied on the sea shore, before the specimens have been dried, for the characters of 
many are of so delicate a nature, that they are apt to be saved or lost, according as the CERAMIACEiE. 
230 
V. 
specimen is well or ill dried. For the convenience of easy reference, I divide the 
American species into the following six sections : — 
Sect. 1. Fruticosa : Frond shrub-like, the stem and branches more or less filled with 
veins, imperfectly articulate. Famuli pectinate or pinnate, the pinnce alternate or 
secund. 
1. Callithamnion Pikeanum; frond robust, fruticose, with an undivided, opaque 
stem, set with alternate, similar branches directed to every side ; branches alter- 
nately decompound, opaque, the lesser divisions densely beset on all sides with 
minute, imbricated, articulated ramuli; ramuli divaricate, pectinate or bi-pectinate 
on the outer side (the naked side directed to the rachis), the ultimate divisions 
spreading at right angles, subulate, sub-acute ; articulations of the ramuli once and 
half as long as broad ; tetraspores tri-partite, sessile, one or more together on the 
ultimate ramuli. 
Hab. Golden Gate, California, Capt. Nicholas Pike. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Frond solitary ? Stem four to five inches high, half a line in diameter at the base, 
undivided, slightly attenuated upwards, opaque, set with similar, opaque, alternate 
branches, which again bear a second or third series of similar, but smaller branches. 
Branches directed to every side, the larger ones either naked or clothed with 
minute, hair-like ramuli, the lesser ones very densely set on all sides with minute, 
multifid ramuli, one to two lines in length. These ramuli alone are pellucidly 
articulate, the articulations once or twice as long as broad. They are set at right 
angles to the branches from which they spring, but are curved or arched inwards, 
so as to present to the branch the concave face, which is bare of ramelli; the convex 
or outward face being pectinated with horizontally patent or divaricated, spine-like, 
simple or again pectinellated ramelli. Tetraspores roundish, triangularly-parted, 
sessile, or borne on the ultimate divisions of the ramuli. Favellce I have not seen. 
The colour is a dark, vinous purple. The substance is firm and rather rigid. It 
imperfectly adheres to paper in drying. 
This species is very different from any American one known to me, but is nearly 
related to the European C. Arbuscula, and still more closely to the South African 
C. purpuriferum, J. Ag. ; but appears to be distinct from both. It is a stronger 
growing plant than C. Arbuscula, with more squarrose and thicker ramuli. From 
C. purpuriferum it differs in colour, in the ramification of the ultimate ramuli, in 
the much greater opacity of the stem and branches, the structure of the tetraspores, 
&c. I have pleasure in bestowing on it the name of Captain Nicholas Pike, of 
Brooklyn, an ardent student of marine plants, to whom I am indebted for a very 
interesting collection of Californian Algae, among which was this species. 
2. Callithamnion tetragonum, Ag.; frond ultra-setaceous, shrub-like, with a per- V. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
231 
current stem and pyramidal outline ; branches lateral, directed to every side, simple 
or alternately decompound, densely clothed with short, pinnato-multifid, fastigiate 
plumules; ramuli divaricate, subulate; articulations of the stem and larger branches 
veiny, once or twice as long as broad, of the ramuli about twice as long as broad, 
cylindrical or contracted at the nodes ; tetraspores very minute, tripartite, near the 
tips of the ramuli. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 53. Harv. Phyc. Brit. 1.136. Phlebotham- 
nion tetragonum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 654. Callithamnion brachiatum, Harv. Phyc. Brit, 
t. 137. Conferva tetragona, Dillw. Conf. t. 65. E. Bot. t. 1690. 
Hab. Newport, Rhode Island, Mr. Olney, Dr. Durkee. Narragansett Pier, Mr. 
Hunt. Seaconnot, Mr. C. Congdon. Greenport, Prof. Bailey, (v. v.) 
Fronds three to four inches high. Colour, a fine lake or red brown. Substance 
gelatinoso-cartilaginous. 
The American specimens here described are not quite so robust as the European 
plant, but some of them are in other respects very similar. Others, again, show a 
tendency to pass into C. Baileyi, and almost shake my opinion of the validity of 
that species ; and yet its extreme forms are so different from the nearest form of 
C. tetragonum, that I dare not, as species are at present understood, unite them. 
3. Callithamnion Baileyi, Harv.; frond setaceous, shrub-like, with a percurrent 
stem ; branches lateral, directed to every side, simple or alternately decompound, 
densely ramulose ; lesser branchlets spirally inserted, somewhat plumulate, or 
fasciculato-multifid, zig-zag ; ramuli alternate, subulate, incurved, acute ; articula- 
tions of the lower stem veiny, twice or thrice as long as broad, of the branches 
swollen at the nodes, thick-walled, without veins, three or four times as long as 
broad ; of the ramuli cylindrical, about thrice as long as broad; tetraspores solitary, 
elliptical, on the inner faces of the ramuli ; favellse binate. Harv. in Bail, list of 
Algae, Sill. Joum. vol. 4, 2d. Ser.,p. 38. (Tab. XXXV. B.) Var. /3 boreale; stem 
pellucidly articulate, its medial articulations four or five times as long as broad, 
those of the branches cylindrical, and of the ramuli longer than in var. a. Var. 7 
Bochei; more slender than usual and very plumose ; the ramuli elongate, patent, 
crowded at the ends of the branches. Var. 8 squarrosum; plumules short and little 
divided ; ramuli short, squarrose. 
Hab. New Brighton, Prof. Bailey. Abundant in New York Bay, Prof. Bailey. 
Messrs. Hooper, Pike, W. H. H. /3, Boston Bay in various places, Mrs. Mudge 
Dr. Durkee, Miss Brewer, <Sfc. 7, New Bedford, Dr. Roche. S, Red Hook, Mr. Hoo- 
per. (v. v.) 
Fronds tufted or solitary, shrub-like. Stems as thick as hog’s bristle, two to three 
inches long, generally undivided and closely beset on all sides with similar, un- 
divided, long lateral branches, the lowest of which are longest, the rest successively 
shorter, so that the outline of the frond is pyramidal. In luxuriant specimens 232 
CERAMIACEiE. 
y. 
these primary branches bear a second or third series of similar lesser branches. 
Branches densely set with short, spirally inserted branchlets, the lowest of which 
are simple or bifid, the upper more compound or somewhat plumulate ; the plumule 
either pinnate or bi-pinnate, the upper pinnules being frequently pinnellate. Ramuli 
subulate, mostly incurved, tapering to a fine point. Articulations variable in length; 
those of the main stem generally veiny, sub-opaque ; those of the branches destitute 
of veins except in very old specimens, swollen at the nodes, with narrow endo- 
chrome and thick, hyaline walls ; those of the ramuli from three to four or five 
times as long as broad. Tetraspores mostly solitary, near the middle of the ramuli. 
Favellce in pairs on shortened plumules. Colour, a fine, dark red. Substance rather 
soft. It closely adheres to paper in drying. 
The original specimens received from Prof. Bailey appeared, when I first 
examined them, to constitute a well marked species, readily distinguishable from 
all others ; and specimens sent to me from various correspondents, and others 
collected by myself at New York, agree with them in all essential characters. But 
many other specimens have also reached me which vary greatly from the type, 
especially in the length of the articulations, and yet which are too closely connected 
with the first specimens to warrant their specific separation. In our var. ft boreale, 
which is the common form of the species in Massachusetts Bay, the frond is more 
pellucid, of a brighter colour, with longer internodes. But the most delicately 
beautiful feathery specimens are those received from Dr. Roche of New Bedford, 
which are so unlike the New York plant, that but for the Boston variety just 
mentioned, I should hardly have ventured to unite them. Again, the most robust 
forms, with shortest joints, approach inconveniently near to C. tetragonum, from which 
species the more delicate ones appear widely different. Future observations may 
perhaps show that Dr. Roche’s specimens should be separated ; but if this be done, 
what I now regard as a single species must be split into four or five. 
Plate XX XV. B. Fig. 1. Callithamnion Baileyi; the natural size. Fig. 2, 
plumule and part of lesser branch of the var. ft boreale ; jig. 3, favellae from the 
same ; jig. 4, part of stem of the normal variety (a); jigs. 5 and 7, plumules from 
the same ; jig. 6, a rainulus, with tetraspores ; the latter figures more or less 
rnagnijied. 
Sect. 2 Rosea : Fronds capillary or byssoid, densely tufted, articulated throughout, 
(the older parts of the stem veiny, but not opaque) decompound-pinnate ; pinnae and 
pinnules alternate. 
4. Callitiiamnion squarrulosum; frond setaceous, distichous ; stem and larger 
branches veiny toward the base, but visibly articulate throughout, percurrent, set 
with lateral, flexuous, alternate branches, which are naked or with a few squarrose 
ramuli below and alternately decompound beyond the middle ; secondary branches 
of unequal lengths, very patent, laxly set with alternate, simple, bifid or pinnulate 
divaricating, obtuse ramuli ; articulations four or five times as long as broad, the 
cell-walls thick and endochrome narrow. V. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
233 
IIab. Golden Gate, California, Capt. N. Pike. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Frond two to three inches high, as thick as hog’s bristle below, tapering to a 
capillary diameter above. Stem percurrent, slightly flexuous, set with alternate, 
distichous, sub-horizontal branches, the lowest of which are longest. General out- 
line of the frond ovate. Branches flexuous, naked in the lower half or with a few 
squarrose ramuli, alternately branched beyond the middle ; the secondary branches 
of very unequal lengths, ziz-zag, simple or variously decompound, sometimes 
resolved into an intricate, thorny, bushy head. Ramuli all very patent, alternate, 
variously compound, some quite simple, some bifid or trifid, and some pinnulate, 
the pinnelli divaricating. Stem veiny below, but not opaque. Articulations of 
nearly uniform length in all parts of the frond, except toward the base of the stem. 
Cell walls remarkably thick. No fruit seen. 
Of this apparently distinct species I have seen but a single specimen, and 
probably the specific character and description may require to be revised and 
corrected. Had the specimen come from the Atlantic Coast I should hardly have 
ventured to propose a species on such imperfect materials. 
5. Callithamnion Borreri, Ag.; fronds densely tufted, capillary, pellucidly 
articulate to the base, pinnately or flabellately branched ; branches beset in their 
lower part with spirally inserted, mostly simple, elongate ramuli, distichously plu- 
mulate above; plumules fan-shaped, bare of ramuli in the lower half, simply 
pinnate beyond the middle; the pinnae patent or incurved, not much tapered, 
obtuse ; articulations of the branches two to six times, of the pinnae twice or thrice 
as long as broad ; tetraspores numerous on the inner face of the pinnae. J. Ag. 
Sp. Alg. 2, p. 49. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 159. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 643. Conferva 
Borreri, E. Bot. t. 1741. 
Hab. New Bedford, Dr. Roche. Newport and Newhaven, Dr. Durkee. Sea- 
connot, Mr. Cong don. New York, Messrs. Walters, Hooper, Calverley, cfc. (v. v.) 
Tufts one to three inches high, dense, sub-fastigiate. Filaments decompound 
from the base, the lower branches spreading to all sides, often of nearly equal 
length ; the lesser branches irregularly inserted, either naked in their lower half, or 
beset with long, simple, hair-like ramuli, distichously plumulate beyond the middle. 
The plumules are petiolate, or naked below, pinnate above. Pinnae spreading, 
obtuse. Articulations throughout the plant (except rarely near the base of the 
stem) destitute of veins ; those of the stem very variable in length in different 
specimens, sometimes only twice or thrice, sometimes four to six times as long as 
broad ; those of the ramuli more uniform, and mostly contracted at the nodes. 
Tetraspores on the inner face of the ramuli, sometimes few, sometimes many. 
More slender and softer than the common European form ; and had my attention 
been confined to Mr. Congdon’s specimens I should possibly have described them as a 
VOL. IV.—ART 5. 234 
CERAMIACEiE. 
V. 
distinct species. But Dr. Roche’s specimens above noticed seem to connect Mr. 
Congdon’s with some European varieties of this variable species. 
At Greenport, Long Island, I collected a Callithamnion, infested by parasites and 
otherwise in bad order, which at present I doubtfully refer to C. Borreri. These 
specimens are more robust than the other North American ones, but not more so 
than European states of the species, and despite some minor peculiarities I hesitate 
to pronounce them different. Possibly more perfect specimens would compel us 
to separate them. 
6. Callithamnion polyspermum, Ag.; fronds densely tufted, capillary, much 
branched, pellucidly articulate nearly to the base, decompound pinnate ; main 
branches either naked or ramulose below, distichously plumulate above ; plumules 
linear or oblong in outline, simply pinnate ; pinna? incurved, obtuse, cylindrical, 
nearly equal in length, the uppermost sometimes pinnulate near the tips ; articula- 
tions of the stem mostly veinless, three or four times, of the pinna? twice or thrice 
as long as broad ; tetraspores elliptical, solitary, or two or more together near the 
base of the pinnae. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 48. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 231. Phlebo- 
thamnion polyspermum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 653. 
Hab, Hellgate, New York, Mr. J. Hooper. Jackson Ferry, Messrs. Walters and 
Pike. Sullivan’s Island, Charleston, Prof. L. W. Gibbes and W. H. H. St. Augus- 
tine, Florida, Prof. J. W. Bailey, (v. v.) 
Tufts two to three inches high. Filaments capillary, irregularly branched from 
the base, the main branches frequently naked below and distantly divided, their 
divisions decompound-pinnate or closely plumulate in the upper half. Plumules 
distichous, broadly oblong or linear, rounded at the top, scarcely petiolate, the 
lowest pinna? generally springing from the second articulation counting from the 
base of the rachis ; pinna? simple, linear and obtuse, the upper ones not remarkably 
shorter than the lower. Tetraspores frequently solitary on the second or third joint 
from the base, elliptical, sometimes two or three or more on the same pinnule. 
Favellce, near the ends of shortened plumules, in pairs. Colour, a fine purplish-red, 
given out in fresh water. Substance, soft, but not gelatinous. It closely adheres to 
paper in drying. 
A variable species, allied on the one hand to C. Borreri, and on the other to 
C. roseum. The above description is taken exclusively from American specimens, 
which, though not strictly agreeing with the typical state, figured in Phyc. Brit., are 
very similar to many specimens from the South of England ; particularly to those 
from Plymouth Harbour. 
7. Callithamnion byssoideum, Arn.; fronds densely tufted, of extreme tenuity, 
very flaccid and tender, pellucidly articulate nearly to the base, excessively CERAMIACEiE. 
w. 
branched ; lower branches irregularly divided, the upper decompound-pinnate and 
plumulate ; plumules flexuous, distantly and rather irregularly pinnate, the pinnse 
alternate or secund, slightly tapering, obtuse, often ramulose toward the point ; 
articulations of the branches six or eight times, of the ramuli three to six times as 
long as broad; tetraspores elliptical, tripartite, secund, several on each pinna ; 
favellae binate. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 40. Harv.Phyc.Brit.t. 262. Phlebothamnion 
byssoides, Kiitz. Sp. Alg.p. 657. Callith. arachnoideum, Ag. Sp. Alg. p. 181. Var. ft 
unilaterale ; of smaller size and still greater tenuity than the ordinary form ; the 
branches and ramuli very frequently secund, the plumules irregular, sometimes 
alternately pinnate, sometimes secundly pectinate. Cal. unilaterale, Harv. MSS. 
(not of Zanard.) Yar. 7 fastigiatum ; branches fastigiate, the lesser ones densely 
ramulose at the tips. Yar. & Waltersii; more rigid than usual, the upper branches 
distichously decompound-pinnate, ramuli remarkably patent. 
Hab. New York Harbour, in several places from Hellgate to Port Hamilton, 
Messrs. Hooper, Walters, Congdon, Calverley, fyc. Yar. /3, Massachusetts Bay, Mrs. 
Mudge, Dr. Durkee, Miss Mitchell, Capt. Pike, dfc. Greenport, Prof. Bailey, 
W.H.H.SfC. (v. v.) 
Tufts large and dense, one to three inches high. Filaments much finer than 
human hair, excessively flaccid, soft and sub-gelatinous, collapsing into a clot when 
removed from the water, much branched ; the lower branches very irregular, some- 
times close together and dividing at short intervals, sometimes more distantly 
branched ; the upper branches repeatedly decompound-pinnate. Plumules some- 
times long and virgate, narrow, simply pinnate or having the upper pinnules 
pinnellate or secundly ramulose ; sometimes shorter and more ovate, and frequently 
with a flexuous rachis. Articulations destitute of veins, except near the base of the 
stem, many times longer than broad in the larger branches, four or five times or 
more in the smaller, cylindrical. Tetraspores on the inner face of the pinnulae, few 
or several, secund, elliptical. Favellce not seen on American specimens. Colour, a 
fine purplish rose-red. Substance very tender. 
Yar. /3 is smaller and still more slender than the common form, with longer 
internodes, and its typical state is readily known by the strong tendency to secund 
ramification ; but this character is very variable. 
In some of the numerous and beautifully preserved specimens with which Mr. 
Walters has favoured me, the ends of the upper branches are remarkably fastigiate 
and densely ramulose, and the external aspect is strikingly similar to that of C. 
corymbosum. Another specimen from the same gentlemen, dated July 6,1851, has, 
to the naked eye, the aspect of C. gracillimum, the upper branches being distichously 
decompound-pinnate, with an ovate outline ; all the ramuli remarkably patent and 
even recurved, the ultimate ones very generally secund. The substance appears 
rather more rigid than usual; and had I received this specimen alone it might 
possibly have passed for a distinct species ; but after comparison with a large 
number of North American specimens of C. byssoideum, I fear its distinctive 
H H 2 236 
CERAMIACEiE. 
y. 
characters are not sufficiently marked. Meantime I indicate it above as var. 8 
Waltersii. 
8. Callitiiamnion Dietzice, Hooper ; fronds capillary, pellucidly articulate nearly 
to the base, the lower part of the percurrent, distichously-pinnate stem veiny ; 
branches alternate, simple, set at each node with short, alternate, sub-simple or 
pinnato-dichotomous plumules, and often terminated by a dense fascicle of ramuli ; 
rachides zig-zag ; articulations of the stem six or eight times, of the rachides three 
or four times, of the ramuli eight or ten times as long as broad ; apices sub-attenu- 
ate, obtuse, or sub-acute ; tetraspores elliptical, tripartite, solitary on the uppermost 
ramuli. 
Hab. Greenport, Mrs. Dietz, (v. s. in Herb. Hooper.) 
Fronds tufted, two to three inches long, as thick as human hair. Stem either 
simple or divided near the base into several, long, simple, erect, main divisions, set 
throughout with alternate, patent, elongate, simple branches, which, in luxuriant 
specimens, probably bear a second set of similar smaller ones. Outline of the frond 
ovato-lanceolate. Branches alternate or sometimes secund, sub-distichous, articulate, 
each node bearing at alternate sides of the branch, a pinnato-dichotomous branchlet 
or plumule. Plumules with a ziz-zag rachis, either short with three or four pinnee, 
or lengthening out, simply pinnate in the lower half, bi-pinnato-dichotomous above, 
each pinnule ending in a dense tuft of undeveloped ramuli. Articulations of the 
lower part of the stem three or four times as long as broad, veiny, with a narrow 
tube ; of the branches with thick, pellucid walls, six or eight times ; of the rachides 
of the plumules shorter, but of the ultimate pinnules six to eight or ten times as 
long as broad. Colour, a beautiful rosy-red. Substance soft, closely adhering to 
paper. Tetraspores tripartite, elliptical, solitary on the ultimate ramuli, formed 
from the suppressed arm of a furcellation. 
Of this plant I have yet seen but few specimens ; too few to form a decided 
opinion on its specific validity. Notwithstanding its pinnate habit I am not with- 
out fears that a more extensive suite of specimens may show it to pass off into one 
of the forms of C. corymbosum or C. versicolor. The specific name is bestowed by 
Mr. Hooper in honour of its discoverer, Mrs. Dietz of New York. 
Sect. 3. Corymbosa ; Fronds setaceous or byssoid, alternately decompound ; the secon- 
dary branches and ramuli dichotomous, corymboso-fastigiate. 
9. Callithamnion corymbosum, Ag.; fronds tufted or solitary, flabelliform, pellu- 
cidly articulate throughout; stem and lower branches setaceous below, attenuated 
upwards to a byssoid fineness, decompound, much branched ; upper branches 
byssoid, excessively flaccid, pinnato-dichotomous or alternately or secundly decom- y. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
237 
pound ; the lesser and ultimate divisions dichotomously multifid and fastigiate ; 
articulations of the branches six or eight times as long as broad, of the ramuli 
shorter; tetraspores solitary on the ramuli, tripartite. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 41. 
Haw. Phyc. Brit. t. 272. Phlebothamnion corymbosum, Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 657. Con- 
ferva corymbosa, E. Bot. t. 2352. Var. (3 secundatum ; lesser branches very fre- 
quently secund, less compound than usual, and the ultimate ramuli very irregular, 
scarcely corymbose. 
Hab. Frequently growing on Zostera. Halifax, W. H. H. Boston Bay in seve- 
ral places, Dr. Durkee, Mrs. Mudge, Capt. Pike, &c. New London, Miss French, 
Mr. Cong don. Providence, Prof. J. W. Bailey. /3, Massachusetts Bay, Mrs. Mudge. 
Greenport, Mr. Hooper, (v. v.) 
Fronds either densely tufted, as is often the case when growing on the leaves of 
Zostera, or solitary, as sometimes occurs in rockpools or on a sandy bottom. Stems 
as thick as hog’s bristle at the base, soon divided, and then alternately decompound. 
The larger branches are setaceous below, attenuated upwards, and at length reduced, 
near the summit, to a cobwebby fineness; they are very much branched, the primary 
divisions between alternately pinnate and dichotomous, the secondary and tertiary 
somewhat zig-zag and set with alternate or secund, dichotomo-multifid branchlets. 
These dichotomous branchlets are usually fastigiate or level-topped; the ends, owing 
to the crowded ramuli, looking dark when displayed on paper, and resembling so 
many little corymbs ; whence the specific name. The articulations are visible to 
the base of the stem ; those in the lower part are short, sometimes a little veiny, 
thick-walled, with a slender tube ; those of the middle and upper portions are very 
long. The tetraspores are always solitary, scattered on the upper ramuli, being 
formed out of a suppressed arm of a furcellation. Favellce, binate. Substance, some- 
what gelatinous. Colour, a beautiful rosy red, rapidly given out in fresh water. 
10. Callithamnion seirospermum, Griff. ; fronds solitary or somewhat tufted ; 
stem setaceous, veiny, gradually attenuated upwards, undivided, set with alternate, 
lateral, setaceo-capillary, veiny, undivided branches, which are clothed with lateral, 
spirally inserted, dichotomo-multifid, secondary branchlets ; articulations of the 
stem and branches opaque, of the lesser branches and ramuli pellucid, three to four 
times as long as broad; the ultimate ramuli frequently converted into bead-like 
strings of seirospores. Haw. Man. Ed. l,p. 113. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,/?. 42. Phlebo- 
thamnion seirospermum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 657. Seirospora Grijfthsiana, Haw. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 21. Cal. versicolor, var. seirospermum, Haw. in Hook. Joam, Bot. 1, 
p. 302. 
Hab. Salem, Massachusetts, Mr. J. Hooper. New Bedford, Dr. Poche. Nan- 
tucket, Dr. Durkee. Shores of Bhode Island, Prof. J. W. Bailey, (v. v.) 
Stem, three to five inches high, as thick as hog’s bristle below, capillary above, 238 
CERAMIACEJE. 
T. 
undivided, running through the frond, set throughout with alternate, spirally- 
inserted, lateral, sub-horizontal branches directed to all sides, the lowest longest, 
the rest successively shorter ; the whole frond pyramidal. Both the stem and pri- 
mary branches are filled with veins, which render their articulations more or less 
obscure. Branches undivided, one to two inches long, attenuated upwards, and 
copiously furnished throughout with short, very flaccid, capillary or byssoid, dicho- 
tomo-multifid branchlets directed to every side ; the ultimate divisions of these are 
almost cobwebby. I have not seen proper tetraspores ; but their place is generally 
supplied by the conversion of the ultimate ramuli into strings of spores ; affording 
a mark by which this species is most easily recognised. When first I described 
this fructification (in Hook. Journ. 1. c.) I regarded it as an abnormal development, 
and perhaps correctly, though more recently (in the Phycologia Britannica) I 
adopted another opinion, and thereon founded the genus Seirospora. If the strings 
of seirospores be abnormal, however, they are, so far as I know, only found in this 
species, and are very constant, characterising it on the shores of England, Ireland, 
Scotland and Sweden, as well as on those of North America. I am indebted to Dr. 
Roche of New Bedford for most beautiful specimens, which are identical with the 
most luxuriant of my English ones. 
Sect. 4. Cruciata : Fronds setaceous or capillary, alternately decompound, articulate ; 
each node bearing a pair of opposite, minute, simple or compound ramuli. Tetra- 
spores cruciate. 
11. Callithamnion plumula, Lyngb.; stems alternately decompound or sub- 
dichotomous, articulated ; each articulation bearing a pair of short, recurved, pec- 
tinate or bi-pectinate ramuli ; tetraspores borne on the tips of shortened ramuli, 
cruciate. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 29. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 242. Kiltz. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 
647. Conferva Plumula, Ellis.—Dillw. t. 50. Conf Turneri, E. Bot. t. 1637. 
Hab. Longbranch, New Jersey, Miss E. C. Morris, (v. v.) 
Of this beautiful species I have only seen a solitary, ill-dried and faded North 
American specimen. It is at once known from C. Americanum, which is sometimes 
mistaken for it by collectors, by the very patent or recurved ramuli, closely pectinated 
on their upper margin only, with secund pinnellse. 
12. Callithamnion Americanumi; filaments elongate, capillary, many times alter- 
nately decompound, closely and densely or sub-distantly branched, plumose; ramuli 
in pairs from every node, opposite, patent, very slender, pinnellate or bi-pinnellate, 
the pinnules opposite or secund ; lower articulations of the stem eight or ten times, 
upper four or five times as long as broad ; articulations of the ramuli four to six 
times as long as broad ; tetraspores elliptical, cruciate, sessile ; favella3 in pairs on 
the upper branches. (Tab. XXXVI. A.) v. 
CERAMIACEjE. 
Hab. Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans. Halifax, W. H. H. Boston, Mrs. Asa 
Gray. Lynn, Mrs. Mudge. Portsmouth, Dr. Durkee. New Bedford, Dr. Roche. 
New York Bay, Mr. Hooper, (v. v.) 
Filaments three to four inches long, capillary, densely tufted, much and finely 
branched, alternately decompound ; the lower divisions sub-distant, the upper close 
together, all rather patent, the secondary branches elongate, the tertiary and suc- 
ceeding short. Every part of the filament is pellucidly articulate, without veins. 
Each articulation bears a pair of very slender, byssoid, opposite ramuli one to two 
lines long, very patent and oppositely pinnate or bi-pinnate ; the pinnules some- 
times abortive or abbreviated, when the branching becomes irregularly alternate or 
sub-secund. Apices attenuate, acute. Articulations in the lower part of the stem 
and branches many times longer than broad, in the lesser branches five or six 
times, in the ramuli frequently six or eight times, but sometimes only four or five 
times as long as broad. Tetraspores sessile, near the base of the pinnm on the 
ramuli, elliptical, cruciate. Favellce near the ends of the lesser branches, large, 
berry-like, in pairs or threes. Colour, a brilliant, rosy red. Substance, very flaccid 
and delicate. It closely adheres to paper in drying. 
A very beautiful species, not uncommon on the East Coast of North America 
from Nova Scotia to New York. 
Plate XXXVI. A. Fig. 1. Callitiiamnion Americanum ; the natural size. Fig. 
2, part of a larger branch, with lateral branches, aud pinnate, opposite ramuli; jig. 
3, part of a branch with favellce ; jig. 4, the same with tetraspores ; jig. 5, a fertile, 
lower pinna from the preceding ; the latter figures more or less highly magnified. 
13. Callithamnion Fylaiscei, Mont. ; filaments elongate, ultra-capillary, alter- 
nately decompound ; branches distant, erecto-patent; ramuli in pairs, opposite at 
every node, pinnate or bi-pinnate, the pinnae opposite or rarely secund ; lower arti- 
culations of the stem many times longer than broad, upper two to four times ; arti- 
culations of the ramuli once or twice as long as broad ; tetraspores elliptical, sessile 
on the ramuli, cruciate. Mont. Ann. des Sc. Nat. 2nd Ser. vol. viii. p. 351. Wran- 
gelia Fylaiscei, J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 705. Callith. intermedium, Harv. MSS. (Tab. 
XXXYI. B.) 
Hab. Newfoundland, De la Pylaie ! South Boston, Dr. Durkee! (v. s. in Herb. 
T. C. D.) 
Filaments three to four inches, rather thicker than human hair, alternately four 
or five times decompound, the lower branches distant, the upper gradually nearer ; 
every part pellucidly articulate. From a short distance below each node of the 
stem and branches springs a pair of opposite ramuli about half a line in length, 
some of them simply pinnate, some few secundly pectinate, but the greater number 
bi-pinnate, ovate in outline, all the pinnules tapering to an acute point. Lower 240 
CERAMIACEiE. 
y. 
articulations of the stem six to eight or ten times as long as broad ; upper much 
shorter, and those near the ends of the branches but twice or thrice as long as 
broad. The articulations of the ramuli are very short. Tetraspores numerous 
on the pinme of the ramuli, sessile, cruciate. Favellce unknown. Colour a fine 
crimson. 
This plant has the external aspect of Cal. floccosum, but is more robust, and is 
readily distinguished by its compound ramuli. It is more closely related to C. 
Americanum, but the ramuli are shorter and more densely branched, with much 
shorter internodes. The differences between these species may more readily be 
understood, by comparing the figures we have given than by a detailed description. 
Until the favellce of this plant be discovered, some doubt may rest upon its gene- 
ric position, yet I cannot but think it more nearly related to C. Americanum and 
C. floccosum, between which it is nearly intermediate in character, than to Wrange- 
lia multifida, with which Professor Agardh associates it. 
Plate XXXYI. B. Fig. 1. Callitiiamnion Pylaiscei; the natural size. Fig. 2, por- 
tion of a branching stem, magnified. Fig. 3, internode of a branch, with opposite, 
bi-pinnate, fertile ramuli ; fig. 4, pinnule from the same, with tetraspores ; more 
highly magnified. 
14. Callithamnion floccosum, Ag.; frond capillary, very flaccid, remotely much 
branched ; branches alternate, erecto-patent, articulated ; every node emitting a 
pair of opposite, simple, subulate, erecto-patent, minute, ramuli; tetraspores 
elliptical, pedicellate on the ramuli near the base. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 27- 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 81. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 646. 
Hab. South Boston, very rare, Dr. Durhee. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Filaments capillary, four to six inches long, alternately or sub-dichotomously 
branched, the lower divisions distant, from half an inch to an inch or more apart, 
the upper gradually closer together. Secondary and lateral branches repeatedly 
divided alternately ; the general outline lanceolate or somewhat rhomboid. Ramuli 
opposite, a pair springing from every internode of the frond at a short distance 
below the node, distichous, a quarter to half a line long, erecto-patent, quite simple 
spine-like, subulate, tapering to an acute point. Articulations in the lower part of 
the stem six or eight times as long as broad, without veins ; in the upper branches 
gradually shorter, near the apices twice or thrice as long as broad, the terminal 
ones shorter than their breadth. Articulations of the ramuli once and half or twice 
as long as broad. 
I have as yet seen but a solitary American specimen, and it is without fruit. 
15. Calithamnion cruciatum, Ag. ; filaments short, in globular tufts, sub- 
fastigiate, alternately decompound ; branches erect; ramuli at every node in pairs V. 
CERAMIACEiE. 
241 
or fours, densely crowded at the tips of the branches, opposite, very erect, pinnate ; 
pinnae opposite, very erect, cylindrical, obtuse, scarcely tapering ; articulations of 
the stem and branches variable, of the ramuli three or four times as long as broad; 
tetraspores terminating the lower, abbreviated pinnae of the ramuli, cruciate. J. 
Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 27. Hcirv. Phyc. Brit. t. 164. Kiitz. Sp. Ag. p. 549- /3 tenue; 
slender, with more distant, less compound and shorter ramuli. 
Hab. New York Bay, at Red Hook, Messrs. Walters and Hooper, (v. v.) 
Tufts dense, globose and somewhat level-topped, an inch to an inch and half high. 
Filaments capillary, alternately divided, but not much branched, the branches erecto- 
patent, the upper ones shorter and closer together, the lower distant. Famuli at 
every node two opposite or four in a whorl, half a line to a line in length, densely 
crowded at the ends of the branches, rarely more than simply pinnated. Pinnae 
very erect, opposite or, by suppression of one, alternate or secund, the inner pinnae 
being most commonly abortive, cylindrical, or slightly tapering to an obtuse point. 
Internodes of the stem and branches four to six times as long as broad, of the upper 
branches twice or thrice, of the ramuli about thrice as long as broad. Fruit rare 
and not yet observed on American specimens. Colour, a brownish-red, inclining 
sometimes to purple. Substance soft, but not very flaccid. It adheres closely to 
paper in drying. 
As yet I am only aware of the single American station for this species above 
given. Mr. Walters’s specimens of both varieties are very similar to those found 
in the South of England. 
Sect. 5. Repentta. Fronds (of small size) rising from prostrate creeping matted 
threads. Favellce involucrate. 
16. Callithamnion Turneri, Ag.; filaments (densely tufted) rising from pros- 
trate, creeping fibres, simple or repeatedly branched, once or twice pinnated with 
opposite or alternate spreading, simple ramuli ; articulations very variable in 
length, 5—10 times as long as broad ; tetraspores clustered, sub-racemose or 
corymbose, on abbreviated ramuli; favellae involucrate. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 23. 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 179- Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 649- Conferva Turneri, Dillw. t. 100, 
E. Bot. t. 2339. & variabile ; branches and ramuli alternate or secund. Callitham- 
nion variable, Ag. Cal. roseolum ? J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 21. Conferva repens, Dillw. 
18, E. Bot. t. 1608. 
Hab. Parasitical on various Algae. Rhode Island, on Cladostephus, Prof. J. W. 
Bailey. /3 Boston, Dr. Durkee. Key West, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Filaments rising from decumbent, creeping, matted fibres, densely tufted, half an 
inch to an inch in height, capillary, flaccid, sub-simple, or once or twice oppositely 
branched ; stem, branches and ramuli all nearly of the same diameter, and all pellu- 
YOL. IV.—ART. 5. 242 
CERAMIACEiE. 
V. 
cialy articulate, with thick hyaline cell-walls. Articulations very variable in length 
in different specimens and in different parts of the same specimen, four to twelve 
times as long as broad, the upper ones shortest. Branches and ramuli patent, 
scarcely attenuate, obtuse, in some specimens regularly opposite, in others frequently 
alternate or secund. Tetraspores almost always pedicellate (terminating depauper- 
ated ramuli), solitary or clustered, spherical, tripartite, with broad perispores. 
Colour, a rosy or brownish red. Substance soft. It adheres to paper. 
Our var. fi closely agrees with specimens of Cal. roseolum, Ag. communicated to 
me by Prof. Areschoug ; but I think it also passes insensibly into the Cal. variabile, 
Ag. which Prof. J. Agardh now agrees with me in uniting to C. Turneri. In Prof. 
Bailey’s specimens the ramuli are almost always opposite ; in Dr. Durkee’s as con- 
stantly alternate or secund ; each agrees with a corresponding British form of this 
variable species. 
Sect. 6. Pusilla : Boot a small callus. Fronds, minute, tufted, irregularly decom- 
pound, erect, growing on rocks, or parasitical. 
17- Callithamnion Bothii, Lyngb., tufts widely spreading, dense, velvetty ; 
filaments very slender, short, erect, dichotomous or irregularly branched ; branches 
long, straight, very erect or appressed ; articulations about twice as long as broad ; 
tetraspores clustered, borne on short, sub-terminal, corymbose ramuli. J. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. 2, p. 17. Kiitz. Sp. Alg.p. 640 Harv. Phyc. Brit. 1.120. B. Conferva Bothii, 
Dillw. Conf. t. 73, E. Bot. t. 1702. Byssuspurpurea, E. Bot. t. 192. Dillw. Conf. 
t. 43. 
Hab. On submarine rocks near high water-mark. Halifax, W. H. H. Penobscot 
Buy, Mr. Hooper. Rhode Island, Prof. Bailey, (v. v.) 
Filaments about a quarter inch in height, spreading in a continuous, velvetty 
pile, resembling crimson plush, over rocks and stones in patches from a few inches 
to many feet in extent. The plant is more or less luxuriant as it grows in deep or 
shallow water. The depauperated state called Byssus purpurea, E. Bot. grows at 
the extreme limit of the tide, in places where it is merely wet by the spray at high 
water. 
The American specimens are not in fruit, but in other respects are the same as 
British ones. 
18. Callithamnion luxutians, J. Ag. ; filaments minute (2—3 lines high), 
excessively branched from the base, sub-dichotomo-multifid or secundly decom- 
pound ; branches rather patent, very long, attenuated, with secund, whip-like, 
secondary branches and few ramuli; articulations four times as long as broad ; 
tetraspores elliptical, pedicellate, scattered. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2,p. 14. Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg.p. 639. y. 
CERAMIACEJ3. 
243 
Hab. On Zostera at Newhaven, Connecticut, Mr. Hooper, (y. s. in Herb. 
Hooper). 
Filaments forming a dense, deep-purple fringe, two or three lines in length, to 
the leaves of Zostera, excessively branched in a manner between alternate and 
dichotomous, the lesser divisions very generally secund. Branches flexuous, flabel- 
liform. 
The American specimens seen are faded. In other respects they agree with 
an authentic specimen received from Prof. J. Agardh ; but I must add that this 
species appears to me to border too closely on the following, which is of earlier date. 
19. Callithamnion virgatulum, Harv. ; filaments minute (2—3 lines high), 
flabellately much branched from the base; branches alternately decompound, 
fastigiate ; secondary ones few, erect, straight, rod-like, frequently secund ; ramuli 
short, secund, often rising from every node ; articulations about three times as long 
as broad ; tetraspores elliptical, pedicellate, scattered on the branches. Harv. in 
Hook. Br. FI. 2, p. 349. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 313. 
Hab. Parasitical on Dasya elegans, at Hellgate, New York, Mr. Walters, (v. v.) 
Fronds forming a dense velvetty pile, nearly of the same colour as the byssoid 
ramelli of the Dasya, and therefore likely to be overlooked. Filaments alternately 
or secundly decompound, all the angles acute and branches and their divisions 
straight and erect. Bamuli bud-like, secund, along the branches. 
20. Callithamnion Daviesii, Ag. ; filaments minute (2—3 lines high), tufted, 
much branched ; branches curved, scattered, patent; ramuli elongate, fascicled or 
crowded toward the axil of the secondary branches ; tetraspores pedicellate, on sub. 
axillary ramuli. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 11. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 314. Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 638. Conferva Daviesii, E. Bot. t. 2329. 
Hab. Parasitical on Ceramium rubrum. Boston Bay, Miss E. Brewer, Dr. 
Durkee. (v. v.) 
Filaments about a line in height, generally forming a fleecy down on the Cera- 
mium, more or less branched ; sometimes sub-simple. Colour, a pinky-red. APPENDIX. 
GENERA INC ER TiE SEDIS. 
[The following genera cannot be satisfactorily referred to their proper places in 
the system until their fruit shall have been discovered. Wurdemannia may perhaps 
belong to Gelidiacece ; and Pikea, either to Sphcerococcoideoe or to Ceramiacece.] 
WURDEMANNIA. (Nov. Gen.) 
Frond filiform, terete, irregularly branched, composed of three strata; the medul- 
lary of numerous, slender, cylindrical, seriated cells, disposed in sub-parallel, closely 
packed, longitudinal filaments ; the intermediate of oblong, longitudinal cells 
gradually shorter towards the periphery, which consists of minute, vertical cellules, 
in a nearly single row. Conceptacles (unknown.) Tetraspores oblong, zonate, 
immersed in the peripheric cells of the swollen apices of the branches. 
The little plant on which I venture to found the present genus has puzzled me a 
good deal. In its aspect it resembles Caulacanthus, but has a structure more nearly 
agreeing with that of Gelidium than of any other genus with which I have com- 
pared it. From Gelidium, however, it differs essentially in the zonate tetraspores. 
I had at one time thought of placing it, provisionally, in Dicranema, but after hav- 
ing consulted with my friend Prof. Agardh, who is equally unable with myself to 
point out its true affinities, I have determined to propose it as the type of a new 
genus, though its claims cannot be fully substantiated until the conceptacles shall 
be discovered. Meanwhile I inscribe it with the name of the late Dr. Wurdeman, 
a most meritorious naturalist, who first explored the marine botany of the Florida 
Keys, and from whom (through Prof. Lewis R. Gibbes) I received specimens of 
this plant, among many others. 
Owing to the tenuity of the frond, it is difficult to obtain a longitudinal section. 
The structure above described has been ascertained by viewing small portions 
which had been treated with muriatic acid, and then strongly pressed between 
pieces of glass. 246 
APPENDIX 
y. 
1. Wurdemannia setacea ; frond capillary, densely tufted, slightly branched, sub- 
dichotomous ; branches simple, naked, divaricating, the apices obtuse ; tetraspores 
zonate, lodged in the incrassated, club-shaped apices, or in club-shaped, apical, 
clustered ramuli. 
Hab. Key West, abundant, Dr. Wurdeman, W. H. II. (53.) (v. v). 
Fronds densely tufted, covering other Algae, corals and Gorgoniae with a shaggy 
coat, 2—3 inches high, as thick as horse-hair, rigid, matted together, not much 
branched. Branches irregularly dichotomous or secund, widely spreading and 
divaricate, equal in diameter throughout, their lesser divisions few, and similar in 
every respect. Famuli very few, a line long, and mostly towards the ends of the 
branches. Tetraspores zonate, crowded in the apical, club-shaped, somewhat 
flattened and frequently fasciculate ramuli. Colour, a dark red. Substance, rather 
rigid. It scarcely adheres to paper in drying. 
PIKE A. (Hov. Gen.) 
Frond piano-compressed, linear, cartilaginous, internally costate, distichously 
decompound, composed of three strata : the axis being a single, articulated, per- 
current filament; the intermediate stratum consisting of slender, longitudinal, 
densely packed, anastomosing filaments ; the cortical very narrow, formed of minute 
cells. Fructification unknown. 
In the absence of all knowledge of the fructification of this curious plant, it is 
impossible to speak with certainty of its affinities. Notwithstanding its inarticulate 
frond, I am disposed to refer it to Ceramiacece, near Carpoblepharis ; but this opinion 
is grounded as much on external habit as on the internal structure. Mere out- 
ward form, however, is a most fallacious guide to natural affinities ; and there are 
certain Sphcerococcoideas and Cryptonemiaceat (especially Prionitis), to which, out- 
wardly, our plant has considerable likeness. I am not acquainted with any Alga 
exactly agreeing in structure with it, and therefore propose it as the type of a new 
genus, which I inscribe to Capt. Nicholas Piice of Brooklyn, from whom I received 
the specimens, and whose many contributions of materials to the present volume 
are recorded under the species received from him. 
1. Pikea Californica; frond linear, more or strongly compressed, flabelli- 
forin, distichous, sub-fastigiate ; branches irregularly disposed, repeatedly com- V. 
APPENDIX. 
247 
pound, irregularly pinnate or secundly ramulose, the divisions erecto-patent, some- 
times opposite, frequently secund, the upper ones piano-compressed; ultimate 
ramuli filiform or subulate, acute, not tapering at base, very erect, unequal, long 
and short intermingled. 
Hab. Golden Gate, Capt. Pike. (50 in part, 78.) (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Frond 3 or 4 inches high, and as much in the expansion of the branches, stipi- 
tate, distichously branched in a palmato-flabelliform manner for a short distance 
above the base. Branches half a line to a line in breadth, compressed, sometimes 
nearly flat, sometimes approaching terete, very irregular in position, spreading, 
sub-simple and rather naked in the lower part, closely branched and repeatedly 
divided above. Lesser branches opposite, alternate or secund, small and large 
branches irregularly consecutive, somewhat pinnate, once or twice compounded. 
Ramuli very frequently secund, of very unequal lengths, filiform or setaceous, 
acute, very erect. Colour, a brown-red. Substance, cartilaginous and firm. Fruit 
unknown. A cross section of a small branch is a narrow ellipse, somewhat 
attenuated at the ends of the longer axis ; there is a large central or axial tube, 
and two or more lesser tubes in the line of the longer axis ; there is a narrow rim 
of minute, peripheric cells, and the whole of the interior space is filled with minute, 
endochromatic cells, being the cross cutting of longitudinal filaments. A longitu- 
dinal section shows a central long-jointed filament; a thin periphery of two other 
rows of minute coloured cells ; and the intervening space formed of a very dense 
plexus of longitudinal filaments passing off towards the periphery into an imper- 
fectly defined stratum of small, angular coloured cells. The central tube easily 
escapes observation in a longitudinal slice, unless the cutting be exactly through 
the middle of the frond. V. 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
249 
ALPHABETIC INDEX OF NAMES. 
[The systematic names in capitals are those which are adopted. The names in italic indicate syno- 
nyms, whilst the vulgar names are in roman. The asterisks refer to the page of description.] 
Acanthocladia, 182. 
hamulosa, 182. 
muricata, 182. 
Acanthophora, 11, 15, 17.* 
Delilei, 18.* 
militarise 17, 18. 
muscoides, 17, 18. 
Thierii, 17.* 
Acrotylus, 161, 196.* 
CLAVATUS, 196* 
PRISMATICUS, 196, 197. 
Actinococcus, 129. 
Aglaiophyllum, 92, 103. 
Americanum, 92. 
ocellatum, 104. 
Ahnfeltia, 159, 167* 
GIGARTINOIDES, 168.* 
PINNULATA, 169.* 
PLICATA, 168.* 
Alsidium, 11, 14.* 
Blodgettii, 16.* 
Seaforthii, 15. 
tenuissimum, 21. 
TRIANGULARE, 15.* 
Amansia, 11, 12.* 
MULTIFID A, 13.* 
Amphiroa, 82, 85.* 
CALIFORNIA, 86.* 
CRETACEA, 86.* 
DEBILIS, 86.* 
fragilissima, 85.* 
Hookeri, 86. 
TUBERCULOSA, 87.* 
ApophljEA, 81. 
Arthrocardia, 86.* 
Asparagopsis, 68. 
BatrachospermejE, 137. 
Batrachospermum, 225. 
Bonnemaisonia, 68, 69. 
69* 
Bostrychia, 12, 54.* 
CALAMISTRATA, 55, 56. 
Hookeri, 55. 
Montagnei, 55.* 
RADICANS, 55. 
RIYULARIS, 55, 57.* 
Tuomeyi, 55, 58.* 
YAGA, 55. 
Botryocladia, 187, 191.* 
UVARIA, 191. 
Botryoglossum, 90, 99.* 
Binderianum, 101. 
PLATYCARPUM, 100,* 102. 
Bryothamnion triangulare, 15. 
Calliblepharis, 91, 105.* 
CILIATA, 105.* 
JUBATA, 106. 
Callithamniea:, 208.* 
Callithamnion, 208, 229.* 
Americanum, 238.* 
arachnoideum, 235. 
ARBUSCULA, 230. 
Baileyi, 231.* 
Borreri, 233.* 
brachiatum, 231. 
BYSSOIDEUM, 234.* 
CORYMBOSUM, 235, 236.* 
CRUCIATUM, 240.* 
Daviesii, 243.* 
Dietzle, 236.* 
FLOCCOSUM, 240.* 
GRACILLIMUM, 235. 
intermedium, 239. 
luxurians, 242.* 
nodulosum, 226. 
PlKEANUM, 230.* 250 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
V. 
Callithamnion Plumula, 238.* 
POLYSPERMUM, 234.* 
— PURPURIFERUM, 230. 
Pylaisjei, 239.* 
roseolum, 241. 
Rothii, 242.* 
SEIROSPERMUM, 237.* 
SQUARRULOSUM, 232.* 
TETRAGONUM, 230.* 
Turneri, 241.* 
unilaterale, 235. 
varlabile, 241. 
versicolor, j3., 237. 
YIRGATULUM, 243.* 
Callophyllis, 159, 170.* 
cristata, 151. 
LACINIATA, 171.* 
Caloglossa, 98.* 
Catenella, 161, 201.* 
Opuntia, 201. 
PINNATA, 201.* 
Caulacanthus, 114. 
Centroceras, 208, 211.* 
CLAVULATUM, 211.* 
8, 206.* 
CeramiejE, 208. 
Ceramium, 208, 212.* 
ARACHNOIDEUM, 217-* 
botryocarpum, 214. 
• BYSSOIDEUM, 218.* 
• CANCELLATUM, 210. 
decurrens, 214. 
diaphanum, 215.* 
FASTIGIATUM, 217.* 
GRACILLIMUM, 216. 
Hooperi, 214.* 
NITENS, 213.* 
• nodosum, 216. 
• OBSOLETUM, 210. 
• RUBRUM, 209, 213. 
■ secundatum, 214. 
SUBTILE, 216.* 
TENUISSIMUM, 216.* 
Ceylon Moss, 90. 
ClLETANGIUM, 114. 
Champia, 68, 69, 75.* 
AFFINIS, 76. 
■ COMPRESSA, 75. 
LUMBRICALIS, 75. 
• Nov;E Zealandia5, 76. 
• PARVULA, 75, 76.* 
■ SALICORNOIDES, 75, 76.* 
Tasmanica, 75. 
Chondria, 12, 19,* 70. 
Chondria atropurpurea, 22.* 
Baileyana, 20.* 
CAPENSIS, 23. 
DASYPHYLLA, 20* 
LITTORALIS, 22.* 
papillosa, 74. 
SEDIFOLIA, 19.* 
TENUISSIMA, 21.* 
Chondroclonium canaliculatum, 174. 
Chondrus, 160, 180.* 
AFFINIS, 181.* 
CRISPUS, 181.* 
dubius, 167. 
linearis, 167. 
norvegicus, 167. 
Chrysymenia, 69, 161, 187.* 
ACANTHOCLADA, 191.* 
Agardhii, 189.* 
DICHOTOMA, 189. 
divaricata, 185. 
enteromorpha, 187.* 
Halymenioides, 188.* 
RAMOSISSIMA, 190.* 
rosea, 186. 
Chylocladia, 69, 160, 185.* 
ARTICULATA, 69. 
Baileyana, 185.* 
■ CLAVELLOSA, 69, 186. 
divaricata, 185. 
• kaliformis, 78. 
parvula, 76. 
rosea, 186.* 
UNCINATA, 186. 
Chylocladia, 68, 75, 77. 
Cladhymenia, 69. 
Coccotylus Brodicei, 164. 
Compsoteia, 59.* 
Conferva atrorubescens, 48. 
Borreri, 233. 
corymbosa, 237. 
• Daviesii, 243. 
diaphana, 215. 
equisetifolia, 227. 
fucoides, 49. 
• Griffithsiana, 205. 
• Plumula, 238. 
polymorpha, 54. 
repens, 241. 
Bothii, 242. 
rubra, 214. 
simplex, 30. 
stricta, 33. 
• tetragona, 231. 
Turneri, 238. y. 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
251 
Conferva Turneri, 241. 
CONSTANTINEA, 160, 173.* 
SlTCHENSIS, 173.* 
CORALLINA, 82, 83.* 
OFFICINALIS, 83.* 
tuberculosa, 87. 
CorallinacEjE, 7, 80.* 
Coralline,®, 81, 82.* 
CoRALLOPSIS, 91, 111.* 
Salicornia, 112.* 
CORDYLECLXDIA, 147, 155.* 
ERECTA, 156. 
Huntii, 155.* 
IRREGULARIS, 156.* 
Corsican Moss, 68. 
Crouania, 208, 225.* 
ATTENUATA, 226.* 
Cruoria, 129. 
Cryptarachne, 187, 189.* 
Agardhii, 189. 
RAMOSISSIMA, 190. 
ACANTHOCLADA, 191. 
Cryptonemia, 160, 184.* 
CRENULATA, 184.* 
Cryptonemiacea:, 8, 156. 
Cryptoneme.e, 160.* 
Cryptopleura Americana, 92. 
lacerata, 104. 
Cystoclonium, 159, 169.* 
PURPURASCENS, 170* 
Dasya, 12, 59.* 
ARBUSCULA, 64. 
chordalis, 65. 
ELEGANS, 60.* 
Gibbesii, 59.* 
Gunniana, 60. 
Laurenciana, 60. 
LOPHOCLADOS, 65.* 
MOLLIS, 62.* 
mucronata, 63.* 
PLUMOSA, 66.* 
RAMOSISSIMA, 61.* 
Tumanowiczi, 64.* 
WuRDEMANNI, 64.* 
Delesseria, 90, 93.* 
ALATA, 95.* 
Americana, 92. 
angustissima, 95. 
■ chordalis, 121. 
CORYMBOSA, 96.* 
DENTICULATA, 94.* 
FIMBRIATA, 94.* 
Hypoglossum, 96.* 
interrupta, 163. 
Delesseria involvens, 97.* 
Leprieurii, 98.* 
platycarpa, 100. 
ROSTRATA, 96.* 
RUSCIFOLIA, 97. 
sanguined, 93. 
SERRATA, 95.* 
SINUOSA, 93.* 
TENUIFOLIA, 97.* 
Delesseriea;, 90.* 
Delisia, 68. 
Desmiospermea:, 7.* 
Digenia, 12, 29.* 
SIMPLEX, 30.* 
Wulfeni, 30. 
Dillisk, 148. 
Dudresnaia divaricata, 133. 
Dulse, 148. 
Dumontia furcata, 183. 
saccata, 79. 
sobolifera, 194. 
Endocladia, 160, 182.* 
muricata, 182.* 
Endocladie,e, 160.* 
Epineuron multijidum, 13. 
Eubostrychia, 55.* 
Eucheuma, 113, 115, 118.* 
ISIFORME, 118.* 
Eugigartine,e, 160.* 
Eupogonium, 59. 
Euthora, 146, 150.* 
CRISTATA, 150.* 
Fucus acanthophorus, 17. 
alatus, 95. 
articulatus, 185. 
asplenioides, 221. 
bracteatus, 178. 
Brodicei, 164. 
capillaris, 202. 
cartilagineus, 117. 
cervicornis, 107. 
ciliatus, 105. 
clavellosus, 185. 
coccineus, 153. 
confervoides, 108. 
cordatus, 180. 
corneus, 116- 
crispus, 181. 
cristatus, 151. 
dasyphyllus, 20. 
dentatus, 14. 
divaricatus, 186. 
Jilicinus, 200. 
floccosus, 24. ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
V. 
252 
Fucus Floresius, 193. 
- glandulosus, 209. 
■ globulifer, 25. 
- granateus, 107. 
Hypoglossum, 96. 
kaliformis, 78. 
laceratus, 104. 
laciniatus, 171. 
larix, 24. 
linearis, 167. 
lumbricalis, 195. 
Lycopodium, 30. 
- membranifolius, 165. 
musciformis, 123. 
naiadiformis, 18. 
Norvegicus, 167. 
obtusus, 72. 
palmatus, 148. 
Palmetta, 149. 
pilulifer, 25. 
■ pinnatifidus, 70. 
platycarpus, 100. 
plicatus, 168. 
plumosus, 224. 
Poitei, 110. 
punctatus, 104. 
purpurascens, 170. 
ramentaceus, 194. 
rotundus, 128. 
sinuosus, 93. 
squamarius, 130. 
subfuscus, 26. 
tenuissimus, 21. 
thyrsoides, 74. 
triangularis, 15. 
venosus, 101. 
Furcellaria, 127, 161, 195.* 
• FASTIGIATA, 195.* 
lumbricalis, 128. 
Gastridium, 77. 
Gastrocarpe/e, 160.* 
Gastroclonium uvarium, 191. 
7, 112.* 
Gelidie.®, 115. 
Gelidium, 113, 115,* 197. 
CARTILAGINEUM, 117.* 
CORNEUM, 116.* 
COULTERI, 117.* 
crassifolium, 198. 
lanceolatum, 197. 
SERRULATUM, 117.* 
Gigartina, 160, 174.* 
canaliculata, 174.* 
EXASPERATA, 177.* 
Gigartina G adit ana, 121. 
MAMILLOSA, 175.* 
MICROPHYLLA, 176.* 
MOLLIS, 175.* 
muricata, 182. 
ornithorhynchos, 177. 
papillata, 178. 
radula, 178.* 
spinosa, 177.* 
Gigartinej®, 159.* 
Ginannia furcellata, 136. 
132.* 
Gloiopeltis, 160, 183.* 
FURCATA, 183.* 
Gloiosiphonia, 161, 202.* 
CAPILLARIS, 202.* 
Gongroceras fastigiatum, 217. 
nodiferum, 216. 
tenuissimum, 216. 
Gongylospermiif:, 8.* 
Gracilaria, 91, 106.* 
armata, 109.* 
Blodgettii, 111.* 
CAUDATA, 111.* 
CERVICORNIS, 107.* 
COMPRESSA, 108.* 
CONFERVOIDES, 108.* 
DAMA5CORNIS, 110.* 
DIVARICATA, 109.* 
erecta, 155. 
MULTIPARTITA, 107. 
POITEI, 110.* 
Grateloupia, 161, 197, 198.* 
CUNEIFOLIA, 200.* 
CUTLERIJ2, 200. 
FILICINA, 199, 200.* 
Gibbesii, 199.* 
PROLONGATA, 200.* 
VERSICOLOR, 200.* 
Griffithsia, 208, 227 * 
CORALLINA, 228.* 
equisetifolia, 227. 
globifera, 228. 
Grinnellia, 90, 91.* 
Americana, 92.* 
Gymnogongrus, 159, 165.* 
fastigiatus, 168. 
gigartinoides, 168. 
LINEARIS, 167.* 
Norvegicus, 166,* 
—plicatus, 168. 
tenuis, 166.* 
Torreyi, 166.* 
Halarachnion ligidatum, 192. V. 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
253 
Halichrysis, 187. 
Haloccelia, 194.* 
Halosaccion, 161, 193.* 
FUCICOLUM, 194.* 
Hydrophora, 194.* 
RAMENTACEUM, 194.* 
Halurus, 208, 225, 226.* 
EQUISETIFOLIUS, 226.* 
Halymenia, 161, 192.* 
Floresia, 193.* 
LIGULATA, 189, 192.* 
IIelminthoclade/E, 8, 131.* 
Helmintiiora, 132, 133.* 
DIVARICATA, 133.* 
Hemineura, 92. 
Hildenbrandtia, 129. 
Hormoceras diaphanum, 215. 
IIymenena, 91, 101.* 
FIMBRIATA, 102.* 
FISSA, 101.* 
Hypnea, 113, 115, 122. 
CERVICORNIS, 125.* 
CORNUTA, 125.* 
Coulteri, 154. 
CRINALIS, 124.* 
DIVARICATA, 124.* 
MUSCIFORMIS, 123.* 
PANNOSA, 125.* 
purpurascens, 170. 
Wurdemanni, 119. 
IIypneace/E, 115.* 
Hypnophycus musciformis, 123. 
Hypoglossum, 96.* 
Hypoglossum alatum, 95. 
Leprieurii, 98. 
serratum, 95. 
Woodwardi, 96. 
Irhlea, 160, 178.* 
cordata, 180.* 
LAMINARIOIDES, 179.* 
MINOR, 179.* 
PINNATA, 180.* 
PUNICEA, 180.* 
stir iota, 177. 
Jania, 82, 83.* 
ANTENNINA, 85. 
CAPILLACEA, 84* 
Cubensis, 84.* 
RUBENS, 84.* 
Kallymenia, 159, 171.* 
Pennyi, 172.* 
Kallymenie,e, 159.* 
Laurencia, 19, 68, 69, 70.* 
Bailey ana, 20. 
Laurencia cervicornis, 73.* 
dasyphylla, 20, 70. 
Forsteri, 73. 
Forsteroides, 72. 
GEMMIFERA, 73.* 
IMPLICATA, 72.* 
OBTUSA, 72.* 
PAPILLOSA, 74.* 
PINNATIFIDA, 70.* 
SCOPARIA, 74.* 
spectabilis, 71. 
tenuissima, 21, 70. 
TUBERCULOSA, 75.* 
VIRGATA, 71* 
LaurenciacejE, 7, 67.* 
Liagora, 133, 137.* 
CERANOIDES, 139.* 
LEPROSA, 139.* 
PINNATA, 138.* 
VALIDA, 138.* 
Liagoreje, 133.* 
Lomentaria, 68, 69, 75, 77.* 
articulata, 78.* 
Coulteri, 78, 79. 
MEDITERRANEA, 77. 
OVALIS, 78,* 192. 
parvula, 76. 
SACCATA, 79.* 
Lomentarie.u, 69.* 
Lophothalia, 64.* 
Lophura cymosa, 26. 
floccosa, 25. 
gracilis, 26. 
larix, 24. 
Mastocarpus, 175.* 
Mastocarpus corymbiferus, 178. 
Harvey anus, 176. 
mamillosus, 176. 
spinosus, 177. 
Mastophora, 81. 
Melobesia, 83, 87.* 
Mertensia, 75. 
Microcladia, 208, 209.* 
BOREALIS, 210.* 
Coulteri, 209.* 
GLANDULOSA, 209. 
scorpioides, 210. 
Myelomium furcellatum, 136. 
Nemalion, 132, 134.* 
divaricatum, 133. 
MULTIFIDUM, 135.* 
VIRENS, 135.* 
Nemastome/e, 161.* 
Neurocaulon Sitchense, 173. 254 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
..v. 
1Veuroglossum Binderianum, 100. 
Nigger Hair, 41. 
Nitophyllum, 91, 102.* 
LACERATUH, 104.* 
ocellatum, 104. 
PUNCTATUM, 104.* 
Nulliporeje, 81, 83.* 
Odonthalia, 11, 13.* 
ANGUSTIFOLIA, 14. 
DENTATA, 14.* 
KAMTCHATICA, 14. 
multifida, 13. 
Oligosiphonia, 31.* 
Oncotylus Norvegicus, 167. 
Pepper Dulse, 68. 
Petrocelis, 129. 
Peyssonnelia, 129.* 
Dubyi, 130.* 
IMBRICATA, 131.* 
Phacelocarpus, 81. 
Phlebothamnion byssoides, 235. 
corymbosum, 237. 
polyspermum, 234. 
seirospermum, 237. 
tetragonum, 231. 
Phycodrys, 93.* 
sinuosa, 93. 
Phyllophora, 159, 164.* 
Brodlei, 164. 
crenulata, 184. 
membranifolia, 165.* 
Phyllotylus membranifolius, 165. 
Physcophora triangularis, 15. 
Pikea, 246.* 
California, 246.* 
Plocamium, 145, 146, 152.* 
coccineum, 153,* 211. 
Plocaria, 106. 
POLYIDES, 128.* 
lumbricalis, 128. 
rotundus, 128,* 195. 
PoLYSIPHONIA, 12, 30.* 
affinis, 49. 
Agardhiana, 48. 
arietina, 41. 
ATRORUBESCENS, 48.* 
Binneyi, 37.* 
BREVIARTICULATA, 36.* 
Brodlei, 27, 44. 
Californica, 48.* 
DICTYURUS, 53.* 
Durlceei, 50. 
ECHINATA, 38.* 
ELONGATA, 42.* 
POLYSIFHONIA EXILIS, 47.* 
FASTIGIATA, 54.* 
FIBRILLOSA, 43.* 
FLEXELLA, 42. 
FORMOSA, 33.* 
FRACTA, 38.* 
fucoides, 49. 
HAPALACANTHA, 39.* 
Harveyi, 41.* 
Havanensis, 34.* 
Hooperi, 33. 
littoralis, 36. 
loplioclados, 66. 
nigrescens, 49.* 
OBSCURA, 47* 
Olneyi, 37, 40.* 
PARASITICA, 46.* 
——— patens, 31. 
Pecten Veneris, 46.* 
physarthra, 36. 
RAMENTACEA, 42. 
SECUNDA, 35.* 
SUBTILISSIMA, 34.* 
SUBULIFERA, 38. 
TENUISTRIATA, 49. 
THYRSIGERA, 53.* 
URCEOLATA, 31.* 
YARIEGATA, 45.* 
VERTICILLATA, 58.* 
YIOLACEA, 27, 44.* 
Woodii, 52.* 
Rhabdonia, 121, 145, 146, 153.* 
B alley i, 122. 
Coulteri, 154.* 
tenera, 122. 
Rhodocallis asplenioides, 221. 
Rhodomela, 12, 23.* 
floccosa, 24,* 51. 
gracilis, 26.* 
LARIX, 24.* 
pilulifera, 25.* 
Rochei, 27.* 
SUBFUSCA, 26.* 
Rhodomelacejj, 7, 9 .* 
Rhodonema, 60.* 
elegans, 61. 
Rhodofhyllis, 146, 151.* 
veprecula, 106, 152.* 
Rhodospermea:, 1 .* 
Rhodymenia, 146, 147.* 
cervicornis, 107. 
■ ciliata, 105. 
cristata, 151. 
INTERRUPTA, 149.* y. 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
255 
Rhodymenia laciniata, 171. 
microphylla, 176. 
PALMATA, 148.* 
Palmetta, 149.* 
• PERTUSA, 147.* 
Wilkesii, 147. 
Rhodymeniace/E, 8, 144.* 
12, 28.* 
Baileyi, 29.* 
COMPLANATA, 29. 
Schizoglossum, 103. 
Scinaia, 133, 135.* 
FURCELLATA, 136.* 
SciNAIEiE, 133.* 
Seirospora Griffithsiana, 237. 
Solieria, 113, 115, 120,* 154. 
CHORDALIS, 121.* 
Sphjjrococcea:, 91.* 
7, 88.* 
Sphcerococcus armatus, 109. 
cervicornis, 107. 
isiformis, 119. 
lichenoides, 108. 
palmatus, 148. 
Palmetta, 149. 
pilulifer, 25. 
polycarpus, 107. 
—• Torreyi, 166. 
SPONGIOCARPEiE, 7, 126.* 
Spongiocarpus rotundus, 128. 
Spyridia, 204.* 
ACULEATA, 205* 
Berheleyana, 205. 
FILAMENTOSA, 204.* 
Spyridiaceas, 8, 203.* 
Squamariea:, 8, 128.* 
Stenogramma, 159, 162.* 
Californica, 163. 
INTERRUPTA, 163.* 
Stichocarpus, 66.* 
Stictosiphonia, 57.* 
Suhria, 114. 
Thamnophora triangularis, 15. 
Thorea, 137. 
Thysanocladia, 69. 
Tylocarpeae, 159.* 
Ulva furcellata, 136. 
ligulata, 192. 
rubra, 192. 
WoRMSKIOLDIA, 93, 145. 
Wrangelia, 141, 142.* 
PENICILLATA, 143.* 
PLEBEIA, 144.* 
Pylaiscei, 239. 
Wrangeliace/E, 8, 141.* 
WURDEMANNIA, 245.* 
SETACEA, 246.* V. 
REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
257 
references to the plates. 
Plate XIII. A.—Alsidium triangulare, J. Ag. p. 15. 
B. —Rhodomela Rochei, Harv. p. 27. 
C. gracilis, Kiitz. p. 26. 
D. —Digenia simplex, Ag. p. 30. 
XIY. A.—Acanthophora Thierii, Lamour. p. 17. 
B. —Bostrychia Montagnei, Harv. p. 55. 
C. calamistrata, Mont. p. 56. 
D. rivularis, Harv. p. 57. 
E. Tuomeyi, Harv. p. 58. 
XV. A.—Dasya Gibbesii, Harv. p. 59. 
B. —Alsidium Blodgettii, Harv. p. 16. 
C. —Dasya Wurdemanni, Bail. p. 64. 
XVI. A.—Polysiphonia ramentacea, Harv. p. 42. 
B. breviarticulata, J. Ag. p. 36. 
C. Pecten Veneris, Harv. p. 46. 
D. the same, var. /3. p. 46. 
XVII. A. Harveyi, Bail. p. 41. 
B. Olneyi, Harv. p. 40. 
C. nigrescens, var. Durlceei, Harv. p. 50. 
XVIII. A.— Chondria Bailey ana, Mont. p. 20. 
B. —Laurencia gemmifera, Harv. p. 73. 
C. cervicornis, Harv. p. 73. 
X). implicata, J. Ag. p. 72. 
E. —Chondria atropurpurea, Harv. p. 22. 
F. tenuissima, Ag. p. 21. 
G. sedifolia, Harv. p. 19. 
XIX. A.—Lomentaria ovalis, var. Coulteri, Harv. p. 78. 
B—Champia salicornoides, Harv. p. 76. 
C.—Stenogramma interrupta, Mont. p. 163. 
XX. A.—Chrysymenia Halymenioides, Harv. p. 188. 
B. uvaria, J. Ag. p. 191. 
C. —Chylocladia Baileyana, Harv. p. 185. REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
V. 
Plate XXI. A Botryoglossum platycarpum, Kiitz. p. 100. 
B.— Grinnellia Americana, Harv. p. 92. 
XXII. A.—Delesseria involvens, Ilarv. p. 97. 
B. tenuifolia, Harv. p. 97. 
C. Leprieurii, Mont. p. 98. 
XXIII. A.—Solieria chordalis, J. Ag. p. 121 
B.—Rhabdonia Coulteri, Harv. p. 154 
XXIY. Eucheuma isiforme, J. Ag. p. 118. 
XXY. Chrysymenia acanthoclada, Harv. p. 191. 
XXYI. Grateloupia Gibbesii, Harv. p. 199. 
XXVII. A.—Prionitis lanceolata, Harv. p. 197. 
B. —Endocladia muricata, J. Ag. p. 182. 
C. —Gigartina canaliculata, Harv. p. 174. 
XXVIII. A. microphylla, Harv. p. 176. 
B. spinosa, Kiitz. p. 177. 
XXIX. A.—Halosaccion ramentaceum, J. Ag. p. 194. 
B. —Catenella pinnata, Harv. p. 201. • 
C. —Nemalion multifidum, J. Ag. p. 135. 
XXX. A.—Chrysymenia Agardhii, Harv. p. 189. 
B. ramosissima, Harv. p. 190. 
XXXI. A.—Liagora valida, Harv. p. 138. 
B. pinnata, Harv. p. 138. 
C. leprosa, J. Ag. p. 139. 
D. —Crouania attenuata, J. Ag. p. 226. 
XXXII. A.—Ptilota hypnoides, Harv. p. 220. 
B. densa, Ag. p. 219. 
XXXIII. A.—Microcladia Coulteri, Harv. p. 209. 
B. —Ceramium arachnoideum, var. patentissimum, Harv. p. 217. 
C. —Centroceras clavulatum, Ag. p. 211. 
XXXIV. A.—Spyridia Jilamentosa, var. refracta, Harv. p. 205. 
B.—Wrangelia penicillata, Ag. p. 143. 
XXXV. A.—Griffithsia corallina, var. globifera, Harv. p. 228. 
B.—Callithamnion Baileyi, Harv. p. 231. 
XXXVI. A. Americanum, Harv. p. 238. 
B. Pylaiscei, Mont. p. 239. 
PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 
WASHINGTON CITY, 
MARCH, 1853. SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE. 
NEREIS 
B0REALI-AMERICANA : 
OR, 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF THE MARINE A L G Ai 
OF NORTH AMERICA. 
BY 
WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY, M.D., M.R.I.A., F.L.S., 
PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK. ETC, ETC. 
PART III. —CHLOROSPERMEiE. 
[ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION, SEPTEMBER, 1857.] COMMISSION 
TO WHICH THIS PAPER HAS BEEN REFERRED. 
Dr. John Torrey, 
Dr. Asa Gray. 
Joseph Henry, 
Secretary S. I. SUB-CLASS III. 
CHLOROSPERMEiE, OR GREEN ALGdE. 
Diagnosis. Plants almost always grass green ; rarely olivaceous, or lurid purple, still 
more rarely red. Propagation either by simple cell-division ; by the transformation of 
the colouring matter of the cells of the whole frond, or of some of the cells, into zoospores; 
or rarely by ordinary spores developed in proper spore-cases. Antheridia, containing 
spermatozoids, have been observed in some. Marine, or living in fresh-water streams, 
ponds, and ditches, or in damp situations. 
It is difficult, in a few words, to give such a diagnostic character of the Algse 
included in this sub-class as shall comprise all the exceptional cases. The general idea 
of the group is that it shall contain Algae of a herbaceous or grass green colour, propa- 
gated by zoospores, or by the transformation of some considerable portion of the whole 
of the endochrome into spores, without these spores being developed within proper spore- 
cases, distinct from the ordinary cells of the frond. In the great majority of these 
plants both characters are found ; but some few genera and species which agree with 
the rest in the dispersed fructification, or in being propagated by zoospores, are of a 
purple or red colour, thereby approaching the Rhodosperms in appearance ; while others 
are olivaceous, and thus seem to approach the Melanosperms. It does not appear 
to be desirable, for the mere variation in colour, to separate plants which are 
in other respects so closely allied as are the Porphyrce to the Ulvce, or the red 
Palmellacece to those of a green colour. It would be necessary, were we to remove 
these aberrant genera and species to the Rhodosperms, to construct special Orders 
to receive them, nor could we place these new Orders in the series of Orders 
as at present constructed; but must establish for them a new division of the 
sub-class, which would be characterised by the absence of cystocarpic fruit and of 
tetraspores ; that is to say, by the absence of the fructification common to the whole of 
this sub-class. Thus it would appear that these purpurascent Algm are more removed • 
from true Rhodosperms, notwithstanding the red colour of their spores, than from 
Chlorosperms ; and consequently we retain them in this division. A graver anomaly, 
as it appears to me, occurs in the genera which produce spores of the ordinary character 
(not zoospores) contained within proper cysts. These have been removed by Endlicher 
and others to the Melanospermic sub-class ; and certainly they show a considerable 
approach to that group. But on the other hand, in the characters of their vegetation, 
in the structure, habit, colour, and general aspect of the frond they are so closely united 
to true Chlorosperms, that I am unwilling to separate them ; particularly as they do not 
seem to be equally nearly related to true Melanospermem. These exceptional genera were 
formerly included in Siphonece,and are in this work separated under the name Dasycladece. 2 
CIILOROSPERMEiE. 
The Chlorosperms are decidedly the lowest or simplest in structure not only of the 
Algm, but of all plants. A very considerable number of them have the frond composed 
of a single utricle or cell, and all cell-division in such plants issues in the production of 
new unicellular fronds. The Orders Diatomacece and Desmidiacece, of which some 
hundreds of genera, and perhaps thousands of species are now known to Botanists, are of 
this character. In the whole of these, the frond consists of what may be called a bivalve 
cell ; the primordial utricle being single while the cellular envelope is divided into two 
halves by a medial line. When such a cell is about to be multiplied by dividing into 
two, the two halves of the old cell remain unchanged, and a new growth of two new 
half-cells originates at each side, along the medial line. While this growth is going on, 
the old half-cells are gently pushed asunder, and when it is completed, a separation takes 
place, and two new fronds float apart, each of them composed of an old half-cell and a 
new growth which gradually acquires all the characters of the opposing valve. But the 
unicellular structure is not confined to such minute atoms as the Diatomacem, or such 
imperfect organisms as the Protococcus and its allies. Many of the larger Chlorosperms 
are essentially unicellular, and in some of these the vegetable cell is found of very much 
larger size than in any other plants. In Codium, Vauclieria, and Bryopsis single 
cylindrical cells may be obtained several inches in length, and frequently of consider- 
able diameter. In Valonia, saccate cells sometimes as large as a walnut and often as large 
as a hazel nut, are found. Botrydium, a little siphonaceous Alga common on damp 
ground in Europe, exhibits within the compass of a single branching cell all the ordinary 
organs of a compound vegetable, as much specialized as is possible within such narrow 
limits: thus, it has a descending axis or root, an ascending axis or stem, and a vesicular 
body, within which its spores are developed. In Caulerpa, however, if the frond in that 
genus be really constructed by the evolution of a single cell, we have the vegetable cell 
assuming its highest development and attaining gigantic size. These unicellular (?) 
fronds are sometimes two feet in length, and excessively branched; with specialized 
root, stem, branches, and leaves. 
The ordinary fructification of the Chlorospermea3 consists of zoospores, or spores 
endowed with ciliary motion, which have already been spoken of in the General Intro- 
duction, (Part I. pp. 13-14). These are usually of very minute size, and are formed 
within the cells of the frond, by the transmutations of the whole cell-contents. Myriads 
of moving granules are thus evolved, each of which is pointed at one end, and there 
furnished with two or four vibratile hairs, which act like oars, and drive the granule 
through the water. In one instance (Hydrodictyon) the zoospores, whilst still 
retained within the walls of the mother.cell, arrange themselves into a young frond, 
which issues from the cell perfect in all its parts. But usually they are dispersed in the 
water, and swim about until they commence germination. In some cases, a solitary 
zoospore and that of large size, clothed all over its surface with cilia, is formed from 
the mass of endochrome of the parent-cell. And often, as in Zygnema and its allies, the 
spore is the result of the union of the matter of two cells. 
Among the more interesting observations recently made on the development of these 
Algrn, Pringsheim’s memoirs on the fertilization of their spores by means of spermato- 
zoids are specially worthy of notice. Male organs of unquestionable character have CHLOROSPERMEiE. 
3 
now been discovered in several, leading to the inference that they exist in all. In some 
cases the spermatozoids are directly formed within the cells of the frond, from which they 
are dispersed in the water, and find their way to the enlarged cell in which the nucleus 
of the future spore, or rather sporangium, is contained, and which they penetrate, and 
effect the fertilization of the contents. In other cases there are formed within the cells 
of the frond and emitted into the water, solitary male-producing bodies resembling 
zoospores in form, but of smaller size, to which Pringsheim gives the name androspores. 
These androspores, after swimming freely for some time, like the zoospores, affix them- 
selves (in Qddogonium) to the surface of the enlarged cell containing the female nucleus, 
or in its immediate neighborhood ; and then develope into minute frondlets, consisting 
of two or three cells, the lowest of which contains endochrome, and acts as a mother- 
cell, while the uppermost becomes an antheridium in which spermatozoids are formed. 
After a time both the female-cell and the antheridium open at the summit ; the sper- 
matozoid is liberated and enters the aperture of the ovarian cell and fertilizes the 
enclosed nucleus ; from which there results the large, immoveable spore characteristic 
of the genus. The whole process is described and its various stages elaborately figured 
in Pringsheim’s memoir, republished in a French translation in An. Sc. Nat. 4th ser., 
vol. 5, p. 250, t. 15, to which I must refer for a fuller account. A previous memoir by 
the same author in An. Sc. Nat., vol. 3, describes the fertilization of the spores of 
Vaucheria by an analogous process. Various memoirs have also recently appeared by 
Thuret, and by Derbes and Soliere, describing the process of the fertilization of the 
spores, and the development of the frond in other classes of the Algas; and from the 
large number of species which have been investigated by these excellent observers, we 
may perhaps be warranted in drawing the general inference, that a process of fertiliza- 
tion, by two opposing sexes, exists in all the Algae. It certainly exists in the Melano- 
sperms, Rhodosperms, and in many of the inferior Chlorosperms. There is much variety, 
however, in the appearance of the antheridia in different classes ; in some no spermato- 
zoids have yet been discovered, in others they are of considerable size, and very active 
and well formed. In some cases each spore is separately fertilized ; in others it is a 
body which afterwards developes spores. One important observation has been made by 
Pringsheim which is specially interesting from its bearing on the disputed question of 
the origin of the embryonic vesicle in the higher plants, namely, that in no instance has 
he observed any growth to proceed from the spermatozoid, but that its function seems 
to have been performed when its contents have mixed with those of the nucleus ; the 
spermatozoid itself being wholly absorbed and dissolved in the mass. 
Much still remains to be done in tracing the development of these Algae, more 
especially in studying the transformations which many of them undergo. Very many 
have two or three different modes of re-producing the species, as by self-division, by 
zoospores or gemmae, and by properly fertilized spores ; and the individuals resulting 
from these various modes of growth are not always similar. Thus there is in many an 
“ alternation of generations,” to be studied, such as has been noticed among lower 
animals ; and probably when the subject has been properly worked out, a large number, 
not only of species, but of genera, especially among the fresh water kinds, must be 
erased from our lists. It now appears probable to Pringsheim that many of the minute 4 
CIILOROSPEBMEiE. 
unicellular Algae of Braun are the male organs or androspores of other Algae. I think 
it can hardly he questioned that multitudes of the Palmelloid forms are either spores or 
imperfectly developed fronds ; and the same is probable of many Confervoids. As yet 
the subject, except in a few able hands, has been confused rather than rendered more 
clear by the labour bestowed by authors upon it. There has been too great an anxiety 
to establish new genera and species, without due regard being had to circumstances of 
growth and development; and the unfortunate student who now attempts to study 
the fresh water Algm is oppressed by an accumulating mass of bad species and genera, 
which all have to be in some degree mastered before he can make clean work. Add 
to this, that in the present state of our knowledge it is absolutely necessary, in most 
instances, to have the living plant at hand, and it will be understood what a difficult 
task it must be to give a good account of the Chlorospermatous series of the Algae. 
]STo one can be more sensible than I am myself of the very imperfect nature of the 
sketch attempted in the present memoir. I write at a distance from my subject, and 
have rarely had more than dried specimens to examine. Though many of them were 
personally collected by myself in 1850, when travelling in America, on very few have I 
preserved notes taken from the recent plant. This is perhaps of less account among 
the marine kinds, which formed the staple of my personal collections, for the marine 
species recover their characters on re-immersion much more perfectly than the fresh 
water kinds. But the want of living specimens has seriously barred my attempts to 
describe the fresh water species, with the exception of such easily preserved kinds as 
Hyclrodictyon, Batrachospermum, Lemanea, Petalonema, &c. The Zygnemaceae, of 
which I have received several, and which are probably numerous in America, so com- 
pletely lose their distinctive characters in drying, that I have been forced to omit them 
altogether. So also it has happened with the species of Oscillatoria, and of the Con- 
fervoid Algae generally. I must therefore leave the task of describing the fresh water 
Algae of America to other hands ; to some one living among them, and having eyes 
fully open to the difficulties of his task, and zeal and ability to work it faithfully. And 
here I cannot omit a slight tribute to the memory of one in whom were combined in 
no common degree the qualifications which make an able naturalist, and who, had he 
lived, would probably have taken up the broken thread. 
I allude to the late Professor J. W. Bailey of Westpoint, one of the earliest explorers 
of American Algae, and whose very able memoirs on the Diatomacece have won for him 
an imperishable name in the annals of science. To me his loss is more personal than 
to most of his botanical friends, for from the hour we first met there grew up between 
us a warm friendship which death has interrupted, but which I trust it has not ended. 
He it was who first suggested to me a Memoir on the American Algae ; he arranged 
with the Smithsonian Institute the terms of its publication ; he supplied me with a 
multitude of specimens ; and to his influence I owe the assistance I have received from 
many American algologists who looked up to him for direction in their studies. He 
was, as far as the Algae are concerned, my chief American referee, to whom I could 
apply when seeking information on local matters, connected with this branch of study. 
With him I constantly associated my work, and to his approbation I looked forward as CIILOROSPERMEtE. 
5 
the most grateful reward of my labours ; and now that he is removed, my interest in 
the work has sensibly flagged, and I am not sorry that it is brought to a conclusion. 
Since the previous part was issued, two other of my correspondents have been 
numbered with the dead—Professor Tuomey of Alabama, and Dr. Blodgett of Key West, 
to both of whom I was indebted for very valuable contributions of specimens. Many 
of these have been noticed in the two former parts, and several more will be found 
described in the present. It has given me a melancholy pleasure to perpetuate the 
memory of the assistance I obtained from these gentlemen, by giving their names to the 
only new genera described in the present part. 
Whilst thus I have to deplore the loss of a dear friend, and of two of my most valued 
correspondents, I have to acknowledge obligations to two new contributors of specimens, 
Mr. Samuel Ashmead of Philadelphia, and Mr. A. D. Frye of New York. From Mr. 
Ashmead I have received a collection of the Algae of New Jersey, and a very interesting 
series of those of Key West, including some new species ; the most remarkable of which 
are a new Caulerpa, and a new and very beautiful Dasya. To Mr. Frye I have to 
return my thanks for a collection of the Algae of California, very well prepared, com- 
municated to me through Professor Henry in 1854 ; and to this gentleman I also owe 
an apology for not having mentioned his name in a previous notice of Californian Algae, 
which were sent to me by Captain Pike of New York in 1852, and which I supposed had 
been collected by him. A letter addressed by Mr. Frye to Professor Henry, and forwarded 
to me since the publication of the notice referred to, informs me that the packet of 
Californian Algae attributed to Captain N. Pike was collected by Mr. Frye, and indeed 
formed part of a fasciculus exhibited by Mrs. Frye at the American Institute in 1851, 
and for which she obtained a gold medal. There were several other exhibitors at the 
fair, but Mrs. Frye’s were considered the most rare. “ After the close of the fair,” says 
Mr. Frye, “ I furnished Mr. Pike with a large number of specimens which I collected 
in California. He professed to send them to Professor Harvey of Dublin, stating to 
me that he would send them in my name, and that I should be credited for them in 
Professor Harvey’s work. In looking over the work I found Professor Harvey received 
a collection of Californian Algae, and they were credited to Captain Pike. I was told by 
Mr. Pike and other algologists in New York that mine was the only collection they 
had ever seen or heard of from the Pacific, and I had made the first collection in Cali- 
fornia. This, I think, after making much enquiry is correct, as I cannot find that 
there has as yet been any brought from thence except mine, which I collected with 
my own hands. I exhibited them to the ladies where I was then boarding, at Jones’s 
Hotel in San Francisco : they afterwards borrowed them to show at their parties, and 
sent a gentleman, Mr. W. Ball, to purchase 20 specimens for 20 dollars—-which I 
furnished to them, and also spent several days in teaching him how to collect and pre- 
pare them. I should be glad if Professor Harvey could know the facts, as I think he 
would be glad to give me credit for the specimens.” Justice to Mr. Frye compels me 
to give these facts as much publicity as my former erroneous notice has obtained. The 
plants were sent to me by Captain Pike, without mentioning any other person, and I 
naturally supposed they had been collected by himself. Nor did I hear of Mr. Frye 
as a collector of Algae, until his letter, quoted above, was received on my return from 6 
CHLOROSPERMEJ). 
Australia in 1856. I now take the earliest opportunity of acknowledging the merit 
of his package, and trust that he will acquit me of any intentional suppression. 
Should I be favoured with any further donations of specimens from America, I trust 
that I may be correctly informed of the circumstances under which they were obtained. 
Justice shall then be fully done to the merits of the collectors. The Alga? of the Pacific 
coast have as yet been very imperfectly explored, and probably many curious and 
beautiful species, still unknown to botanists, remain to reward the future exertions of 
Californian collectors. Possibly, in the collections of those Californian ladies and 
gentlemen mentioned by Mr. Frye, new species remain undescribed and unrecorded ; 
and should these remarks meet the eye of any one possessed of such things, and who 
may wish to see them duly published, I shall be glad to receive and acknowledge all 
contributions of Algae if sent to me through Professor Henry or Professor Asa Cray : 
and the donors may rest assured that all such communications will be faithfully 
acknowledged. 
W. H. H. 
Trinity College, Dublin, 
1 Dec. 1857. SYNOPSIS OF THE ORDERS OF CIILOROSPERMEJE. 
1. Siphoned. Rooting or basifixed. Frond simple or compound, formed either of a 
single, filiform, branching cell, or of many such cells united together in a spongy 
frond. (Marine or fresh-water.) 
2. DASYCLADEiE. Rooting. Fronds consisting of a simple or branched inarticulate 
axial thread, whorled with articulated ramelli. Spores spherical, developed in 
proper fruit-cells. (Marine.) 
3. Rooting. Fronds polymorphous, formed of large vesicated cells, 
filled with watery endochrome. (Marine.) 
4. ULVACEiE. Basifixed. Fronds tubular or flat, membranous, formed of minute 
quadrate cells. (Marine or in fresh water.) 
5. Basifixed. Fronds filiform ; the axis inarticulate, composed 
of minute cylindrical or polygonal cells, naked, or whorled with articulated ramelli. 
Spores in moniliform strings, naked. {In fresh water.) 
6. CoNFERVACEiE. Basifixed or floating. Fronds filamentous, articulated. Endo- 
chrome diffused. Zoospores minute, formed in all the cells. (Marine or in fresh 
water.) 
7. Floating. Fronds filamentous, articulated. Endochrome of some 
definite figure. Zoospores large, formed by the union of two endochromes (of 
different cells), or by the bisection of a single endochrome. (In fresh water.) 
8. Floating. Frond forming a net-work with polygonal meshes ; 
each side of the mesh formed of a single cell. Viviparous. (In fresh water.) 
9. OscillatoriacEjE. Basifixed or free. Frond formed of subsimple filaments, having 
a membranous inarticulate tubular sheath, enclosing an annulated medulla, 
composed of very short, lenticular, cellules. 
10. NosiocHiNEiE. Basifixed or free. Fronds consisting of moniliform jelly-coated 
threads, free or enclosed in a gelatinous matrix. 
11. Microscopic, unicellular, green; wall of the cell membranous: 
growth by semisection of the cell, and the evolutions of two new half-cells at 
the medial line. 
12. Microscopic, unicellular, yellow-brown ; wall of the cell silicious : 
growth and fructification as in the preceding Order. 
13. Cells globose, or ellipsoidal, free, or lying in a gelatinous matrix, 
not forming either threads or membranes. Propagation by division of the 
endochrome. 
* These Orders are not included in the present work. The North American species have been ably worked 
out by the late Professor J. W. Bailey of Westpoint, whose numerous memoirs on the subject have a world- 
wide reputation. The species are all of microscopic size, and some of them, from their extreme minuteness, 
and the delicate sculpturing on their cell walls, form admirable test-objects for microscopes. SIPIIONACEaE. 
9 
Order I.—SIPHONACEaE. 
Siphonece and Caulerpece, Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 183. J. Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 17. 
Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 16. Dne. Class, p. 32; (also Halymedece, Dne.) Lincll. Veg. 
Kingd. p. 18, and Vaucherieee, in part, p. 22. Vaucheriece, Caulerpece, Codiece (in 
part), Kiitz. Sp. Alg. pp. 486, 494, 500. 
Diagnosis. Green, marine or fresh water Algm, naked or coated with carbonate of 
lime, composed either of a single, filiform, branching cell, or of many such cells united 
together into a spongelike frond. 
Natural Character. Root, where it is developed, formed of many branching 
fibres interwoven together and entangled ; sometimes penetrating deeply into the sand 
in which the plant grows, and attaching itself to the separate grains of sand, which 
serve further to consolidate the mass of fibres. Frond very variable in appearance, 
and differing much in complexity of structure, but always formed of very long, 
branching, inarticulate filaments, which arise from the continued growth and evolution 
of a single, undivided cell. In the genera of simplest structure, such as Brgopsis 
and Vaucheria, the frond consists of a single branching filamentous cell, with a thin, 
membranous, hyaline cell-wall; its cavity being filled with a granular semifluid colour- 
ing matter or endochrome, which may be wholly discharged if the tube be wounded 
and slightly pressed. In Brgopsis the unicellular fronds stand apart from each other, 
though many often rise nearly from the same base. In Vaucheria several such fronds 
are interwoven together at the base, but remain distinct in their upper branches. In 
Chlorodesmis there is a further union of many such threads, whose lower portion 
unite together to form an evident stipes or trunk, which is crowned with a pencil of 
free filaments ; the whole frond resembling a little tree. This habit, however, is not 
so obvious in the American species as it is in Ch. comosa, the first described species of 
the genus. Again, in Codium, we find a structure essentially the same as in Vau- 
cheria and Chlorodesmis, but the union of the filaments is still more intimate. To 
the naked eye, the species of Codium resemble green sponges or pieces of green cloth 
or velvet, having a perfectly definite outline and closely interwoven substance, and it is 
only when we tear or cut them asunder under the microscope that we perceive their 
true structure. We then find that all the central part of the substance of the frond is 
composed of innumerable interwoven, longitudinal branching cells, and that the velvetty 
pile which constitutes the surface is formed of the tips of excurrent branches of the 
axial cells, lying close together and presenting only their extremities to the eye. In all 10 
siphonacej:. 
these genera the component filaments remain in the ordinary state of cellular tissue, 
having their membranous walls composed of cellulose, and filled with endochrome. The 
only further change which the plants of this group exhibit in structure consists in a 
secretion of carbonate of lime, which in several genera is found coating the external 
surface of the cells ; and sometimes, as in Halimeda and some species of Udotea, 
surrounding the cells in such abundance as to cover the whole frond with a smooth 
coat of plaister, and obliterate all appearance of filaments. In such cases it is necessary, 
in order to see the structure, to macerate a portion of the frond in hydrochloric acid, 
until the lime be removed. When so treated, the component cells may be extracted 
and will be found to be of similar nature to those of Codium or Bryopsis. Indeed 
through some species, such as Udotea membranacea, there is an almost direct passage 
into Codium. 
A more compound structure exists, as will be afterwards more fully described, in the 
sub-order Caulerpece, where from the inner face of the cell-wall innumerable branching 
and anastomosing processes issue, and fill up the cavity of the cell with a spongy, 
filamentous substance, unlike any structure noticed within the cavity of any other 
vegetable cells ; so far as I am aware. On this remarkable character several authors 
propose to separate these plants into a distinct Order, and to this proceeding my only 
objection is that it appears to be an unnecessary multiplication of Orders. 
The fructification of these Algrn has been observed in several but not in all, and 
presents some modifications in the different genera. In some, as in Bryopsis, the whole 
substance of the endochrome in fruiting specimens is changed into minute zoospores, 
which when emitted from the parent have an apparent voluntary movement like that 
of infusoria ; swimming backwards and forwards by means of retractile cilia, which only 
disappear when the zoospore finds a point of fixture, and commences to germinate. In 
others, as in Codium, similar zoospores are developed within special encysted fruit-cells 
or vesicles, called by Agardh coniocystce, which arise from the branches and are divided 
by a diaphragm from the branch on which they are formed. In others, as in Vaueheria, 
zoospores of a higher development are formed within similar cysts ; and in this genus 
the cyst (or ovary) is accompanied by a well formed antheridium. 
The process of fertilization of the spore in Vaueheria has recently been ably investi- 
gated by Pringsheim, a French translation of whose memoir on the subject will be found 
in Ann. Sc. Nat. Ser. IY. vol. 3, p. 363. The existence of two organs in Vaueheria, 
one of which was supposed to be an antheridium, had been noticed originally by Vaucher 
half a century ago, and they have passed under the eyes of succeeding observers ; but 
no one appears to have actually watched the process of fertilization until it was 
discovered and published by Pringsheim in 1855. I shall merely give an abstract of 
the process, referring for full particulars, illustrated by beautifully executed figures, to 
the above quoted memoir. The anther or corniculum in Vaueheria consists of a small, 
cylindrical spirally curved or helicoid process rising from one of the branches of the 
frond, and. at first not differing from an ordinary branehlet except in size. But 
gradually a change takes place in its contents, at first manifested by a loss of colour in 
the matter filling the upper portion of the young antheridium. Then a diaphragm is 
formed, which walls off the portion toward the extremity of the antheridium from the SIPHONACE2E. 
11 
lower half, which retains its union with the branch : and now the change is complete. 
The anther thus formed consists of an isolated, curved, cylindrical, nearly colourless but 
not empty cell, supported on a pedicle of variable length and curvature. In the anther- 
cell spermatozoids are gradually evolved out of the contained matter, and are at maturity 
emitted through an opening at the summit of the cell. So much for the structure of 
the anther. The sporangium, or female organ, is placed on the branch close to the antheri- 
dium, and like it, at first consists of a papilla, or minute ramulus rising from the branch. 
It does not, however, lengthen into a cylinder, but assumes an ovoid form; its contents 
become dense and granular; a diaphragm separating it from the branch is formed across 
its base, and thus it becomes a separate egg-shaped cellule, sessile on the branch from 
which it has been formed. A beak-like attenuation, directed toward the adjacent 
antheridium, is now formed, and becomes at length perforated. At the same time the 
antheridium, having curled round, directs its extremity toward the sporangium ; its 
summit opens, aud the enclosed spermatozoids are discharged into the water, close to 
the orifice of the sporangium, which they enter and effect the fertilization of the matter 
aggregated within. A cell-wall is then formed round the fertilized substance, which 
thus becomes a spore, which gradually ripens and is detached on the bursting or decay 
of the membranous cyst within which it was formed. In its process toward ripening 
it loses its green colour, and at length becomes nearly colourless, except for one or more 
brown masses which it contains. In this state it remains, often for a considerable time, 
till germination takes place, when it suddenly resumes its green, and then elongates 
into a tubular cell, which assumes the form and ramification of the parent plant. 
This Order is dispersed, under one or other of its forms, over most parts of the world, 
and its species are found either in the sea, in fresh water, or occasionally on damp soil; 
some species of Vaucheria and the curious little Botrydium being terrestrial. The 
geographical range of several species is very extensive. Codium tomentosum and 
Bryopsis plumosa are common to the Northern and Southern Oceans and to the 
Eastern and Western Hemispheres, and are both found in the warmest parts of the 
tropical seas, as well as in high latitudes of the temperate zones. Caulerpa is specially 
characteristic of the tropical ocean, where its species are numerous, some of the more 
common kinds forming the principal algoid covering of rocks or sands in shallow water. 
Some of its species are widely scattered, and others apparently limited to a few spots. 
Several of the fossil algoid plants appear to have been Caulerpce, and the fossil figured 
by Brongniart (tab. 9, bis, jig. 1), under the name “ Fucoides hypnoides ” bears a very 
striking resemblance to Caulerpa hypnoides of the Australian coast. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
Sub-order I. Frond with prostrate, rooting, primary stems (surculi), and 
erect branches, membranous, unicellular ; cell within filled with a network of 
branching fibrils. 
I. Caulerpa. 12 
SIPHONACEiE. 
Sub-order II. Codies. Frond uni- or pluri-cellular. Cells filled with granular 
endochrome (without internal fibrous network). 
* More or less coated with carbonate of lime. 
II. PIalimeda. Frond branching, articulate ; the joints flattened. 
III. Udotea. Frond stipitate, fan-shaped, simple or cleft. 
** Destitute of carbonate of lime, soft and flaccid. 
IV. Codium. Frond spongelike, of definite form, composed of closely interwoven, 
irregularly branching filaments. 
Y. Ciilorodesmis. Frond stipitate (or subsessile), pencil-shaped, composed of dichoto- 
mous filaments, interwoven at base, and free in their upper portion. 
VI. Vaucheria. Filaments numerous, tufted and somewhat matted at base, free 
above, irregularly branched. 
VII. Bryopsis. Filaments free, tufted or solitary, pinnately branched. 
I. CAULERPA, Lamour. 
Frond consisting of prostrate surculi, rooting from their lower surface, and throwing 
up erect branches (or secondary fronds) of various shapes. Substance horny-membran- 
ous, destitute of calcareous matter. Structure unicellular, the cell (or frond) continu- 
ous, strengthened internally by a spongy network of anastomosing filaments, and filled 
with semi-fluid grumous matter. Fructification unknown. 
The genus Caulerpa was founded by Lamouroux in 1810, and referred by him to 
his family of Ulvaceas, though with doubt ; for he seems to have thought the structure 
of these plants so anomalous that he hesitates to pronounce them vegetables, notwith- 
standing their strictly vegetable form, immobility, and green colour. He had not, 
however, made himself master of their real structure, for he describes the frond as 
“ consisting of an epidermis, and a cellular tissue consisting of cells so small that it has 
been impossible to determine their form” (Ess. p. 67). Turner appears to have been 
the first author who noticed the fibrous spongelike network which fills up the cavity of 
the membranous frond. This he describes under his Fucus hypnoides, but in terms 
which show that he supposed this structure peculiar to that species. To Dr. Montagne 
we owe the first and best account of the structure of the Caiderpce. This able algologist, 
in a paper read before the French Institute in 1837 and published in An. Sc. Nat. for 
March, 1838, has given a full history of the genus, both as to its organization and what 
he believed to be its fructification. To this memoir I refer the reader who wishes for 
full information of all that was then known of these plants, and shall content myself in 
this place with briefly describing their habit, structure, and geographical distribution. SIPIIONACEiE. 
13 
The character seized on by Lamouroux as essential to a definition of the genus, and 
happily indicated by him in the name Caulerpa (derived from av\os, a stem, and 
ip7T(o, to creep) consists in the prostrate, primary stems or surculi in which the frond 
originates, and which are furnished at intervals throughout their length with branching 
and fibrous roots that penetrate deeply into the sand in which the plant vegetates, or 
attach themselves firmly to the rock in such species as grow on rocks and corals. 
These roots are fibrous prolongations of the under surface of the prostrate stems, and 
are probably, notwithstanding their great development, chiefly useful for fixing the 
plant in its position. From the upper side of the surculi rise erect branches or secondary 
fronds, which are very various in form, and are either sessile or supported on stalks or 
stipites of greater or less length. Some recent writers on these plants have proposed to 
divide the genus into several, assigning to them characters taken from the form and 
ramification of the branches ; and those who wish to know what can be done in this 
way may consult a memoir by Count Trevisan in the 22nd vol. of Schlechtendahl’s 
Linnsea, where subdivision is pushed to an extreme. I have not adopted these views 
of arrangement, being unwilling to break up what appears a natural assemblage, and 
thus needlessly to multiply generic names. By employing artificial characters it is very 
easy to split up any genus of several species, but unless the number of species included 
in a genus be inconveniently large, it seems undesirable to do so. The genus Caulerpa, 
as defined by Lamouroux, includes about fifty species which agree in all essential 
characters of structure and development. The differences among them are obviously 
of a very minor character, and though proper enough for the definition of sections, are 
we think of too trivial a nature to afford stable generic diagnoses. For instance, let us 
take one of the proposed new genera, Corradoria, which differs from another, Chauvinia, 
merely in having bifarious instead of multifarious leaves or ramenta. But the feebleness 
of this character is shown by several species which are imperfectly bifarious ; so that 
bifarious and tri- or multifarious ramenta may occasionally be found on one and the 
same specimen. C. cupressoides of the North American coast has ramenta sometimes 
bifarious, sometimes trifarious ; and C. falcifolia of the tropical Pacific, which is nor- 
mally bifarious, is frequently quadrifarious on part of the same individual. 
In all the North American species the ramenta are confined to the upright branches 
or secondary fronds, and the surcnli are smooth and glossy except in C. lycopodium, 
where both the surculus and the stalks of the fronds are densely clothed with branching, 
woolly hairs. In several Australian and some Pacific species the surculi are equally 
ramentiferous with the fronds, though the ramenta they bear are often of a different 
shape. The forms and ramifications of the upright fronds are much varied. In our 
C. prolifera, the type of Kutzing’s genus Phyllerpa, we have an example of membranous, 
expanded, leaflike, simple fronds, perfectly entire at the margin; in C. denticidata and 
C. scalpell if or mis there are similarly flattened fronds, but deeply pinnatifid ; in 
C. mexicana the marginal incisions are so deep that the frond becomes pinnate, and 
thus we are led, by easy transitions, to C. taxfolia and C. plwmaris where the pinnate 
character is perfectly developed. Again, in C. falcifolia, Bail. & Harv. there is a 
passage from the species with pinnate fronds to those having filiform ramenta imbricated 
on all sides ; for, as already mentioned, the ramenta on some of the fronds are strictly 14 
SIPIIONACEJE. 
distichous, and on others tristichous or quadrifarious. A further step brings us to 
C. Selago, C. Lycopodium, and their allies, in which the branches are thickly 
set with imbricating ramenta ; and the highest development of this type is reached in 
C. obscura, C. Muelleri, and C. hypnoides, where pinnate and imbricated characters are 
combined. Another group of species, like our C. paspaloides, is characterised by having 
pinnate or multifid ramenta ; and in another, the ramenta are baglike, either round, 
pyriform, or topshaped. Of this type we have an American example in C. clavigera, 
one of the most widely dispersed and most variable of the species. By depressing the 
apex of a baglike ramentum it becomes top-shaped, and by further depression peltate, 
and this- form distinguishes C. chemnitzia and C. peltata ; and again, peltate ramenta 
becomes perfoliate in C. nummidaria and C. stellata by the development of young 
ramenta from the centre of the discs. In such species as C. ericifolia and C. cupressoides 
the gradual evolution of ramenta from mere prominent points of the frond is illustrated; 
and such species lead us to C. Freycinetii where the ramenta remain in this rudimentary 
condition. And thus we are conducted, by almost insensible gradations, through a 
considerable number of forms, back to those from which we started, and which had 
naked fronds destitute of ramenta or marginal incisions. And so, after a survey of all 
the species, we become more reconciled to the generic group as limited by Lamouroux, 
than if we had merely compared together such extreme forms as C. prolifera and C. pas- 
paloides. 
We have already said that the structure of all these plants is essentially the same. 
It remains to describe more particularly what that structure is. I am not aware that 
any observer has yet noted the early development of the frond, nor is the mode of re- 
production as yet clearly made out. The spores are presumed to be similar to those of 
Bryopsis, and to be formed in any portion of the grumous matter that fills the frond, 
and most probably from that of the ramenta. When we take a fully formed 
distinguishable into creeping stem, roots, upright branches and ramenta, we find that 
it is every where coated or encased in a homogeneous, hyaline, tough membrane des- 
titute of further structure than this ; that it may be seen in the thicker parts to be 
composed of several layers of cellulose, equally deposited one within another, as in the 
wood-cells of higher plants. There is no septum throughout the plant, and no appear- 
ance of cellular structure in the membrane of the walls. The frond, with all its 
ramifications, is strictly “continuous,” forming a closed sac ; and so far as we know 
it is formed by the evolution of a single cell, extending itself indefinitely without cell- 
division, and showing in excess the same structure as we find in a minor degree in 
such plants as Botrydium, Bryopsis and the like. This closed sac, frond or cell, in 
Caulerpa, is filled as in Bryopsis, with a semi-fluid, semi-gelatinous, bright-green 
endochrome containing starch-grains mixed with what seem to be oily particles, and 
obviously highly organized, but its chemical composition remains to be examined. 
Most probably it is highly nitrogenous, for it bears considerable resemblance in sub- 
stance to the glairy semi-fluid of many sponges ; and lienee probably the reason of 
Lamouroux’s supposition that these plants were of a semi-animal nature. If the 
structure of Caiderpa were merely what we have described, a closed membrane filled with 
grumous matter, it would not essentially differ from that of Codium and Bryopsis. SIPHON ACEiE. 
15 
But there is found in Caulerpa a supplementary structure of a very peculiar and curious 
kind, which has induced several systematic writers to separate this genus, as the type 
of a family distinct from the other Siphoneae. An unwillingness needlessly to multiply 
families, and a belief that synthesis, much more than analysis, ought to be the study 
of a system framer, has prevented my adopting these views. The structure alluded to 
is this : from the inner face of the wall of the membrane covering the frond there issue 
innumerable, cylindrical, filamentous processes, which seem to be merely internal ex- 
tensions of the cell walls, and not new cells. These branch and anastomose together 
into a kind of spongy net-work that fills the whole cavity of the frond, and is bathed 
and its fibres keep apart by the grumous fluid. This spongy net-work may be regarded 
as the proper frame-work of the plant, intended to give strength and unity to all parts 
of the frond. The filaments appear to be tubular, but are empty and colourless. This 
peculiar modification of structure is so like that of a sponge, that we may almost regard 
a Caulerpa as a vegetable sponge enclosed in a membranous epidermis. 
The genus Caulerpa is eminently characteristic of the tropical and subtropical oceans 
and seas of both hemispheres. Very few species extend far into the temperate zone. 
The most northern are found in the Mediterranean Sea ; and the most southern on the 
shores of New Zealand. Many species exist on the southern coast of Australia, in 
lat. 35° or 36° ; but the greater number are found within 35° of the equator. They 
inhabit the littoral zone, from near high-water to low-water marks ; and some extend 
into the laminarian zone, or even to that of the Nullipores. Their favorite locality is 
on hard sand, or on sand-covered rocks ; and in the crevices of coral on the coral reefs, 
and more particularly in hollows left on the surface of the reef, where the corals have 
ceased to grow. Most of the American species grow within tide marks, but are not 
luxuriant except at low-water mark, or a little below it. C. clavifera commences to 
grow nearly at high water mark, and is continued throughout the whole littoral zone 
and into the laminarian. It consequently varies greatly in size and in general aspect, 
and accordingly appears under several names in botanical works ; but these “ book- 
species,” however distinct they may look in the herbarium, cannot be recognized on 
the shore, where all the forms gradually blend together. Some of the species are very 
local. Others are found in both hemispheres, and in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 
Of the North American species C. plumaris, C. clavifera, C. ericifolia and C. cupressoides 
are the most widely dispersed, being found in all tropical waters ; C. prolifera is found 
in the Mediterranean Sea ; C. paspaloides on the coast of Brazil, while C. Ashmeadii 
and C. lycopodium, so far as is yet known, are peculiar to the Keys of Florida. C. 
mexicana very closely resembles C. asplenioides, Grev. a native of the Indian Sea, and 
it is questionable whether these are distinct; and C. lycopodium also is nearly allied 
to C. selago, a native of the Red Sea, but appears to be essentially characterised by its 
woolly stems. The Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the shores of tropical Asia and those of 
New Holland, with the coral reefs of the Pacific furnish many local species, some ex- 
ceedingly curious and beautiful. Several species are eaten by the natives of the 
Pacific archipelagoes; and all furnish a favourite food to the turtle, whose green fat 
they serve to nourish. 16 
SIPHONACEtE. 
We shall distribute the nine American species into three sections, characterised as 
follows :— 
Sect. 1. Phyllerpa. Kutz : Fronds piano-compressed, or flat, leaflike, very entire. 
1. Caulerpa prolifera, Lamour.; surculi naked, glabrous ; fronds erect, petiolate, 
flat, leaflike, nerveless, entire, tongue-shaped, rarely once forked, proliferous from the 
disc or apex. Lamour. Ess. p. 67. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 444. Trevis. in Linn. vol. 
22, p. 129. Phyllerpa prolifera, Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 494. Fucus Ophioglossum, Web. 
and Mohr. Turn. Hist. t. 58. (Tab. XXXVIII. B.) 
Hab. Keys of Florida, on submarine sands. Key West, W. H. H., No. 95. Mr. 
Ashmead. Soldier’s Key, Professor Tuomey, No. 83 in part. (v. v.) 
Surculi prostrate, throwing out from their under surface branching and fibrilliferous 
roots, simple or branched, twice as thick as hog’s bristle, glabrous, glossy, cylindrical, 
shrinking, and longitudinally channelled when dry. Fronds stipitate, the stipes 
filiform, from a quarter-inch to an inch in length, of equal diameter with the surculi, 
compressed at the apex, and gradually passing into the base of the oblong or 
obovate, tongue-shaped obtuse lamina. The frond or lamina is flat and leafllike, 
two to four inches long, from half to three-quarter inch wide, either quite simple 
or once forked, with a perfectly entire flat margin. Occasionally similar stipitate 
fronds spring proliferously from any point of the disc or from the base or apex, 
especially if the latter has been wounded. The substance is membranaceous, somewhat 
horny and translucent, with a very glossy surface when dry. The colour is a full 
grass-green, becoming oil-green and variously tinged with yellow in a dried state. It 
does not adhere to paper in drying. 
This species is rather rare at Key West. My specimens were picked up on the 
beach, after a southerly gale in the month of February. They closely correspond with 
specimens from the Mediterranean Sea, where, as well as in the subtropical Atlantic, 
this plant is not uncommon. C. prolifera has a very different habit from the other 
American species, but is closely related to the Australian C. parvifolia, and to C. anceps 
from the coral reefs of the Pacific. It appears to be still more closely akin to C. costata, 
Kiitz, a Mediterranean species unknown to me, and said to differ in having a semi- 
nerved lamina. 
Plate XXXVIII. B. Fig. 1. Caulerpa prolifera ; the natural size. 
Sect. 2. Ptilerpa. Fronds piano-compressed, inciso-serrate, pinnatifid or pinnate. 
2 Caulerpa Mexicana, Solid. ; surculi naked, glabrous ; fronds erect, subsessile, 
pinnato-pinnatifid ; rachis (broad), piano-compressed ; pinnae opposite, vertically SIPHONACEiE. 
17 
flattened, two-edged, oblongo-falcate, mucronulate, scarcely constricted at base, their 
margin entire. Sonder in Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 496. (Tab. XXXVII. A.) 
Hab. Keys of Florida, on submarine sands and sand covered rocks. Key West, 
W. H. H. (No. 94.) Professor Tuomey, No. 72. Mr. Ashrnead. (v. v.) 
Surculi prostrate, extensively creeping, rooting from their under surface, branched, 
twice as thick as hog’s bristle, glabrous, glossy, longitudinally furrowed when dry. 
Fronds springing from the upper surface of the surculi, nearly sessile, or on very short 
stipites, broadly linear (in outline), 4-6 inches long, inch wide, either simple or 
with one or two branches, pinnate or rather very deeply pinnatifid, from just above 
the base to the bifid or emarginate extremity. Pachis piano-compressed, from one to 
two lines wide, somewhat thick and fleshy when recent, horny and longitudinally 
rugulose when dry, closely set throughout with the opposite, distichous pinnas. Pinnae 
from two to four times as long as broad, patent, the lower ones somewhat ovate, the 
upper gradually more and more oblong and incurvo-falcate, vertically flattened,two edged, 
mucronulate, entire ; the margin quite free from denticulations. Substance when dry 
horny, membranaceous and glossy, semi-transparent. Colour a brilliant grass green, 
variously tinged with yellow, and becoming slightly olivaceous when dry. 
This beautiful plant abounds at Key West, particularly under the bridge, where it 
forms widely spreading patches. Sonder’s specimens were sent from Mexico, but the 
exact locality is not given. It is nearly related on the one hand to C. denticulata, Dne. 
from the Red Sea ; and on the other to C. asplenioides, Grev. (in An. Mat. Hist. vol. 12. 
tab. 1. /. 1.) a native of the East Indies, if indeed that species be really different. It 
also bears much resemblance to C. taxifolia, Ag., but the pinnae are broader, more 
sharply two-edged, and distinctly mucronulate. 
Plate XXXVII. A. Fig 1. Caulerpa Mexicana ; the natural size. Fig. 2, a 
pair of pinnae, magnified. 
3. Caulerpa plamaris, Ag. ; surculi naked, glabrous ; fronds erect, subsessile, dis- 
tichously pectinato-pinnate ; rachis (narrow) filiform ; pinnae opposite, slender, 
filiform, setaceous, incurved, or subfalcate, either acute or sub-obtuse. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, 
p. 436. Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 496. Bory, Voy. Coq. tab. 22, f. 4. Corradoria plu- 
maris, Trevis. in Linn. 22, p. 133. Fucus taxifolius, Turn. t. 54 (excl. syn.) Fucus 
plumaris, Forsk. (Tab. XXXVIII. C.) 
Hab. Sandy shores, on the Florida Keys. Key West, W. H. H., Professor Tuomey, 
Mr. Ashrnead, (v. v.) 
Surculi prostrate, rooting from the under surface, a line or more in diameter, branched, 
glabrous, glossy, collapsing, and becoming longitudinally furrowed when dry. Fronds 
numerous, rising from the upper side of the surculi, erect, simple or with one or two 18 
SIPHONACEjE. 
branches, scarcely stipitate or subsessile, linear (in outline), 2-6 inches long, less than 
half an inch wide, pectinato-pinnate from a short distance above the base to the extremity. 
Rachis filiform, scarcely thicker than hog’s bristle, closely set with pinnae. Pinnce 
opposite, sometimes a little obliquely inserted, setaceous, 2-3 lines long, rarely straight, 
generally more or less incurved or falcate, their apices sometimes very acute, ending in 
a sharp mucro, sometimes bluntish. Substance when dry horny and semitranslucent. 
Colour a deep and rather dark green, the tips of the pinnae often yellowish or orange. 
A native of the tropics generally, both of the eastern and western hemisphere ; occa- 
sionally straggling into the warmer parts of the temperate zone. It varies much in the 
diameter of the surculi, and somewhat in the length of the pinnae, but is easily recog- 
nised by the closely pectinate fronds, which resemble small green feathers. The speci- 
mens from Key West are peculiarly robust, and if compared with some slender varieties 
from the Pacific, might pass for different. But at Vavau, in the Friendly Islands, where 
this plant is common, I collected specimens both of the robust and slender form. 
Plate XXXVIII. C. Fig. 1. Caulerpa plumaris, the natural size. Fig. 2, a pinna, 
magnified. 
4. Caulerpa Ashmeadii; surculi naked, glabrous ; fronds erect, shortly stipitate, 
distichously pectinato-pinnate ; rachis subcompressed ; pinnae opposite (or suboblique), 
erecto-patent, straight, linear, somewhat incrassated at the very obtuse extremity. 
(Tab. XXXVIII. A.) 
Hab. Key West, rare. W. H. H., Samuel Ashmead, Esq. (v. v.) 
Surculi prostrate, distantly rooting, one or two lines in diameter, glabrous and 
glossy, collapsing, and mostly channelled when dry. Fronds scattered, rising from the 
upper side of the surculi, erect, each furnished with a stipes from half an inch to upwards 
of an inch in length, and closely pectinato-pinnate throughout. Each frond, pinnae 
included, is about an inch in breadth, and from four to six inches in length. The 
pinnae are half a line in diameter, three-fourths of an inch long, terete, and nearly linear, 
but more or less thickened towards the extremity, which is very obtuse, without trace 
of mucro or acumination. The substance when dry is horny and semi-transparent. 
The colour, when recent, is grass green, but in drying it turns to olive. 
The roots, Mr. Ashmead remarks, penetrate so deeply, and fix themselves so firmly 
in the hard sand, that it is with difficulty obtained, except in fragments. I regard the 
present as a distinctly marked new species, and have much pleasure in inscribing it to Mr. 
Samuel Ashmead of Philadelphia, a gentleman who has already made some interesting 
discoveries among the Algae at Key West, and from whom many more may be expected. 
It is a much larger and stronger growing plant than C. plumaris, and remarkable for 
the very obtuse and almost club-shaped ends of the nearly straight pinnae. 
Plate XXXVIII. A. Fig. 1, Caulerpa Ashmeadii, the natural size. Fig 2, a pinna, 
magnified. SIPIIONACEiE. 
19 
Sect. 3. Chauvinia, Bory ; Fronds terete, simple or branched, set with tri-multifa- 
rious, leaflike, saccate, or thornlike ramuli (ramenta). 
5. Caulerpa clavifera, Ag. ; surculi naked, glabrous, robust ; fronds erect, simple, 
short or elongate, more or less densely set on all sides with scattered, clubshaped, 
pyriform, or nearly topshaped ramenta. Ag. Syst. 1. p. 437. Chauvinia clavifera, 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 498. Ahnfeldtia racemosa, A. Lamourouxii, and A. uvifera, 
Trevis. 1. c. pp, 141-142. Fucus clavifer, Turn. Hist. t. 57. F. Lamourouxii, Turn, 
t. 229. F. uvifer, Turn. t. 230. 
Hab. Sand covered rocks, about low-water mark, and at a greater depth. Key West 
and Sand Key, W. H. H., Professor Tuomey ; Conch Key and Key Biscayne, Professor 
Tuomey (v. v.) 
Surcidi robust, glabrous, glossy, one or two lines in diameter, spreading in dense 
mats, copiously supplied on the under surface with dense, excessively divided, fibrous, 
and deeply penetrating roots. Fronds erect, crowded, varying very much in length, 
according to the depth of water at which the plant grows, and from other circumstances 
affecting its luxuriance. Sometimes the erect portion of the frond is scarcely an inch 
in length, sometimes it is six, eight, or even ten inches long. It varies also in diameter 
from half a line to a line or more, and is more or less densely set on all sides with 
scattered, incrassated, very obtuse saccate ramenta. In the variety called Lamourouxii 
these ramenta are inserted in a distant spiral so as to look almost distichous ; in other 
varieties, and especially in that called uvifer, they are densely crowded and inbricated, 
like grapes in a cluster. Numerous intermediate forms connect these extreme ones. 
The shape of the ramenta is also very variable. When young, they are simply clavate; 
but with advancing age they become more and more swollen at the ends, and at length 
are pear-shaped, or, in some stunted specimens, top-shaped. Stunted specimens some- 
what resemble C. sedoides, and have been mistaken for that species, which, however, dif- 
fers in several respects. 
This plant is common to the tropics of both hemispheres, and is particularly abun- 
dant on the coral reefs of the Pacific, where it puts on many different forms, and varies 
much in luxuriance. It is one of the species eaten as a salad by the natives, and some 
of the European residents, of the Friendly and Feejee Islands, who call it Limu 
(Lee-moo). I cannot consent to separate specifically the forms figured by Turner, and 
above indicated as varieties. I fear also that C. oligophylla, Mont., if I rightly under- 
stand that species, must be regarded as an extreme form, nearly destitute of ramenta. 
I gathered what I take to be Montagne’s plant at Yavau, in the Friendly Islands, where 
its peculiarities seemed to arise from the circumstances of its habitat, which was in a 
very rapid tide-stream between two islets. 
6. Caulerpa Lycopodium ; surculi and stipites of the fronds tomentose with brand- 20 
SIPIIONACEiE. 
ing hairs ; fronds erect, stipitate, scattered, simple or slightly branched, densely set on 
all sides with imbricated, erect, setaceous, acute, or mucronulate ramenta. (Tab. 
XXXVII. B.) 
Hab. On sand-covered rocks at Key West, abundant, W.H.H. (v.v.) 
Surculi prostrate, widely creeping and rooting from the lower side, everywhere densely 
clothed with woolly, branching hairs, which are slightly viscid and collect par 
tides of sand ; the whole mass of surculi forming a dense mat. Fronds rather distantly 
scattered, erect, stipitate. Stipes 1-2 inches long, filiform, tomentose, the hairs branching. 
Frond simple, or rarely once-forked, two to four or six inches long, very densely beset 
on all sides with slender, setaceous, erect, incurved, imbricated, acute, or mucronulate 
simple ramenta, which are two or three lines long, and nearly of capillary diameter. 
Substance somewhat horny when dry. Colour, a deep and rather a dull green, paler 
in the surculi and stipites. 
I had at first taken this plant for Caiderpa Selago, but Turner expressly says of that 
species that the creeping stems or surculi are “ smooth, shrinking, and wrinkled when 
dry whereas in our Key West plant they are everywhere densely clothed with 
branching, woolly hairs. His figure (Hist. Fuc. t. 55) also represents the fronds as 
sessile, or ramuliferous to the very base. With no other species can the present be 
confounded. C. Selago is a native of the Red Sea. Two Australian species, C. Brownii 
and C. furcifolia, have been sometimes confounded with it, but in both of these the 
surculi are clothed with ramuli resembling those of the erect branches. 
Plate XXXVII. B. Fig 1. Caulerpa Lycopodium, the natural size. Fig. 2, whorled 
ramenta in situ. Fig. 3, a ramentum, detached. Fig. 4, portion of the woolly 
stipes. Fig. 5, branching hairs from the same. The latter figures more or less magnified. 
7. Caulerpa ericifiolia, Ag. ; surculi robust, naked and glabrous ; frond shortly 
stipitate, irregularly much branched ; branches scattered, repeatedly divided, clothed 
on all sides with short, ellipsoidal, succulent, mucronulate, erecto-patent ramenta, set in 
3, 4, or 5 ranks. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 442. Chauvinia ericifiolia, Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 497. 
Trevis. 1. c. p. 137. Fucus ericifolius, Turn. Hist. t. 56. (Tab. XXXIX. A). 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H. Conch Key, Prof. Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Surculi prostrate, robust, as thick as crow quill or thicker, branched, extensively 
creeping, glabrous, glossy, shrinking and deeply channelled longitudinally when dry, 
rooting from the under surface ; the roots distant and very long, branched and fibril- 
liferous. Fronds erect, scattered, with short, simple or forked stipites, much and 
irregularly branched; branches scattered, once, twice, or thrice compounded, very erect, 
as are also all their lesser divisions, all the angles being close and acute ; ramenta 
densely set, tri-, quadri-, or quinquefarious, short, somewhat intricated, the lowermost SIPIIONACEiE. 
21 
reduced to mamillaeform tubercles, the upper more perfectly formed, ellipsoidal, saclike, 
and mucronulate. The branch, including its ramenta, is not more than a line in 
diameter. The substance is rather rigid, and is horny when dry. The colour is dull 
green, inclining to olivaceous. 
I have much doubt whether this plant, which was originally described and figured by 
Turner, be permanently distinct from the following, of which it has very much the habit, 
but from which it differs, at least in typical specimens, by the more numerous rows of 
the ramenta and their more ellipsoidal shape. Specimens however vary in both these 
respects, and I could be well content to unite both forms under one specific name. 
Plate XXXIX. A. Fig. 1. Caulerpa ericifolia, the natural size. Fig. 2, small 
fragment of a branch with its ramenta. Fig. 3, a ramentum ; the latter figures 
magnified. 
8. Caulerpa cupressoides, Ag. ; surculi robust, naked and glabrous ; frond shortly 
stipitate, irregularly much branched ; branches scattered, once or twice compounded, 
set with short, conoidal, mucronate, sub-bifarious or bifarious ramenta. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, 
p. 441. Chauvinia cupressoides, Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 497- Trevis. 1. c. p. 137. Fucus 
eupressoides, Esper. t. 161. Turn. Hist. t. 195. (Tab. XXXIX. B.) 
Hab. Key West, with the preceding. Prof. Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Except in the less imbricated, di-tristichous, and shorter ramenta, this species does not 
differ from C. ericifolia. But these characters are variable. If the two species be united, 
the name cupressoides, as the older, must be preserved. Both forms are natives of 
the West Indies, and of the Pacific Ocean. C. ericifolia was first brought from 
Bermuda ; and C. cupressoides from St. Croix. 
Plate XXXIX. B., Fig. 1. Caulerpa cupressoides, the natural size. Fig. 2, apex 
of a branch with tristichous ramenta. Fig. 3, portion of another branch with disti- 
chous ramenta. Fig. 4, a ramentum ; the latter figures magnified. 
9. Caulerpa paspaloides, Bory.; surculi robust, naked and glabrous ; fronds with a 
long naked stipes, flabellately branched, the branches once or twice forked, or simple, 
fastigiate, densely beset in 3 or 4 ranks, with plumose, patent or recurved ramenta ; 
ramenta sub-bipinnate, pinnae opposite turned to one side, subulate or mucronulate, 
mostly pectinated with similar mucronulate pinnules on their inferior sides. Chauvinia 
paspaloides, Bory, Coq. p. 205, tab. 23, fig. 1. Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 500. Trevis. 
in Lin. 22, p. 137- Caiderpa Wurdemanni, Harv. MS.—Var. /?; ramenta simply 
pinnate, the pinnae very long and straight, destitute of pinnules. 
Hab. Key West, abundantly. Dr. Wurdemann, W. H. II., Prof. Tuomey, Mr. 22 
SIPHONACEiE. 
Ashnead. Conch Key and Key Biscayne, Prof. Tuomey.—Var. p cast ashore at 
Key West. W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Surculi prostrate, robust, sometimes nearly as thick as a goose’s-quill, sometimes as 
a crow-quill, glabrous, glossy, shrinking much in drying and becoming longitudinally 
furrowed, vaguely branched, rooting at intervals of one or two inches ; the root long, 
branched, and fibrilliferous. Fronds rising from the upper surface of the surculi, 
scattered, on long, glabrous, naked stipites, flabelliform in outline, pedate or digitate, 
the branches spreading, simple or forked, fastigiate, densely set throughout with 
imbricated, four or five-ranked ramenta. Bamenta one to four lines long, varying 
much in length and somewhat in ramulification on different specimens. Normally they 
are patent or recurved and sub-bipinnate, or pinnate with pectiniform pinnules ; that 
is, the ramentum is oppositely pinnate, the pinnae closely set, straight, subulate, or 
filiform, mucronulate, and furnished along one (the lower) side with unilateral ramuli 
of similar form. In different specimens the number and development of the processes 
of the pinnae vary ; sometimes they are 5 or 6, and of considerable length ; some- 
times but 2 or 3, and these very short. In var. /? they are absent altogether, and 
the ramenta of much greater length than is usual in var. a ; but I have seen speci- 
mens so completely intermediate that I dare not make two species of these seemingly 
different forms, particularly as both occur in the same locality. The normal form 
has been admirably figured by Bory in the plate above quoted. I fear that C. phloe- 
oides of that author can only be regarded as a variety of the present species. 
II. HALIMEDA. Lamour. 
Boot fibrous, much branched. Frond erect, dendroid, branching, articulato-con- 
stricted, with flattened internodes (or articulations), coated with a smooth calcareous 
crust, and composed internally of a plexus of longitudinal, sub-parallel, unicellular, 
branching filaments. (These filaments, which constitute the medullary stratum of the 
compound frond, are constricted at intervals, and at each constriction emit a pair of 
opposite, horizontal, di-trichotomous, corymbose ramelli, whose apices cohere together 
into a false epidermis or periphery.) 
The species comprised in this germs were placed by Ellis and Linnmus in the genus 
Corallina, where they remained till 1812, when Lamouroux very properly separated 
them to form the present group. The resemblance to Corallina is merely external. 
Both genera have jointed fronds, encrusted with calcareous matter, but here the resem- 
blance ceases. The structure, colour, substance and fructification, which determine 
affinities, are widely different in Corallina from what they are in Halimeda. In this SIPHONACEiE. 
23 
latter genus, after the lime has been removed by acid, there remains a plexus of 
unicellular, branching filaments, filled with green endochrome, and essentially of the 
same structure and nature as those of Codium. In C. Opuntia these filaments are 
easily extracted, and may readily be pulled asunder ; in C. Tuna they adhere more 
closely and require to he carefully manipulated. The Halimedce, like the Caulerpce, 
are confined to the warmer portions of the globe, and are particularly abundant on 
coral reefs, in both hemispheres. As many as thirteen species are described by authors, 
but several appear to have been founded on very insufficient data ; and probably they 
might be reduced by one-half. C. Opuntia is the most widely dispersed, being found 
abundantly in the tropical Atlantic and Pacific, and in the Mediterranean and Red 
Seas. C. incrassata and C. Tuna occur in the Pacific as well as in the Atlantic, but 
are less universally dispersed than C. Opuntia. When seen in herbaria the species are 
frequently bleached white, but all are of a bright grass-green when growing. They 
are furnished with deeply descending, fibrous, much branched roots, whose capillary 
rootlets firmly grasp particles of sand, and with them form a solid ball, not easily 
broken asunder. 
1. Halimeda Opuntia, Lamour.; frond very much branched, diffuse ; articulations 
reniform, flat, obscurely lobed or repando-crenate along the upper margin. Lamour. 
Exp. Meth.,p. 27, t. 20, Jig. 6. Dne. Cor. p. 90. Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. t. 43, jig. 2. 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 504. Corallina Opuntia, Ellis and Sol. p. 110, t. 20,ftg. b. Ellis, 
Cor. t. 25, a. (Tab. XL. B.) 
Hab. On rocks and in tide-pools, near high water mark, on the Florida Keys. 
Key West, W. H. H., Prof. Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Boot deeply descending, fibrous, densely compacted into a fusiform mass, 1-2 inches 
long. Stems very numerous from the crown of the root, weak, but supporting each 
other by their proximity, and thus forming very dense tufts, much and irregularly 
branched ; the branches spreading. Articulations, except one or two of the basal ones, 
which are oblong or cylindrical, broadly reni-form, the more normal ones twice as 
broad as their length, from -J to more than J inch across, flat, rather thin, but much 
incrusted with calcareous matter, with a more or less evident or obsolete longitudinal 
ridge through the middle ; the superior margin somewhat repando-crenate or lobed. 
After the calcareous matter of the frond has been removed by acid, a spongy vegetable 
structure remains, made up of a plexus of slender, longitudinal, unicellular filaments, 
constricted at intervals, and at the constrictions emitting a pair of opposite, decom- 
pound, dichotomous, corymboso-fastigiate, horizontal ramelli, whose apices cohere 
together, and form a thin epidermal or peripheric stratum of cells, over the surface of 
the frond. When the surface is viewed vertically, the cohering tips of the ramelli 
appear like the areoli of a continuous membrane. The substance of the filaments is 
tough, and they are filled with green matter. No fructification has been observed. 24 
SIPHONACEiE. 
Plate XL. B. Fig. 1. TTalimeda Opuntia, the natural size. Fig. 2, portion of the 
branching, unicellular filaments of which the frond is composed ; magnified. 
2. Halimeda incrassata, Lamour. ; fronds solitary, erect, fruticose, somewhat flabelli- 
form, much branched ; articulations thickened, the lowermost compresso-terete, qua- 
drate ; the middle cuneate ; the upper (mostly) compressed, obscurely repando-crenate. 
Lam. Exp. Meth. p. 25. Lam. Polyp, p. 307. Dne. Cor. p. 91. Kutz. Sp. Alg. 
p. 504. Corallina incrassata, Ell. and Sol. p. Ill, t. 20, d.—Var. ft, monilis ; all the 
upper branches moniliform, composed of small, roundish, beadlike articulations. H. 
monilis, Lx. Dne., Kutz., &x. Corallina monilis. Ell. and Sol.p. 110, t. 20, Fig. C. 
Hab. Florida Keys. Key West, W. H. H. (chiefly var. ft.), (v. v.) 
Root a globose or oblong, bulblike, fibrous mass. Stems generally single, with a 
short, undivided, compressed or subterete bole (or stipe) composed of two or more 
incrassated and confluent articulations ; then expanding and divided into numerous 
branches, which are repeatedly di-, tri-, or polychotomous at short intervals, spreading 
generally in one place and thus forming a flabelliform frond. In the lower part of the 
frond the articulations are very thick and almost confluent, a slender line merely defin- 
ing the limits between each ; they are oblong or quadrate, and more or less cylindrical. 
The middle articulations are more cuneate and less confluent ; and the upper ones, in 
typical specimens, are still flatter and somewhat crenato-lobate. In the variety most 
common at Key West, and which constitutes the H. monilis of authors, the upper 
branches are slender and moniliform, composed of small, globose, or truncate, thick 
articulations of variable size, and somewhat varying in form, the terminal ones on a 
branch being frequently cuneate. The structure of the frond is similar to that of H. 
Opuntia. 
Both varieties, as indicated above, are excellently figured by Ellis and Solander, and 
by them and succeeding authors are kept as distinct species. Lamouroux indeed 
observes (Pol. flex. p. 307) that the characters attributed to each are frequently con- 
founded on the same specimen. This I find to be the case in specimens collected at 
Key West, and I have, therefore, united the two forms under one specific name. 
3. Halimeda tridens, Lamour. ; frond solitary, erect, flabellately branched ; articu- 
lations compressed, the lower ones quadrate or oblong ; the middle cuneate ; the upper 
three lobed or tri-crenate. Lam. Exp. Meth. p. 27. Pol. Flex. p. 308. Dne. Cor. 
p. 91. Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 505. Corallina tridens, Ell. and Sol. p. 109. Tab. 20, 
fig. a. (Tab. XLIY. C.) 
Hab. Key West, Prof. Tuomey. (v. s.) SIPHON ACEiE. 
25 
Fronds solitary, erect, with a cuneiform stipes composed of several confluent articu- 
lations and dividing at the summit into numerous branches, which soon again subdivide 
in a di-poly-chotomous manner, all the branches lying in one plane, so as to form a 
ilabelliform frond. The articulations are all compressed, the middle ones more or less 
cuneate ; the upper usually tridentate or three-fingered, and frequently bearing articu- 
lations from the summit of each lobe. Colour rather a bright green. Calcareous 
incrustation thin. 
This is nearly related to H. incrassata, and perhaps only a variety. But the crust 
is not so dense, and the distinctly three-lobed upper articulations are characteristic. 
Ellis’s figure correctly represents a small branch. 
Plate XLIV. C. Halimeda tridens ; the natural size. 
4. Halimeda tuna, Lamour. ; frond much branched, diffuse, di-trichotomous; articu- 
lations flat, thin, very broad, roundish or somewhat reniform, mostly entire; the middle 
ones sometimes cuneate. Lamour. Pol. Flex. p. 309, t. 11 .jig. 8. Dne. Cor. p. 91. 
Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 504. Corallina Tuna, Ell. and Sol. tab. 20, Jig. e. Hal. platy- 
disca, Dne. ?p. 90. (Tab. XL. A.) 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H. Key Biscayne, Prof. Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Root deeply descending. Stipes scarcely any, consisting of a single, cuneate or 
flabelliform articulation, which is sometimes more than an inch across, from the upper 
margin of which spring numerous other articulations, forming the bases of so many 
irregularly dichotomous branches. The articulations vary much in form and size. 
Their usual shape is roundish or sub-reniform, and they are from half to % inch broad, 
quite flat, smooth, and thinner than in most species. They are joined together by very 
much constricted nodes, and are usually broader than their length. In some of my 
specimens, however, some of the medial articulations are narrow-euneate or almost 
clavate. There is less incrustation in this species than in most ; the colour is a bright 
green, and the substance somewhat flexible. 
The original H. Tuna is a native of the Mediterranean ; and possibly the plant now 
described may be referable to H. platydisca, Dne., but some of my Key West specimens 
so closely resemble what I have received from the Mediterranean, that, habitat apart, I 
cannot find a character to distinguish them. Others are certainly of larger size, with 
more discoid articulations. If, however, every slight variation in form and size is to 
be made the foundation of a new species, and dignified with a special description and 
name, the number of species to be established would only be limited by the num- 
ber of specimens examined ; for scarcely two are to be found identical at all points. 
Plate XL. A. Halimeda Tuna, the natural size. 26 
SIPHONACEtE. 
III. UDOTEA. Lamour. 
Root fibrous, much branched. Frond erect, stipitate, expanded, flabelliform, more 
or less incrusted with calcareous matter, concentrically zoned, composed internally of a 
plexus of longitudinal, subparallel, unicellular, branching filaments. Sporangia “lateral, 
globose.” (Kutz.'). 
The genus Udotea is intermediate between Ilalimeda and Codiumdiffering from 
the former in habit and from the latter in having the filiform cells of which it is com- 
posed incrusted with carbonate of lime. The amount of incrustation varies much in 
different species. In U. flabellata, which very closely agrees in structure with Hali- 
meda, the calcareous matter forms a solid, smooth, and somewhat polished crust, 
completely concealing the filaments of which the frond is constructed ; in U. conglu- 
tinata the lime forms a thin coat round each individual filament, but does not conceal 
the filamentous structure of the frond ; and in U. Desfontanesii there is scarcely any 
calcareous deposit, and except in habit the plant is almost a Codium, in which genus 
it was placed by Agardh. Ten species of Udotea are known, all of them natives of 
the warmer parts of the sea. Our U. flabellata is found in the Indian Ocean, and I 
have received U. conglutinata from Port Natal, S. Africa. 
1. Udotea flabellata, Lamour. ; stipes simple, short, terete or sub-compressed, 
expanding into a broadly flabelliform, simple or lobed, wavy, concentrically zoned? 
smooth frond ; the margin either quite entire, undulato-repand, crenate, or deeply 
lobulate, sometimes proliferous ; surface thickly incrusted ; concentric zones evident, 
closely set or sub-distant. Due. Cor. p. 93. Lamour. Pol. Flex. p. 311. Kutz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 502. Corallina flabellata, Ell. and Sol. Cor. p. 124. tab. 24 (excellent!). 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H. Abundant between Key West and Cape Florida, Prof. 
Tuomey. (v. v.) 
1loot a fusiform mass of intricately interwoven fibres, one to two inches long. Stipes 
half an inch to an inch long, terete, a quarter-inch or more in diameter, simple, erect, 
terminating in the broadly cuneate or reniform base of the frond. Frond sometimes 
six inches across, but our specimens are mostly smaller, usually broader than its length, 
more or less cuneate at base, the lateral margins prolonged downwards in old fronds, 
which, therefore, are somewhat reniform ; flabellate, either quite entire with a flat 
margin, or more frequently undulate, lobed at the margin or deeply divided (as Ellis’s 
figure represents) into numerous laciniee, which take the form of the primary frond, and 
imbricate each other at the edges. The surface is thickly coated with a calcareous 
crust, and quite smooth ; it is marked at short, but very uncertain intervals, with 
concentric lines or furrows, much more obvious in some specimens than in others, but 
always to be found. The substance is as thick as calfskin and leathery to the touch. SIPHONACEJS. 
27 
The structure, after removal of the lime, is seen to consist of closely packed, parallel, 
longitudinal, unicellular filaments, branching and interlaced together, and emitting 
toward the surface, or periphery, short, horizontal, rootlike, fastigiate, branching pro- 
cesses, of whose cohering apices the surface of the frond is composed. Colour, a pale 
grass green, bleaching to a dirty white. 
2. Udotea conglutinata, Lamour. ; stipes short, simple, smooth, expanding into a 
broadly flabelliform, simple or lobed, flat, scarcely incrusted, strigose frond, composed 
of longitudinal, parallel, agglutinated, dichotomous filaments, constricted at the furca- 
tions. Lamour. Pol. Flex. p. 312. Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 502. Corallina conglutinata, 
Ell. and Sol. p. 125, t. 25, jig. 1. Udotea Palmetta ? Dne. p. 93. (Tab. XL. C.) 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H. (y. v.) 
Root deeply descending, long and fibrous. Stipe terete or compressed, about half- 
an-inch to § inch long. Frond flabelliform, 1-2 inches broad, flat, cuneate or cordate 
at the base, either entire or somewhat lobed, or irregularly torn, but slightly incrusted 
with lime ; the filaments of which it is composed being everywhere visible, and giving 
to the surface a strigose, fibrous appearance. These filaments are longitudinal, parallel, 
conglutinated together, but readily separable when the lime has been removed by acid. 
They are dichotomous, constricted at the forkings almost as if jointed, very slender, 
and destitute of lateral horizontal annuli, or of rooting processes. They more resemble 
the threads of a Codium than of a Udotea, and may almost be compared to those of a 
Penicillus. 
I have not seen any authentically named specimen of Solander and Ellis’s plant, but 
have little or no doubt of the correctness of my reference. The strigose or filamentous 
surface at once distinguishes our plant from C. flabellata ; and Solander truly observes, 
“ We can plainly distinguish all the dichotomous branches” (filaments) “ of this Coral- 
line on its surface, which are each of them separately covered with a thin calcareous 
substance full of pores ; these, by growing so close to one another, become glued or 
united together by their covering.” 
Plate XL. C. Figs. 1, 2, and 3. Udotea conglutinata, different varieties, the 
natural size. Fig. 4. Portions of the branching, unicellular, constricted filaments of 
which the frond is composed ; magnified. Fig. 5. Small portions of the same, more 
highly magnified. 28 
SIPHONACEiE. 
IV. CODIUM. Stackh. 
Frond sponge-like (globular, cylindrical or flat ; simple or branched) composed of a 
plexus of unicellular, branching filaments, filled with green semifluid endochrome. 
Sporangia lateral, on the ramuli of the filaments (forming the surface of the frond), 
and containing innumerable zoospores. 
The frond in this genus, though it assumes a well-defined shape, characteristic of the 
particular species, does not form a solid, compact body as in Udotea, but consists 
altogether of innumerable slender, unicellular, branching filaments, inextricably inter- 
laced or woven together. In the centre of the filamentous mass these filaments are 
threadlike, branching at longish intervals, curled or sinuous, filled with slimy fluid, 
and only partially supplied with green colouring matter. In the elongated species, as 
in C. tomentosurn, these axial filaments take a longitudinal direction ; in the globose 
ones they radiate from a central point, as in the singular C. mammillosum of Austra- 
lia; and in the incrusting species, like C. adhcerens, they spread horizontally over the 
surface of the rock on which the plant grows. In all cases they throw out more or 
less club-shaped ramuli, which spread in a direction vertical with the surface of the 
frond, and their apices lying close together, but not cohering, constitute the periphery. 
There is no calcareous incrustation as in Udotea, and no false epidermis as in Hali- 
meda ; but with these exceptions there is much similarity in structure. The external 
habit is remarkably varied. In C. tomentosurn, the type of the genus, and the most 
widely dispersed species, the frond is somewhat cylindrical, and dichotomously branched ; 
in a form (or species ?) called C. elongatum a similarly branching frond is extrava- 
gantly dilated and flattened especially at the axils ; in C. laminarioides a stipi- 
tate frond suddenly expands into a flat lamina a foot or two across, resembling nothing 
so much as a piece of green friese-cloth ; in C. amphibium a number of minute papil- 
liform branches rise from a flat adherent surface ; and in C. adhcerens there is a flat, 
clothlike crust, destitute of branches, and indefinitely covering rocks and woodwork. 
In C. bursa the frond is sessile, gradually becoming globose and at length hollow ; and 
lastly, in C. mammillosum the frond is either exactly spherical or egg-shaped, composed 
of filaments radiating from a central point, and being, so far as known, destitute of 
any root-like attachment. 
The fructification in Codium consists of an oblong, ovate sporangium, formed of a 
single cell, separated from the ramulus near the base of which it is developed, by a 
diaphragm, and containing, at first, a dense, dark-green endochrome, and finally a 
multitude of zoospores. These latter are ovate, of a deep green colour, with a minute 
“ rostrum” at one end, which carries a pair of cilia, that serve as organs of locomo- 
tion till the spore becomes fixed and germinates. This fruit is exquisitely figured by 
Thuret, in his memoirs on the Zoospores of Algm, in An. Sc. Nat. 3rd Series, Bot. 
vol. 14, tab. 23, where a full account of the evolution is given. SIPIIONACE^E. 
29 
1. Codium tomentosum, Stack. ; frond linear, dichotomous, cylindrical or compressed. 
Ag. Sp. Alg. 1. p. 542. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. Ho. 35. Kiitz. Sp. Alg.p. 500. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 93. Fucus tomentosus, E. Bot t. 712. Turn. Hist. t. 135. 
Hab. Apalachicola, Captain Pike. Manatee River, Mr. Ashmead. Key West, 
W. H. H. Sitcha, Ruprecht. California, Dr. Coulter. (Not received from the east 
coast), (v.v.) 
Fronds rising from an expanded, velvetty incrustation, solitary, or gregarious, from 
three inches to one or two feet in length, varying much in diameter, erect, dichotomous, 
with or without Literal accessory branches. Branches cylindrical or compressed, ob- 
tuse, clothed with hyaline, spreading, soft, byssoid hairs, which, when the plant is ex- 
panded in stand out vertically on all sides, and give to the branches the tomentose 
character commemorated in the trivial name. The axis is composed of innumerable, 
interwoven, irregularly branched, slender filaments, from whose sides issue radiating, 
horizontal, clubshaped ramuli, whose apices, closely placed, but not cohering, form 
the surface of the spongy frond. To the sides of these ramuli are attached the spo- 
rangia, which are oval or ovato-lanceolate, and subsessile. 
It is a singular fact, (if it be really a fact) that this well-known and common species, 
which is found in every latitude from the Equator to the colder parts of the temperate 
zone, and nearly to the polar basin, is not a native of the Eastern coast of North Ame- 
rica. It has not been sent to me by any of my correspondents from any part of the 
Atlantic coast, except from Florida, at the mouth of the Mexican Gulf. There I have 
myself gathered it. On the west coast it appears to be abundant, and extends as far 
north as Sitcha. There is nothing to distinguish Californian specimens from those found 
in Europe, in Ceylon, in Australia, at the Cape of Good Hope, or at Cape Horn, at all 
which places it is common. 
V. CHLORODESMIS. Bail, and Harv. 
Frond pencil-form, stipitate or sub-sessile, flaccid, without calcareous incrustation, 
wholly composed of cylindrical, dichotomous, unicellular filaments filled with dense, 
vivid-green endochrome. Stipes, when present, spongy, formed of interwoven 
threads. 
The genus Chlorodesmis was founded by the late lamented Professor Bailey and my- 
self on an alga brought by Captain Wilkes from the Feejee Islands, and which I have 
since collected abundantly on all the coral reefs which I had the opportunity of visiting 
in the tropical Pacific, where it forms a very striking object on the extreme outer edge 
of the reef This original species—C. comosa, Bail, and Harv.—has a distinct, and 30 
SIPHONACEJE. 
often elongate, spongy stipes, and a brushlike habit, not unlike that of a Penicillus ; 
and few algologists will question its claim to generic distinction. I am not quite sure 
that I do well in associating the following species in the same genus ; but I know not 
where else to place it, unless indeed in Vaucheria. The specimens, however, appear to 
be scarcely mature ; there is a resemblance in the colour and substance, and the habitat 
is not dissimilar ; and I am willing to think that more advanced specimens might 
exhibit more of the spongy stipe which forms the most tangible character of this genus. 
The fruit has not been observed. 
1. Chlorodesmis ? Vauchericeformis; stipes obsolete ; fronds subsessile, comoso 
penicillate, fastigiate, dark-green, composed of innumerable, slender, dichotomous, ex- 
ceedingly lubricous and subgelatinous, unicellular, cylindrical filaments ; apices equal, 
level-topped, obtuse. (Tab. XL. C.) 
Hab. On stones, at Brown’s Wharf, Key West, W.H.H. (v. v.) 
Stipes obsolete, consisting in a bulbous mass of interlaced, branching fibres, which 
throw up the erect and free filaments of which the frond is composed. These filaments 
form dense pencil-like tufts, about an inch high, and perfectly fastigiate. They are 
exceedingly slender, cylindrical, of equal diameter throughout, dichotomous, obtuse, 
gelatinoso-membranaceous, soft, and very lubricous, and filled with a dense, deep-green 
endochrome. Each filament is strictly unicellular, without articulation or constriction. 
Plate XL. C. Fig. 1. Chlorodesmis Vauchericeformis ; the natural size. Fig. 2. 
Portion of one of the branching unicellular filaments. Fig. 3 and 4, small portions of 
the same ; the latter figures magnified. 
VI. VAUCHERIA. D.C. 
Fronds densely csespitose, and somewhat interwoven ; each consisting of a single, 
irregularly branched, unicellular cylindrical filament. Cell-wall very thin and delicate. 
Endochrome granular. Sporangia lateral, on the sides of the branches. Antheridia 
cylindrical, hooked, accompanying the sporangia. 
The greater number of species of this genus occur in freshwater ponds, ditches, and 
streams, and probably several may yet be found in North America. I have received 
from Mr. H. W. Ravenel of South Carolina a specimen of a Vaucheria apparently 
allied to V. dichotoma, but not in a state to be recognised. It was found floating in 
limestone-waters. Dried specimens of this genus are rarely of any use, as the specific 
character is generally lost in drying. SIPHONACEiE. 
31 
VII. BRYOPSIS. Lamour. 
Root fibrous. Fronds tufted, each consisting of a single, erect, branching, unicel- 
lular, cylindrical filament ; branches and ramuli either imbricated or pinnate. Cell- 
wall firmly membranaceous, glistening. Endochrome granular and viscid, at length 
converted into zoospores, which escape through apertures formed in the cell-wall. 
This genus consists of several littoral Algae of small size, but among the most ele- 
gant of marine plants. They occur in tufts, seldom more than two to four inches in 
height, and grow either on the rocky margins of clear tide-pools, or epiphytically on 
other Algae. The frond is affixed to the rock by a slightly developed fibrous radicle, 
or simply by a disc, and consists of a single cylindrical elongated branching cell, filled 
with dense, starchy endochrome of a deep green colour, and destitute of any septum or 
interruption of the cavity throughout the whole length of the tube. The ramification 
is very generally on a pinnate type ; a primary undivided filament emits lateral virgate 
branches, also quite simple, and these are generally naked in the lower half of their 
length, and furnished with lateral, distichous or imbricated ramuli in the upper half. 
In some species, as in B. Balbisiana, there are either no ramuli or very few ; in others, 
as in B. myura, the ramuli are exceedingly numerous and densely set. Very many 
species have been named and described, with more or less care, by authors ; but many 
rest on very uncertain characters, and I fear that several must be regarded as mere 
varieties of B. plumosa, the original and most widely dispersed species. All are 
remarkable for a glassy lustre, when dry. They retain their colour, if carefully dried, 
and adhere closely to paper. 
1. Bryopsis plumosa, Lamour. ; frond setaceous, decompoundly much branched ; the 
ultimate branches filiform, virgate, naked in their lower half, and more or less plumoso- 
pectinate above ; ramuli simple. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1. p. 448. Haw. Phyc. Brit. tab. 3. 
Kiitz. Syst. Alg.p. 493. TJlva plumosa, E. Bot. t. 2375.—-Yar. /3. densa ; branches 
excessively crowded, the ultimate divisions pinnate near the apex, the pinnae some- 
times secund.—Yar. y secunda ; tufts matted ; fronds irregularly much branched ; 
branches flexuous, many of them naked, others set in the upper half with falcato- 
reflexed, secund (occasionally bilateral) ramuli. (Tab. XLV. A.) Yar. S ; ramulosa ; 
branches nearly naked, with a few scattered, secund ramuli. Bryopsis ramulosa. Mont. 
Hist. Cuba, p. 16. Tab. S.Jig. 2. (Tab. XLY. A.) 
Hab. Between tide marks in rock pools. Various localities near New York, com- 
mon. Charleston, South Carolina, and Key West. Yars. /3, y, and 8, intermixed with 
the ordinary form at Key West and Sand Key, W.H H. (v. v.) 
Root small, scutate, accompanied by lateral, entangled fibres, and sometimes matted. 32 
SIPHONACEvE. 
Fronds 3-6 inches high, setaceous, much branched ; normally in a decompound pin- 
nate manner, but very irregularly so. In what we may call typical or normal speci- 
mens, the outline of the frond is somewhat pyramidal, the lowest branches being very 
long and patent, the upper gradually shorter and more erect. In such specimens the 
branches are sometimes simply, sometimes doubly pinnate ; in either case the lower 
half of the branch or branchlet is bare, the upper plumose, with simple ramuli inserted 
in nearly distichous order. To describe every variety of ramification different from 
this, and commonly occurring in this species, would be an endless and useless task ; 
and worse than useless to found new species on such variations. I have endeavoured 
above to indicate the principal varieties which I have observed among American spe- 
cimens. The var. 7 secunda looks very like a distinct species, and had I seen none 
but carefully selected specimens, possibly I should have so regarded it ; but though 
many specimens may be found strictly conforming to the character assigned, having 
all their ramuli secund and recurved, others occur, growing intermixed with them, 
in which the ordinary ramulification is followed. At Key West I collected some speci- 
mens which I cannot distinguish from B. ramulosa, Mont., and which seem to pass 
through var. 7 and other intermediate forms, into ordinary B. plumosa. Having re- 
ceived from Dr. Montagne himself an authenticated specimen of his plant, I can speak 
with more confidence. 
Bryopsis plumosa, under one or other of its many forms, is found in most parts of 
the world, at least within the temperate and tropical zones. In Europe it occurs as 
far north as the Faroe Islands (lat. 65°). In the Southern Ocean it extends to Cape 
Horn, and the Falkland Islands, and to New Zealand. The B. Rosce of the Southern 
Hemisphere seems to be merely a luxuriant form, and not a distinct species. 
Plate XLY. A. Fig. 1. Bryopsis plumosa, var. 7 secunda ; the natural size. Fig. 
2 and 3, secund and bilateral plumules from the same ; magnified. Fig. 4. B. plumosa-, 
var. 8 ramulosa ; the natural size. Fig. 5, imperfectly pinnulate branch from the 
same, magnified. Fig. 6, apex of a branchlet, more highly magnified. 
2. Bryopsis hypnoides, Lamour. ; frond setaceous, decompoundly much branched 5 
branches spreading to all sides ; ultimate branches filiform, naked below, beset above 
with scattered or crowded, irregularly inserted, very slender, byssoid, pinnated ramuli. 
Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 180. Harv Phyc. Brit. tab. 119. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 81. 
Harv. Man. p. 146. (quere Lam. Jour. Bot. 1809- p• 135?) B. cupressoides, Lam. 
fide I. Ag. 
Har. Key West, W.H.H., Dr. Blodgett, Professor Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Tufts dense, 4-6 inches high. Fronds setaceous, much branched, the branches issu- 
ing from all sides of a common stem or central filament, long and virgate, either quite 
simple, or bearing a second set of similar quadrifarious branches. These branches, as 
in B. plumosa, though sometimes ramulose nearly to the base, are generally naked in DASYCLADEiE. 
33 
their lower half, and beset with ramuli only above. The ramuli are exceedingly slen- 
der, many times more so than the part of the branch from which they spring, and are 
generally furnished with opposite or scattered, slender pinnules. The colour is a pale 
yellow green ; the substance exceedingly soft and tender. 
The figure given in Phyc. Brit., taken from West of Ireland specimens, does not 
very well represent the Key West plant, which, however, closely resembles specimens 
from the South Coast of England and coast of Normandy, except that they are rather 
more luxuriant. This plant is generally of a much paler colour and still softer sub- 
stance than B. plumosa, and is distinguished from the varieties of that plant by its 
ramuli being compound (pinnate), as well as greatly more slender than those of 
B. plumosa. 
Order II.—DASYCLADE^]. 
Dasycladece and Poh/physece, Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 311-312. Valoniece, in part. 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 507. Part of Siphonece, Auct. alior. 
Diagnosis. Green, marine Algae, naked, or coated with carbonate of lime, having 
a unicellular simple or branched axis, which is whorled, either throughout its whole 
length, or near the summit, with articulated ramelli. Spores spherical, developed in 
proper fruit-cells. 
Natural Character. Boot formed of tubular, elongated, branching fibres more or 
less matted together. Frond either simple or branched, essentially consisting of an axis 
and of ramelli. The axis is in all cases a continuous tube, without articulation or sep- 
tum, running throughout the frond, containing endochrome in a young stage, but very 
frequently found empty in the mature plant; and is apparently formed by the evolution 
of a single cell. Its walls are thick, tough, and readily seen, when a cross section is 
examined under the microscope, to be composed of successive concentric layers of cellu- 
lose. At regular intervals, either throughout the whole length of the axis, or in its 
upper half only, the tube is pierced by a circle of holes, and from these holes there issue 
whorled, articulated, confervoid ramelli, which appear to discharge the functions of leaves, 
and are sometimes deciduous, sometimes persistent. In the less complex genera, Poly- 
physa and Acetabularia, the ramelli are extremely delicate and fugacious, and are found 
only on young plants, or during the process of evolution ; their position being indi- 
cated on plants from which they have fallen, by the circle of holes in which they had 
been inserted. In Dasycladus the ramelli are permanent, and thickly clothe every 
part of the stem, in whorls sometimes very closely placed, sometimes sub-distant; but 
there is no connection among the ramelli or between the whorls. In Neomeris the 
structure of the stem and ramelli is very similar to that of Dasycladus, with this dif- 
ference, that the apices of the ramelli cohere to form an investing membrane or epidermis 34 
DASYCLADECE. 
which completely encases the frond and conceals its filamentous structu re. In Cymopo- 
lia, again, we have a still further advance in structure ; for, not to speak of its calcareous 
shells, every node of which the branching frond is composed may be compared to the 
whole frond of a Dasycladus or a Neomeris. Like them, it is a tubular axis whorled 
with ramelli ; but these latter are so closely placed together that the whorled character 
is not obvious, and the branch has the mammillated look of a Codiura, if its calca- 
reous shell be removed; or of a piece of honeycomb, if viewed with the shell still 
remaining. 
The spores are of large size, and are always formed within proper fruit-cells or spo- 
rangia, and, so far as I am aware, are destitute of vibratile cilia, and appear to be 
formed on a much more perfect type than ordinary zoospores. They have a tough, 
hyaline, membranous coat, and enclose a mass of dense, dark green or brown endo- 
chrome. In Polyphysa and Acetabularia the sporangia spring directly from the axial 
tube ; in Dasydadus, Neomeris, and Cyrnopolia they are found on the ramelli, and 
are either special cells, developed in the axils of the ordinary cells (as in Dasydadus), 
or are formed by metamorphose of a division of the ramellus, as in Cyrnopolia. 
All the plants of this order, with the exception of Dasydadus, secrete carbonate of 
lime, but in very different proportions. In Polyphysa and Acetabularia the calcareous 
matter exists as a thin varnish to the surface of the stem ; but in Cyrnopolia it forms 
as complete a shelly envelope as it does in one of the calcareous polypes, and indeed a 
dead frond in this genus might readily be mistaken for the husk of a zoophyte : its 
honeycombed pores closely resembling polype-cells. 
All the species are natives of the warmer parts of the sea. Dasydadus and Aceta- 
bularia have representative species in the Mediterranean ; and the latter is found also 
in the tropical Pacific. Neomeris, which may probably yet be detected on the Floridan 
Keys, has species in the West Indies and Pacific Ocean. Cyrnopolia is found in the 
Carribean Sea, and also at the Canary Islands. Polyphysa was discovered by Dr. R. 
Brown at King George’s Sound, and has recently been found at Port Lincoln, Australia, 
by Mr. Wilhelmi ; and at Swan River, by Mr. George Clifton. 
I am very unwilling to multiply families, especially among plants of such low 
organization as the Chlorospermatous Algae, and yet I have been in a manner com- 
pelled to remove from the Siphonacece both the little group now described, and the 
following one (Valoniacece) ; from the impossibility of devising any diagnostic charac- 
ter which would include the whole. The true Siphonacece are typically known by being 
wholly formed of long, tubular branching cells. In the Dasycladece the axis only is 
of this character ; the rest of the frond consists, as in Conferva, of strings of short 
cylindrical cells ; and the spores are of a higher type than in Siphonacece. In Valo- 
niacece tubular branching cells are found, if at all, only in the root, or in a spongy caudex, 
while the principal part of the frond is formed of confervoid filaments. They approach 
Dasycladece through Chamcedoris, and possibly Kiitzing may be correct in associating 
them, as he has done in his latest arrangement, with this group ; but, ignorant as we 
are of their proper fructification, I have not ventured to adopt this course. The habit 
of the true Valoniacece is dissimilar, and in none of them do we find the ramelliferous 
internodes which characterise the present family. DASYCLADEiE. 
35 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
I. Cymopolia. Frond with a calcareous, branching, articulated shell; the internodes 
honeycombed ; apices emitting pencilled ramelli. 
II. Dasycladus. Frond soft, unbranched, set throughout with closely placed whorls of 
trichotomous, horizontal ramelli. 
III. Acetabularia. Frond with a filiform, incrusted stipes, terminating in a peltate 
disc formed of radiating fruit-cells (sporangia.) 
I. CYMOPOLIA. Lamour. 
Frond filiform, dichotomous ; its outer crust (or shell) calcareous, thick, distinctly 
articulate, the articulations everywhere pierced with pores, and the younger nodes 
fringed with byssoid, multifid fibrillae. Inner frond (enclosed in the crustaceous shell) 
a membranous, continuous branching hollow tube, nodoso-constricted and moniliform, 
but not septate ; the nodes when young fibrilliferous, at length bare ; the inter-nodes 
whorled with several rows of short, horizontal, 3-4-fid, club-shaped ramelli, which pro- 
trude through the pores of the outer crust. Sporongia globose, borne on the club- 
shaped ramelli. 
The frond in this genus consists of two distinct and separately organised systems— 
one mineral, and which wholly disappears when the plant is put into muriatic acid ; 
the other vegetable, of the same texture, substance, and very similar organization to 
the frond of the following genus (Dasycladus); but still more nearly akin to another 
genus, Neomeris, not yet recorded from our shores, but which very probably exists on 
the Florida reefs, as one of its species is found in the West Indies. For sake of greater 
clearness, I have, in the above diagnosis, first described the outer crust, or frond, as it 
appears when lifted from the sea ; and then given the characteristics of the vegetable 
axis which is brought to light when the calcareous envelope has been removed by acid. 
When the plant is alive, and seen under water, its green colour, and the rich pencils of 
delicate, bright green byssoid fibres that crown all the growing branches and their 
divisions, at once suggest its vegetable nature. But when seen dry and dead on the 
shore, where all these fibres and the green colour disappear, the resemblance to a po- 
rous zoophyte is so great, that it is no wonder that this Alga should, until quite recently, 
have had a place in the animal kingdom. The pores of the crust may easily pass for 
polype cells, and the enclosed tube has, when dry, an almost horny consistence. 36 
DASYCLADEJE. 
Two species, C. barbata and C. rosarium are usually kept up, and Kiitzing has added 
a third, C. bibarbata, but it seems to me that the differences indicated have reference 
more to the age and state of individual specimens, than to difference of species. The 
fringing or non-fringing of the apices with fibrillm surely depends on the state of the 
specimen. The fibrills are homologues of leaves, and, like leaves, are deciduous when 
they have performed their functions. I had abundant opportunities of studying the 
species at Key West, and see no ground for believing that there is more than one as 
yet known to botanists. 
1. Cymopolia barbata, Lamour. Cor. Flex. p. 293, and C. rosarium, l. c. p. 294. 
Kiitz., Sp. Alg. p. 511. Corallina barbata, Lin. Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, p. 1305. 
Ellis and Sol. Zoop. p. 112. Ellis, Cor. p. 54, t. 25, f. C. C. rosarium, Ellis and 
Sol. Zoop. p. Ill, t. 21, Jig. h. Sloane, Nat. Hist. Jamaica, t. 20, jig. 3. Cymo- 
polia bibarbata, Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. t. 40,/. 2. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 510. (Tab. XL1. A.) 
Hab. Near low-water mark, under the bridge at Key West. W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Fronds tufted, at first simple, till they attain to one or two inches in height, then 
becoming branched, at first by the development of simple alternate branches. These 
afterwards fork at their extremities, and throw out lateral branches ; and by continual 
repetitions of this process of division the frond at length becomes much branched 
in a di-trichotomous but irregular order. The tendency to become dichotomous is 
greater in the older specimens ; the branches in all are fastigiate. Every part of 
the frond, except the young tips of the branches, is invested with a thick calcareous, 
brittle crust, pierced with innumerable horizontal canals, opening at the surface by 
pores, arranged in transverse rings, which are so closely placed together that the sur- 
face appears as if honeycombed. In these canals of the crust the ramelli of the enclos- 
ed vegetable lie hid, the points only of their divisions protruding through the pores, 
and this only in the younger parts, which then have a green colour. The calcareous crust 
is regularly articulated at short intervals ; the internodes in the main stem and 
branches are about twice as long as broad, those in the young parts of the frond sphe- 
roidal and bead-like. The nodes are much contracted throughout, and thus each branch 
looks like a string of beads. In the older parts the nodes are bare ; but in the 
younger, toward the ends of the growing branches, they emit whorls of extremely 
delicate, byssoid, di-tri-chotomous or multifid, membranaceous fibrills ; and whorls of 
similar fibrills tenninate the young branch itself. The branches in the developing plant 
are thus penicillate or barbed at the extremity. When a piece of a frond is macera- 
ted in acid, so as to remove the calcareous crust, the true frond becomes visible. This 
we must now describe. It consists of a continuous, tubular axis or filament, seemingly 
formed of a single, cylindrical, branching cell, which runs through every part of the 
calcareous covering, and whose growing apices, clothed with byssoid fibres, pro- 
trude at the ends of the branches. This filament is nodose, annularly constricted at 
short intervals, corresponding to the articulations of the crust ; but there are no inter- DASYCLADEAL 
37 
nal septa. The wall is very thick and tough, and is evidently seen, under the micro- 
scope, to be formed of concentric layers, deposited one within another, as in the cell- 
wall of the Caulerpce. When a transverse section of a branch is examined, the ring 
of cell-wall appears as if divided into numerous cells, corresponding in number to the 
ramelli that issue from it ; the apparent septa of these supposed cells being placed 
opposite the insertion of the ramelli. This would suggest a structure not very differ- 
ent from what I have just described ; namely, that the axial tube was not a single cell, 
but a tube formed by the lateral cohesion of a number of small, cylindrical, longitudinal 
cells, placed in a circle ; a structure not very different from what occurs in Batra- 
chospermum. After repeated examinations and dissections I am disposed to think that 
the appearance of cell-division in the wall is deceptive, and that what look like septa 
are prolongations inwards, through the wall, of the bases of the ramelli. The inter- 
nodes of the axial filament are beset with very closely placed whorls of horizontal 
ramelli, each composed of a primary, and 3 or 4 secondary, clavate cells ; the primary 
cell issuing from the substance of the wall of the axial tube, and forming the basal 
portion of the ramellus ; the secondary cells springing from its apex. The primary 
cell is obconical; the secondary more clavate, and inflated at the point. Fructification 
takes place by the transformation of one of the secondary or terminal cells of the 
ramellus, which is changed into a spherical sporangium, filled (at first) with dense, 
dark green granular matter, surrounded by a pellucid margin, and raised on a short 
stalk. Whether it eventually contains spores or only zoospores, I have not deter- 
mined ; analogy with Dasycladus would lead us to the former inference. The colour 
of the frond, when growing, is a pleasant, and rather a full, yellow green ; when dry, 
the calcareous crust fades to a dirty white, and the tufts of byssoid apical fibrills become 
brown or black, staining the paper to which they adhere. 
Ellis’s figures, quoted above, are both characteristic ; and so also is that in Sloane’s 
Jamaica, though rude and without analysis. Lamouroux strangely misquotes, under 
his C. rosarium, Sloane, Tab. 20, fig. 4, which is a very fair representation, not of a 
Cymopolia, but of Ampkiroa fragilissima. 
Plate XLI. A. Fig 1. Cymopiiolia barbata ; the natural size. Fig. 2. Apex of 
a branch, crowned with its pencil of byssoid fibres. Fig. 3. Transverse section of a 
branch, from which the calcareous shell has been removed. Fig. 4. Small portion of 
the same, showing a sporangium formed from one of the peripheric ramelli. Fig. 5. 
Portion of a longitudinal section of a branch, to show the insertion of the horizontal 
ramelli, and the holes on the inner face of the cell wall. Fig. 6. Byssoid fibres from 
the apical pencil. Fig. 7. Tips of the same ; the latter figures more or less highly 
magnified. 38 
DASYCLADEvE. 
II. DASYCLADUS. Ag. 
Frond destitute of calcareous crust, soft, and flaccid, cylindrical or club-shaped, 
unbranched, composed of a tubular, unicellular filiform axis, beset throughout with 
closely placed whorls of trichotomous, horizontal, articulate ramelli. Sporangia 
globose, affixed to the nodes of the ramelli, and containing, at maturity, very numerous 
spherical spores. 
Small, densely tufted, erect plants, with almost spongy fronds, so densely are the 
ramelli frequently inserted. Their substance is very soft and flaccid, but tough, and 
the colour a full dark green. The membrane composing the frond is every where 
hyaline, and becomes glassy when dry ; the colouring matter is viscid and granular as 
in Bryopsis. The genus was founded by Agardh on £>. clavceformis, a common Alga 
in the Mediterranean ; and Meneghini has described a second species from the 
Adriatic. I now venture to add a third, which I was formerly disposed to consider 
as identical with D. clavaforrnis. 
1. Dasycladus occidentalis ; whorls sub-distant ; apices of the ramelli very 
obtuse. (Tab. XLI. B.) 
Hab. On rocks between tide marks, on the Florida Keys. Key West, Dr. Wurde- 
mann, W. H. H. Key Biscayne, Prof. Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Root discoid, throwing out a few clasping fibres. Fronds mostly densely tufted, 
sometimes solitary, 1-2 inches high, clavate, from a line to nearly half-an-inch in dia- 
meter (including ramelli) erect, straight or curved, destitute of calcareous incrustation; 
consisting of a filiform, unbranched, unicellular axis, whorled throughout with densely 
inserted polychotomous ramelli. The axial filament varies in diameter from the thick- 
ness of a human hair to twice the diameter of hog’s bristle ; it is cylindrical, with a 
continuous cavity filled with endochrome, and seems to be developed from a single cell. 
Its wall is very thick, tough, and composed of several distinct layers of cellulose, con- 
centrically deposited. The filament is marked externally, at short intervals, varying 
in distance in different specimens, with transverse rings or nodes, which give an appear- 
ance of joints (but there are no internal septa) ; and immediately above each node from 
six to twelve horizontal ramelli are inserted in a whorl, and in denuded specimens 
their places are indicated by a whorl of disc-like scars surmounting the node. The 
ramelli vary much in length and in density. In some specimens the internodes are 
so short that the frond seems continuously clothed, like the spongy frond of a Codium, 
from base to apex ; the axis being completely concealed by the ramelli. In others the 
internodes are as much as a line in length, and the whorls appear sub-distant, like 
those of a Myriophyllum. Sometimes the ramelli are scarcely a line long ; in other 
specimens they are 2-3 lines or more. In all cases they are tri-dichotomous, twice or DASYCLADEiE. 
39 
thrice compounded and articulated ; being formed of two or three series of nearly 
cylindrical cells, four to six times longer than broad, filled with dark green slimy endo- 
chrome. The terminal cells are very obtuse. Fructification is formed at the axils of 
the ramelli, where two or three supplementary cells are developed and become spherical 
sporangia, by absorbing all the endochrome of the cells from which they spring, 
and finally that of the whole frond. When ripe, these sporangia are membranous bags, 
stuffed with innumerable spherical spores. Colour, a deep grass-green. Substance, 
soft and somewhat gelatinous. 
This species closely resembles, in habit and structure, D. clavceformis of the Medi- 
terranean ; but the ramelli, even in the densest specimens, are much more distantly 
placed than in that plant, and the apices (or terminal cells) of all the American indi- 
viduals I have examined are perfectly blunt; not mucronulate, as they are in D. clavce- 
formis. If this distinction prove constant, the species will be sufficiently characterised. 
Plate XLI. B. Fig. 1. Dasycladus occidentalis ; the normal form. Fig. 2. An 
attenuated and depauperated variety ; both figures the natural size. Fig. 3. Trans- 
verse section of the frond, showing a whorl of trichotomous ramelli. Fig. 4. Portion 
of a fertile ramellus with sporangia. Fig. 5. A sporangium. Fig. 6. Spores from 
the same ; all the latter figures magnified. 
III. ACETABULAEIA. Lamour. 
Root scutate. Frond stipitate, umbrella-shaped, thinly incrusted with calcareous 
matter. Stipes tubular, unicellular, cylindrical, when young emitting whorls of byssoid 
fibrills at and below the summit; when mature, crowned with a peltate disc, formed of 
numerous radiating cuneiform cells. Cells of the disc at first containing granular 
endochrome, which is afterwards changed into spherical spores. 
The two species which are included in this genus are among the most elegant and 
singular of the Algae, resembling delicate fungi of the genus Agaricus, more nearly than 
any marine production. This is, however, descriptive only of the fully grown plant, 
for in the young state, the peltate umbrella which crowns the stipes is not found. In 
the youngest specimens which I have examined (represented at fig. 2 in our plate) 
the upper part of the stipe is beset at sub-distant intervals with whorls of extremely 
slender byssoid fibrills, above the last of which a young disc is commencing to be 
formed. In older plants these fibrills drop away, and their position is indicated by an 
annular row of holes, the tube being also swollen at each whorl, so as to appear jointed. 
There are no septa, however, and the tube is continuous, at least to the base of the 
young disc. When the disc is further advanced, a dense pencil of fibres springs from 
its centre, on its upper surface, or from what may be called its umbo, and which is 40 
DASYCLADEiE. 
really the growing point of the frond. I regard the disc as being properly a whorl of 
sporangia, united by their edges ; each radiating cell constituting a sporangium. The 
discs, after they have developed spores, are deciduous ; and new ones are successively 
formed, one above the other, as the stipe lengthens. 
1. Acetabularia crenulata, Lamour. ; margin of the peltate disc minutely crenu- 
late ; the cells apiculate (when young). Lam. Pol. Fleoc. p. 6, Tab. 8, fig. 1. Kiitz., 
Sp. Alg.p. 510. (Tab. XLII. A.) ' 
Hab. Hocks and corals, within tide marks, on the Florida reefs. Key West, W.H.H., 
Prof. Tuomey (v. v.) 
Boot minute, discoid. Fronds scattered or tufted, two or three inches high, consisting 
of a slender, setaceous stipes, thinly coated with carbonate of lime, and bearing at its 
summit a peltate disc or cup, radiated like an agaric, and formed of clavato-cylindrical 
cells cohering by their edges, and filled with green endochrome. The stipes, when 
deprived of its lime by maceration in acid, forms a membranous, cylindrical tube, des- 
titute of markings, slightly enlarged upwards, having near its summit one, two, three, 
or more (according to age) annular swellings, from which issue whorls of very delicate, 
polychotomous, byssoid ramelli, and terminating in the first formed disc, from whose 
centre a pencil of similar byssoid fibres is produced. In further growth, the stipes 
proceeds through the first disc upwards for a distance of 1-2 lines, where another an- 
nulus emits a second whorl of filaments, above which a second disc is formed ; and thus, 
by successive apical growths new discs succeed each other, the older falling off as the 
younger are formed. In old specimens, therefore, you find the upper part of the stipe 
furnished with 4-5 or more annuli, marked with scars of the fallen ramelli and discs. 
In full grown specimens, the peltate disc, or circle of sporongia, is nearly half-an-inch 
in diameter. At first the matter contained in its cells is fluid and homogeneous. 
Eventually nuclei are formed in it, and the contents of each cell is converted into 
numerous globose spores, the whole endochrome being consumed in the process. The 
cell-wall of the stipe is thick and concentrically striate. 
This species very closely resembles A. Mediterranean from which it is distinguished 
by the minutely crenulate margin of the disc. In A. Mediterranea the margin is 
quite entire. 
Plate XLII. A. Fig. 1. Acetabularia crenulata ; the natural size. Fig. 2. Apex 
of a young frond, before the development of the peltate disc. Fig. 3. A young disc, 
within which is a pencil of byssoid fibres. Fig. 4. A mature disc. Fig. 5. Apex of 
one of the radiant cells, from a young disc in which they are mucronate. Fig. 6. One 
of the radiant cells of a mature disc, converted into a sporangium, and full of spores. 
Fig. 7. Spores from the same : all the latter figures magnified. V ALONIACEiE. 
41 
Order II I.—VALONIAC Kj;. 
Valoniece, in part, Ktitz. Sp. Alg. p. 507. Anadyomenece, Dictyospheriece, and 
part of Codiece, Kiitz. 1. c. Siphonece, in part, Auct. alior. 
Diagnosis. Green marine Algse, naked or encrusted with carbonate of lime, with 
fibrous roots. Frond polymorphous, formed of large vesicated cells filled with watery 
endochrome ; either consisting of a single cell, or of several united into filaments, or 
into net-works or membranous leaf-like expansions. 
Natural Character. Boot in most cases well developed, and consisting of a plexus 
of tough fibres, forming a mat, and either penetrating the sand or grasping firmly to 
the rock or stones on which the plant grows. Frond very variable in form, and in 
complexity of structure. In Valonia the whole frond, in some species, consists of a 
single vesicated cell, which is often of large size, upwards of an inch in length, and 
three-quarters of an inch in diameter, filled with a thin, watery endochrome. In other 
species of that genus, several such cells are strung together so as to form confervoid 
branching filaments. In Dictyo splicer ia, a number of large globose cells cohere toge- 
ther in a single stratum, and thus form a tessellated or honey-combed membrane. In 
Anadyomene, the membranous expansion is formed in a different manner, namely, by 
the lateral cohesion and anastomosis of a branching filament; and in Microdictyon, a 
network is formed in a similar way, the difference from Anadyomene being, that the 
branches of the generating filament stand apart, leaving open spaces between their 
anastomosing ramuli. A further advance in structure occurs in Penicillus, where the 
frond has a dendroid habit ; the trunk of the treelike body being composed of branch- 
ing, unicellular filaments like those of a Codium, and the head of confervoid, articulated 
filaments like those of Valonia. This spongy caudex, or trunk, appears to me to be 
merely an exaggeration of the rooting processes, common to most plants of the family. 
A more definite stipes, or true stem, is found in Chamcedoris, Apjohnia, and Struvea, 
the most highly organised genera of the Order, and those which connect it with the 
Dasycladece. In these the stipe is monosiphonous, and is developed nearly to its full 
size before any part of the capitulum makes its appearance. In the early stage these 
plants are not to be known from the simple Valonice, and like them consist of a single 
cell rising from a branching root. 
In this description of the fronds of the Order I omit the curious plant which will be 42 
VALONIACEiE. 
found described below under the name Blodgettia, because it is not quite certain 
whether it be properly a member of this series ; or possibly the type of a separate 
family. 
The fructification of none of these plants is satisfactorily known. 
All are natives of tropical and sub-tropical latitudes. The Penicilli or Merman's 
Shaving Brushes are characteristic of coral reefs, and are found in the Caribbean Sea, 
and on the shores of Australia and of the Indian archipelago. Anadyomene is common 
to the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the shores of Brazil. Dictyosphceria, 
is tropical and Australian. Valonia is found in most western oceans, and ought to 
occur on the Floridan Keys, though not yet found there. Microdictyon is generally a 
deep water production, lying at the bottom in 5-10 fathoms ; but it sometimes occurs 
at low water mark. Species of it, all very similar to each other, have been found in the 
tropics of both hemispheres and in the Mediterranean ; and one is very abundant in 
Port Jackson, Australia. Struvea is confined to the West coast of Australia, and 
Apjohnia to the Southern coast. Chamcedoris is Caribbean; and Acrocladus, Nteg., a 
closely allied form, is found in the Mediterranean. 
TABLE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
* Dendroid; stipitate, crowned with tufted filaments. 
I. CiiAMiEDORis. Stipes monosiphonous, annulated ; head very dense. 
II. Penicillus. Stipes formed of innumerable interwoven filaments, spongy ; head 
brush-like. 
** Confervoid; densely tufted. 
III. Blodgettia. Frond filamentous, articulated, branching, densely tufted. 
*** Membranous, leaf-like. 
IV. Anadyomene. Membrane erect, flabellately veined ; veins articulated, confervoid, 
radiating from the base toward the margin. 
V. DiCTYOSHiiERiA. Membrane amorphous, wholly formed of spherical cells lying in a 
single stratum. 
I. CHAMiEDOBIS, Mont. 
Root much branched. Frond stipitate, dendroid. Stipes at first clavate, then 
cylindrical; tubular, unicellular, horny-membranous, annularly constricted and corru- 
gated, at length crowned with a dense fascicle of confervoid, much branched, articulate 
ramelli. Fruit unknown. VALONIACEiE. 
43 
Young and full grown specimens of the little Alga which constitutes the present 
genus are so unlike that they might readily pass for different entities. The frond 
originates in a dense mass of branching, horny-membranous, intricate, rooting fibres, 
from which spring erect unicellular branches, or fronds. These are at first quite simple 
and naked ; but afterwards develope from their summit two or three very closely placed 
whorls of much branched ramelli, which form a dense, fasciculate capitulum. The frond 
is then mature and resembles a little tree; or perhaps, more justly, a little mop. The 
genus was founded by Montagne in 1842, by a separation from Penicillus. 
1. annulata, Mont. An. Sc. Nat. Ser. 2, vol. 18, p. 261. Kutz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 509. Nescea annulata, Lamour. Pol. Flex. p. 256. Corallina peniculum, Ell. 
and Sol. Zoop. p. 127, tab. 7,fig- 5-8 and tab. 25, jig. 1. (Tab. XLII. B.) 
Hab. Key West, rare. W. H. H., Dr. Blodgett, (v. v.) 
Root composed of many branching and clasping, tufted fibres, which issue from the 
base and lower part of the stipes, and at length form a dense mat. Fronds tufted, 
2-3 inches high, nearly a line in diameter, tubular, simple, membranaceous or some- 
what horny, destitute of calcareous incrustation except in old age, when they are thinly 
coated toward the base ; cylindrical, annularly constricted at short intervals as if 
jointed, the internodes most apparent on old specimens, when the annular constric- 
tions are deeper. In the young state the frond consists merely of such an annulated 
tube, formed of a single cell. When this has attained the height of two or three inches, 
it ceases to grow longer ; a septum is formed just below the summit, and a new cell 
begins there to develope. This second cell is very short, and again divides, once or 
twice, vertically ; so that the original tubular cell (now to be called the stipe) is 
crowned with two or three minute cells, placed one above the other (Tab. XLII .Jig. 3), 
the terminal one being attenuated and pointed. These cells remain short and rudimen- 
tary, but from their nodes dense whorls of ramelli begin to grow (Jig. 4), which finally 
constitute a dense, mop-like capitulum. When fully grown the capitulum is an inch 
or more in diameter, globose, very dense, composed of innumerable, crowded and inter- 
woven, much branched, irregularly dichotomous, articulated filaments. The articulations 
are cylindrical, constricted at the nodes and many times longer than broad ; but 
variable in length. Colour, a bright, grass-green. Substance, membranaceous, rather 
rigid and tough, not adhering to paper in drying. Thin slices of the tube, when 
examined under the microscope, show concentric lines of growth, as in Dasycladus, &c. 
This plant is rare at Key West, and none of my specimens are fully grown. It is a 
native of the West Indian Islands. 
Plate XLII. B. Fig. 1. CiiamvEDORIS annulata, the natural size. Fig. 2. A young, 
unicellular frond, previous to the formation of the capitulum. Fig. 3. Apex of a frond 
in a more advanced stage, showing the newly formed axial cells of the future capitulum. 
Fig. 4. Apex of a still more advanced young frond, with the capitulum beginning to be 44 
VALONIACEiE. 
formed. Fig. 5. Portion of the capitular filament; the latter figures more or less 
magnified. 
II. PENICILLUS. Lamarck. 
Boot fibrous, much branched, matted. Frond stipitate, dendroid. Stipes erect, 
cylindrical or compressed, incrusted, wholly composed of numerous longitudinal, 
unicellular branching filaments woven together into a compact spongy mass ; and 
crowned with a dense pencil of confervoid, articulate ramelli, whose branches are either 
free, or cohere together in fan-shaped laminrn, and are invested with a porous pellicle 
of carbonate of lime. 
If Mer-men have beards and shave them, the Algae included in this genus may serve 
as shaving brushes. The root is much branched and its fibres matted together, and 
generally penetrates deeply into the sand in which the plant grows. The stipe is more 
or less coated with carbonate of lime, and composed of a multitude of closely placed 
and densely interwoven longitudinal, unicellular filaments, which send otf laterally, 
throughout their length, short, fastigiate, corymbose ramelli, that unite together to 
form a periphery. Thus far we have a structure closely agreeing with that of a Codium. 
But from the apex of this compact, spongy stipe there springs a dense tuft or capitulum, 
composed of dichotomous, articulated, free filaments ; and the whole frond bears a 
striking resemblance to a shaving brush. The habit is similar to that of Chamcedoris, 
from which the spongy, multicellular stipe distinguishes it; and to Chlorodesmis, which 
differs in having a capitulum formed of unicellular filaments. 
The species naturally arrange themselves in two groups, or sub-genera, which Kiitzing 
has separated ; a separation which is hardly needed, where the species are so few in 
number and so closely related in structure. 
Sect. 1. Haligraphium, Endl. (Corallocephalus, Kutz.); branches of the capitulum 
free. 
1. Penicillus dumetosus, Dne. : stipes short, thick, somewhat compressed, velvetty; 
filaments of the capitulum loosely spreading, ultra-setaceous, flaccid, deep-green ; their 
joints cylindrical, many times as long as broad, equal, obtuse, strongly constricted at 
the nodes. Dne. Cor. p. 97. Nescea dumetosa, Lamour. Polyp, p. 259.pi. S, jig. 3, 
a. B. Corallocephalus dumetosus, Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 50fi. (Tab. XLIII. A.) 
Hab. Key West and Sand Key, W.H.H. Soldier’s Key, Prof. Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Boot, a dense mass of fibres deeply sinking in the sand. Stipes, 1-3 inches long, 
half-inch to nearly an inch in thickness, sometimes rather hollow in the centre, more or VALONIACEJE. 
45 
less compressed, erect, coated with a velvetty scurf, and partially incrusted with cal- 
careous matter ; nearly destitute of lime when young, much incrusted with it in old 
age. This stipes is composed of innumerable, densely packed, longitudinal, unicellular 
fibres which closely adhere by lateral branching processes, and are interlaced together. 
The outer strata of these fibres emit, to form the periphery of the stipe, innumerable 
short, lateral, horizontal, multifid, fastigiate ramelli, whose apices, lying close together, 
give the velvetty appearance to the surface. As long as these longitudinal filaments 
cohere into a stipe they are unicellular ; but when they become free at the apex of the 
stipe, they are articulated, or pluricellular ; and a capitulum of confervoid filaments 
completes the frond. According to the age of the specimen, the filaments of the 
capitulum are more or less developed ; in young specimens they are less than an inch 
long ; in older and full-grown ones they vary from 3 to 6 inches. They are densely, 
but not intricately tufted, thicker than hog’s bristle, dichotomous, radiating to all 
sides, equal and obtuse ; their articulations are cylindrical, and many times longer than 
broad. The colour is a full, deep green, and they are very thinly incrusted with lime ; 
the crust pierced with minute pores. The primordial utricle separates readily from the 
cell-wall, and is firmly membranous. 
Plate XLIII. A, Fig. 1, 2, 3. Penicillus dumetosus, of different ages : the 
natural sizes. Fig. 4. Portion of one of the dichotomous filaments of the capitulum. 
Fig. 5. Small portions of the same, after the calcareous coating has been removed, 
showing a pitted surface ; the latter figures more or less highly magnified. 
2. Penicillus capitatus, Lamk. ; stipes long or short, cylindrical or clavate, terete, 
incrusted, smooth ; filaments of the globose capitulum densely crowded, fastigiate, 
capillary, rigid, pale green, their joints cylindrical, many times as long as broad, 
obtuse, constricted at the nodes. Dne. Cor. p. 97. Nescea Penicillus, Lamour. Pol. 
flex. p. 258. Corallina Penicillus, Ell. and Sol. p. 126, tab. 25, fig. 4, 5. Corallo- 
cephalus Penicillus, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 505. (Tab. XLIII. B.) 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H., Prof. Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Boot very large, two inches long or more, deeply descending, very fibrous and 
densely matted. Stipes from one to four or five inches long, a quarter to a third of 
an inch in diameter, mostly cylindrical and equal throughout, occasionally compressed 
and widened upwards, thickly incrusted with calcareous matter, and having a smooth 
and sometimes a polished surface. Capitulum very dense, mostly globose, sometimes 
oblong and rarely somewhat diffuse, fastigiate, one or two inches in diameter, composed 
of innumerable, curved, densely packed and often entangled, capillary filaments which 
are encrusted with calcareous matter to an extent that makes them rigid. The 
structure is similar to that of the preceding species ; and the calcareous incrustation 
is similarly dotted or pitted. The length of the articulations varies much ; usually 46 
VALONIACEAE. 
they are many times as long as broad ; but now and then a short, globose artieulus is 
interposed between the two long ones. Colour, a pale green. 
Plate XLIII. B. Figs. 1, 2, 3. Penicillus capitatus, different varieties ; the 
natural size. Fig. 4. Portion of a dichotomous filament from the capitulum. Fig. 5. 
Small portion of the same, after the lime has been removed ; the latter figures more or 
less highly magnified. 
Sect. 2. IIalipsygma, Endl. (Rhipocephalus, Kiitz.) ; branches of the capitulum 
cohering in flabelliform laminae. 
3. Penicillus Phoenix, Lamk. ; stipes elongate, terete, incrusted, smooth ; capitu- 
lum ovoid or oblong, its filaments incrusted, very slender, dichotomous, cohering by 
their edges into many distinct, flat, cuneate, level-topped, spreading laminae. Dne. 
Cor.p. 98. Lamk. An. Mus. 20, p. 299. Corallina Phoenix, Ell. and Sol. p. 126, 
t. 25, fig. 2-3. Nescea Phoenix, Lamour, l. c. p. 256. Pliipocephalus Phoenix, Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 506. (Tab. XLIII. C.) 
IIab. Key West, W. H. H. Dredged in 3j fathoms off Soldier’s Key, Prof. 
Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Root somewhat fusiform, dense, descending. Stipes cylindrical, 1-3 inches long, a 
quarter inch in diameter, thickly incrusted with calcareous matter, the surface smooth, 
composed as in the rest of the genus of many slender longitudinal branching and 
ramelliferous threads. The filaments of the capitulum are thickly incrusted with 
calcareous matter, and disposed in many flat, cuneate, flabelliform laminae ; their 
ramifications lying close together, and cohering laterally by means of the incrustation. 
On removing the carbonate of lime the cohesion of the filaments is destroyed. The 
articulations are many times longer than broad, cylindrical, and much constricted at 
the nodes. 
Plate XLIII. C. Fig. 1. Penicillus Phoenix, the natural size. Fig. 2. Portion 
of one of the fanlike laminae of the capitulum. Fig. 3. Cells from the same, after the 
removal of the lime ; the latter figures more or less magnified. 
III. BLODGETTIA, Harv. (n. gen.) 
Frond esespitose, branching, confervoid, articulate. Articulations unicellular, filled 
with grumous, viscid endochrome ; the cell-wall formed of separable membranes, VALONIACEiE. 
47 
the outer of which are hyaline and homogeneous, the innermost traversed by parallel, 
longitudinal, anastomosing veinlets. Spores seriated in moniliform strings, and 
developed from the veinlets of the inner cell-wall (!) 
The highly curious little Alga on which the present genus is founded so closely 
resembles a Cladophora that it will readily pass for one, unless it be very closely examined 
under a powerful microscope. Indeed so great is the resemblance to a branched 
Conferva that I formerly distributed it to my friends with the manuscript name of 
Cladophora ccespitosa, under which it was my intention to have described it in the 
present work ; nor did I discover my error until I commenced making sketches for 
the plate now given. I was then first struck by the peculiar opacity of the dissepiments ; 
and afterwards by what looked like a compound cellular structure in the walls of the 
cells. On applying a higher power, other characters came out which induced me to 
dissect one of the articulations, when I discovered the curious structure of the inner 
membrane or primordial utricle ; in which (as for as I can make out) the spores are 
developed. To see the structure, as above described, the readiest mode is to proceed 
as follows. Cut off a portion of one of the long cells which terminate the branches ; 
place it on the table of a dissecting microscope, moisten it, and you may readily express 
the viscid endochrome, which generally contains, besides the usual starch and chloro- 
phyll grains, a number of pyramidal crystals ; but these are probably adventitious. 
When the endochrome has been pressed out, the structure of the inner membrane of 
the cell-wall may be partially seen ; but to see it clearly, the outer coats must be 
removed. This may readily be done, either by tearing, with a pair of dissecting 
needles, or by making a longitudinal section through the cell, when the different coats 
easily separate, on the section being teased in a drop of water. The outer coat, or 
coats (for there are two or more, though the secondary ones sometimes elude detec- 
tion, owing to their extreme tenuity) are quite transparent and structureless, as is 
usually the case in the walls of cellular tissue. But the inner coat offers a peculiarity 
of structure which I have not noticed in any other Algae, nor have heard of its occur- 
rence in the cells of any other plant. At first sight the membrane seems to be 
composed of numerous minute, elongated fusiform cellules, not unlike the wood-cells 
of phanerogamous plants, but totally unlike any algae-cells known to me. Careful 
examination has however convinced me that the appearance of cellular structure is 
deceptive ; and that the membrane itself is homogenous, but traversed by slender 
filaments or nerves, which anastomose together, forming areolae which look like cells. 
These filaments give off free ramuli whose apices swell into spores ; and (probably) by 
repeated cell division produce the strings of roundish spores, which are so conspicuous 
in most of the areolae. The appearance of the whole membrane with its spores is as 
if a number of the asci of a lichen were placed side by side ; the true structure, 
however, I need hardly say, is widely different. 
The generic name is bestowed as a grateful tribute to the memory of the late 
Dr. Blodgett of Key West, who had zealously collected and studied the Algae of the 
reefs where this plant grows, and to whom I am indebted for many specimens of the 
rarest Algae of the Florida Keys. 48 
VALONIACEjE. 
1. Blodgettia confervoides, Ilarv. (Tab. XLV. C.) 
Hab. At Key West, on rocks near low-water mark. Dr. Wurdeman, W. H. II. t 
Prof. Tuomey. (v. v.) 
Fronds filamentous, densely tufted ; the tufts spreading extensively, from an inch to 
an inch and half in height, very dense, pulvinate and fastigiate. Filaments rigid, not 
collapsing when removed from the water, about as thick as hog’s bristle, sparingly 
branched, decumbent at base, then ascending, and the tips erect. The main divisions 
and primary branches are very patent, either arching backwards or quite recurved. 
They are destitute of branches along their lower or outer side, and more or less furnished 
witli unilateral ramification on the upper ; generally with a long excurrent point desti- 
tute of ramuli. Often the filament has but a single series of simple, secund ramuli ; 
but in luxuriant specimens there is a second series of similar secund ramuli. Articula- 
tions variable in length, dark coloured, with opaque dissepiments, and not collapsing 
when dry, contracted at the nodes, three to six times as long as broad ; the terminal 
cell always very much longer than the rest, and frequently 10-12 times as long as its 
diameter. Apices very blunt. The articulations are filled with dense, viscid endochrome 
full of large green granules, and frequently containing also prismatical crystals. The mem- 
branous cell-wall is divisible into three or more separate membranes, one concentrically 
placed within the other. The outer are hyaline without obvious structure ; but 
the inner one is reticulated with very slender nervelike fibres, which run longitudinally 
through the membrane parallel to each other, and are connected by oblique crossbars ; 
so that the surface is divided into narrow, pointed areolae. The spores are seriated in 
inoniliform strings, four or more in each string, and attached to short free veinlets 
which issue from the veins of the inner cell-wall. The colour when recent is a very 
dark green ; when dry it becomes more olivaceous. The substance is very firm, and 
the plant imperfectly adheres to paper in drying. 
Plate XLY. C. Fig. 1. Blodgettia confervoides ; the natural size. Fig. 2. Pecti- 
nated branch. Fig. 3. Apex of the long terminal cell of the branch, the lower portion 
represented with the outer cell-coats exfoliated. Fig. 4. Portion of the membrane of 
the innermost cell-coat traversed by slender fibres, bearing strings of spores (?). Fig. 5. 
One of the moniliform strings, apart. Fig. 6. Some of the crystals found in the cells. 
All the latter figures more or less highly magnified. 
IV. ANADYOMENE, Lamour. 
Root fibrous. Frond stipitate, membranaceous, leaf-like, flabellately veined ; tbe 
veins confervoid, radiating from the base to tbe margin, pedately multifid, excessively 
branched, and everywhere closely anastomosing. Fructification unknown. valoniacej:. 
The frond in this genus is thin and membranous, and at first view resembles that of an 
Ulva, except that it is traversed everywhere by branching veins. When more closely 
examined it is easily perceived that the membrane is wholly formed by the anastomosis 
and lateral cohesion of the branches and ramuli of a much branched, articulated, con- 
fervoid filament, composed of large, oblong cylindrical cells ; as more fully detailed in 
the subjoined description. As Professor J. Agardh remarks (Alg. Medit. p. 24), it is 
nearly related to Valonia, from which it differs chiefly in the lateral cohesion of the 
branches of the generating filaments, and to which it bears the same relation that 
Coclium does to Yauclieria. It is still more nearly related to Microdictyon, where the 
fronds form an open network. 
1. Anadyomene flabellata, Lamour. ; frond flattish or undulate, the veins multipar- 
tite. Law,our. Pol. Flex. p. 365, tab. 14, Jig. 3. Bory, FI. Mor. t. 41, jig. 5, Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 511. A. stellata, Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 400. (Tab. XLIY. A.) 
Hab. Key West, on tidal rocks, common. Dr. Wurdeman, W.H.H.} Prof. Tuomey. 
(V. y.) 
Root consisting of a mat of branching, articulate, confer void filaments, emitting erect 
branches which develope into flat, fiabelliform, membranous fronds. Fronds tufted, 
1-4 inches long and as much in width, rigidly membranaceous, shortly stipitate ; the 
stipes uni- or pluri-cellular ; lamina at first fiabelliform and entire, afterwards undulate 
and more or less deeply lobed at the margin ; wholly composed of radiating, multifid, 
branching, confervoid filaments, whose distichous branches closely cohere throughout, 
and whose ramuli as constantly anastomose and coalesce. In other words, the membrane 
is composed of longitudinally seriated, cylindrical cells, several series radiating from the 
base toward the circumference in a flabellate manner, and dividing and subdividing 
digitately throughout the whole length of the series ; each cell emitting from its sum- 
mit 5-7 or more similar cells, which in their turn put forth another series, and so on. 
In this way the frond increases in length. It is widened by the gradual evolution of 
other cells formed along the sides of contiguous parallel cells in a pinnate order. At 
first these lateral or transverse cells are very minute and placed opposite each other. 
They gradually lengthen, anastomose and coalesce, and at length form a reticulated space 
of a narrow wedge-form between each pair of tubular, longitudinal cells. The cuneate 
space looks like a membrane, but is really constituted of closely placed, transverse bars, 
leaving narrow slits between them, as may be readily seen by examining a dried speci- 
men when the substance shrinks. In a moist state, by the swelling of the cells, the 
slits close up, and the frond appears as if continuously membranous. The tubular, 
longitudinally seriated cells, or those that form the veins and nerves of the frond, seem 
to continue to lengthen during the whole growth of the lamina ; they are short in 
young plants, longer in others, and in old plants are many times longer than their 
diameter. The cell-wall in these cells is thick and tough, and when viewed under a 50 
YALONIACEiE. 
moderately high magnifying power it appears to be transversely striate. The primordial 
sac readily separates from the outer cell-wall. 
This plant was first noticed in the Mediterranean Sea, where it grows in the fissures 
of littoral rocks in many places. It occurs also in Brazil, from whence I possess a 
specimen ; and is found generally throughout the West Indian Islands. Our Key West 
specimens are rarely more than two inches high and about three in breadth. The 
largest specimen I possess was given me by the late Mr. Menzies, as having been 
dredged in twenty fathoms in the Gulf of Mexico. This specimen measures six inches 
across, and its venation offers some peculiarities ; which perhaps may lead to its specific 
separation. In our Key West plants the seriated cells of the principal veins stand apart 
from each other, or are in single file, leaving wedgeshaped spaces between. In Mr. 
Menzies’ specimen the principal veins are partly unicellular, partly formed of several 
parallel, closely placed cells, without interspaces. The structure is easily seen, but 
difficult to describe in intelligible language. Should subsequent observations establish 
this plant as a species, it may be called A. Menziesii. 
Plate XLIV. A. Fig. 1. Anadyomene flabellata, full grown ; and Fig. 2, a young 
plant; the natural size. Fig. 3 represents Fig. 2, magnified, to show the structure of 
the frond. 
V. DICTYOSPIKERIA. Due. 
Boot consisting of a few grasping processes. Frond, a decumbent, amorphous mem- 
brane composed of a single series of vesicated, sub-globose, tough-coated cells, filled 
with green, fluid endochrome. Fructification unknown. 
The plant for which this genus was defined by Decaisne was formerly referred to 
Vcdonia, to which no doubt it is closely allied, but from which it differs by the greater 
lateral coherence of the cells which compose the frond, and also by the structure of these 
cells. It is of common occurrence throughout the tropics of both hemispheres. On the 
coast of Australia a second species i£ equally common, differing from D. favulosa in the 
frond being never vesicated, and in the component cells being very much smaller, the 
surface flatter, and the frond having a silky lustre. This I have elsewhere described 
under the name D. sericea. 
1. DictyosphvERIA favulosa, Dne.\ frond at first globose and hollow, afterwards 
irregularly torn, expanded ; the vesicated cells globoso-hexagonal, convex, and very 
prominent. Due. An. Sc. Nat. Ser. 2. vol. 17, p. 328. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 512. 
Valonia favulosa, Ag. Sp. Alg. 1. p. 432. (Tab. XLIV. B). ulvacej:. 
51 
IIab. Key West, W.H.H., Prof. Tuomey. (No. 103). (v. v.) 
Fronds at first globose, like tubers, heaped together, hollow and empty or filled with 
sea-water, attached to the rock and to each other by a few short, rooting processes ; at 
length irregularly torn, and then forming expanded, cartilaginous, or skinlike coarsely 
reticulated membranes. The membrane is wholly composed of a single layer of large, 
globose, or by mutual compression hexagonal cells, which closely cohere by their sides, 
leaving the convex ends of the cell free, and these form the surface of the membrane, 
which when dry resembles a piece of fish skin, or a miniature honeycomb. When the 
cells have been separated, each is seen to be marked at the line of junction by a double 
row of circular discs. In full grown cells the primordial utricle is easily separable from 
the outer cell-wall, and contains a green, granular endochrome ; from which, by cell- 
division, four new cells are formed, and thus the frond extends by repeated quadrisection 
of its component cells. The cell-wall is very tough and semifibrous in texture, more 
like an animal than a vegetable membrane; and I have seen hairlike processes issue 
from it internally, analogous perhaps to the fibrous processes of the membrane of Caulerpa. 
I cannot say whether this be a constant character. It was observed in specimens from 
the Pacific brought home in spirit, and cannot be readily ascertained from dried specimens. 
Plate XLIV. B. Fig. 1. the natural size. Fig. 2. Portion 
of the surface, showing the division of the cells. Fig. 3. One of the cells of which the 
frond is composed, removed ; the latter figures magnified. 
Order IV.—ULVACE.E. 
Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 168. Hook. Br. FI. 2, p. 30Q. Haw. Man. p. 211. J. Ag. 
Alg. Medit. p. 14. Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 18. Ulvacece et Enteromarphece, Kiitz. 
Spec. Alg. pp. 471-475. 
Diagnosis. Green or purple, marine or fresli water Algae, composed of small, poly- 
gonal or quadrate cells, forming expanded membranes or membranous sacs or tubes ; 
rarely arranged in filaments. Fructification, zoospores formed in the cells of the frond. 
Natural character. Root a small disc, or point of attachment. Frond formed of 
small, often very minute, roundish, quadrate or polygonal cellules cohering together 
into thin, filmy membranes, of no very definite form, and either expanded into broad 
leaves, contracted into narrow ribbons, or forming tubes which are either simple or 
branched. In those of lowest organization, such as Tetraspora, the frond is of a nature 
so loosely gelatinous that it can only by courtesy be called a membrane, and the cells 
which give it consistency are widely separated by transparent jelly. In Prasiola the ULYACEiE. 
cells are closer, with narrower hyaline interspaces, and the gelatine has a firmer consis- 
tence, more like that of ordinary cellulose ; and in Viva there is perfect cohesion 
between thin-walled cells, and the membrane formed by them is firm, and often rigid 
and tough. Perhaps in all cases the cells multiply by a fissiparous division into four, 
the old cell dividing longitudinally and transversely. This is very obvious wherever the 
cells stand sufficiently apart, as in Tetraspora and Prasiola, and in the more trans- 
parent Enteromorphce; but is less evident in the ordinary marine Vlvce. Most of the 
Ulvacece have the brilliant, grass-green common to the Chlorosperms; but in the genera 
Porphyra and Bangia the frond assumes a more or less pure dark-purple hue, and 
hence some authors have removed these genera to the Rhodosperms. But I cannot 
think such removal natural or desirable ; for there is really no difference between 
Viva and Poiphyra in structure or fructification, and the occurrence of a purple colour, 
or even of a purer red, is by no means limited among Chlorosperms to these plants. 
We frequently find purple colours in Batrachospermece, especially in Tliorea; they 
occur also in Oscillatoriaceae and in Palmellacem ; and in the latter, and also in the 
spores of (Edogonia a pure carmine or scarlet is often seen. 
The fructification of the Ulvaceae consists in zoospores, which are formed indifferently 
in all or in any of the cells of the frond, and are furnished with two or four cilia. Their 
development and germination are beautifully figured by Thuret in his valuable memoir 
on the zoospores of Algm, in An. Sc. Nat. Ser. 3, vol. 14. 
Ulvacem are universally dispersed either in salt or fresh waters throughout the world, 
and several are found on damp soil, or in half inundated places. All the genera and 
most of the species are cosmopolitan. Their specific characters are difficult to fix, and 
authors differ very much in their opinions respecting them. Kiitzing describes a mul- 
titude of species, which other writers find it difficult to separate, even as varieties. The 
form of the frond, in the foliaceous species, is assuredly a most uncertain character; and 
the comparative size and branching of the tube, in the tubular, equally variable. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
% 
* Porphyreae : frond purple. 
I. Porphyra. Frond leaf-like, purple. 
II. Bangia. Frond filiform, purple. 
** Ulvem : frond green. 
III. Enteromorpha. Frond membranous, tubular, simple or branched. 
IV. Ulva. Frond membranaceous, leaf-like. 
Y. Tetraspora. Frond gelatinous, expanded. ULVACEiE. 
53 
I. PORPHYRA. Ag. 
Frond membranaceous, flat and leaf-like, purple. Fructification, dark purple gra- 
nules (spores) arranged in fours, dispersed over the whole frond. 
The species of this genus are difficult to determine, and I am induced, in this place, 
to unite the P. vulgaris and P. laciniata of authors, which I have elsewhere (Phyc. 
Brit.) figured and described as distinct. They appear to me to run one into another ; 
and if we contend for two species, with equal justice might we make half-a-dozen. Both 
are indifferently used in England in the preparation of “ marine sauce) or layer, which 
is often brought to table as an accompaniment to roast meat. Kiitzing describes 
sixteen species, several of which are probably reduceable to the following :— 
I. Porphyra vulgaris, Ag. ; frond polymorphous, either undivided or cleft into 
several broad segments ; sometimes peltate, fixed by a middle point. P. purpurea, and 
P. laciniata, Ag. Sp. Alg. p. 190—191. P. vulgaris, Ag. Aufz. p. 18. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 211. P. laciniata, Ilarv. Phyc. Brit. t. 92. Wyatt. Alg. Danm. 
No. 32. P. linearis, Grev. P. amethystea, Kiitz. 
Hab. Rocks between tide marks. On the eastern shores from Charleston, South 
Carolina, to the Arctic Regions. Western Coast, from California to Russian America 
(v. V.). 
Very variable in form in different localities and at different stages of growth. In an 
early state it is either oblong or linear-lanceolate, with an evident though minute 
stipes, and then it constitutes the P. linearis of Greville, which is found truest to its 
type in the beginning of winter, in situations near high-water mark, where its vegeta- 
tion is less vigorous. Later in the season the form usually called P. vulgaris, as 
figured in Phyc. Brit. t. 211, will be found in the same locality, and also throughout 
the whole space between tide marks. In this the frond is ovate or ovato-lanceolate, or 
broadly lanceolate, much waved at the margin, and without obvious stipe, several inches 
long and 2-3 inches wide. P. laciniata, Ag., which merely differs in having a deeply 
lobed or divided lamina, grows mixed with the simple variety (P. vulgaris) ; and 
specimens may easily be found which are intermediate in character. The state called 
P. umbilicalis grows on exposed rocks, generally near low water mark, and looks more 
like a different species than any of the other varieties. In it the frond is always short, 
usually of a very dull colour, fixed by a point removed from the margin of the lamina, 
and therefore somewhat peltate, with the upper side depressed or umbilicate in the 
centre. This variety is rarely more than two or three inches in length. Other varieties 
attain to 8 or 10 inches or more. 
The colour varies with the age and condition of the fronds. Often it is olivaceous 
green, with little or no trace of purple ; but generally it is of a fine dark purple, 54 
ulvacej:. 
especially when in fructification, the colour being wholly derived from the fructifying 
cells. The colour also generally becomes more intense and more purple after steeping 
in fresh water, and in the process of drying ; and the dried plant has a very glossy 
surface, like satin. Sometimes it adheres to paper and sometimes not; and it always 
shrinks considerably in drying. 
II. BANGIA. Lyngb. 
Frond thread-shaped, tubular, composed of numerous radiating cellules, disposed in 
transverse rows, and enclosed within a hyaline continuous sheath. Spores purple, one 
formed in each cell of the frond. 
This genus was founded by Lyngbye on the Conf. fusco-purpurea of Dillwyn, and 
several other AlgaB, both marine and of fresh water, which are more or less nearly allied 
to it. Some of these have been properly removed. The genus still contains some 
anomalous species, but the three following appear to me to be con-generic. The genus 
was first placed by Greville in Ulvaceae. This position has been questioned, and I was 
formerly disposed to concur with those who refer it to the neighbourhood of Lyngbya in 
Oscillatoriem ; but a careful examination, especially of B. vermicularis, has now con- 
vinced me that Bangia cannot be far removed from Porpliyra, to which it bears the 
same relation that Enteromorplia bears to Viva. 
1. Bangia fuscopurpurea, Lyngb. ; filaments elongated, simple, decumbent, nearly 
straight, capillary, here and there constricted, forming a brownish-purple, glossy stratum ; 
granules several in each transverse band, dark purple. Lyngb. Hyd. Dan. p. 83, t. 24. 
Grev. Alg. Brit., p. 177. Wyatt, Alg. Danm>, No. 167. Harv. Phyc. Brit., t. 96. 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 360. B. atropurpurea, Ag. Syst. p. 76. Alg. Bur. t. 25. Conferva 
fuscopurpurea, Dillw. t. 92. E. Bot. t. 2055, and C. atropurpurea, Dillw. t. 103. 
E. Bot. t. 2085. 
Hab. On rocks and wood-work between tide marks. Newfoundland, Herb. Mon- 
tague. Narragansett Pier, Prof. Bailey. Little Compton, Mr. Olney. Providence, M. 
Charles Giraud. Lynn, Mass. Mrs. Estes, (v. v.). 
This is attached to rocks and stones, or to woodwork, and occurs in stratified patches 
of indefinite extent, of a dark purple colour. The filaments are 2-3 inches long, and 
float freely in the water, lying down in a fleece when left by the retreating tide. They 
vary greatly in diameter according to age, and the miscroscopic characters are equally 
varied in young and old specimens. In the young state the filament is formed of a ULVACEAL 
55 
series of very short cells, much shorter than the diameter of the filament ; each con- 
taining an undivided mass of dark purple endochrome, and at this age the whole 
structure is very similar to that of Hormotrichum. When further advanced, the 
endochrome divides longitudinally into many quadrate portions, round each of which 
a cell membrane grows, and they become so many cells arranged in a radiant manner 
round a central point, and appear, when viewed from the side, as transverse rows of 
beadlike granules tessellating the filaments. Eventually, from repeated cell division, 
the arrangement in transverse lines becomes difficult to observe, and the filament looks 
like a confused mass of tissue. The number of transverse granules seen in each row 
depends on age. The figure in Phyc. Brit, represents an old state of the plant when 
the granules have multiplied. The colour under the microscope is a beautiful ame- 
thystine purple. 
I have only received this plant from the above-named American localities, but it is 
probably to be found along the rocky shores of all the northern States. In the British 
Islands it grows indifferently in the sea or in fresh water ; in the latter case it often 
occurs on the walls and gates of canal locks, and it may be expected to occur in similar 
situations in America. The specimen from Newfoundland is in a very advanced 
stage ; the filaments being of large diameter, irregularly constricted, and their granules 
very numerous in each band, and of minute size. The specimen from Lynn, on the 
contrary, is very young, with the transverse rows j ust beginning to be formed. 
2. Bangia vermicularis, Harv.; root scutate ; filaments basifixed, twisted, setaceous 
at the base, gradually widening upwards and at last claviform, much incrassated toward 
the end, undulating, flaccid, with a wide, hyaline, firm investing tube ; transverse bands 
closely placed ; granules dark-purple, vertically flattened, few in each whorl toward the 
base, very crowded and numerous toward the upper portion of the filament. (Tab. 
XLIX. A.) 
IIab. Golden Gate, California, A. D. Frye (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Filaments fixed at the base by a scutate root, and probably freely floating in the 
water ; perhaps tufted, but the specimens received have been pulled asunder. Each 
filament is about two inches long ; at its origin it is of the diameter of human hair ; it 
becomes gradually thicker upwards, until, near the apex, in old filaments, it is at least 
twice as thick as hog’s bristle. The form is therefore linear-clavate, though the club be 
very slender in proportion to its length. When dried the threads look like sinuous 
worms, tapering from a thickened apex to a very slender base. A cross section shows 
a central cavity surrounded by a variable number of radiating, cuneiform, dark-purple 
endochromes. Toward the base of the filament there are but four of these in a plane ; 
a little higher up there are eight, and in the upper portions they are not only indefinitely 
numerous in the whorl, but they form dichotomous radiating strings extending hori- 
zontally from the central tube to the circumference. They do not cohere in regular 
moniliform filaments, but there seems a tendency to do so. It is difficult, in this part 56 
ULVACEiE. 
of the frond, to see the exact cellular structure, owing to the great transparency of the 
cell-walls, and the facility with which the endochromes are thrown out of their cavities 
when cross-sections are moistened. 
This is a very distinct species, remarkable for the great diameter of its worm- 
like filaments, and their clavate form. Notwithstanding its somewhat greater com- 
plexity of structure, I think there can be no doubt of its near affinity with B. fusco- 
purpurea. 
Plate XLIX. A. Fig. 1. Bangia vermicularis, the natural size. Fig. 2. A frond mag- 
nified. Fig. 3. Base ; 4. middle portion ; and 5, apex of the same. Fig. 6, 7, 8. Trans- 
verse sections at different heights. Fig. 9 and 10. Radiating endochrome-cells, all 
highly magnified. 
3. Bangia ciliaris, Carm. ; filaments very minute, (forming a rosy down on the 
fronds of other Algae) basifixed, straight; granules either in a single series, or two or 
three in each transverse row. Harv. Phyc. Brit. tab. 322. Chauv. Rech. p. 37. 
Hab. Parasitic on Chondria atropurpurea, at Charleston, S. C., W.H.H. (v. v.) 
This forms a very short, bright, rose-red downy pile on the fronds of the Chondria. 
Each filament is scarcely the tenth of an inch in length, and consists either of a single 
row of cells shorter than their diameter ; or of a double or triple series of such cells. 
Possibly it may be only the very young state of B. fuscopurpurea ; but the habitat 
is different, and the colour much brighter. 
III. ENTEROMORPITA, Link 
Frond tubular, membranaceous, green, reticulated. Fructification, granules, com- 
monly in fours, contained in the cells of the frond. 
The tubular frond distinguishes this genus from Ulva. The tube varies greatly in 
width, in different or even in the same species. Sometimes it is of no greater diameter 
than that of human hair ; and sometimes it is one or two inches across, forming an 
inflated bag. The species are widely dispersed, extremely variable in ramification and 
general appearance, and some of them are among the commonest of all littoral algm. 
The green stringlike weeds that infest the bottoms of boats and vessels lying in harbour 
are generally species of this genus, and mostly E. compressa, which is found in all parts 
of the ocean from the Arctic and Antarctic basins to the Equator. ULVACEiE. 
57 
1. Enteromorpha intestinalis, Link ; fronds perfectly simple, elongated, becoming 
inflated, obtuse, tapering extremely to the base. Link, Hor. Phys. Ber. p. 5. Grev. 
Alg. Brit. p. 179- Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 154. Wyatt, Alg.-Damn. No. 80. E. Bot. 
Sup. p. 2756. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 478. Ulva intestinalis, Linn. 
IIab. Whalefish Islands, Davis’s Straits, Dr. Lyall. Boston Bay, Dr. Gray. Provi- 
dence, Bhode Island, Mr. Olney. New York Bay, Mr. Walters, dye. Beesley’s Point, 
Mr. Ashmead. Sullivan’s Island, Mr. Ravenel. (v. v.) 
Very variable in the length and breadth of the frond. Old specimens are often much 
inflated and bag-like ; the frond being 1-2 inches in diameter. Others, often from the 
same locality, are not more than quarter of an inch in breadth. 
2. Enteromorpha compressa, Grev. ; fronds elongated, branched, cylindrical or sub- 
compressed ; the branches simple or nearly so, long, obtuse, much attenuated at the 
base. Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 180 t. 18. Harv. Phyc. Brit. tab. 335. Wyatt, Alg. 
Damn. Ho. 168. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 480. 
Hab. Sea shores, extremely common, (v. v.) 
Under one or other of its many forms this species is found on all parts of the American 
coast extending also up the estuaries of tidal rivers. Our most northern specimens 
were collected in Lat. 75° 42' by Dr. Sutherland. 
3. Enteromorphaclathrata, Grev.; frond tubular, tesselated, cylindrical, slender, very 
much branched ; branches erect or spreading, sometimes squarrose, more or less beset 
with slender tapering subulate ramuli. Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 181. E. clathrata, erecta 
et ramulosa, Hook. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 340, t. 43, and t. 245. Wyatt, Alg. 
Danm. Nos. 34,166, and 208. E. clathrata, ramulosa, paradocca, dye. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 
p. 479. 
Hab. Kock pools, &c. Rhode Island, Mr. Olney. Staten Island, New York, Professor 
Bailey. Red Hook, &c., Messrs. Hooper and Calverley. Boston Bay, Captain Pike. 
Beesley’s Point, Mr. Ashmead. (v. v.) 
Very variable in appearance, but generally more slender and filiform than E. com- 
pressa, and also more cylindrical. It is usually densely tufted, capillary, or setaceous, 
soft to the touch and very much branched ; the branches either erecto-patent or patent; 
sometimes horizontal or squarrose, repeatedly decompound, and their ultimate divisions 
furnished with slender ramuli that taper to a fine point, and are not constricted at base. 
These ramuli are sometimes very numerous, sometimes few, and either short and spine- 
like or elongated and filiform. When short, horizontally spreading, numerous and 58 
ULVACE.E. 
spinelike, the plant becomes E. ramulosa of authors. I have seen the varieties erecta, 
ramulosa and clathrata from the American coast. The cells of which the walls of the 
frond are composed are larger and more quadrate than those of E. compressa ; the 
surface therefore looks tessellated. 
4. Enteromorpiia Hopkirkii, McCalla ; frond excessively slender and byssoid, flaccid, 
very much branched ; branches feathery, decompound, erect, attenuated, set with minute 
subulate ramuli ; cellules large, hyaline, each containing one or two minute grains of 
endochrome : the ramuli formed of a single series of such cells. Harv. Phuc. Brit, 
tab. 263. 
Hab. In rock pools between tide marks. Greenport, Mr. Hooper, (v. s.) 
Tufts very soft, 3-4 inches long. Fronds very slender and much branched. The 
frond of this species is composed of much larger and more hyaline cells than in the 
preceding, and the endochrome is of very minute size in proportion to the cells in which 
it is lodged. This species occurs also on the shores of England and Ireland ; but is 
not so common as others of the genus, and appears to be sufficiently characterised by 
its cellular structure. The ramuli are articulated, like the branches of a Cladophora. 
IV. ULVA. L. 
Frond membranaceous, flat, and leaflike, green. Fructification ; green granules 
(spores) often arranged in fours, dispersed over the whole frond. 
Under this generic name I still retain the species of the modern genera Prasiola, 
Viva, and Phycoseris ; the first of which differs from the second in having its cellules 
arranged in a most obviously tessellated pattern ; and the last, from either of the pre- 
ceding, by its membrane consisting of two layers of cells instead of a single layer. 
The species of the section Prasiola are of minute size, and are found in damp places, 
on the soil, on old walls and on decaying timber and thatch, &c. ; and no doubt several 
(such as P. crispa, P. calophylla, &c.) occur in America, but I have not received any 
American specimens. Kiitzing describes a P. mexicana, Lieb. from Mexico, in words 
which would apply equally to the P. crispa of Europe. 
Sect. 1. Piiycoseris ; membrane formed of a double layer of cellules. 
1. Ulva (Piiycoseris) fasciata, Delile; frond stipitate, cartilagineo-membranaceous, 
rigid, cleft into several strapshaped segments, which are undulate at the margin, and 
irregularly toothed or sinuate. Del. Egypt, p. 153, t. 58, /. 5. Mont. Alg. Alger, 
p. 151, t. 14, jig. 1-2. Phycoseris fasciata, Kutz.Sp. Alg. p. 477. Viva divisa, Suhr! ULVACE2E. 
59 
Hab. California, Dr. Coulter. Shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Dr. Schott, (v. v.) 
More rigid than U. latissima, and divided into many long narrow segments, half an 
inch to an inch wide, and 6-8 inches long or more, preserving a nearly equal breadth 
throughout, and either simple or forking. Sometimes the laciniation is almost pinnate, 
having an undivided leading segment with lateral and often opposite lesser segments. 
Sometimes the division extends nearly to the base, and the form is then palmate. The 
margin is mostly toothed, or cut, and frequently undulate. The colour is a full grass 
green, and the substance rigid. It does not adhere to paper in drying. 
I possess authentically named specimens from Montagne and Yon Suhr. 
2. Ulva (Phycoseris) Lima, Linn.; frond linear-lanceolate, acute, crisped at the 
margin, composed of two membranes closely applied. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1633. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. 1 ,p. 413. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 39. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 164. Phycoseris 
Lima and P. lanceolata, Kiltz. Sp. Alg. p. 475, (and probably others.) 
Hab. Bocky shores of British America, and of the north-eastern States. Halifax, 
W.H.H. Boston Bay, Captain Pike. New York Bay, Messrs. Calverley, Hooper, &c. 
O- v.) 
Boot a small disc. Frond 6-12 inches long or more, from half inch to one or two 
inches in width, linear-lanceolate, tapering to the base, and either blunt or attenuated 
at the apex, much waved and curled at the margin ; formed of two distinct, separable 
membranes, closely applied and cohering together. Colour, a full, brilliant grass green, 
becoming pale in age. Substance, rather soft and thin. It adheres to paper in drying. 
Agardh’s U. Bertolonii appears to me to be a form of this species, which is also 
nearly allied to Enteromorpha intestinalis, with which, if we omit the inflated frond, 
there is much similarity in form and structure. It is not so common as the following 
species, but is nevertheless widely dispersed. 
3. Ulva {Phycoseris) latissima, Linn. ; frond polymorphous, very broad, ovate or 
oblong, simple or lobed, undulate, bright green. Lin. FI. Suec. p. 433. Ag. Sp. Alg. 
\,p. 407. IParv. Phyc. Brit. tab. 171. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 33. Phycoseris 
gigantea and others, Kiltz. Sp. Alg. p. 476. 
Hab. Common on the American coast, (v. v.) 
Fronds from six inches to two feet in length, from three to twelve inches in breadth, 
tufted or scattered ; very variable in shape, sinuated and wavy or flat, often plaited. 
Substance, thin and soft, very smooth and glossy, like fine green silk. Colour, a bril- 
liant green, when growing near high water mark ; darker, and often glaucous when 
obtained from deep water, and sometimes turning brownish in the herbarium. 60 
ULVACEiE. 
Specimens are often found pierced with holes, the result either of age or of the attacks 
of worms. Such individuals constitute the Fhycoseris myriotrema of Kiitzing. 
Sect. 2. Ulva. Membrane formed of a single layer of cellules. 
4. Ulva lactuca, Linn. ; “ frond at first obovate, saccate, inflated, at length cleft 
down to the base ; the segments plane, unequal, laciniated, semi-transparent,” Grev. 
Lin. Sp. Pl.p. 1632. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, y>.. 409. Grev. Crypt. Scot. t. 313. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 243. Riitz. Sp. Alg. p. 474. 
Hab. Boston Bay, Miss E. H. Brewer. Indianola, Texas, Dr. Schott, (v. v.) 
Much thinner and more delicate in substance, and of a paler colour than U. latissima ; 
and clearly characterised, on dissection, by its simpler membrane. It is more trans- 
parent, and the cells are more regularly grouped in fours, more distant, with hyaline 
interspaces. When young it forms a bag, like a very short and broad Enteromorpha. 
It closely adheres to paper in drying. 
5. Ulva bullosa, Roth. ; frond very delicate, gelatinoso-membranaceous, at first 
saccate, afterwards bursting, and opening out into a broad, wavy or torn floating 
membrane. Both, Cat. Bot. 3, p. 329. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1 ,y>. 414. Harv. Man. Ed. 1, 
p. 171. Hass. Br. Fr. Wat. Alg. p. 297, t. 78, fig. 13. Tetraspora bullosa, Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 226. 
Hab. In fresh-water ponds and ditches. Whalefish Islands, Davis’s Straits, Dr. 
Lyall. (v. v.) 
Probably as common in stagnant pools in America as it is in Europe, but I have as 
yet only seen specimens brought from the Arctic Regions by Dr. Lyall. When young 
it is attached, and somewhat tubular, like large specimens of Ent. intestinalis ; but it 
afterwards bursts open, and then generally floats on the surface, being buoyed up by 
bubbles of oxygen, which it disengages. 
By Kiitzing this species is referred to Tetraspora, from which it scarcely differs by 
any definite character. 
V. TETRASPORA. Link. 
Frond gelatinoso-membranaceous, tubular, inflated or flat, green. Fructification, 
green granules (spores) arranged in fours, dispersed throughout the hyaline cells of 
the frond. (In fresh water.) BATRAC HOSPERMEiE. 
61 
This genus scarcely differs from Ulva on the one side and Palmella on the other. 
The frond is more gelatinous that in Ulva ; and more membranous than in Palmella. 
The whole of the endochrome is converted into spores, which are arranged in squares 
and more distantly placed than in Ulva. 
1. Tetraspora lacunosa, Chauv. ; frond at first tubular, then fiat, or irregularly 
lobed, membranaceo -gelatinous, pale-green, everywhere pierced with roundish holes of 
various sizes. Chauv. Alg. Norm. Breb. Alg. Fal. p. 11, t. 1. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 
227. T. Godeyi, De Breb. Kiitz. Tab. Phyc. t. 30,/. 3. T. perforata, Bailey, M.S. 
Hab. In fresh-water streams. Abundant near Westpoint, Prof. Bailey. Providence, 
Rhode Island, Mr. Olney. (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Frond at first funnel-shaped, afterwards splitting open, and then flat, expanding 
upwards and irregularly lobed, everywhere pierced with roundish holes of various sizes, 
large and small intermixed. These holes increase in size and numbers with age, and 
thus at last the frond becomes an open network. The substance is very gelatinous, but 
rather firmer than in some other species of the genus. The colour is a pale green; and 
the hyaline gelatinous membrane is filled with roundish granules set in fours. 
Kiitzing’s figure of T. Godeyi answers well to our plant. I have not seen any 
authentic specimens of T. lacunosa, which is referred by Kiitzing to his T. lubrica, 
var. /3., but the description given of it applies to the American plant. When carefully 
dried, it forms a very pretty object for the Herbarium. 
Order V.—BATRACHOSPERMEiE. 
Ag. Syst. p. 23, (partly) Harv. Man. Ed. 1, p. 119. Berk. 
Crypt. Bot. p. 136, Dne. class, p. 33 (partly.) Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 535. Lemanieae, 
Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 1. Harv. Man. Ed. 1, p. 118, Dne. Class, p. 31. Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 527 (partly.) 
Diagnosis. Blackish-green, olivaceous or purplish fresh water Algae, with filiform, 
branching, inarticulate fronds, composed of small cells ; naked, or whorled with monili- 
form ramelli. Fructification ; moniliform strings of naked spores, either forming 
external tufts, or concealed within a tubular frond. 
Natural Character. Boot merely a point of attachment or little disc, by which the 
frond is firmly fixed to the substances (usually rocks and stones in rapid rivers and BATRACHOSPERMEOE. 
streams) on which it grows. The plants referred to this Order naturally group 
themselves into two suborders, distinguished from each other by the habit of the frond, 
but closely related in structure and fructification, and as it seems to me inseparably 
connected by the genus Tuomeya, which unites in itself the characters of the seemingly 
so dissimilar genera Batrachospermum and Lemanea. In the first suborder (Batra- 
chospermece verce) the branching filiform frond consists of a solid axis, invested with a 
gelatinous coating, and composed of vertical, confervoid filaments, strongly glued 
together. This axis is either, as in Batrachospermum, whorled at short intervals with 
moniliform ramelli, formed of globose cellules strung together ; or else, as in Thorea, 
it is uniformly clothed with a villous stratum of byssoid ramelli, formed of cylindrical 
cellules. The fructification, so far as known in this suborder, consists of globular, very 
dense tufts of spore-threads, similar in structure to the ramelli, but of more minute 
size, and far more densely packed together. I question whether they be properly spores, 
probably they are rather highly developed or compound gem mm. In the second sub- 
order, Lemaniece, the frond is denuded of confervoid ramelli, and consists altogether of 
a compound, filiform axis, composed of minute cells. In Lemanea the frond is hollow 
and tubular, the walls of the tube being laxly constructed within ; and moniliform 
strings of spores, similar to those of Batrachospermum, are attached to the surface of 
the tube. This structure is almost the exact reverse of that of Batracliospermece, 
where the central axis is most solid, and clothed externally with moniliform filaments. 
In Tuomeya the frond has at first the external characters of a Lemanea, but is furnished 
with an axis having the structure of a Batrachospermum, as if a Batrachospermum 
were developed within the tube of a Lemanea ; and when fully developed the surface is 
uniformly coated with minute filaments, as in Thorea. 
Authors differ much in their views of the proper limits of this Order. Decaisne 
unites with it Liagora and Dichotomaria (Galaxaura) both of which are undoubtedly 
Rhodosperms ; and Myriocladia, which is a Melanosperm. Kiitzing separates Batra- 
chospermum as the type of an Order of which it is the only genus ; while he refers 
Galaxaura, Actinotrichia and Lemanea to his Lemaniem ; and places Thorea with his 
Chaetophorideae. My own views more nearly correspond with those of Mr. Berkeley, 
who brings Batrachospermum, Thorea, and Lemanea together into one Order. These 
genera are exclusively fluviatile or lacustrine, so far as I am aware. The marine 
variety u pur pur ascens” Roth, of Batr. moniliforme is founded on a figure of Dillenius 
(Hist. Muse. t. 7- Jig- 40) which certainly looks very like a Batrachospermum, but the 
original specimen preserved in the Dillenian Herbarium belongs, according to Turner, 
to Ceramium diaphanum. The marine “ Thorea; Americana” of Kiitz. is assuredly 
not a congener with T. ramosissima, the type of the genus ; but properly referred by 
Ilory, who first described it, to Chordaria. 
Like most fresh water Algm, several of the species are widely distributed. Batra- 
chospermum, moniliforme is found throughout Europe in various parts of Asia, in Tas- 
mania and New Zealand, and in extra-tropical South America ; and B. vagum and 
atrum, of which as yet I have seen no North American specimens, have nearly as exten- 
sive a range. Lemanea torulosa occurs in Europe. Tuomeya fluviatilis has only as 
yet been found in North America, but occurs in distant localities (New York and 
Alabama) and may probably be found to have a much larger area of distribution, BATRACHOSPERMEiE. 
63 
TABLE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
Sub-Order I. Batrachosperme,® ; Frond filamentous, gelatinous, externally clothed 
with minute articulated ramelli. 
I. Batrachospermum. Frond nodose, ramelli whorled. 
Sub-Order II. Frond cartilaginous, solid or hollow, with a cellular 
peripheric stratum. 
II. Tuomeya. Frond solid, with a filiform, nodoso-articulate axis. 
III. Lemanea. Frond hollow. 
I. BATRACHOSPERMUM. Roth. 
Root discoid. Frond filamentous, gelatinous, branched, consisting of an articulated 
longitudinally striated axis beset with closely placed whorls of moniliform, free ramelli. 
Fructification, globose clusters of seriated spores, attached to the ramelli. In fresh water. 
Widely dispersed plants inhabiting clear fresh-water streams and wells in most parts 
of the world ; rarely found in stagnant waters. Several species have been described, 
but the characters of many are unsatisfactory. All are exceedingly gelatinous, every 
part of the frond being invested with a clear, rather firm mucus, and when removed 
from the water the collapsed branches have the colour and general aspect and feel of 
frog-spawn; whence the generic name. Kiitzing, in Plate 8 of his Phycologia Gene- 
ralis, has given figures to illustrate the early development and gradual formation of the 
frond. At first the young plant consists merely of a string of moniliform cells. Soon 
there is a distinction into an axis and ramelli, the axis consisting of a series of long, 
pellucid cylindrical cells, placed one above the other ; and the ramelli being more 
coloured, formed of roundish cellules, and placed at the nodes of the axial filament, 
round which they gradually form a whorl. At first these ramelli are simple ; after- 
wards they are repeatedly dichotomous. The axis in the young plant consists merely 
of a string of naked cells ; in the full-grown frond it is invested with a sheath or outer 
coat formed of slender filaments which issue from the bases of the whorled ramelli, 
growing downwards like roots, adherent to the axis and continued to the next node. 
These give the longitudinally striate appearance to the axial filament; and in old fronds 
they constitute the axis itself, Avhich then becomes tubular, from the absorption or 
rupture of the primordial tube. 
]. Batrachospermum monilforme, Roth. ; frond irregularly much branched, very 64 
BATRACIIOSPERMEiE. 
gelatinous ; whorls of ramelli globose, distinct, the branches resembling strings of beads. 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 535. Harv. Man. Ed. 1, p. 119. Hass. Brit. Fr. Wat. Alg. 
p. 108. Conferva gelatinosa, Dillw. Conf. t. 32. E. Bot. t. 689. 
IIab. On stones, &c. in running streams and wells of fresh water. New York, Prof. 
Bailey, Mr. Calverley. Virginia, Mr. Jackson. Alabama, Prof. Tuomey. South 
Carolina, Mr. H. W. Ravenel. Michigan, Dr. A. Gray. (v. v.) 
Fronds densely tufted, gelatinous, capillary, irregularly much branched, decompound, 
the branches tapering to their extremity, beset with short tapering ramelli, which are 
very patent and once or twice divided. All the branches and ramuli are moniliform, 
and are composed of a filiform cylindrical axis ; set at short intervals with very dense, 
globose whorls of multipartite, dichotomous ramelli. The axis is formed of an articu- 
lated monosiphonous filament, externally coated with a sheath of closely-placed, cohering, 
longitudinal, parallel, articulated, very slender filaments, derived from the bases of the 
whorled ramelli, and developed along the internodes from above downwards. The 
ramelli are excessively branched, and composed of short cells much constricted at the 
points of union ; the lower ones are somewhat pyriform, the upper lanceolate. The 
masses of fructification are very dense, appearing to the naked eye like black grains 
among the ramelli. When examined, by squeezing between two glasses on the table of 
the microscope, they are seen to consist of exceedingly densely packed, minute, dichoto- 
mous ramelli, radiating from a common centre. These ramelli scarcely differ in 
structure from those of the ordinary whorls, and can scarcely be regarded as composed 
of true spores; but seem to be rather of the nature of gemmae. The general colour of 
this species varies much: commonly it is a dark slate colour, sometimes it is olive-green, 
and often becomes purple after having been dried. 
B. moniliform.e is found in most parts of the world. It is very common in fresh- 
water streams in Europe ; and we have received it from Van Diemen’s Land, New 
Zealand, and Cape Horn. 
II. TUOMEYA. Harv. (Nov. Gen.) 
Frond cartilaginous, continuous, solid, at first transversely banded, afterwards 
annularly constricted ; composed of a longitudinal axis, and two strata of peripheric 
cells. Axis columnar, consisting of several longitudinal, cohering filaments, beset with 
closely placed whorls of moniliform ramelli, whose branches anastomose horizontally 
and vertically into a cellular peripheric membrane, which is coated externally with 
moniliform filaments, gradually developed. Fructification (probably in the superficial 
filaments.) In fresh water. 
Tuomeya fluviatilis, Harv. BATRACHOSPERMEiE. 
Hab. On stones, in rivers and streams. River in Alabama, Prof. Tuomey. Near 
Fredericksburg, Virginia, Prof. Bailey, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Fronds tufted, an inch or two in height, scarcely as thick as hog’s bristle, much and 
irregularly branched, bushy ; the branches alternate or secund, scattered or crowded, 
twice or thrice divided, and set with scattered, patent ramuli, which are slightly con- 
stricted at the insertions, and taper to an obtuse point. When young the branches 
and ramuli are perfectly cylindrical, and when examined under a low power of the 
microscope show a surface composed of minute, dotlike cells, placed close together, 
and marked at short intervals with dark coloured transverse bands. These bands 
disappear under a higher magnifying power. They are indications of the nodes of the 
axis of the frond, seen, through the peripheric stratum. In old, fully developed speci- 
mens the branches and ramuli are annularly constricted at short intervals, the nodes 
becoming swollen, while the internodes remain unchanged. When a young branch is 
bruised between two pieces of glass the axis may be readily extracted. It consists of 
several parallel, longitudinal, jointed threads combined together at closely placed nodes, 
from which issue horizontal dichotomous filaments composed of roundish or angular 
cells. These excurrent filaments spread both horizontally and vertically, and their 
branches anastomose into a cellular mass or fleshy membrane which forms the inner 
peripheric stratum. In young plants a portion of the frond, between the axis and 
periphery, is hollow, but in older ones the cavity is quite filled up with cells. The 
external surface of the cellular periphery is clothed with a coat of moniliform filaments 
gradually developed, and forms what is above called the second peripheric stratum. 
These are found only in fully grown specimens ; they consist of much smaller cells 
than those of the inner stratum ; they are more strongly coloured, and I consider them 
to be connected with fructification. The colour is a dark olive. The substance is 
brittle and rigid when dry ; and the plant scarcely adheres to paper. 
I formerly received specimens of this curious little plant from my late friend 
Prof. Bailey, under the name “ Lemanea fluviatilis but, as may be gathered from 
the above description, it is very different from Lemanea in structure and much more 
nearly related to Batrachospermum. The external habit, substance, and colour are 
however those of a Lemanea, and without microscopic examination it might pass for 
one. The structure is difficult to see and also to describe in words. What I have called 
the inner peripheric stratum is externally as solid as the walls of a Lemanea ; the outer 
periphery consists in a continuous clothing of the external surface of the frond with 
minute, fastigiate, horizontal ramelli, not unlike those of which the globose fructifi- 
cations of a Batrachospermum are made up. In young specimens only can the mode 
of evolution of the frond be observed ; old specimens become completely blocked up 
with cellular tissue, and seem to be solid in every part when a transverse slice is 
examined ; their axis may, however, be seen by employing a compressing glass. 
The generic name is bestowed in memory of the late Prof. Tuomey of Tuscalosa, 
Alabama, so often mentioned as a valuable contributor to these pages. I have not 
ventured to make a drawing from the dried specimens which alone I have yet seen. BATBACHOSPERMEAL 
III. LEMANEA, Bory. 
Frond cartilaginous, continuous, tubular, branched, its periphery composed of two 
strata of cells, the inner stratum formed of roundish, empty, vesicated cells ; the outer, of 
minute, closely cohering, angular, coloured cellules. Fruit, tufts of seriated spores, 
attached to the inner surface of the tubular frond. (In fresh water streams and rivers.) 
The species referred to this genus are found in fresh water streams and rivers, 
attached to stones by a discoid root. They are very dissimilar in appearance from 
other fresh water algse, being of a remarkably firm fucoid substance, opake and closely 
cellular. In many respects, however, they approach Batrachospermum, near which 
genus I have long considered to be their true systemic position, an opinion which 
must be considered as confirmed by the discovery of Tuomeya, a genus of intermediate 
structure. Kiitzing associates Lemanea with Galaxaura and Actinotrichia, two genera 
that appear to me to belong to IIelminthocladieae, among the Rhodospermatous groups. 
Thwaites has given in the 20th vol. of Linn. Trans, a short account of the early develop- 
ment of the frond in L. fluviatilis. The spores at first vegetate into confervoid, 
slender jointed filaments, with long joints containing a spirally arranged endochrome. 
These constitute a sort of pro-thallus, or pseudo-colytedonous condition of the plant. 
After a time thick branchlets, the germs of the permanent frond, spring from the cells 
of the confervoid filament ; they are at first wholly dependent on the cell from which 
they rise, but soon acquire rootlets at their base, and rapidly elongating grow into the 
cellular, opake, cartilaginous fronds characteristic of the genus. Kiitzing, Phyc. Gen. 
t. 19, also illustrates the early development, and gives elaborate sections of the cellular 
structure of the mature frond. 
1. Lemanea torulosa, Ag.; frond tufted, subsimple or divided near the base, robust, 
nodoso-constricted at short intervals, or moniliform, tapering from the base to the apex. 
Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 6. Act. Holm. 1814. tab. 2, jig. 1. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 528. 
L. variegata, Ag.f l. c. p. 7. 
Hab. On rocks and stones in rivers and streams. Kentucky, Dr. Short, (v. s.) 
Root discoid. Stems many from the same base, 4-8 inches long or more, twice or 
thrice as thick as hog’s bristle, rising from a very slender, capillary base, and gradually 
increasing in diameter upwards for about an inch, thence maintaining an equal diameter 
for f of their length, and again tapering off at the extremity ; either quite simple or 
divided shortly above the base into numerous simple branches. The frond is regularly 
constricted and swollen at intervals of from one to two lines, so as to be nodose in the 
younger, and moniliform in the more advanced state, the distances between the swellings 
as well as their intensity varying in different specimens. The Avails of the tubular 
frond are thick, composed of two layers of cells, the outer layer consisting of very minute 
and closely crowded radiant, coloured cellules, whose apices unite to form the exterior CONEERYACEtE. 
67 
coating of the frond, the inner of three or four rows of large, colourless, oblong, irregu- 
larly anastomosing cells. The tube is traversed and crossed by a few slender, cylindri- 
cal, long jointed filaments issuing from the inner peripheric cells. Globose masses of 
fructification are attached to the inner face of the tubular frond, either at the nodes or 
between them, without any apparent order. They consist (as in Batrachospermum) 
of very densely crowded, moniliform, subsimple strings of cellules radiating from a 
central point. The general colour is olivaceous when recent, and very opake; it becomes 
a livid purplish in drying. Substance firmly cartilaginous or subcoriaceous. It does 
not adhere to paper in drying. 
Agardh describes a L. variegata, “ filis moniliformibus variegatis,” as sent to him by 
Muhlenberg, from North America. By the description given it seems merely to differ 
from the common L. torulosa in being variegated with alternate bands of dark and 
pale, a character most probably dependant on the state of the specimens. I am indebted 
to Dr. Short of Kentucky, for fine specimens of the ordinary form. L. fluviatilis, which 
is the commonest European species, has not been sent to me from America. • 
Okder YI. CONEERYACE2E. 
Conferveoe, J. Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 12. Harv. Man. Ed. 1 and Ed. 2, p. 196. Lindl. 
Veg. Kingd.p. 18. Confervoidece, Endl. SdSupp.p. 14. Confervacece, Berk. Crypt. 
Bot. p. 131. Confervacece and Chcetophoroidece, (partly) Dne. class, p. 31, Kutz. Sp. 
Alg. pp. 363-531. 
Diagnosis. Green, marine or fresh water Algae, composed of articulated threads or 
filaments, and of cylindrical cells usually longer than their diameter. Endochrome dif- 
fused, or filling the cavity of the cell. Zoospores minute, indefinitely numerous in each 
cell. 
Natural Character. Boot rarely more than a mere point of attachment, and often 
perishing on the evolution of the frond, which then floats on the surface of the water. 
Frond in all cases filamentous, composed of strings of truncated, more or less cylindri- 
cal cells, placed end to end, and usually longer than their diameter. These cells are 
never branched, like those of the Siphonacece, and are usually much shorter in propor- 
tion to their diameter than in that order ; but as compared with those of most of the 
filamentous Algae they are long, varying however extremely in different species. The 
endochrome generally fills the cavity or primordial utricle of the cell, but varies greatly 
in density. In some cases it is thin and watery, and in others very dense, granular, 
and subopaque. It is sometimes arranged in transverse bands. In most cases the 
cell wall is membranaceous, soft, but of firm texture ; but in Draparnaldia and 
Chcetophora, the filaments are invested with gelatine, and in the latter genus numerous CONFERVACEJb 
filaments are enclosed within a common gelatinous envelope, and thus formed into 
somewhat compound fronds. In the great bulk of the Order no fructification other than 
minute zoospores has been observed. These are formed out of the colouring matter of 
the cells, are furnished with vibratile cilia, and when they escape from the cell in which 
they have been organised, enjoy for a time active powers of locomotion. At length fixing 
th&mselves to some object they change their form, becoming cylindrical ; and then, 
dividing repeatedly, are changed into articulated filaments similar to those of the parent 
plant. In the Confervce the frond lengthens in two ways ; either by the repeated 
bisection of all the cells of the frond, as is usually the case in the unbranched species ; 
or by the evolution of new cells, constantly at the apex of the terminal cell, as is com- 
mon in the branching species. In these latter the cell, after having once formed one 
or more new cells out of its apex by a cutting off of the summit from the basal portion, 
remains unchanged, without further growth or cell division. If but one new cell be 
formed at the apex, the filament will be simple ; but in the branched species two or 
more cells are formed, the central one continuing the frond, while the lateral ones, which 
spring just below the summit of the old cell, grow out into branches. 
The Confervacese are almost universally dispersed in water of every character 
found on the surface of the globe. Many are marine, but perhaps the largest number, 
at least of individuals, if not of species, are found in fresh water. The marine species 
usually grow within tidal limits, but several of the Cladophorae occur in the Laminarian 
zone, and some even at a greater depth. The fresh water species are found in lakes 
and ponds, in rivers, streams, and wells, and in thermal springs or in mineral waters. 
A large number of genera and species have been described ; but I fear the proper 
number of both genera and species has been much exaggerated, and that multitudes 
must be erased from the list whenever the Order shall be carefully revised. The fresh 
water species have as yet scarcely been attended to in America. I have received very 
few of these, and most of them in a state unfit for examination. Indeed, dried specimens 
of such obscure algm are of little value for determining species. A few of the more 
remarkable are here described ; being all those that I can clearly make out from the 
specimens received. It is, however, often a difficult task either to refer one of these 
species to its supposed type, or to devise specific characters that shall not be illusory 
for what appear to be new forms. The characters usually insisted on, namely, the 
length of the cells as compared with their diameter, the absolute diameter of the cell, 
and the degree of ramification of the filament, are all subject to much variation. There 
appear to be no definite limits to any of these characters in any species. We are 
forced therefore, in describing'"them, to be content with rude approximations. Figures 
are of little use, for in many of the species, such as Chadophora glomerata, scarcely two 
specimens are in all respects similar. CONFERV ACEiE. 
69 
TABLE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA, 
Sub-order 1. Chaetophore.®. Frond invested with gelatine. 
I. Ch,etophora. Numerous filaments combined into a gelatinous frond of definite 
form. 
II. Draparnaldia. Filaments separate, fasciculately ramulose. 
Sub-order 2. Frond destitute of a gelatinous coating. 
III. Cladophora. Filaments tufted, erect, branched. 
IY. Filaments unbranched, membranaceous, with a thin cell-wall. 
V. Hormotrichum. Filaments unbranched, gelatino-membranaceous, with a thick 
cell-wall ; nodes constricted. 
YI. Riiizoclonium. Filaments decumbent, spuriously branched, the branches few 
and rootlike. 
I. CHtETOPHORA. Ag. 
Frond gelatinous, polymorphous, of definite form ; the gelatine tranversed by many 
filaments aggregated together and issuing from a common base. Filaments articulated, 
branched ; articulations of the branches nearly hyaline, those of the ramuli filled with 
green endochrome. Sporangia globose, attached to the ramuli. Zoospores formed in 
the articulations. (In fresh water.) 
The species form gelatinous masses, of definite or sub-indefinite form, attached to 
Sticks, water-plants, or stones, in stagnant or running water. The gelatine is colourless, 
tolerably firm and tenacious, and when a portion is placed under the microscope is seen 
to be traversed in every part with slender, articulated, branching filaments, variously 
arranged. The filaments are dimorphous, that is, their main divisions are formed of 
differently shaped cells from those that compose the ramuli. The latter alone contain 
much endochrome. Fructification has, as yet, been seen only in very few species. In 
some stage of growth the terminal cell of the ramuli is tipped with a very long, hyaline 
bristle, whence the generic name, from %atT?7, a bristle, and $opea>, to bear. The two 
following species have been sent me from America; both are common European plants. 
Probably several others occur in American waters. 
1. Ciiaetophora endivioefolia, Ag. ; frond elongate, irregularly much branched ; 
branches linear, scattered, or fasciculate, very patent, dichotomous or pinnate, or 
secundly ramulose ; longitudinal filaments parallel, hyaline, or transversely banded, 70 
CONFERVACEjE. 
emitting at short intervals tufts of multifid bright-green ramuli. Ag. Syst. Alg. p. 28. 
Lyngb. Hyd. Dan. t. 65, jig. C. Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 532. Hass. Brit. Fr. W. Alg. 
p. 125, t. 9, fig- 1-2. 
Hab. On sticks and stones, in running streams and ponds. Near West Point, Frof. 
Bailey. Cumberland, Rhode Island, Mr. Olney. South Carolina, Mr. Ravenel. (v. v.) 
Frond gelatinous, varying greatly in size and in ramification; the younger specimens 
thicker, with fewer branches ; the older attenuated and compound. The American 
specimens before me are 1-3 inches long, and from 1-2 inches in the expansion of the 
branches. Their fronds are not more than half a line in diameter, linear, filiform, and 
excessively branched, the branches very much crowded on a prolonged axis, from which 
they issue without order and are directed to all sides. They are sub-dichotomous, and 
more or less densely set with divaricated, simple or forked ramuli. When a portion of 
a branch is examined with a magnifier, it is seen to be composed of several parallel, 
longitudinal, articulated filaments, lying apart from each other, being separated by a 
gelatinous matrix ; their cells are 4-6 times as long as broad, hyaline or marked with 
a central transverse band of granules, and they emit, at short intervals, horizontally 
spreading, multifid, coloured ramuli. The branching of the ramuli is irregular, and 
between fasciculate and pinnate, the ramification being sometimes densely crowded, 
sometimes distant. The cells of these ramuli are filled with green endochrome ; they 
are £-3 times as long as broad, and the terminal cells, which are short, are either 
simple or carry at their summit a long bristle-shaped acumination. Substance gelatinous. 
The plant closely adheres to paper in drying. 
This species occurs in fresh-water ponds and streams in all parts of Europe, and its 
many minor varieties have received several names. All agree in microscopic structure. 
The ramification of the gelatinous matrix alone is variable, and that is a character of 
very little moment. Professor Bailey’s specimens are labelled “ Batrachospermum 
Americanum, Schweinitz a synonym referred by Agardh to his Draparnaldia 
opposita, which is quite different from the Alga now described. 
2. pisiformis, A g. ; frond globose, carnoso-gelatinous, formed of nume- 
rous erect, radiating, sub-parallel filaments emitting to the circumference dichotomo- 
multifid patent branches. Ag. Syst. p. 27- Hass. Brit. Fr. Wat. Alg. p. 128, t. 9, 
Jig. 5-6. Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 532. 
Hab. On sticks, in fresh-water ponds and ditches. Dr. Witt’s Meadow, New York, 
Prof. Bailey, (v. v.) 
Frond the size of a pea, or less, globose, several occurring together on the same stick, 
gelatinous, but rather firm, bright green. When bruised between two glasses, and 
examined under the microscope, the gelatinous matrix which forms the globe is seen to 
be everywhere filled with much branched filaments which rise from the base and radiate CONFERVACEiE. 
71 
towards all parts of the circumference, sending forth multifid coloured branches verti- 
cally and laterally. The articulations of the filaments are once, twice or thrice as long 
as their diameter in different parts, contracted at the dissepiments, and filled with bright 
green endochrome. In a young state the apices of the ramuli are prolonged into setae, 
or needleshaped, colourless acuminated cells, but these are deciduous in this and other 
species of the genus. Colour, a bright green. 
Possibly this species is only a small state of C. elegans. 
II. DRAPARNALDIA, Bory. 
Filaments separate, gelatinous, articulated, dimorphous ; the articulations of the 
stem and branches hyaline, transversely banded ; those of the ramuli filled with green 
endochrome. Zoospores formed in the articulations. (In fresh water.) 
Very beautiful, and extremely gelatinous, bright green, filamentous, much branched 
Algae, found in clear wells and gentle streams. The structure of the filaments is similar 
to that of the filaments of the Chcetophorce ; and this genus merely differs from the 
preceding in its filaments being separate one from another, and not combined by means 
of gelatine into a compound frond. It therefore bears the same relation to Choetopliora 
that Yaucheria does to Codium. The name was bestowed by Bory de S. Vincent in 
honour of M. Draparnaud, a French naturalist. 
1. Draparnaldia opposita, Ag.; frond vaguely much branched; joints of the main 
filament as long as broad, or shorter ; pencils of ramuli mostly opposite, densely set, 
lanceolate-acuminate in outline, plumose, bi-tripinnate, the apices much attenuated. 
Ag. Sgst. p. 59. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 357- Lyngb. Hyd. Dan. tab. 65, fig. A. Batra- 
chospermum Americanum, Schweinitz. 
Hab. In clear streams. New York, Professor Bailey. New Jersey, Mr. Jackson. 
(v. s.) 
Frond 2-3 inches long, gelatinous, capillary, irregularly much branched; the branches 
patent, lateral, more or less divided, and set with lesser ramuli. Main filaments with 
short articulations, as long as their breadth or shorter, transversely banded. At every 
two or three nodes and sometimes at every node a pair of opposite penicillato-multifid 
ramuli are thrown off. . These are bright green, ovato-lanceolate in outline, much 
acuminated and twice or thrice pinnate, their pinnules somewhat constricted at the nodes, 
and tapering at the apex into long, needle-like, hyaline points. Their cells are com- 
monly nucleated and filled with endochrome. 
Whether this be permanently distinguishable from D. glomerata is doubtful. It has 
externally the aspect of that species, but its microscopic characters are nearer those of 
D. plumosa. 72 
CON FE RV AC EiE. 
2. Draparnaldia glomerata, Ag.; frond vaguely much branched ; articulations of 
the main stems once or twice as long as broad, swollen in the middle ; pencils of ramuli 
alternate or scattered, often distant, ovate in outline, fasciculato-multifid. Ag. Syst. p. 
58. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 356. Lyngb. Hyd. Dan. t. 64. Hass. Brit. Fr. W. Alg. 
p. 120, tab. 13,/. 1. Conferva mutabilis, Dillw. Conf. t. 12. E. Bot. t. 1746. 
Hab. In clear streams. New York, Professor Bailey. Rhode Island, Mr. Olney. 
(V. V.) 
Very similar to the last species, but less densely plumose, with scattered fascicles of 
ramuli. 
3. Draparnaldia plumosa, Ag.; frond very slender, elongate, much branched ; 
joints of the main filaments once or twice as long as broad ; pencils of ramuli opposite 
or whorled, plumose, much attenuated, pinnate or bi-pinnate, the apices of the pinnules 
acicular. Ag. Syst. p. 58. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 357. Hass. Brit. Fr. W. Alg.p. 121. 
tab. 12,/. 1. 
Hab. In streams. West Point, Professor Bailey, (v. v.) 
More slender than D. glomerata, and much more branched, forming dense, gelatinous 
tufts, 3-6 inches long, often much drawn out in running water. In the American 
specimens the articulations of the stem and branches are about twice as long as broad, 
slightly constricted at the nodes, and swollen in the middle. Several seriated cells of 
this length follow each other, and then occur two or three short, nearly globular cells 
consecutively, which shorter cells emit the opposite or ternary penicillate ramuli. This 
alternation of longer and shorter cells occurs throughout the branch, the shorter ones 
always producing the ramuli. The ramuli are pinnate or bi-pinnate, but much less 
compound than in D. opposita or D. glomerata. 
The synonymy of this species is confused. The American plant differs slightly from 
the European specimens with which I have compared it, but I am not disposed to think 
it specifically different. Indeed the three forms now described as species are so similar 
in all essential respects, that it may well be questioned whether they should be kept 
separate. 
III. CLADOPHORA. Kite. 
Filaments (not gelatinous) tufted, articulated, uniform, branched. Articulations 
filled with green, granular endochrome, which is changed at maturity into zoospores. 
(Marine or in fresh water.j 
An immense genus, in which, for the present, are placed almost all the branching CONFEKVACEiE. 
73 
species of a green colour formerly referred to the genus Conferva. The species are 
extremely difficult to define, and have been unreasonably multiplied ; but are so much 
diversified that it is difficult to avoid giving different names to the many forms met 
with, if they are to be described at all. Kiitzing admits 210 species, and probably 
nearly 100 more have been described by other authors. A wholesale reduction will 
probably be eventually made. I have referred most of the American forms, approxi- 
mately or absolutely, to European types ; in some cases perhaps incorrectly. But 
unless better specific characters than those at present in use shall be discovered, it is 
almost impossible to find words to characterise, as distinct, nearly allied forms. When, 
therefore, I meet with an American specimen reasonably like a European, I here place 
them under the same head, or specific name. Several doubtful specimens I have been 
unable satisfactorily to identify, and hold them over for future examination, should 
better materials be sent to me. 
Sect. 1.—Species found in the sea. 
* CiESPiTOSiE. Filaments short, rigid, densely interwoven into cushion-like tufts. 
1. Cladopiiora repens, J. Ag.; filaments short, emitting root-like processes, densely 
interwoven into globose or expanded mats, capillary, rather rigid, sparingly and very 
irregularly branched; branches erect, subsimple, filiform, naked or having a few secund 
ramuli ; articulations cylindrical, many (10-20) times as long as their diameter. 
J. Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 13. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 236. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 416. 
Hab. On rocks, &c. in the sea. Key West, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Tufts very dense, an inch or two in breadth and about half an inch high, cusliion- 
like, composed of innumerable, interwoven, capillary filaments. The filaments are at 
first decumbent, and connected by rootlike fibres which form the substratum of the 
mat ; the branches are erect, simple or branched, with or without secondary ramuli. 
The articulations vary greatly in length in specimens from different localities. 
This species is a native of the Mediterranean, and also of the British Channel Islands. 
Except in the length of the articulations, which also vary much in the same filament, 
the European and American specimens nearly coincide. 
2. Cladopiiora membranacea, Ag.; filaments short, creeping, densely interwoven into 
globose or expanded mats, somewhat fastigiate, thick, almost setaceous, flaccid, mem- 
branaceous, sparingly and irregularly branched ; articulations many times longer than 
broad. Ag. Syst. p. 120. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 415. 
Hab. On rocks and the smaller Algae. Key West, W.H.H., Professor Tuomey. 
(y. v.) 74 
CONFEPVACEiE. 
Matted tufts an inch or more in diameter, sometimes widely spreading. Filaments 
scarcely an inch long, rising from creeping fibres, sparingly branched, flaccid, the 
branches very irregular, few or many, either undivided or once or twice compounded, 
naked, or having a few secund ramuli toward the ends. Articulations, especially the 
lower ones, very many times longer than broad, their membrane thin and membranous. 
Colour a very pale green, with watery endochrome. 
This has the densely matted habit of the preceding species, but the filaments of which 
the mats are composed are much more robust, and less rigid, of a paler green, &c. 
Kiitzing well observes that it has the aspect of a Valonia. 
** Bupestres ; rigid, dark-green, tufted ; the cell-wall thick. 
3. Cladopiiora rupestris, L.; filaments capillary, rigid, dark-green, straight, tufted, 
bushy ; branches erect, crowded, densely clothed with appressed, opposite or tufted, 
subulate ramuli; articulations three or four times as long as broad. Linn. Sp. FI. p. 
1637- Dillw. Conf. t. 23. E, Bot. t 1699- Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 130. Kiltz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 396. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 95. 
Hab. Bocky shores, near low water mark. Fiskernaes, near Cape Farewell, 
Greenland, Dr. Sutherland. Halifax, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Root a largish disc. Filaments densely tufted, 2-6-8 inches long (in my American 
specimens scarcely two inches), capillary, rigid, very dark-green, much branched ; the 
branches straight and very erect, repeatedly divided, the divisions either alternate or 
opposite. Penultimate branches often nearly naked, filiform, elongated, very erect and 
straight; in luxuriant specimens set throughout with opposite or fascicled or scattered 
subulate ramuli, whose terminal cell is sometimes acute, sometimes obtuse. The process 
of cell division is well illustrated in this species, and may be observed even in dried 
specimens, so perfectly does the endochrome recover its form. The cells of the middle 
portion of the branches divide as well as those of the younger ramuli, and consequently 
consecutive cells are found of various lengths. 
Two specimens of what I take to be a much denuded and battered state of this species 
were collected by Dr. Sutherland, in the Arctic expedition under Captain Inglefield, in 
the above mentioned locality, and have been sent to me by Professor Dickie of Belfast. 
They are faded to a dull green. The substance and ramification, so far as branches 
remain unbroken, are those of C. rupestris ; but in one specimen the articulations are 
very short, being only as long as their diameter, or scarcely longer. This peculiarity 
at first seems sufficiently characteristic of a distinct species, but a little further exami- 
nation shows that the character is deceptive, resulting merely from the ordinary 
process of cell-division being in this specimen carried to an excess. On the other 
specimen are cells of the common length mixed with these short or halved cells ; 
and intermediate stages occur which quite explain the unusual character of the first 
specimen. CONFERVACEiE. 
4. Cladopiiora cartilaginea * Rupt.; tufts ? filaments robust, setaceous 
elongate, firm, somewhat rigid, rather sparingly branched; branches very erect, 
long and virgate, undivided, straight, set with a few scattered, erecto-patent, filiform 
branchlets, which are either naked or bear one or two minute ramuli ; articulations in 
the older parts much shorter than their diameter ; in the younger (towards the ends of 
the branches) as long, or twice as long as broad. Rup. Alg. OchotzJc, p. 211, (403.) 
Hab. Unalaschka, Dr. Rupreeht. (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
My only specimen is a fragment, but it seems to belong to a well characterised species 
of large size. The portion before me is about four inches long, with a few lateral 
virgate branches, set at very acute angles, quite simple, straight and three inches long, 
furnished with several scattered, simple, erect ramuli, each of them from half an inch to 
an inch in length, obtuse, nearly as thick as the stem from which they spring. These 
are mostly naked, but in a few cases they bear a minute ramulus near the tip. The 
apices are not attenuated. The diameter of the filament is equal to that of hogs’ bristle. 
The substance is firm and cartilaginous, and the colour a pale-green. Through the 
greater part of the filament the articulations are much shorter than their diameter ; 
but towards the apices they are longer, and the few terminal joints are twice as long as 
broad, or more. 
*** Arcta:. Filaments soft, forming dense, spongy, fastigiate tufts of a pale, but 
vivid green. 
5. Cladopiiora arcta, Dillw. ; tufts dense, more or less matted at the base, starry, 
fastigiate, soft, brilliant and glossy green; filaments capillary, much branched; branches 
straight, crowded, very erect ; ramuli opposite or scattered, erect or appressed ; articu- 
lations in the lower part of the frond about twice as long as broad, in the upper (younger) 
branches many times longer than the diameter ; apices obtuse. Dillw. Conf. Supp% 
p. 67, t. E. E. Bot. t. 2098. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 135. C. arcta, vauchericeformis, 
and centralis, Auct. C. scopceformis, Rup. 
Hab. Coasts, from the Arctic Regions to New York Bay, on rocks near low water 
mark. Whalefish Islands, Davis’s Straits, Dr. Lyall. Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans. 
Penobscot Bay, Dr. Young. Boston Harbour, Mr. G. B. Emerson. New York Bay, 
Messrs. Walters, §c., W. EL. H. (v. v.) 
* Besides this species Dr. Rupreeht notices the following from Russian America :—C. adhcerens, Rup. from 
the Arctic Sea, allied to C. arcta (if it be different) ; C. Chamissonis, Rup. from Unalaschka ; C. Mertensii, R. 
from Sitcha ; C. viminea, Rup. from Sitcha and Unalaschka ; C. scopceformis, and C. coalita, from Northern 
California. Of these Dr. Rupreeht has sent me fragments of C. Chamissonis, C. viminea, and C. coalita; but as 
he has not, that I am aware of, assigned full specific diagnoses to any of the above species, I am unwilling to 
describe the few that I possess, from the very imperfect materials at my command, lest I might add to the 
confusion already sufficiently confounded in this genus. I collect the above names from Dr. Ruprecht’s Alg. 
Ockotsk., as already quoted. 76 
CONFERVACEiE. 
This species varies much in minor characters, but may generally be known by its 
lubricous substance, brilliant colour, fastigiate tufts, and straight, much branched fila- 
ments which radiate to every side from a common base, in a star-like manner. In the 
young plant the tufts are less dense, the filaments nearly free from each other to the 
very base; but as the plant advances in age, root-like processes are developed along the 
lower part of the filaments, while the tufts become matted together, sometimes into a 
compact spongy frond. In very old specimens this condensation takes place throughout 
the whole length of the filament, except in the very youngest ramuli. The tufts are 
from two to four inches in height, hemispherical, or variously divided into two or more 
hemispherical or flabelliform lobes, and are generally level-topped. They are composed 
of many parallel, much branched, capillary filaments, of nearly equal diameter from base 
to apex ; the branches all very straight and erect, repeatedly but most irregularly 
divided, and set with lateral, erect, straight ramuli, which are nearly as robust as the 
branches from which they spring, and very obtuse. Toward the base of the filaments 
the articulations are once or twice as long as broad ; a little farther up they are three 
to four times ; and in the young branches and ramuli six to eight or twelve times as 
long as broad. In the state or variety called C. centralis they are uniformly short 
throughout except in the very young tips. The endochrome is dense and granular, and 
recovers its form on being moistened after having been dried. The colour in general 
is well preserved in drying, in which state the tufts retain much of their gloss, and 
closely adhere to paper. 
Authors have made several species out of what we regard as simply C. arcta in 
different stages. Thus C. vaucherioeformis is the young, half-developed form ; C. arcta, 
Auct. the middle stage ; and C. centralis the old plant, where the matting together of 
the threads has been carried to an extreme point. Other species of Kiitzing’s section 
Spongomorpha might probably be added to these synonyms A fragment of C. scopce- 
formis, Rup. from Russian America, sent to me by Dr. Ruprecht himself seems to belong 
to one of the spongy forms of this species. C. arcta is perennial ; and specimens 
collected in the same locality at different seasons will be found to put on, successively, 
all the characters attributed to the three principal forms indicated above. 
6. Cladophora lanosa, Roth. ; tufts dense, globose, small, fastigiate, yellow-green ; 
filaments slender, irregularly much branched ; branches straight and virgate, erect, 
patent ; ramuli few, scattered, erect, straight; axils acute ; articulations in the lower 
part twice, in the upper six to eight times as long as broad. Roth. Cat Bot. 3, p. 291, 
t. 9. E. Bot. t. 2099. Lyngb. Hyd. Dan. t. 56. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 420. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 6. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. 194. 
IIab. On the smaller Algae, and on Zostera ; generally epiphytic. Boston Bay, Mr. 
G. B. Emerson, (v. v.) 
Tufts rarely more than an inch in diameter, globose, dense, formed of many filaments 
radiating from a common base. These filaments are at first separate, but at length by 
means of rooting processes issuing along their sides, they become somewhat interwoven CONFEBVACEiE. 
77 
below. They are fastigiate and very irregularly divided, but mostly straight, with erect 
branches and ramuli. The lower articulations are short; the upper, and especially the 
terminal ones, are very long. The endochrome generally recovers its form after having 
been dried, at least in the younger portions of the frond, if it have not been discharged, 
as often happens, by the rupture of the membrane, when the frond is immersed in fresh 
water. This plant adheres closely to paper. 
A much smaller species than C. arcta, to which, as well as to C. uncialis, it is nearly 
allied. 
7. Cladophora uncialis, FI. Dan. ; tufts short, vivid-green, very dense, spongy, 
globose, simple or somewhat lobed, fastigiate, composed of numerous filaments matted 
together by lateral rootlets; filaments flexuous, sparingly branched, interwoven ; 
branches and ramuli distant, patent, curved, alternate or secund ; articulations of 
uniform length, about twice as long as broad. FI. Dan. t. 771, fig. 1. Lyngb. Hyd. 
Dan. t. 56. Ag. Syst. p. 111. Wyatt, Alg. Damn. 146. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 207. 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 420. 
Hab. On rocks near low water mark. Prince Edward’s Island, Dr. Jeans. Halifax, 
W. H. H. Nahant, Mrs. Mudge. (v. v.) 
Tufts about an inch in height and diameter, very dense and spongy, either somewhat 
globose, or cleft into numerous spongy divisions, fastigiate. Filaments very numerous 
from a common base, densely matted and interwoven by root-like processes developed 
along the sides, flexuous, more or less compound. Branches very irregularly disposed, 
generally distant, secund or alternate, once or twice again divided, and having a few 
patent, curved, simple ramuli. Colour, when growing, a vivid-green ; instantly dis- 
charged in fresh water, and in drying the specimen fades to a pale yellow-green, especially 
toward the centre of the tuft. The endochrome recovers its form and fills the cell, on 
moistening after having been dried. The articulations in all parts of the filaments are 
of nearly uniform length, twice or thrice as long as their diameter. Substance soft but 
not gelatinous. 
Very nearly related to C. lanosa, but the place of growth is different, and the fila- 
ments are more flexuous, the branches more patent, and the rooting processes more 
numerous. 
**** Graciles. Filaments loosely tufted, feathery, very slender, pale or bright-green. 
8. Cladophora glaucescens, Griff. ; filaments loosely tufted, pale or glaucous green, 
very slender, flexuous, excessively branched ; branches erecto-patent, flexuous, repeat- 
edly sub-divided, the penultimate ones pectinated with closely set, elongate, straight, 
slender, many celled, erect or sub-erect ramuli; axils acute ; articulations constricted 
at the nodes, nearly uniformly thrice as long as broad, those of the main branches a 
little the longest. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 195. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 196. Kiitz. Sp. 78 
CONFERVACEiE. 
Alg. p. 403. Var. @. pectinella; small, very slender, all the divisions of the ramifica- 
tion secund, the penultimate ramifications closely pectinated with short ramuli and 
recurved. 
Hab. On rocks and stones, between tide marks and in rock pools. Halifax, W. H. H. 
Lynn and Nahant, Mrs. Mudge. Portsmouth, N. H., Dr. Durkee. New York Bay, 
Messrs. Hooper, Calverley, Walters, and Pike. Beesley’s Point, Rhode Island, Mr. 
Ashmead. Var. /3. Charleston, S. C., Prof. f. Gibbes, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Filaments very slender, 3-5 inches long, forming tufts of greater or less density, but 
not usually entangled or interwoven, excessively branched, the main divisions and 
principal branches flexuous, sometimes very much so, closely beset with lesser branches 
which divide either alternately or secundly, the tendency to secund ramification 
increasing as the frond extends. The penultimate branchlets are generally closely 
pectinated with secund, erect, straight, simple ramuli composed of several cells ; and 
occasionally the ramuli are fascicled, three or four springing from the same cell. Though 
always very slender, the diameter varies. The articulations, on the whole, are pretty 
uniform ; those of the ramuli are most constricted at the nodes, and also a little the 
shortest. In drying the endochrome is dissipated from the centre of the cell, and 
collapsed at the two ends, so that the filaments, in dried specimens, have a variegated 
appearance under a pocket lens. On remoistening, it never perfectly recovers its form. 
My Halifax specimens are identical with those published by Mrs. Wyatt, and on 
which the species was originally founded. Those from other localities vary in some 
degree, being either coarser or more slender, and more or less branched ; but on the 
British coasts similar varieties occur. 
9. Cladophora flexuosa, Griff. ; filaments very slender, pale green, tufted, flexuous, 
sparingly and distantly branched ; branches elongate, sub-simple, of unequal length, 
flexuous, sometimes nearly naked, sometimes ramuliferous ; the ultimate ramuli secund 
or alternate, short or long, curved ; articulations of the branches 3-4 times, of the 
ramuli twice as long as broad. Griff, in Wyatt, Alg. Danm. JSTo. 227. Harv. Phyc. 
Brit. t. 353. 
Hab. Rock pools between tide marks, &c. Hingham, Massachusetts, Miss Brewer. 
Boston, Dr. Durkee. Jackson Ferry and Hell Gate, New York, Messrs. Walters and 
Pike. (v. s.) 
Very nearly related to C. glaucescens, if really specifically distinct. It is chiefly 
known by its less compound habit, the length and nakedness of the principal branches, 
and their flexuosity. The diameter of the filament is nearly as in C. glaucescens: the 
articula ions are rather longer. Some of the specimens are nearly destitute of ramuli, 
and scarcely two of those before us agree in all respects. 
10. Cladophora Morrisice; tufts elongate, dense, somewhat interwoven, dark green; CONFERVACEiE. 
79 
filaments very slender, much and irregularly branched, the penultimate branches very 
long, filiform, flexuous, simple, set with alternate or secund, short, erecto-patent ramuli, 
some of which are simple and spine-like, others pectinated on their upper side ; articu- 
lations filled with dense endochrome, in the branches 2-3 times, in the ramuli about 
twice as long as broad, cylindrical, not contracted at the nodes. (Tab. XLY. B.) 
Hab. Elsinborough, Delaware, Miss E. C. Morris, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Tufts dense, 6-8 inches in length. Filaments inextricably bundled together, very 
slender, much branched, the ramification of the principal divisions not determinable 
from dried specimens. The penultimate branches which float out from the somewhat 
rope-like tufts are generally simple for an inch or two in length, or the longer ones are 
furnished with similar simple branches ; and all are beset with short, erecto-patent 
ramuli. Some of the ramuli are simple, of 3-4 cells ; others emit similar ramuli 
on their upper side. The membrane of the cell-wall is very thick and tough, and 
the endochrome peculiarly firm, recovering its form well on being moistened after 
having been dried. The nodes are not contracted, and the internodes or articulations 
rarely exceed thrice their diameter in length, and often do not reach that dimension. 
The colour is a full dark-green, somewhat olivaceous when dried. Specimens adhere 
closely to paper. 
I have as yet only received this plant from Miss Morris. It differs in several 
respects from any that I now remember. 
Plate XLY. B. Cladophora Morrisice ; Fig. 1, the natural size. Fig. 3, 
portion of a branch : and Fig. 2, a ram ulus of the same; magnified. 
1. Cladophora refracta, Both. ; filaments very slender, rather densely tufted, bright 
green, membranaceous (not lubricous), excessively branched ; secondary branches 
spreading on all sides, repeatedly divided and very patent, densely set with short, often 
opposite, recurved or squarrose branchlets, which are pectinate on the inner face with 
patent, simple or forked ramuli; articulations of the branches 2-4 times of the ramuli 
about twice as long as broad. Roth. Cat. 2, p. 193. Alg. Syst. p. 114. Wyatt, 
Alg. Danm. JSfo. 228. Hai'V. Phyc. Brit. t. 24. Kutz. Sp. Alg. p. 398. 
Hab. On rocky coasts, in tide pools, &c. Bhode Island, Mr. Olney, Mr. G. Hunt. 
Boston Bay, Dr. A. Gray. Portsmouth, N. H., Dr. Durkee. New York, Messrs. 
Calverley, Walters, and Pike. Newport, B. I., Professor Bailey. Seaconot, Mr. 
Congdon. Charleston, S. C., Professor Gibbes. (v. v.) 
Tufts 2-3 inches long, feathery, rather diffuse, the main filaments sometimes inter- 
laced in rope-like bundles. Filaments more slender than human hair, rather rigid, tough, 
excessively branched, all the divisions patent or divaricate. The penultimate ramuli 
are especially reflexed or refracted, and often opposite ; their ultimate divisions are 80 
CONFERVACE7E. 
either simple or forked. The colour is a brilliant green, but it does not well preserve 
in drying, in which state the specimen is without gloss and generally pale. The 
endochrome is generally dissipated in drying, and does not, in ordinary cases, recover its 
form when the frond is remoistened ; sometimes, however, the endochrome remains. 
A beautiful species, and tolerably easily known. The American specimens are very 
similar to our West of Ireland plant, but more robust than those from the South Coast 
of England. 
12. Cladopiiora albida, Huds.; filaments exceedingly slender, flaccid, but not gela- 
tinous, pale green, forming dense, silky or somewhat spongy, soft, intricate tufts, very 
much branched ; branches zigzag, their divisions very patent, the lesser branches very 
frequently opposite, and nearly horizontal; ramuli alternate, opposite or secund, patent 
or divaricating ; articulations 3-5 times as long as broad. Huds. FI. Angl. p. 595. 
E. Bot. t. 2327. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 96. Harv. Fhyc. Brit. t. 275. 
Hab. On rocks and algae, between tide marks. Staten Island, Dr. Torrey. Beesley’s 
Point, Mr. Ashmead (64, 65, 66). New York Bay, Messrs. Calverley, Walters, <SfC. 
(V. V.) 
Tufts 6-8 inches long, very dense and soft, and somewhat intricate or woven together, 
occasionally feathering and opening out freely. Filaments excessively slender and very 
much branched, and so interwoven that it is impossible to trace the branching. In the 
American specimens the main branches are very flexuous, angularly bent from side to 
side, and very much divided, all the divisions squarrose or divaricating. The penulti- 
mate branches, which are nearly horizontally patent, are generally opposite, but three or 
more sometimes issue from the same point; the ultimate ramuli are scattered, either 
alternate or secund. The nodes are somewhat contracted ; the cell-wall thin, and the 
endochrome pale and watery. When dry the whole plant frequently becomes a dull 
greenish white. It does not strongly adhere to paper. 
13. Cladopiiora Rudolphiana, Ag.; filaments very long, exceedingly slender, flexuous, 
sub-gelatinous, much branched, bright yellow-green, inextricable ; branches di-trichoto- 
mous or irregular ; ultimate ramuli pectinate, secund, very long, and much attenuated ; 
articulations of the main branches many times longer than broad, here and there 
swollen, their granular endochrome somewhat spiral ; those of the ramuli 6-10 times as 
long as broad. Ag. Bot. Zeit. 10, p. 636. Harv. Fhyc. Brit. t. 86. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 
p. 404. 
Hab. Jackson Ferry, N.Y., Mr. Walters, (v. v.) 
A specimen sent by Mr. Walters agrees pretty well with the Irish specimens figured 
in Phyc. Brit. The filaments are 4-5 inches long, soft, and somewhat gelatinous, 
closely adhering to paper, intricately interbranched, very flexuous, zigzag, and much 
branched. The branches are patent, sometimes opposite, mostly alternate or scattered, CONFERYACEiE. 
81 
and repeatedly divided ; the ramuli slender, few and subdistant. The articulations of the 
branches are very many times longer than broad; those of the ramuli 5-6 times their 
breadth. The endochrome is generally dissipated in drying. When dry the specimen 
retains a brilliant green and has a silky gloss. 
14. Cladopijora gracilis, Griff.; filaments very long, capillary, flexuous, silky, much 
branched, bright yellow-green ; main branches entangled, sparingly divided, angularly 
bent; ultimate ramuli pectinate, secund, much attenuated, straight, and very long ; 
articulations 3-5 times as long as broad. Griff, in Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 97- Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 18. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 403. 
Hab. Growing on Zostera, and the various Algae, in the Laminarian zone. Nahant, 
Mrs. Mudge. Beesley’s Point, Rhode Island, Mr. Ashmead (67.) Seaconot, Rhode 
Island, Mr. Olney. (v. v.) 
Filaments more or less densely tufted, 4-12 inches long, (about 4 inches in the 
American specimens), capillary, soft and silky, much branched ; the main branches 
rather more robust and bent in a zigzag manner, sometimes very flexuous, and fre- 
quently more strongly coloured than the rest of the plant, set throughout with lateral, 
decompound branches all whose divisions are patent ; and the ultimate branchlets 
pectinated with long, simple, secund ramuli. Colour a yellow-green. Substance soft 
and silky, but not gelatinous. Articulations 3-5 times as long as broad. It does not 
strongly adhere to paper in drying. 
Mrs. Mudge’s specimens are small, but in other respects very similar to English 
ones. Those from Mr. Olney and Mr. Ashmead are less true to the type. 
15. Cladopiiora hr achy clados, Mont.; filaments very slender, tufted, sparingly 
branched ; branches long and virgate, set with distant, alternate, erecto-patent branch- 
lets, which are pectinated along their upper sides with very short, erect, or incurved 
ramuli, of 1 or 2 cells; articulations of the branches 5-6 times as long as broad. Mont. 
Cuba, p. 13, t. 4. Sylloge PI. Crypt, p. 456. C. Montagneana, Kiitz. Tab. Phyc. 
vol. 4, p. 9, if. 41, fig. 2. 
Hab. Mouth of Rio Bravo, on the sea-beach, Dr. Schott, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
The specimen received from Dr. Schott is a very imperfect one, but its filaments, 
when examined under the microscope, show so many characters in common with those 
of Montagne’s C. brachyclados from Cuba, with an authentic specimen of which I have 
compared them, that I am unwilling to separate forms so similar. The short, mostly 
single-celled ramuli are characteristic. 
16. Cladopiiora luteola; filaments very pale yellow-green, tufted, excessively slender, 82 
CONFERVACEAl. 
and much branched, not matted together ; main and lesser branches remarkably 
flexuous, the angles rounded, and the filaments arcuate; branching irregular, frequently 
trichotomous, the lesser ramuli secund or opposite, and their ultimate divisions pectinate, 
somewhat corymbose and crowded toward the apices ; articulations cylindrical, hyaline, 
6-8 times as long as broad. 
IIab. Growing on littoral corals, at Key West, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Filaments 2-3 inches long, rather loosely tufted, excessively slender, and soft, but 
not in the least gelatinous, very much branched, remarkably bent; the filaments arcuate 
between each ramification. The branching is irregular. In the principal an.d also in 
the lesser divisions it is frequently trichotomous, three branches springing from a node; 
but the branches are almost as often alternate or sub-dichotomous. In the medial 
portion of the frond the forkings are sub-distant; they become more frequent upwards, 
and the branches generally end in closely set, but scarcely fasciculate pectinated ramuli, 
which are either opposite, alternate, or secund. The ultimate ramuli are erect and 
incurved. Articulations seldom less than six times as long as broad, sometimes more, 
with a very pale, watery endochrome, which is dissipated in drying. Notwithstanding 
its tenuity this plant does not adhere closely to paper. 
***** Filaments loosely tufted, robust, and somewhat firm or rigid, 
vivid-green. 
17. Cladophora Icetevirens, Dillw. ; filaments much branched, bushy, forming tufts of 
a transparent, yellow-green colour (faded and without gloss when dry) ; branches 
erecto-patent, crowded, repeatedly divided, flexuous, the lesser divisions often opposite , 
ultimate ramuli secund, blunt, of few articulations ; articulations of the branches six 
times, of the ramuli thrice as long as broad. Dillw. Conf. t. 48. E. Bot. 1.1854. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit, tA 90. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 143. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 400. Conf. 
glomerata var. marina, Roth. Cat. Bot. 3, p. 237. 
IIab. In rock pools between tide marks. New York Bay, Messrs. Fkooper Walters. 
Boston, Dr. Durkee. California, Dr. Coulter, (v. v.) 
Tufts feathery. Filaments 3-6 inches long or more, capillary, much branched, main 
filaments flexuous or angularly bent, set with alternate or scattered, occasionally oppo- 
site, repeatedly decompound patent branches, which are densely set with lesser branches 
and ramuli, all of which are patent and often recurved. Lesser and penultimate 
branches mostly secund, sometimes opposite or fasciculate, their ultimate divisions 
pectinated with short closely set ramuli on the upper side. Articulations of the main 
branches 4-6 or 8 times, of the ramuli 3-4 times as long as broad. Colour, a full grass 
green. Substance, not very soft. It adheres, but not strongly, to paper in drying. CONFERVACEJE. 
83 
18. Cladophora diffusa (?) ; filaments capillary, elongate, loosely tufted, somewhat 
rigid, full green, flexuous, much branched ; branches distant, irregularly subdivided, 
nearly naked, or furnished toward the ends with a few short secund ramuli; articula- 
tions 3-4 times as long as broad. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 130 (?) &c. 
Hab. New York Sound, Messrs. Walters, Pike, <fc. California, Mr. A. D. Frye. 
(v. s.) 
Tufts loose. Filaments 6-12 inches long or more, generally so rigid as not to col- 
lapse when removed from the water, capillary or somewhat more robust, much and 
irregularly branched. Branches distant, often an inch or more apart, erecto-patent, 
naked in the lower portion or very sparingly ramulose, and sometimes naked throughout 
and little subdivided. Generally, however, the upper divisions are more repeatedly and 
more closely branched, and their branches furnished with a few short, secund, pectinate 
ramuli. On some specimens these are very few and confined to the apices ; on others 
they are more abundant. 
Recognised chiefly by its naked and distant branches, nearly destitute of ramuli. 
The more ramulose specimens seem gradually to glide off into C. Icetevirens. I quote 
the figure in Phyc. Brit, with a mark of doubt, and refrain from quoting other authori- 
ties, because I am not quite sure of the specific identity of the American and European 
specimens. 
Sect. 2. Species found in brackish water, or in fresh-water ponds and streams. 
19. Cladophora fracta) FI. Dan. ; tufts irregular, entangled, often detached and 
then forming floating strata, dull green ; filaments rather rigid, distantly branched, the 
lesser branches somewhat dichotomous, spreading, with very wide axils ; the ramuli 
few, alternate or secund ; articulations 3-6 times as long as broad, at first cylindrical, 
then elliptical, with contracted nodes. FI. Dan. t. 946. Dillw. Conf. t. 14. E. Bot. 
t. 2338. Lyngh. Hyd. Dan. t. 52. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 294. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 
p. 410. 
Hab. In salt water ditches and ponds, also in brackish or fresh water. Rhode 
Island, and in the Hudson, at West Point, Prof. Bailey. Beesley’s Point, Air. Ash- 
mead. Near New York, Mr. Walters, (v. v.) 
This is at first tufted and attached to sticks or stones, but afterwards occurs floating, 
and then forms strata of considerable extent. Filaments capillary, several inches long, 
loosely tufted or bundled together, much but distantly branched, the branches widely 
spreading at very obtuse angles, and again and again dividing, all the minor divisions 
being equally patent, and the angles equally wide. The lesser branches sometimes bear 
a few secund ramuli, and are sometimes quite naked. Colour, at first a grass green, but 
gradually becoming darker. Substance, membranaceous and rather rigid, seldom quite 
adhering to paper in drying, and readily detached. 84 
confervacej:. 
To this species I am disposed to refer a specimen which was provisionally named 
C. prasina, formerly received from Professor Bailey, who found it abundantly in the 
Hudson at West Point, where it is thrown ashore after storms. I have also received a 
fresh-water specimen collected by Dr. Bigelow when engaged on Lieutenant Whipple’s 
expedition to the Pacific. 
20. Cladophora glomerata, Linn. ; filaments tufted, bushy, somewhat rigid, much 
branched, bright grass-green ; branches crowded, irregular, erecto-patent, repeatedly 
divided ; ultimate ramuli secund, subfasciculate ; articulations 4-8 times as long as 
broad. Dillw. Conf. t. 13. E. Bot. t. 2192. Harv. Man. Ed. 1, p. 134. 
Hab. In streams, lakes, and rivers. Probably common. 
I have received North American specimens from Milton, Saratoga County, N.Y., and 
from Lake Erie ; also from the Mexican Boundary Surveying Expedition. 
IV. CIIiETOMORPHA, Kiitz. (May, 1845.) 
Filaments (not gelatinous), membranaceous or cartilaginous, unbranched, attached, 
or floating, articulated ; formed of a string of oblong cells, the basal cell longer than 
the rest. Articulations filled with granular endochrome. (Marine.) 
The genus, as here adopted from Kiitzing, is intended to include most of the marine 
species of the older Conferva, which have unbranched filaments and articulations usually 
longer than their diameter. It differs from Cladophora solely in being branchless. 
From Hormotrichum it is less easy to point out a clear distinctive character, unless we 
seek it in the substance of the cell-coats, and in the shortness of the cells usual in that 
genus. The name Aplonema was proposed for this group by Mr. Hassall (Brit. Fr. 
W. Conf. p. 213.) only two months subsequently to the publication of Kutzing’s genus, 
which thus establishes its priority on very narrow evidence. It forms a part of the 
Agardhian Lychcete, published in 1846 ; a group that includes both simple and branched 
species, and which is thus characterised by its author :— 
Lychcete, J. Ag.; “ fronde sub-heterogenea, articulo infimo (in simplicibus),aut infimis 
ramorum (in ramosis) dissimilibus et non mutandis, superioribus omnibus continua 
subdivisione iterum iterumque divisis atque coniocystis externis distinguendum.” 
Alg. Ined. Ed. 2, No. 9. (Lychoete mirabilis). 
I prefer, with Kiitzing, to keep the branching and unbranched species in separate 
genera, as being a more obvious, if not more natural arrangement. However, the 
whole subject of the natural arrangement of these obscure plants is open to future 
discussion. The present is but a temporary settlement of the question. CONFERV ACEiE. 
85 
1. Ciletomorpiia Piquotiana, Mont. ; filaments loosely bundled together in strata, 
very long, ultra-setaceous, grass-green, rigid, glossy and variagated when dry, variously 
twisted ; articulations 3-5 times as long as broad, contracted at the nodes. Mont. An. 
Sc. Nat. ‘SdSer.vol. 11, jo. 66. Mont. Syll. p. 459. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 379* Tab. 
Phyc. vol. 3,p. 19, t. 58,/. 2. (Tab. XLYI. C.) 
Hab. In deep water; from 5 to 6 fathoms. Coast of Labrador, M. Lamar e-Piquot! 
Burnt Coat Island, Maine, Dr. A. Young. Halifax, W. H. H. Boston Bay, Mrs. 
A. Gray. Staten Island, N.Y., Dr. Torrey. (v. v.) 
This occurs in large bundled strata, the filaments lying loosely together, but probably 
they are attached at an early age. Filaments 12-14 inches long or more, twice as thick 
as hog’s bristle, crisp and rigid, variously curved and twisted, of a full grass-green 
colour, fading in drying, but retaining a glossy surface. The endochrome, in drying, 
is usually dispersed toward the ends of the cell, which gives the filament a variegated 
look, with alternate pale and dark bands. The cell membrane is thick and tough. The 
articulations are variable in length, but always much longer in proportion than those 
of C. melagonium. They are commonly four times as long as broad ; occasionally only 
thrice their breadth, and sometimes 5-6 times as long. The dissepiments or nodes are 
always much constricted and very narrow. The endochrome recovers its form when 
remoistened. It does not adhere to paper. 
I have compared my specimens with an original one communicated by Hr. Montagne. 
The species is nearly related to C. melagonium, but of larger dimensions and with 
much longer articulations. 
Plate XLYI. Fig. 1. Ciletomorpiia Piquotiana, the natural size. Fig. 2, a 
magnified portion. 
2. Chjetomorpha melagonium, Web. and Mohr. ; root scutate ; filaments erect, 
straight, elongate, very robust, ultra-setaceous, stiff and wiry, dark-green, tapering to 
the base, obtuse ; articulations 2-3 times as long as broad. Ag. Syst. p. 99. Lyngb. 
Hyd. Dan. t. 51. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 99. A. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 221. Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 379. 
Hab. In rock pools near low water mark, and at a greater depth. Greenland, Worms- 
kiold. Halifax, W. H. H. Boston Bay, Mrs. Asa Gray. Newbury Port, Mr. Hooper. 
Unalaschka, Wosnessensky. (v. v.) 
Root an expanded disc. Filaments either scattered, or somewhat tufted, 5-12 inches 
long, twice as thick as hog’s bristle, erect and stiff, peculiarly wiry to the feel when 
growing, straight or slightly curved, very blunt at the apex, and tapering to the base. 
Articulations rather longer in the American than in European specimens, but variable 
even in the same tuft ; once and a-half, twice, or thrice as long as broad, filled with 
dark-green endochrome and contracted at the dissepiments. 86 
conferyacej:. 
3 Ciiastomorpiia cerea, Dillw. ; root scutate ; filaments setaceous, tufted, straight, 
(sometimes twisted in age) harsh and brittle, yellow-green ; articulations about as long 
as broad. Dillw. Conf. t. 80. E. Bot. t. 1929. Lynb. Hyd. Dan. t. 51. Ag. Syst. 
p. 100. Wyatt, Alg. Damn. No. 191. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 99- B. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 
p. 379. 
Hab. In rock pools, between tide marks, &c. Newport, Professor Bailey. New 
York Bay, Messrs. Hooper, Walters, Sfc. (v. v.) 
Filaments generally in dense tufts, 3-12 inches in length, and as thick as hog’s 
bristle, rather harsh to the touch when fresh, but much less rigid than C. melagonium, 
and collapsing on being removed from the water, usually straight, but old specimens are 
sometimes crisped and contorted. The colour when growing is a beautiful yellowish 
green, but dried specimens are usually much faded, and dull-greenish white after long 
keeping in the Herbarium. The endochrome fills the cell and is of a watery consistence, 
and dispersed in drying. The articulations are pretty uniformly as long as broad, with 
contracted dissepiments. 
4. Ciletomorpiia Olneyi, Harv. ; filaments tufted, setaceous, straight or curved, soft, 
pale-green ; articulations once and half as long as broad. (Tab. XLYI. D.) 
ITab. Rhode Island, Air. Olney. (v. s. in Herb. T.C.l).) 
This has the habit of C. cerea, but is of a soft and flaccid substance, adhering closely 
to paper in drying. When dry it is very pale, greenish white, and without gloss. 
The filaments are about the same diameter as those of C. cerea ; the articulations are 
longer, and the cell-wall thicker. 
Plate XLYI. D. Fig. 1. Olneyi, the natural size. Fig. 2. a portion 
magnified. 
5. CiiiETOMORPHA longiarticulata, Harv. ; filaments capillary, curved, loosely bundled 
together, flaccid, soft, pale green ; articulations 4-6 times as long as broad, swollen at 
the nodes. (Tab. XLYI. E.) Yar. /3. crassior ; filaments more robust. 
Hab. In rock pools, between tide marks. Ship Anne Point, Mr. Hooper. Boston 
Bay, Mrs. Asa Gray. Little Compton, Mr. Olney. Yar. /3, in brackish ditches at 
Little Compton, Mr. Olney. 
Filaments rather more slender than human hair, 3-4 inches long, loosely bundled 
together, and somewhat stratified. Articulations filled with very pale endochrome, 
almost hyaline when dry, several times longer than their diameter, nodoso-incrassate at 
one or both ends, with contracted dissepiments. The cell-wall is very thin and mem- 
branous. CONFERYACEJE. 
87 
I do not know any species to which this is nearly related. It is much more robust 
than C. arenosa. The length of the joints and the swelling of the nodes distinguish it 
from C. litorea. 
Plate XLYI. E. Fig. 1. Chjetomorpha longiarticulata; the natural size. Fig. 2, 
a portion magnified. 
6. Ciletomorpha sutoria, Berk.; filaments setaceous, elongate, flexuous, equal, pale 
or dark green; articulations once and half as long as broad; interstices pellucid. Berk. 
Gl. Alg. t. 14,/. 3. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 150. B. Ch. rigida, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 377- 
Hab. Floating in large masses at Stonington, Con., Prof. Bailey, (v. s.) 
This occurs, loosely bundled together in extensive floating masses or strata. Fila- 
ments as thick as hog’s bristle, several inches long, rigid and variously curved and 
twisted, pale-green, cylindrical. Articulations once and half as long as broad, at length 
bisected. Substance rigid. It scarcely adheres to paper in drying. 
Professor Bailey’s specimens chiefly differ from the British plant with which I have 
associated them in being of a paler colour, with less dense endochrome, and of rather 
softer substance. 
7. Ciletomorpha litorea, Harv. ; filaments capillary, rigid, crisp, forming loose, 
extensive, dull-green bundles ; articulations once and half as long as broad, here and 
there swollen in pairs and discoloured. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 333. C. linum, Alg. Damn. 
No. 220 (Excl. Syn.) C. tortuosa, var. crassior, Pup. Alg. Och. 
Hab. Sea-shores. Sitcha, Russian America, Wosnessensky. (v. s.) 
Filaments forming loosely interwoven, extensive, floating strata, or entangled among 
the branches of other Algas, capillary, several inches in length, and of a dull green 
colour. The articulations are once and a-half to twice as long as broad, cylindrical, 
not contracted at the nodes, and mostly uniform in the same filament; but here and 
there a pair of longer cells occur, which are swollen towards their commissure, where 
the endochrome collects in a dark mass. In drying the endochrome is usually dispersed, 
and never recovers its form on being moistened. 
This has been sent to me by Dr. Ruprecht from Sitcha, under the name C. tortuosa, 
var. crassior. The filaments, however, are fully twice as robust as in C. tortuosa ; 
they are more rigid, and adhere less strongly to paper, and their endochrome is dissi- 
pated in drying. They agree pretty well with the C. litorea of British collections. 
8. CHJiTOMORPHA brachygona, Harv. ; filaments capillary, interwoven in strata, 
curved and twisted, rigid ; articulations either as long as, or much shorter than their 88 
CONFERVACEAS. 
diameter, with occasionally a pair of swollen longer cells among the short ones. 
(Tab. XLVI. A.) 
Hab. Key West, W. H. H., Mr. Binney. Boca di Rio Bravo, Dr. Schott, (v. v.) 
Forming decumbent strata, covering rocks, or entangled with other Algse. Filaments 
slender, variously curved and twisted, of a membranaceous, rather rigid substance, 
destitute of gloss, and not adhering to paper when drying, cylindrical. The articula- 
tions appear to he normally about as long as broad, but as they divide in the middle by 
transverse cell division, they are frequently found less than half their proper length. 
Here and there, throughout the filament, a pair of cells occur longer than the rest, and 
swollen, with the endochrome of each cell collected at the dissepiment: these may be con- 
nected with reproduction. The endochrome is dispersed in drying, and does not well 
recover its form on being moistened. 
A much more robust and rigid plant than C. tortuosa. 
Plate XLVI. A. Fig. 1. Ciletomorpha hrachygona, the natural size. Fig. 2. 
Portion of a filament, magnified. 
9. tortuosa, Hillw. ; filaments very slender, somewhat rigid, densely 
interwoven into dark green, crisped, fleecy strata ; articulations twice or thrice as long 
as broad, filled with endochrome. Dillw. Confi. t. 46. E. Bot. t. 2220. Harv. Fhyc. 
Brit. t. 54, A. Ag. Syst. p. 98. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 376. (Tab. XLVI. B.) 
Hab. On rocks, &c. about half tide level. Halifax, W. H. H. Coast of Maine, 
Dr. A. Young. Massachusetts’ Bay, Mr. Pike, W. H. II., dfc. Newbury Port, Mr. 
Hooper. Unalaschka, Wosnessensky. (v. v.) 
Strata spreading widely over the surface of rocks, &c. like a coating of dark green 
wool. The filaments are very slender, about half the diameter of human hair, but they 
are when recent crisp and rigid, and do not collapse when removed from the water. They 
are densely interwoven, of a dark green colour, and not without gloss. The articula- 
tions vary in length in different specimens, but are usually twice as long as broad, 
sometimes more, sometimes less ; and the endochrome generally recovers its form on 
being remoistened after drying. 
I have received from Hr. Ruprecht, under the name C. confervicola, a specimen from 
Unalaslika that I cannot distinguish, under the microscope, from the ordinary C. tortu- 
osa of the East coast. It grows attached to C. melagonium, in which it is peculiar. 
The “ C. tortuosa crassior” of Hr. Ruprecht I have already alluded to under C. litorea. 
Plate XLVI. B. Fig. 1, tortuosa, the natural size. Fig. 2, portion 
of two filaments, magnified. CONFERVACEiE. 
89 
Y. HORMOTRICHUM, Kiitz. 
Filaments gelatino-membranaceous, unbranched (or with a few rootlike branches), 
basifixed, articulated ; formed of a string of very short cells. Cell-wall very thick and 
soft. Modes constricted. Articulations often tumid, filled with dense, green, granular 
endochrome, which is finally converted into darker-coloured compact sporidia. (Marine.) 
The plants comprised under this genus have hitherto been placed either in Conferva 
or in Lyngbya. They all have a peculiar habit, by which they are more readily known 
than by any definite character at present established. The changes that take place in 
the endochrome will probably afford better characters when they have been carefully 
ascertained and compared with what occur in Clicetornorpha. At present we are con- 
tented to refer to this place all the soft, sub-gelatinous, marine Confervse, which are 
basifixed, and have short joints—the type of these being C. Youngana, Dillw. ; and 
such LyngbyaMko, Algae as Lyngb. Carmichaelii and its allies, whose truly articulated 
tube distinguishes them from proper Lyngbya. The whole assemblage of species which 
are thus brought together are remarkable for the brilliant green of their endochrome, 
which at first fills the cells, and is afterwards contracted and condensed, and for the 
breadth of the soft, sub-gelatinous, glassy cell-wall. At maturity the wall of the cell 
opens, and the compact sporidium escapes. All the species are natives of littoral rocks 
and objects growing within tide marks. Three of the following are European. 
1. Hormotrichum Younganum, Dillw. ; filaments short or elongated, tufted, capil- 
lary, rather firm, grass-green, not remarkably gelatinous, nor glossy when dry ; articu- 
lations as long, or once and half as long as broad, or shorter than their breadth, tumid, 
constricted at the nodes. Dillw. Conf. t. 102. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 328. Kiitz. Sp. 
Alg. p. 382. 
IIab. On stones and wood-work, between tide marks. New York Bay, Mr. Congdon. 
Common at Fort Hamilton in spring. W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Filaments densely tufted, 1-3 inches long, as thick as human hair, erect, straight or 
curved, spreading over the surface of rocks and wood-work in grass-green fleecy tufts, 
not lubricous or gelatinous (as compared with others of the genus), soft, but rather 
firm. The filaments when young are cylindrical, but soon become constricted at the 
dissepiments or nodes. The cells vary much in length, even in the same filament. The 
common length is once and half as long as broad, but they are sometimes twice as long, 
sometimes only as long as their diameter, and sometimes only half as long. At first 
they are quite filled with the granular deep-green endochrome, which, while the filament 
is elongating, divides in the centre, forming two new cells from each old one; but in the 
mature plant it gradually condenses, and retreats toward the centre of the cell, where it 
forms a compact, globose or oval sporidium. In drying the filaments adhere, but not 
strongly, to paper. 90 
CONFERVACEiE. 
2. Hormotrichum boreale, Harv.; filaments slender, forming decumbent strata of a 
pale yellowish-green, flaccid, slightly interwoven ; articulations as long as broad or 
somewhat longer, at length constricted at the nodes. 
Hab. On rocks near high-water mark. Whalefish Islands, Davis’s Straits, Dr. Lyall. 
(v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
This forms a thin, yellow-green, decumbent fleece, lying on the surface of the rock, 
and extending indefinitely. Filaments flaccid, glossy when dry, variously interwoven, 
about half the diameter of those of H. Younganum, but in other respects very similar, 
except that the cells are commonly shorter. Articulations usually quadrate ; in age 
contracted at the nodes. 
A much more slender plant than II. Younganum, softer, more glossy, and spreading 
in patches, not tufted. 
3. Hormotrichum speciosum, Carm.; filaments long, thick, flaccid, straight, at length 
curled, the margin slightly crenate, forming bright yellow-green strata, glossy when 
dry ; articulations half as long as their breadth, the cell-wall very thick. Harv. Phyc. 
Brit. t. 186, B. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 196. (Lyngbya.) 
TIab. Mixed with the foregoing species, at Whale-fish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
Much more robust than the following species, to which it is allied. 
4. Hormotrichum Carmichaelii, Harv. ; filaments scarcely capillary, closely inter- 
woven into decumbent, crisped, full-grass-green strata, variously twisted ; articulations 
half as long as their diameter; the cell-wall thick. Ilarv. Phyc. Brit. t. 186. A. Wyatt, 
Alg. Danm. No. 230. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 382. 
Hab. On rocks and fuci, between tide marks. Near Boston, Air. Calverley. In a 
“running stream” (quere, of salt, or fresh water?) on stones, in Wellington Channel, 
Arctic Regions, Dr. Lyall. (v. v.) 
Strata extensive, densely interwoven, full green, or somewhat yellowish, soft, but not 
gelatinous, and not glossy when dry. Filaments very long, thinner than human hair, 
variously curved and twisted. Articulations shorter than their diameter, generally 
less than half as long as their breadth ; the cell-wall thick, and the endochrome at 
length contracting into a lenticular sporidium. 
This plant is common on the British Coasts, where it occurs between tide marks. 
The specimen received from Mr. Calverley is said to come “ from fresh water near 
Boston but I suspect some mistake. Whether that from the Arctic Regions be from 
brackish or fresh water I cannot tell; but under the microscope there is no character CONFERVACEiE. 
91 
by which I can distinguish its threads from British specimens of C. Carmichaelii. It 
is very luxuriant, of a bright green colour, and quite resembles the ordinary marine 
form. Quere, are two species confounded ? Or is there an error in the habitat ? Or 
does this plant inhabit both salt and fresh water, as Bangia fuscopurpurea is well known 
to do ? 
5. Hormotrichum ? Wormshioldii, FI. Dan. ; filaments “ branched at the base” 
(Lyngb.) ; thence simple, erect, straight, ultra-setaceous, flaccid, bright yellow-green, 
moniliform ; articulations at first nearly cylindrical and rather longer than broad, then 
globular, and very much contracted at the nodes. Conferva Wormshioldii. FI. Dan. 
t. 1547. Ly7igb. Hyd. Dan. p. 158. t. 55. A. Ag. Syst. p. 121. Hormotrichum 
Wormshioldii, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 383. Chcetomorpha monilis, Harv. in Herb, (olim.) 
Hab. Coast of Greenland, common, Wormshiold. Fragments dredged in Queen’s 
Channel, lat. 76° 29', long. 96° 13' W. Dr. Lyall. (v. s.) 
Dr. Lyall’s specimens, which alone I have seen, consist of a few single threads (broken 
branches ?) 6-8 inches long, as thick as hog’s bristle or a little thicker, moniliform, 
with very turgid globular articulations and strongly contracted dissepiments. These 
fragments so strongly resemble the figure given by Lyngbye, (t. 55. A. 5.) that I cannot 
doubt the above reference ; but I do question the propriety of arranging this species 
under the present genus. I follow Kiitzing, however, who had probably seen more 
perfect specimens than I possess. Judging from the fragments collected by Dr. Lyall, 
I formerly placed it in Chcetomorpha, near C. melagonium, believing that it was an 
undescribed species. 
Lyngbye’s description may be thus rendered : “ Filaments densely tufted, parallelly 
floating, an ell or more in length, branched at the base, slender, as thick as human 
hair (below ?), then increasing to the thickness of hog’s bristle, or sparrow’s quill, 
simple, attenuated toward the apex. Articulations as long as broad, in the thicker 
filaments remarkably moniliform, ellipsoidal or globose, turgid : in the more slender 
filaments often twice as long as broad. Dissepiments contracted, mostly pellucid. 
Colour green. Substance membranaceous, tender, lubricous, soft. It adheres to paper.” 
VI. RHIZOCLONIUM, Kite. 
Filaments (not gelatinous) membranaceous, uniform in diameter throughout, decum- 
bent, simple or spuriously branched ; branches short and rootlike ; formed of a string 
of oblong cells. Cell-wall thin. Articulations filled with granular endochrome. 
(Marine, or in fresh water, or on damp ground.) 92 
CONFERVACEiE. 
Confervoid Algse, forming decumbent strata ; the filaments lying heaped together, 
and emitting at irregular distances rootlike branches. Kiitzing enumerates 28 species, 
among which are several which we refer to Choetomorpha. 
1. Riiizoclonium riparium, Roth. ; filaments long, slender, decumbent, pale-green, 
forming wide strata, flaccid, entangled, angularly bent, furnished at the angles with 
short, rootlike processes (which sometimes, but rarely, lengthen into very patent 
branches, and often attach themselves to neighbouring filaments). Conf. riparia, Both. 
Cat. Bot. 3.p. 216. E. Bot. t. 2100. Dillw. Conf. p. 111. Sup. t. E. Ag. Syst. 
p. 106. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 238. Conf. obtusangula, Lyngh. Hyd. Dan. t. 55. B. 
Bhizoclonium ohtusangulum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 261. 
Hab. On sand covered rocks near high water mark. Greenland, Wormskiold, fide 
Lyngbye. (v. s.) 
I have not seen American specimens of this plant. 
Order YII. ZYGNEMACE^. 
Zygnemacece, Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 274. Sp. Alg. p. 433. Zygnemece, Endl. 3d 
Suppl. p. 14. Algae Synsporece, Dne. Class, p. 32. Conjugates, Berk. Crypt. Bot. 
p. 150. Conjugatece, Hass. Br. Fr. W. Alg.,p. 129. 
Diagnosis. Green (freshwater) Algrn, consisting of simple, articulated, floating 
threads, composed of cylindrical, seriated cells. Endoclirome usually definitely figured. 
Spores of large size, and mostly solitary, formed by the union of two endochromes or 
by the division of a single endoclirome. 
Natural Character. Freshwater, floating, confervoid Algoe, at first consisting of 
unbranched threads, formed of a number of cylindrical cells placed end to end ; after- 
wards often linked together in pairs by connecting processes. The endochrome in 
different genera puts on a variety of forms. It is rarely diffused equally through 
the cell as in ordinary Confervas, but is either arranged in spiral hands, attached to 
the cell-walls, or divided into two star-like masses ; or it consists of larger and smaller 
grains subsymmetrically arranged. The cell-wall varies also much in character ; in 
some it is membranous, in others gelatinous, and occasionally very thick. The 
fructification consists of large and mostly solitary spores formed usually from the union 
and condensation of the contents of two cells, either consecutive cells of the same fila- ZYGNEMACE^E. 
93 
ment, or cells of different filaments. The latter mode of forming a spore is the most 
usual, whence we have the origin of the names “ Conjugated’ and “Zygnemece” applied 
to these Algae, and alluding to their “ yoked” character. When two filaments are about 
to conjugate, they float near one another, lying parallel, or nearly so in the stratum. 
Then, from the proximate sides of each cell of both filaments there issue short tubes, 
which mutually unite ; the cell-wall at the point of union disappears, and the contents 
of both cells are mixed together. Sometimes the whole contents of one cell is discharged 
into the other, and the spore formed in that cell ; sometimes, and equally commonly, 
the spore is formed in the connecting tubes. These tubes are sometimes long and 
barlike ; and the pairs of conjugated threads resemble little ladders. Sometimes they 
are very short, and the filaments are angularly bent at the point of union. In most 
cases the spore forms a single spheroidal or angular mass ; but in Thwaitesia it is divided 
into four sporules, exactly like the tetraspore of one of the Rliodosperms. In the genus 
(Edogonium, which Mr. Berkeley refers to this Family, the filaments do not conjugate, 
but the spores are formed by a division of the endochrome of a fertile cell. The cell 
separates into two half-cells by a transverse partition, as in ordinary cell division ; 
the spore is then formed in one half; the other half lengthens to the size proper to the 
genus and again divides, forming a second spore in one of its halves ; and so it may 
divide repeatedly until a string of six or eight consecutive spores is formed, in the 
centre or at the end of the thread, as in (E. monile, a beautiful species from Tasmania. 
The spores are not always green ; but (especially in (Edogonium) are often brilliantly 
coloured, orange or vermillion. 
Several genera, containing a large number of species, are described, chiefly from 
the stagnant or nearly still waters of the Northern Hemisphere. But they are pro- 
bably dispersed over the globe, though few have yet been brought from the tropics. 
Unfortunately they do not recover their characters sufficiently,, after having been dried, 
to admit of being accurately verified from dried specimens : and consequently I am 
forced to omit specific descriptions of those that I have received from North America. 
No doubt many of the species of the genera Mougeotia ; Zygnema (Spirogyra) ; 
Tyndaridea ; Staurocarpus ; and (Edogonium (Vesiculifera) exist in American 
waters ; but they must be examined on the spot. Mr. Iiavenel has kindly sent me a 
few specimens of Staurocarpus and Zygnema, but I have not been able to recognize the 
species satisfactorily. Authors who have written on the subject appeal’ to me to have 
needlessly multiplied the European species, of which Kiitzing enumerates 200, including 
58 Zygnemata and as many (Edogonia. 94 
HYDRODICTYEA3. 
Order VIII.—HYDKODICTYEiE. 
Hydrodictye,e, Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 281. Sp. Alg. p. 448. Berk. Crypt. Bot. p. 
138. Dne. Class, p. 31. (in part only.) 
Diagnosis. Green (fresh-water) Algae, composed of cylindrical cells, united by their 
ends into a saccate net-work, with polygonal meshes ; each side of the mesh formed of 
a single cell. Endochrome of each cell resolved at maturity into indefinitely numerous, 
minute zoospores, which arrange themselves, end to end, into a new net-work, whilst 
still contained within the parent cell. Nets viviparous. 
* 
Natural Character. The genus Hydrodictyon differs so remarkably in the mode 
of evolution of its frond from that of any other confervoid Alga that it has been found 
necessary to constitute it the type of a distinct family. Its essentially distinctive 
characters are thus well given by Messrs. Derbes and Soliere in their able memoir : 
“ Each zoospore of this plant gives birth to one cell only, whose further development 
will consist merely in an increase of dimensions, without undergoing any multiplication. 
Here then, without doubt, is the most distinctive character of the genus ; for in the 
Confervas, with which it has the greatest affinity, one zoospore gives birth to an 
individual, which increases in dimensions by the multiplication of its cells; here, on the 
contrary, a great number of zoospores unite together to form an individual, which is 
composed of a limited number of cells, which number remains the same during the whole 
duration of the plant; that is to say, until each of these cellules, in its turn, gives birth 
to a young Hydrodictyon complete. In other terms, a Hydrodictyon is an assemblage 
of little plants reduced to a single cell, formed by the development of a zoospore.” If 
we trace the development, it will be obvious that this is a true explanation of the 
viviparous net-work. 
At all stages of its growth, then, the structure of the Hydrodictyon is the same. 
Young specimens differ from old ones merely in the size of the cells of which the net is 
composed ; the number of the cells, their form, and that of the net are the same in 
young as in old nets. In all stages the Hydrodictyon is a bag-like or purse-shaped 
net, with polygonal, generally five-sided meshes, each mesh consisting of a single 
articulation or cylindrical cell, united by its ends to the neighbouring cells, just as the 
cells of a Conferva are united, but having no passage from cell to cell, and each cell, 
from first to last, carrying on an independent existence. When first emitted from the IIYDRODICTYEAL 
95 
parent, the young Hydrodictyon is of microscopic size. It grows rapidly until each 
articulation becomes from a quarter to half an inch in length, and half a line in dia- 
meter. Up to this period the cells are filled with a green semi-fluid endochrome, in 
which grains of different sizes are formed. Gradually this green matter is resolved 
into an infinite number of minute zoospores, which are at first spherical, afterwards 
ovate, pointed at one end ; and which, while contained within the cell wall, exhibit 
lively movements. At length these movements gradully subside, and the zoospores 
arrange themselves, end to end, into polygonal, commonly pentagonal, areolas ; and 
when all the zoospores contained within a single articulation have so arranged them- 
selves, the little net is completed before its emission or birth. AYhen all is thus ready, 
the parent net falls to pieces, each articulation floating separately ; and shortly after- 
wards, on the bursting or deliquescence of the wall of the mother cell, the little network 
floats independently, and commences its career of growth and development. This 
curious plant early attracted the notice of botanists, and has deservedly engaged the 
attention of physiologists. The fullest of the earlier histories is to be found in 
Vaucher’s work on Fresh Water Confervas ; and recent accounts are given by Areschoug 
in the 16th vol. of “ Linnaea and by Derbes and Soliere in their memoir presented to 
the French Academy in 1848. I have never had the opportunity of examining living 
specimens, though abundantly supplied with dried ones from many distant parts of the 
world. The only species known inhabits ponds in Europe and in America, both North 
and South. It is rare in England, and has not yet been found in Ireland. 
HYDRODICTYON, Roth. 
(Character the same as that of the Order.) 
1. Hydrodictyon utriculatum, Roth. FI. Germ. 3. part \ ,p. 531. FI. Dan. t. 1597- 
Ag. Syst. p. 84. Lyngh. Hyd. Dan. p. 169. t. 58. Harv. Man. Ed. 1. p. 140. 
Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 281. Syst. Alg. p. 448. Conferva reticulata, Linn. Dillw- 
Conf. t. 97. E. Bot. t. 1687. 
IIab. In ponds of fresh water. West Point, Professor Bailey. Weehawken, Mr. 
Walters. Waterholes between Van Horn’s Wells and Muerte on the Mexican boundary, 
Dr. Bigelow, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
This has been sufficiently described in the remarks under the Order. The full sized 
nets are 6-8 or 12 inches long, and 3-4 in diameter ; their meshes from half an inch 
to three quarters of an inch across. In different localities and climates the size varies- 
No difference is appreciable between American and European specimens. 96 
OSCILLATORIACEAS. 
Order IX.—OSCILLATORIACEJ3. 
Harv. Man. Ed. 1. p. 219. Oscillatoriece, Harv. in Mach FI. Hib. part 3, p. 164. 
Endl. 3d. Suppl. p. 12. Oscillatoriece and Rivulariece, Harv. Br. FI. J. Ag. Alg. 
Medit. p. 8,10. Oscillator ece, Lindl. Veg. Kingd. p. 18. Oscillariece, Leptotrichiece, 
Lyngbyece, Scytonemece, Mastichotrichece, Rivulariece, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. pp. 235-344. 
Diagnosis. Green, (rarely olive-brown, blue, or purple) marine or fresh water Algae, 
composed of simple or slightly branched filaments ; each filament having a membranous 
unicellular sheath, enclosing an annulated medullary chord of very short cells. 
Natural Character. Root either a simple point of attachment, or, in most cases, 
not obvious. Filaments of small size, and often very minute, rarely solitary, variously 
aggregated together. In some microscopic forms, as in Trichodesmium, a number of 
minute filaments lie close together, cohering by their edges and parallel to each other, 
forming little bundles, resembling faggots in miniature ; and these float freely in the 
water, through which they move by a slow, proper motion, rising to the surface or 
sinking, according to the season. In others, as in Oscidatoria, an indefinite number 
of similar filaments lie loosely in a gelatinous matrix, within which they are developed, 
and from the edges of which they radiate ; but they have no definite or determinate 
arrangement in the mass. Again, in Calotlirix, the filaments are fixed at the base, and 
stand erect in minute tufts, or spread in a velvetty pile over the surface of various 
objects. In Lyngbya the arrangement of the threads is similar, but they are 
of much greater length, more curved and flexible, resembling tufts of hair or silky 
wool. Lastly, in Rivularia, there is a compact gelatinous frond of sub-definite 
form, constructed of a multitude of symmetrically arranged filaments ; each one 
springing from a minute, spherical, bulb-like cell, by which it is attached to the 
neighbouring filament. These basal cells have been called “ connecting cells,” and 
also “ heterocysts.” Their peculiar function has not been clearly ascertained. Through 
all the genera of the Order considerable uniformity prevails in the structure of the fila- 
ments. The external coating or peripheric portion, called the sheath, is a tubular 
membrane, destitute of markings, hyaline, and apparently formed by the lengthening 
of a single generating cell. In many cases it is delicately membranous and thin ; in 
others it is thickened ; and in some (as in Petalonema), the sheath consists of many 
foliations, one inside the other. In several of the Rivulariece also, the sheath is 
similarly compound, and frequently plumoso multifid at the extremity. Within the 
sheath is the medullary column, or endochromatic part of the filament. This always 
consists of a series of short, lenticular, densely coloured cells, which in the full grown OSCILLATORIACEiE. 
97 
filament may be readily separated. They have been described as sporidia; but obser- 
vations on their germination are wanting. Minute zoospores have been observed in 
some. Besides the ordinary sheath which encloses each medullary column, a suppli- 
mentary sheath is found in some genera, as in Microcoleus, enclosing a considerable 
number of separately sheathed filaments. The origin of this general sheath has not 
been observed. It probably originates as a simple filament, whose endochrome divides 
and subdivides longitudinally, thus forming a number of filaments within the body of 
the older one, whose walls continue to enlarge, being fed by the matter of the contained 
filaments. This appears, at least sometimes, to be the case : in other cases probably 
the investing sheath is formed of exuviae and dead filaments. 
Many plants of this Order are celebrated for exhibiting peculiar movements resembling 
those of animals. Some have a rapid progressive and regressive movement, by which 
they can change their place, rising or falling in the water ; others, while remaining 
nearly in one place, move from side to side, describing an arc. The genus Oscillatoria 
is so named from the pendulum-like movements of its filaments. Species of this genus 
are to be found in most pools of stagnant water, and their peculiar movements may be 
easily observed. These plants occur, when fully developed, in floating, skin-like, slimy 
pellicles, of a deep green or blackish or blueish colour and gelatinous substance. If a 
small portion of the floating scum be placed in a cup of water, and allowed to remain 
for some hours at rest, its edges will become finely fringed with delicate, radiating 
threads, which extend further and further, from hour to hour ; and if the experiment 
be continued for a day or two, in warm weather, the whole surface of the water will be 
coated with a thin layer of filaments, which will spread till stopped by the dry edges of 
the cup. These filaments were at first contained within the gelatinous matrix, and 
have merely spread out, not grown, from it, by means of their peculiar movements. 
These movements are of three kinds :—first, there is the oscillating movement ; one 
end of the thread remaining nearly at rest, while the other sways from side to side, 
sometimes describing nearly a quarter of a circle in a single swing. Secondly, the tip 
of the filament has a minute movement, bending from side to side, like the head of a 
worm : and thirdly, there is an onward movement, probably the result of the two 
former. It is this latter which causes the filaments to radiate and spread out from the 
edges of the stratum. If a minute portion of a living Oscillatoria be placed in water, 
under a moderately high magnifying power, all these movements can be seen without 
trouble. They vary in vividness, however, in different species, some being active, and 
some sluggish ; and also according to the state of the weather, being most rapid in 
warm weather. Some of the species are furnished with minute cilia at the extremities, 
but these do not seem to take part in the motion. 
Oscillatoriacece are found in all parts of the world, and under a great variety of 
circumstances. Not very many, with the exception of the Lyngbyce and Calothrices, 
are marine ; the great proportion are found in fresh water. Several occur in hot-springs, 
even in the Geysers of Iceland ; and others inhabit water highly charged with mineral 
salts or gases. Some are found on damp soil ; others under the spray of cascades, and 
on the gates of canal-locks and about mill-dams. Few pieces of stagnant fresh water 
are free from them ; but rivers and streams are equally furnished, and broad lakes are 98 
OSCILLATORIACEiE. 
sometimes coloured, throughout their whole extent, with minute, perhaps microscopic, 
species of this Order. The ocean itself, often for many hundreds of square miles, has 
been found discoloured by microscopic Algae of this group, belonging to the genus 
Trichodesmium ; one of which, of a red colour, is found at seasons abundantly in the 
Red Sea, and is supposed to have caused that name to be given to the Arabian Gulf. 
Others are found in the Indian Ocean, one of which is of a bright yellow-green, and 
sometimes deeply tinges the upper strata of the sea off the coasts of Malacca. Others 
have been noticed in equal abundance, but less strongly coloured, in various parts of 
the Pacific, and on the coasts of Australia. 
The species are very difficult to determine, and have been too much multiplied by 
authors : little therefore can usefully be said respecting their geographic distribution. 
Probably, if they are ever carefully investigated, the same kinds will to a large extent 
be found in the most distant localities. This at least seems to be the case with some, 
as Petalonema alatum, Lyngbya majuscula, L. ferruginea, Calothrix scopulorum, and 
many others. 
TABLE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 
* Frond filamentous, branched, olive-brown, in fresh water. 
I. Petalonema. Filaments with a flattened, longitudinally and transversely striate 
sheath, much broader than the endochrome. 
II. Scytonema. Filaments with a cylindrical, hyaline sheath, narrower than the 
endochrome. 
** Frond filamentous. Filaments separate, free, green or purple. 
III. Lyngbya. Filaments very long, flexible, threadlike, bundled together. 
IV. Calothrix. Filaments short, tufted, erect. 
Y. Oscillatoria. Filaments rigid, needle-shaped, lying loosely in a mucous matrix, 
usually floating. 
*** Frond formed of numerous parallel filaments contained within a simple or branch- 
ing membranous common-sheath. 
YI. Microcoleus. 
**** Frond formed of numerous radiating filaments invested with firm gelatine ; each 
filament springing from a spherical root-cell. 
YII. Rivularia. OSCILLATOPIACEtE. 
99 
I. PETALONEMA, Berk. 
Filaments stratified, decumbent, free, simple or branched. Tube or sheath very wide, 
flattened, longitudinally and transversely striate, and crenulate at the edge ; endochrome 
olivaceous, annulated, here and there interrupted by a heterocyst. Branches issuing in 
pairs, formed by the division and protrusion of the endochrome of the original filament. 
A very distinct and easily recognized genus established by Mr. Berkeley in 1833, 
under the name here adopted ; a name changed by Professor Kiitzing in 1845 to 
A rthrosiphon, for what reason I am not aware. The Alga on which it is founded was 
discovered many years previously, in the West of Scotland, by the late Captain Car- 
michael, and was first figured and described by Dr. Greville as an Oscillatoria. It has 
more recently been found in several parts of Europe, and we have now to record its 
occurrence in the New Continent. There are few more beautiful objects among the 
fresh water Algm, and unlike many of its kindred the fronds perfectly recover their 
form when moistened after having been dried. When placed under the microscope the 
filaments present the appearance of a cylindrical central column, containing annulated, 
olive-coloured endochrome, and a wide winglike border at each side of the column. This 
border or sheath is obliquely striate, the striae running in an arch from the margin 
toward the centre, where they become parallel, and are then continued longitudinally 
downwards along the medullary column, till lost in the density. The margin of the 
wing is closely crenulate, and in age transversely striate at the crenatures as if jointed. 
Such is the apparent structure : the real structure seems to be, that an annulated 
central filament is enclosed within a number of compressed, trumpet-mouthed gelatino- 
membranaceous tubular sheaths, one arising within the other, and successively developed 
as the growth proceeds. These sheaths, thus concentrically arranged, are indicated by 
the longitudinal arching striae ; and the mouths of the younger sheaths, projecting 
slightly beyond those of the older, form the crenatures of the margin. 
Petalonema alatum, Berk. Gl. Br. Alg. p. 23, t. 7, Jig. 2. Harv. Man. Ed. ], 
p. 168. Hass. Fr. Wat. Alg. p. 237. t. 68./. 6. Arthrosiphon Grevillii, Kutz. Phyc. 
Germ. p. 177. Sp. Alg. p. 311. Oscillatoria alata, Carm. Grev. Sc. Crypt. FI. t. 
222. Harv. in Hook. Br. FI. 2. p. 378. (Tab. XLYIII. A.) 
Hab. On dripping rocks, under Biddle Stairs, Niagara Falls, abundantly, W. H. H. 
(1849). (v. v.) 
This forms strata of a dark chestnut-brown colour, and of indefinite extent, on the 
surface of rocks or soil in places exposed to the constant drip of water. The filaments 
are decumbent, lying without order in the gelatinous matrix in which they are deve- 
loped, and which forms the groundwork of the stratum. They appear to be unattached 
to the soil, and each filament may be about half an inch in length ; but they are com- 
monly found broken off at the inferior end, or the lower portion decays while the upper 
continues to grow. They are slightly curved, in serpentlike fashion, never quite OSCILLATORIACEiE. 
100 
straight; at first they are simple, but now and then they emit lateral branches, which 
issue at considerable angles, and generally in pairs. When a filament is about to 
branch, a rupture takes place in the side of the sheath, and the endochrome issues in two 
portions, one connected with the upper, the other with the lower half of the filament; 
these form the nuclei or medullary portion of two new branches, and become duly 
invested with a membranous sheath, and gradually put on the aspect of the adult 
filament. The endochrome is granular, dark-brown, and annulated at short intervals, the 
transverse rings being placed very close together in the youngest portions, and less 
closely in the older, where they are distant from each other about twice the diameter of 
the column. This annulated endochrome is interrupted at certain fixed places, where an 
ellipsoidal cell is formed, separating the endochrome of the lower from that of the upper 
portions. These cells may be compared to nodes, and indicate, if I mistake not, the 
points where the twin branches issue. I have not, however, noticed their development 
into branches. 
Plate XLYIII. A. Fig 1. Portion of the stratum formed by Petalonema alatum ; 
and fig. 2. Fronds removed from the same ; the natural size. Fig. 3. Portion of two 
filaments magnified. Fig. 4. Apex of a filament, more highly magnified. 
II. SCYTONEMA, Ag. 
Filaments tufted, mostly basifixed, erect or decumbent, free, flexible, branched. 
Tube or sheath cylindrical, continuous, membranaceous, tough ; endochrome olive-brown, 
annulated. Branches lateral, issuing in pairs, formed by the division and protrusion 
of the endochrome of the original filament. 
When at Niagara Falls in the autumn of 1849,1 collected on the rocks under Biddle 
Stairs specimens of a large decumbent Scytonema, which may possibly be referable to 
one or other of the 50 species named and described by Kiitzing, but whose characters 
appear to me to be founded, often, on insufficient data. I am unwilling to add to the 
synonyms by giving a new name to the American species, and I have not at hand the 
means of comparing it with more than a few of the recorded species. It is of large 
size, its filaments being nearly twice the diameter of those of the British S. myochrous, 
which it resembles in its branching. The endochrome is narrower in proportion to the 
sheath and distinctly annulate ; the annuli rather distant. The sheath is of a deep 
chestnut brown colour. 
Probably several other for m s, if not species, occur in North America. OSCILLATORIACEjE. 
101 
III. LYNGBYA, Ag. 
Filaments destitute of mucous layer, free, flexible, unbranched, elongated, not oscil- 
lating. Tube continuous, cylindrical, membranaceous ; endochrome green or purple, 
densely annulated, at length separating into lenticular sporidia. (Marine or in fresh 
ivater.) 
A genus consisting of many species, most of which are found in the sea ; several 
occur in estuaries of rivers and in brackish ditches, and a few are found in fresh water 
or in thermal springs. From Oscillatoria they are known by the absence of a gelatinous 
matrix and of oscillating movements, and by the greater flexibility of the filaments. 
From Calothrix, to which they are more nearly related, they differ chiefly in habit ; 
especially in the great length of the filaments, and in being rarely fasciculate. The 
generic name is given in honour of H. C. Lyngbye, a Danish Algologist, and author of 
an excellent work on the Algee of Denmark. 
1. Lyngbya majuscula, Harv. ; filaments thick, very long and tenacious, twisted, 
issuing in long, crisped bundles from a blackish green stratum. Harv. Phyc. 
Brit. t. 62. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 283. Lyngbya crispa, Ag. Syst. p. 74 (in part.). 
Conf. majuscula, Dillw.! Supp. t. A. L. maxima, Mont. L. Pacifica, Kiitz. Sp. Alq. 
p. 284. (Tab. XLYII. A.) 
Hab. Long Island Sound, Professor Bailey. Peconic Bay, Mr. Hooper. Key West, 
W. H. H. and Mr. Ashmead. (v. v.) 
Tufts often several inches in diameter, the central portion densely interwoven or 
stratified, the margins throwing off long bundles or fascicles of free, crisped, or variously 
twisted filaments, one to two inches in length, and floating freely in the water. The 
strata at first are attached to the bottom, but with age float to the surface and are cast 
ashore in large masses. The diameter of the filament is greater than in any other 
species, being commonly rather more than *05 of an inch. The Key West specimens are 
rather less broad than usual. The sheath or tube of the filament is thick, and forms a 
wide, hyaline margin to the dark-coloured, closely but not strongly annulated endochrome. 
The L. maxima, Mont. (L. pacifica, Kiitz.J which I have gathered in great abundance 
on the shores of the Friendly Islands, appears to me to be merely a luxuriant state of 
this common species. Except in the greater diameter of the filaments, and this varies 
in different specimens, I see no character by which it may be distinguished. The species 
(as understood in England) has a peculiar external habit, and its microscopic characters 
—however difficult to describe—are easily remembered after having once been seen. 
It was first found at Bantry, South of Ireland, by the late Miss Hutchins. 
Plate XLYII. A. Fig. 1. A tuft of Lyngbya majuscula, the natural size. Fig. 2. 
Portion of a filament, magnified. 102 
OSCILLATORIACEiE. 
2. Lyngbya ferruginea, Ag.; filaments slender, flaccid, curved, forming a thin stratum 
of a verdigris green colour, which gradually changes to a pale chestnut (but resumes 
the green in drying). Ag. Syst. p. 73. Harv. Phyc. Brit. tab. 311. L. aeruginosa, 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 282. (Tab. XLVII. B.) 
Hab. On muddy shores, in tide pools and floating in ditches of salt or brackish water 
near the sea. Haarlem River, N.Y. close to the High Bridge, W. H. H. Salt ditches 
at Hoboken and near Green Port, Professor Bailey, (v. v.) 
Stratum thin, expanded, covering the mud to an indefinite extent, or floating on the 
surface of stagnant salt water, generally of an intense verdigris or blueish green colour, 
now and then foxy or rust colour, scarcely at all gelatinous. Filaments about -001 of 
an inch in diameter, flaccid, slightly flexuous, rather tough, with very thin, membranous 
cell-walls, filled with dense closely and strongly annulated, bluish-green endochrome, 
occasionally with empty spaces. The strim are very evident. In the dry state the blue- 
green colour is mostly preserved ; and the surface is not glossy. 
Plate XLYII. B. Fig. 1. Portion of the stratum of Lyngbya ferruginea. Fig. 2. 
Portion of a filament, magnified. Fig. 3. Section of the same, more highly magnified. 
3. Lyngbya fulva, Harv. ; filaments slender, elongate, flexuous, fulvous, issuing in 
erect, crisped, plumose fascicles from a dark coloured stratum ; cell-wall thick, forming 
a broad limbus to the endochrome. (Tab. XLYII. F.) 
Hab. On the granite masses composing the breakwater at Stoningtcn, Conn. Professor 
Bailey, (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Stratum attached to the rock, dull olivaceous, throwing up long fascicles of filaments, 
an inch or more in length, and standing upright in the water. Filaments about the 
size of those of L. ferruginea, but with very thick walls, which form a glassy sheath to 
the enclosed fulvous or ochre coloured endochrome ; the hyaline border being nearly half 
as wide as the coloured portion. The annuli are strongly marked and very closely set. 
This somewhat resembles L. luteofusca, Ag., but the walls of the tube are much 
thicker, as thick in proportion to the enclosed matter as are those of L. majuscula to 
the matter in its tube. 
Plate. XLYII. F. Fig. 1. Lyngbya fulva, the natural size. Fig. 3. Portion of a 
filament, magnified. Fig. 2. Section of a filament, more highly magnified. 
4. Lyngbya nigrescens, Harv. ; filaments very slender, flaccid, densely interwoven 
into a fleecy, blackish-green stratum. (Tab. XLYII. D.) 
Hab. Sea shores or mud, &c. Canarsic Bay, Long Island, Mr. Hooper. Peconic 
Bay. W. H. H. .Also on leaves of Zostera, Peconic Bay, Mr. Hooper. OSCILLATOPIACEiE. 
103 
Strata varying in extent, lying on the surface of mud, or floating, or entangled with 
other Algae and attached to them, of a very dull, blackish, or somewhat violet colour, 
with shades of aeruginous green. Filaments scarcely more than half the diameter of 
those of L. ferruginea ; with thin, membranous cell-walls, and densely annulated, dark 
or dull coloured endochrome. When dry the stratum becomes brittle, and frequently 
breaks off from the paper in flakes. 
Plate XLYII. J). Fig. 1. Lyngbya nigrescens, the natural size. Fig. 2. Portion of 
a filament, magnified. Fig. 3. Section of the same, more highly magnified. 
5. Lyngbya confervoides, Ag. ; filaments very slender, flaccid, elongate, forming long, 
comose fasciculi, floating freely from a blackish green basal stratum ; annuli not very 
strongly marked. Ag. Syst. p. 73. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 285. (Tab. XLYII. C.) 
Hab. Sea-shores, Charleston, S. Carolina, Professor Lewis R. Gibbes. (v. s.) 
Stratum dark, olivaceous, or blackish green, emitting long bundles of slender filaments, 
1-2 inches long, which float freely in the water. Filaments lying parallel in the 
bundles, flexuous, but scarcely interwoven and often separate ; with very thin, narrow, 
membranous tubes, and a dense, dull-green endochrome, which is much less distinctly 
annulated than in L. ferruginea. The diameter of the filament is also much less than 
in that species. 
I have compared the above quoted species with an authentic one from Professor 
J. Agardh, and find little difference between them. 
Plate. XLYII. C. Fig. 1. Lyngbya confervoides, the natural size. Fig. 2. Portion 
of two filaments, magnified. Fig. 3. Section, more highly magnified. 
6. Lyngbya pusilla, Harv. ; stratum minute, blackish-green ; filaments very slender, 
short, crisped, spreading in small bundles ; endochrome pale, dull-green, annulate, cell- 
wall very thin. (Tab. XLYII. E.) 
Hab. Parasitic on small Algae, at Sullivan’s Island, S.C., W. H. H. (v. v.) 
This spreads over small Algae in thin strata, composed of densely matted filaments, 
and emitting to all sides free, fascicled filaments. These latter are about quarter of an 
inch long, and half the diameter of those of L. ferruginea, with a pale endochrome. The 
cell-wall is extremely thin ; the endochrome quite fills the tube, leaving a scarcely per- 
ceptible margin. The annuli are tolerably definite. 
Possibly this may be an Oscillatoria. 
Plate XLYII. E. Fig. 1. Lyngbya pusilla, the natural size. Fig 2. Portions of 
three filaments, magnified. Fig. 3. Section of a filament, highly magnified. 104 
OSCILLATORIACEtE 
7. Lyngbya hyalina, Harv. ; filaments basifixed, erect, straight, very slender, 
arachnoid, gelatinoso-membranaceous, flaccid, very pale yellowish green or nearly hyaline; 
endochrome filling the tube, at first granular, then annulated. (Tab. XLYIT. G.) 
Hab. On lime encrusted rocks at Key West, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Forming indefinite, very soft and sub-gelatinous continuous tufts or pilose strata. 
Filaments fixed by their base to the rock, and floating freely, exceedingly slender and 
cobwebby, straight, glossy, cylindrical, from half an inch to an inch long, very pale 
seruginous or yellowish-green, often nearly colourless. The cell-wall is thin and delicate, 
and the endochrome quite fills the tube, leaving no perceptible margin. 
I do not know any species similar to this. It is exceedingly slender and delicate. 
Plate XLYII. G-. Fig. 1. Lyngbya hyalina, the natural size. Fig. 2. Portions of 
three filaments, magnified. Fig. 3. Section of a filament, highly magnified. 
8. Lyngbya muralis, Ag. filaments somewhat rigid, thickish, tortuous, very long, 
interwoven in a bright, grass-green stratum ; annuli strongly defined. Ag. Syst. p. 74. 
Harv. Man. Ed. 1, p. 160. Conf. muralis, Dillw. tab. 7, E. Bot. t. 1554. /3. aquatica. 
Hab. var. fi, in pools of fresh water, Whalefish Islands, Davis Straits, Dr. Lyall. 
(V. s.) 
The specimens are mixed with turfy soil. Except in the submerged habitat, this 
agrees with the ordinary form. Intermixed with threads of the usual size and structure 
are others cohering in pairs, as in L. copidata, Hass., which is obviously only a state of 
this widely dispersed species. I have not received specimens of the ordinary L. muralis 
from America ; but no doubt it is common on damp walls, &c., as in Europe generally. 
IV. CALOTHKIX, Ag. 
Filaments destitute of a mucous layer, erect, tufted, or aggregated, fixed at the base, 
somewhat rigid, not oscillating. Tube continuous ; endochrome green, densely annu- 
lated, at length separating into lenticular sporidia. f Marine or in fresh water.) 
I retain the genus Calothrix, as established by Agardh, in preference to dividing it, 
with Kiitzing and others, into the groups Leiblinia, Tolypotlirix, 6fc. which appear to 
me to be separated on very uncertain and variable characters. The whole group 
requires a careful study and complete remodelling ; but I have neither time not suffi- 
ciently copious materials to attempt such a work. I can hardly suppose that the 
multitude of species and genera of these obscure plants described by Kiitzing are all OSCILLATORIACEiE. 
105 
distinct. To judge by the characters assigned by him, many appear very closely allied 
to each other. 
1. Calotiirix confervicola, Ag. ; filaments short, glaucous, opake, filiform, blunt, 
rigid, straight or slightly curved, minutely tufted. Ag. Syst. p. 70. Harv. Phyc. 
Brit. t. 254. Wyatt, Alg. Damn. No. 229. Leibleinia confervicola, Endl. 3d. Supp. 
p. 221. Leibleinia chalybea, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 277. (and probably other species of 
Leibleinia of the same author). Conferva confervicola, Dillw. Conf. t. 8. E. Bot. t. 257 6. 
Hab. On the filiform marine Algae. Rhode Island shores, Professor Bailey, 
Mr. Olney, Mr. Hunt. (v. v.) 
Filaments about the tenth of an inch long, either forming little starry tufts along the 
branches of the Alga it infects, or, by the confluence of several such tufts, covering the 
branch with a continuous pile of dark aeruginous-green threads. When seen under the 
microscope the filaments are simple, curved, filiform, but little attenuated upwards, and 
either separate from each other or variously combined by lateral cohesion into fascicles. 
Their cell-wall is rather thick, and the endochrome within is of a dull bluish-green, here 
and there interrupted and broken into separate masses, and sometimes nodoso-incrassate 
at short intervals. The transverse striae are more or less distinctly seen according to 
the age of the specimen examined. The colour varies in different specimens, from dull 
to bright green ; and is sometimes olivaceous, and even yellowish or pale. 
This species is a common parasite on the filiform Algae, and found in many distant seas. 
2. Calothrix scopulorum, Ag.; spreading in velvetty dull-green strata of indefinite 
extent; filaments flexuous, subulate, subattenuate, simple. Ag. Sp. Alg.p. 70. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 58, B. Schizosiphon scopulorum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 329 (and probably 
others.) Conferva scopulorum, Dillw. Conf. p. 39, Sup. t. A. E. Bot. t. 2171. 
Hab. Rocks near high water mark. Shores of Rhode Island, Professor Bailey and 
Air. Olney. (v. v.) 
This occurs in slimy and somewhat velvetty patches of indefinite extent, covering the 
surface of marine rocks. The filaments rise from a slimy debris or matrix, which is 
gradually accumulated. They are erect, flexuous, often very much bent, attenuated to 
the apices, and sometimes, but not invariably, acuminate ; and they stand in the stratum 
parallel to each other, crowded together, but not cohering in laminas. The endochrome 
is commonly of a dark, olivaceous green, and the cell-wall thin and membranous. Strive 
evident. 
Generally dispersed throughout the temperate zones, both north and south. Its 
slimy patches are very treacherous to the feet of unwary trespassers who may happen 
to tread on them. 106 
OSCILLATORIACEAL 
3. Calothrix vivipara, Harv. ; spreading in continuous, velvetty strata ; filaments 
thick-walled, fasciculate at base, straight or somewhat curved, viviparous above, and 
pseudo-branched ; endochrome strongly annulated. 
Hab. Seaconnot Point, Professor Bailey (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
This appears to form a continuous stratum on rocks, like that of C. scopulorum, but 
the filaments of which it is composed are longer, 2-3 tenths of an inch long and straighter : 
more united at the base into fascicles, and furnished above with appositional branches 
which evidently rise from viviparous separations from the endochrome. Sometimes the 
endochrome seems to split or divide longitudinally ; at other times it separates trans- 
versely, the portions growing at each end and cohering laterally. The cell-wall is wider 
than in C. scopulorum. 
Certainly closely allied to C. scopulorum and also to C. liypnoides, and perhaps 
intermediate between them, connecting the extreme forms of each. It was sent to me 
by Professor Bailey as probably C. fasciculata, but it does not agree with the British 
plant so called ; and not knowing what else to do with it, being unwilling to pass it by 
altogether, I have given it a provisional locus in the genus, assigning to it the trivial 
name vivipara. It may possibly be merely a viviparous state of C. scopulorum. 
4. Calothrix pilosa, Harv.; strata of indefinite extent, blackish or dark brown, 
pilose ; filaments densely interwoven at the base, then free, elongate, rigid, cylindrical, 
very obtuse, very flexuous, simple or slightly pseudo-branched ; cell-wall very thick, 
fulvous or subopaque ; endochrome narrow, dark green. (Tab. XLVIII. C.) 
Hab. On rocks between tide marks, Key West, W.H.H. (v. v.) 
This forms strata of indefinite extent, covering rocks in patches of a very dark 
blackish or brown colour, not in the least lubricous, and more pilose than velvetty. The 
stratum is about quarter of an inch thick ; its matrix composed of the densely inter- 
woven decumbent bases of the filaments which constitute it. These are afterwards 
erect, unconnected together, standing separately like the hairs on a fleece, very much 
curved or twisted, nearly half an inch long, rigid and not at all slimy. They are about 
the same diameter as Lyngbya majuscula ; and are scarcely attenuated at the blunt 
apex. The cell-wall or tube is remarkably thick and opaque, evidently formed of 
successive deposits, indicated by faint longitudinal striee ; and is fulvous or ochraceous 
in colour. The endochrome seldom constitutes more than a third of the diameter of 
the filaments, and is of a dull dark-green, more or less annulated. When dry the whole 
plant is rigid and harsh, and does not adhere to paper. 
This seems to be a well characterised species, different at least from any with which 
I am acquainted, and to be recognised by its shaggy, rigid pile of hair-like filaments, 
and their dark colour. Its microscopic characters are quite different from those of 
C. scopulorum. It abounds at Key West on littoral rocks. OSCILLATORIACEiE. 
107 
Plate XLVIII. C. Fig 1. Stratified tufts of Calothrix pilosa, the natural size. 
Fig. 2. Portion of the filaments magnified. Fig. 3. A more highly magnified portion. 
5. Calothrix dura, Harv.; strata indefinite, dull brown; filaments at first decum- 
bent and matted together, then erect, cohering laterally in tooth-like bundles ; each 
filament angularly bent below, at first simple, then cleft longitudinally and afterwards 
once or twice forked ; endochrome very narrow, annulate ; the cell-wall thick, lamel- 
lated and subopaque ; apices acuminate. (Tab. XLYIII. D.) 
IIab. On mudflats, near high water mark. Key West, W. H. H. (v. v.) 
Possibly this may be only a state of the preceding species, to which, at least, it is 
nearly allied, although it offers characters which would cause it to be referred to another 
genus of Kiitzing. The filaments are matted together at base; the mat being composed 
of prostrate portions of each thread, intricately interwoven. The threads, after proceeding 
for a time horizontally, suddenly become erect, bending nearly at right angles, and then 
they cohere together into stiff, tooth-like fascicles, in which they stand parallel, and are 
straight or but slightly curved. When a single filament is removed from the fascicle, it 
is seen to be simple and filiform below, but gradually increasing in diameter upwards 
to a certain stage, at which the endochrome separates into two columns, which are at 
first parallel with each other and contained in the same sheath; but they soon separate, 
and then each becomes invested by a separate sheath. In this way two branches are 
formed, which may either remain simple or may again divide once or twice in a similar 
manner. The cell-wall is much wider than the endochrome. The substance is rigid 
and tough : and the colour dull brown or fulvous. 
Plate XLYIII. D. Fig. 1. Stratified tufts of Calothrix dura, the natural size. 
Fig. 2. Portions of the filaments magnified. Fig. 3. Apex of a filament, more highly 
magnified. 
Y. OSCILLATORIA. Vouch. 
Filaments lying in a gelatinous matrix, rigid, simple, acicular, vividly oscillating. 
Tube continuous ; endochrome green, densely annulated with close, parallel, trans- 
verse stride. (Mostly in fresh water—some marine.) 
The Oscillatorioe occur in gelatinous strata or pellicles, which at first are formed at 
the bottom of stagnant or running water, and afterwards rise to the surface. The green 
scum frequently seen on the surface of putrid ditches is generally formed by one or 108 
OSCILLATORIACEiE. 
more species of this genus. Others occur in lakes, and sometimes in such abundance 
as to impart a blue-green tint to the water, over very wide areas. Others, again, inhabit 
mineral springs and thermal waters ; and some are found on the damp surface of the 
soil, especially in the autumnal months. Varied as are the habitats, the general 
characters of the species are very uniform: and all are remarkable for an oscillating 
movement of the filaments, from side to side, like the motion of a pendulum. This 
continues with greater or less vividness, while the plant lives: but some species exhibit 
much more lively movements than others, and all appear to be more active in warm 
than in cold weather. 
A considerable number of species have been described by authors, but they require 
to be studied in a living state, or at least with very perfect materials and an ample 
suite of well preserved specimens. I cannot undertake to name specifically the few 
scraps of American Oscillatorice which have been sent to me by various correspondents. 
Probably most of the European species will be met with in America ; and no doubt 
some others peculiar to the Hew Continent. It would be interesting to know whether 
any species be found in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, or in other anomalous 
localities. 
VI. MICROCOLEUS, Desmaz. 
(Chthonoblastus, KiitzJ 
Filaments minute, rigid, straight, annulated, bundled, and enclosed within membra- 
naceous simple or branching sheaths, which are either open or closed at the upper 
extremities. 
The filaments in this genus have the structure of those of Oscillatoria or Calothrix, 
hut are developed within membranous common sheaths, which are either simple or 
branched, and either lie prostrate in indefinite strata, like those of an Oscillatoria ; or 
stand erect, in toothlike tufts, like those of many Calothrices. In all cases the sheath 
is much attenuated at the base, gradually widening upwards, and terminating either in 
an open, trumpet-shaped upper extremity, or in a closed club-shaped one. In the 
lowest part of the sheath there is but a single longitudinal filament : a little way up, 
two or three parallel filaments are found ; and the filaments gradually increase in 
number in the upper and wider portions of the common sheath. Hence it may probably 
be inferred that the mode of growth of the frond is by the continual longitudinal 
division of the filaments ; the older ones, having once split, remaining unchanged at 
base ; while their apices by another splitting give birth to other filaments, which 
multiply in the same manner. Such a mode of growth would account for the form OSCILLATORIACEiE. 
109 
which the full grown frond assumes. The species are found either in the sea or in fresh 
or brackish water, and even on damp soil. A terrestrial species is common in Europe 
by the borders of clayey highways and paths, and may also be found in America. 
1. Microcoleus corymbosus, Harv.; fronds erect, rigid, tufted, multifid, the branches 
erect, level-topped, linear-clavate, closed at the extremity ; filaments densely packed, 
not oscillating. (Tab. XLYIII. B.) 
Hab. On mud-flats, near high-water mark, at Key West, mixed with Calothrix dura. 
W.HTI. (v. v.) 
Fronds half sunk in the mud, erect, tufted, from an eighth to a quarter of an inch in 
length, flexuous, tapering much to the base, gradually increasing in diameter upwards 
and dividing above into three or four or more erect branches, the lowest of which are 
longest, the upper gradually shorter, so that the apices of all are nearly on a level. 
These apices are obtuse, and closed. The investing sheath is tough and firmly mem- 
branous, and the enclosed filaments strongly cohere together, and are with difficulty 
separated. The colour of the sheath is ochraceous yellow, and of the endochrome dull green. 
The substance is very firm and rigid, and in drying the plant does not adhere to paper. 
Plate XLVIII. B. Fig. 1. Tufts of Microcoleus corymbosus, the natural size. 
Fig. 2. Magnified view of two fronds. Fig. 3. Portions of the enclosed filaments, more 
highly magnified. 
VII. RIVULARIA, Both. 
Frond globose or lobed, fleshy, firm, composed of continuous radiating filaments, 
annulated within ; each springing from a spherical globule. (In the sea or in fresh 
water.) 
A fresh water species resembling the British B. pisum has been sent to me by Mr* 
Bavenel from the Santee Canal, where it grows on submerged leaves and stems of plants. 
It is hemispherical, very convex, dark blackish-green and soft, and consists of densely 
set, spuriously branching, slender filaments. The specimens are not in a very perfect 
state, and I cannot say to which, if any, of the modern species they would belong. In 
old times they would pass for B. pisum, but it is nearly impossible at present to say 
exactly what that species is. 110 
NOSTOCIIINEiE. 
Order X.—NOSTOCHINE^E. 
Nostochinece, Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 12. Berk. Crypt. Bot.p. 139- Nostochece, 
Lindl. Veg. Kingd. p. 18. Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 30. Nostochaceee, Harv. Man. Ed. 2, 
p. 230. 
Diagnosis. Green, fresh water, or rarely marine Algae, composed of moniliform 
filaments, lying in a gelatinous matrix. Filaments formed of globose cells, here and 
there interrupted by a single cell (heterocyst) of a different character. Propagation by 
zoospores. 
Natural Character.—The least organized plants of this Order consist of isolated, 
moniliform threads, invested with a gelatinous coat, and either lying on the soil, 
without a root attachment, or floating freely in water. Others a little more compound 
are made up of numerous similar threads aggregated in bundles, and imbedded in a 
gelatine common to the colony : while even the most complex, as in the genus Nostoc, 
present but little further in advance, except that the gelatine in which the threads are 
developed is of a firm consistence, when dry becoming quasi-membranous, and assumes 
the character of a frond, with definite outline, but generally polymorphous shape. The 
filaments are almost always simple, consisting of strings of cells, and are curved or 
twisted, or often spiral; in one case (Monormia) the filaments branch. The cells are 
spherical or oval, never truly cylindrical with flat ends, as in the Confervacece, and are 
filled with a dense, bright-green endochrome. In some few cases, as in Spermosira, 
the moniliform thread is enclosed within a tubular, membranous sheath, as in Oscil- 
latorice, and there is little to distinguish such plants from individuals of that Order, 
except the occurrence of the cells called “ heterocysts.” These latter cells are destitute 
ef endochrome, but often clothed with cilia, and are of a different size and shape from 
the neighbouring cells. They are always solitary, and occur at intervals in the fila- 
ments, but vary in position in the different species. Their use has not been ascertained, 
but they have been supposed to be connected with the male system of these plants. 
They never change character, like the ordinary cells, and are always found occupying 
a definite position in the filament, indicating that they perform some important function, 
whatever it may be. 
Though the process of fertilization has not yet been observed, there can be little 
doubt but that a true fructification is formed in the ordinary cells, which at first are 
filled with pale-green matter, and afterwards increase in size, alter their form, and 
acquire a much denser and more darkly coloured, often deep brown, endochrome. All 
the cells of the filaments do not exhibit these changes, but only one or more, generally NOSTOCIIINEJ3. 
111 
those in the neighbourhood of the heteroeyst. Finally, at maturity, the threads break 
up, and the enlarged brown cells are found to contain spores which germinate and 
continue the species. They have been stated to change into zoospores, but this requires 
confirmation. M. Thuret, in a communication recently made to the Natural History 
Society of Cherbourg (Aug. 1857, ml. 5) has described and figured the germination 
of the spores of Anabaina licheniformis, and A. major. In these species the sporan- 
gium is oblong, and contains at maturity a deep brown solitary spore. M. Thuret 
having obtained some specimens with ripe fruit, set them aside in a convenient glass 
vessel, and observed them from day to day. The filaments soon broke up, the hetero- 
cysts and sporangia floating apart in the water. Many of thO latter perished, melting 
away, and disappearing altogether. Some remained sound, and these were carefully 
supplied with water, until germination commenced. The spore, in germinating, at 
first lengthens, pushing against one end of the sporangium, which it finally pierces 
lifting ofi* the tip of the periderm like a lid, and thus its extremity issues, as the radicle 
from an monocotyledonous seed, capped with the lid of the sporangium. At this period 
new cells begin to be formed, by the repeated sub-division of the spore, which continues 
to lengthen till it is transformed into a moniliform filament or string of cells, like that 
from which it was derived. At first the divisions between the cells are but little 
distinct, but they become more and more strongly defined as growth proceeds. The 
filament lengthens at both extremities, but more rapidly at that which projects into the 
water ; the young articulations are of smaller size than the rest, and thus the filament 
tapers towards each end. But this character gradually disappears, and the cells acquire 
a uniform dimension, proper to the species. M. Thuret's first experiments were made 
with freshly gathered sporangia : but he afterwards succeeded in causing to germinate 
specimens which had been dried and preserved for several months in the herbarium* 
They began to germinate in about a fortnight. Others (of Anabaina licheniformis) 
which had been kept for nine years in a dried state, germinated in an equal space of time, 
and the experiment was repeated several times with like success. Several other fresh- 
water Algae have been observed to possess the same property of revivification, and it 
seems a necessary endowment to enable them to continue the existence of their species 
through the alternate drying and moistening to wrhich they are subjected in nature. 
To M. Thuret we are also indebted for observations on the ordinary propagation by 
gemmation of the Nostocs, and for an account of the way in which the compound frond 
is developed. In the autumnal months, when this process goes forward, the old Nostoc 
may be said to diliquesce, the gelatine becoming loose and exuding, and the filaments 
contained in it breaking up into small fragments. If these be collected and placed in 
a glass of water, they may be observed to have a slow, progressive movement, like that 
of the Oscillatorice, which enables them to change their place ; and at length they 
generally fix themselves on that side of the glass next the light. By continuing the 
observations for some days, the broken threads are seen to become immoveable, and 
then to be invested with a transparent pellicle. At the same time the green cells 
increase in size, expanding laterally, till the thread attains nearly twice its ordinary 
diameter. A cell division, in vertical order, then takes place throughout its component 
cells, and thus the filament splits into two parallel filaments, which are then contained 112 
NOSTOCIlINEiE. 
within a common pellicle. The same process continues ; these split into other threads, 
and thus, by gradual bisection of the first formed threads, the frond grows until it 
become of the form and size proper to its kind. As it grows the filaments twist and 
curl, and loose their parallelism. All these changes have been figured by M. Tliuret 
with the accuracy and delicacy of execution characteristic of that accomplished naturalist. 
The Nostochineae are very rarely marine, and are chiefly found in fresh water streams 
or ponds and lakes, or in damp places. Nostoc commune is dispersed over most 
countries of the globe, being found lying on the bare soil after rains, or in very damp 
weather. It may be observed often on garden walks in the autumn and winter months, 
and is found throughout both temperate zones, extending almost to the tropics. A 
similar species has been seen in Australia, after a shower of rain, to cover what had 
seemed previously to be a bare hill side, with such a thick coating of jelly as to render 
it impossible to walk over it without sliding. Such terrestial species have, in England, 
the popular name of “ fallen stars” ; their sudden appearance and disappearance being 
accounted for by the supposition that they had fallen from the air. In Dr. Suther- 
land’s account of his Arctic voyage a species bearing a close external resemblance to 
N. commune was observed in profusion, occurring on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, 
but in windy weather frequently blown over the ice, and drifted out to sea. This will 
be found described below as N. arcticum. Dr. Sutherland mentions that he had eaten 
handfulls of it on several occasions, without any inconvenience ; and although it was 
generally infested with swarms of the larvae of flies and gnats, he considered it much 
more nutritious than “ tripe de roche,” and perhaps not inferior to Iceland moss. A 
very similar plant was noticed by Dr. Thomson as occurring in Thibet, up to the 
height of 17,000 feet, floating on the surface of pools and lakes, in soils impregnated 
with carbonate of soda, and drifted in heaps by the winds along their banks. Mr. 
Berkeley, who examined the specimens of both plants chemically, “ thinks we may safely 
assume the jelly of the Nostoc to be a state of bassorin, passing into cellulose or 
dextrine.” Another species of this genus (Nostoc edule, Mont, and Berk.) is found 
abundantly in streams in Tartary, whence it is exported to China, where it is sold in the 
markets as an article of food, and highly esteemed as an ingredient in soups. It is 
prepared for sale in boxes, one of which is in the Museum of the Linneean Society. 
These particulars are drawn from the abstract of a paper read by Dr. Hooker before 
the Linnaean Society of London, January 20, 1852. (See Taylor's An. Nat. Hist. 
2nd. Ser. Vol. 10, p. 301-303.J As the edible Nostocs closely resemble N. commune 
in substance, it may be worth enquiry whether the latter may not also be used as food. 
Possibly a new source of luxury may lie hid under this humble exterior. Or it may 
perhaps be a nourishing and delicate food for weak digestions. The dyspeptic had better 
seek for it betimes. NOSTOCHINEiE. 
113 
NOSTOC. Vauch. 
Frond gelatinous or coriaceous, globose or lobed, filled with curled, beaded, simple 
filaments, formed of spherical or ellipsoidal coloured cells, interrupted here and there by 
a colourless cell of larger size. Spores formed from the ordinary cells. (On damp 
ground or in fresh water.) 
1. Nostoc commune, Yauch. ; terrestrial; frond expanded, membranaceous, plaited 
and waved or curled, olive-green, polymorphous. Vauch. Tab. 16. Fig. 1, Ag. Syst. 
p. 18. Harv. Man. Ed. 1, p. 183. Hass. Br. Fr. W. Alg. p. 288 t. 74,/. 2. 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 298. 
Hab. On damp soil, in autumn. Common after rain on dry flats, Rio Bravo, Hr. 
Schott, (v. vj 
In dry weather the frond curls up and contracts, looking like a piece of shrivelled 
skin, and in that state may be blown about without injury. When moistened it expands, 
and then forms a semi-transparent, semi-gelatinous, elastic membrane, of a dull bottle- 
green colour. Under the microscope it appears like a transparent jelly traversed in 
every part with curled strings of beadlike, green cells. 
2. Nostoc (Hormosiphon) arcticum, Berk.; fronds foliaceous, variously plaited, green 
or brownish ; filaments at length (their gelatinous envelope being dissolved) free. 
Berk, in Proc. Lin. Soc.frde An. Nat. Hist. 2d Ser. vol. 10, p. 302. 
Hab. On the naked soil, in boggy ground. Assistance Bay, lat. 75° 40' N. Dr. 
Sutherland, (v. s.) 
“ Fronds foliaceous, variously plicate, sometimes contracted into a little ball. Gela- 
tinous envelope at length elfused ; connecting cells at first solitary, then three together ; 
threads, which are nearly twice as thick as in N. commune, breaking up at the con- 
necting cells, so as to form new threads, each terminated with a single large cell, the 
central cell becoming free.” Berk. 1. c. 
“ It grows,” says Dr. Sutherland, “ upon the soft and almost boggy slopes around 
Assistance Bay ; and when these slopes become frozen at the close of the season, the 
plant lying upon the surface in irregularly plicated masses becomes loosened, and if it 
is not at once covered with snow, which is not always the case, the wind carries it about 
in all directions. Sometimes it is blown out to sea, where one can pick it up on the 
surface of the ice, over a depth of probably one hundred fathoms. It has been found at 
a distance of two miles from the land, where the wind had carried it. At this distance 
from the land it was infested with Podurse, and I accounted for this fact by presuming 
that the insects of the previous year had deposited their ova in the plant upon the land, 
where also the same species could be seen in myriads upon the little purling rivulets, 
at the side of which the Nostoc was very abundant.” At p. 205 of his Journal, Dr. 114 
NOSTOCIIINEiE. 
Sutherland further mentions having tried it as an article of food, and found it prefer- 
able to the Tripe de Roche of the arctic hunters. Its nutritive qualities are probably 
equal to those of the jelly derived from other Algse. 
3. Nostoc verrucosum, Yauch. ; aquatic ; fronds large, gregarious, confluent, sub- 
globose, plaited, at length hollow, blackish-green. Vauch. t.16, fig. 3. Ag. Syst. p. 21. 
Harv. Alan. Ed. 1 , p. 185. Hass. Brit. Fr. Wat. Alg.p. 291, tab. *15, fig. 1. Kiltz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 300. 
Hab. On stones in fresh water streams. Pools of fresh water, Isle of Disko, and at 
Beechey Island, Arctic Regions, Dr. Lyall. Santa Fe, New Mexico, Fendler. 
Fronds gregarious, at length confluent, adhering firmly to the rock on which they 
grow, becoming hollow and torn in age, and finally floating to the surface. Colour a 
bottle-green. Glossy when dry. 
4. Nostoc cristatum, Bailey ; aquatic , fronds orbicular, piano-compressed, firm, 
smooth or tuberculated, attached by a point of the circumference, erect. N~. nummu- 
lar e, Harv. MS. in Herb. 
Hab. In rivulets, attached to stones under water. Near West Point, Professor 
Bailey. Crumelbow Creek, Hyde Park, N.Y., W.H.H. (v. v.) 
This pretty little species grows on stones in running water and may possibly be of 
common occurrence. The fronds are circular, about half an inch in diameter, or rather 
more, the tenth of an inch in thickness, piano-compressed and solid ; but perhaps in age 
they would become hollow, and then would probably be spherical. Such inflated fronds, 
however, have not yet been seen. They are fixed to the stones on which they grow by 
a single point of the circumference, and stand erect, like miniature cock’s-combs, whence 
the specific name cristatum bestowed by Professor Bailey. The substance is very firm 
and cartilaginous. The filaments are much curled and very densely packed together, 
moniliform, and of a dark bluish-green under the microscope. The colour of the frond 
to the naked eye is a dark olive-green, blackish rather than blueish. 
5. Nostoc Sutherland!, Dickie; “discoid, coriaceous; filaments crowded; cells mostly 
spherical.” Dickie in App. Suth. Voy. 1, p. 193. 
Hab. South side of harbour, in winter quarters, Baffin’s Bay, July, 1851. Dr. 
Sutherland. 
“ The plant is one to two inches in diameter, attached by one point of the margin. 
Plicato-venose beneath, the plicee radiating chiefly from the point of attachment; faintly 
venose above, especially near the point of adhesion ; toward the margin reticulately 
venose.” Dickie, l. c. NOSTOCHINEiE. 
115 
This is unknown to me. It seems to be closely allied to the preceding species, if it 
be distinct. The plicae and reticulations observed do not appear to be characters of 
much value for the discrimination of species among these gelatinous plants. 
6. Nostoc micro scopicum, Carm.; fronds densely aggregated, very minute, globose 
or oblong, immersed in a blackish crust; filaments few. Carm. in Hook. Brit. FI. 2, 
p. 399. Harv. Man. Ed. 1, p. 184. N. muscorum, Hass. Br. Fr. Wat. Alg. p. 292, 
t. 74, fig. 4. 
Hab. “ Stones in a small stream, Baffin’s Bay, Hr. Sutherland, fide Prof. Dickie. 
I have not seen American specimens. In Britain this species grows among mosses 
on exposed calcareous rocks, but not in water. The above specific character is taken from 
the British plant. The fronds are rarely more than the tenth of an inch in diameter, 
and contain two or three beaded filaments lying in a copious transparent jelly. 
7. Nostoc flagelliforme, Berk, and Curt. ; terrestrial ; frond cartilaginous, linear, 
very narrow, compressed and often channelled, much branched, irregularly dichotomous j 
branches solid, densely filled with moniliform curved threads. Berk, and Curt. 
No. 3809. 
Hab. On naked aluminous soil, at San Pedro, Texas, Mr. Charles Wright (v. s.) 
Fronds several inches in length, half a line in diameter, lying prostrate on the 
surface of the soil, much branched in an irregularly dichotomous manner: branches 
exactly linear, compressed, often channelled on one or both sides, thinned in the middle 
and incrassated to the edge. Substance firm and elastic, cartilaginous, solid, densely 
filled with moniliform, curved or curled, interlaced threads, which are set longitudinally 
in the frond, and lie nearly parallel to each other. Colour dark olive. 
A very curious and most distinctly marked species, differing from others of this 
genus, much in the same manner that Chcetophora endivicefolia does from the ordinary 
globose forms of Chcetophora. 116 
PALMELLACEcE. 
Order XIIIPALMELLACE^l. 
Palmellacece, Harv. Man. Ed. 2, p. 234. Palmellece, Hue. Class, p. 31. Endl. 
3rd. Supp. p. 10. Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 166. Afass. jBnf. A¥. fFotf. y?. 306. 
Lindl. Veg. King. p. 18. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 196. Berk. Crypt. Bot. p. 114. Thwaites, 
in An. Nat. Hist. 2ndSer. vol. 2, p. 312, and vol. 3, p. 243. Part of Clvacece, Harv. 
Man. Ed. 1, y?. 169- Part of Nostochinece, Ag. Syst. p. 13. Harv. in HooJc. Br. 
fl- 2,p. 394. 
Diagnosis. Green or red, orange or yellowish, fresh-water Algas, composed of separate 
or aggregated (hut not united) globose or ellipsoidal cells, free, or lying in a gelatinous 
matrix ; sometimes stipitate. Propagation by division of the endochrome. 
Natural character. The plants of this family are the simplest in organization of 
any of the great class of the Algae, and therefore fall to the lowest point of the scale in 
the arrangement we have adopted. In them we no longer find any distinction of root 
from frond ; most of them are amorphous masses of gelatinous substance, and only in a 
few, as in Hydrurus, does the gelatine assume a tolerably definite form, and display 
itself as a branching frond. The simplest of the group (Protococcus) consists of single, 
isolated cells, strewn on the surface of the soil or of whatever object to which they 
happen to attach themselves. These cells are globose or egg-shaped, have a hyaline, 
often gelatinous coat, and contain a utricle filled with dense endochrome of various 
colours; sometimes green, but often red or orange. Of this character is the Red Snow 
plant (Protococcus nivalis) which has attracted so much notice, from the accounts of 
arctic travellers, and which may often be seen tinging the snows of Mount Blanc and 
other snowy Alps with a pale roseate hue. The mode of propagation of this primordial 
plant is as simple as its structure. The matter in the cell becomes condensed at 
maturity, and then subdivides into 4, 8, 16, or more parts, on a quaternary scale of 
increase ; each frustule acquires a new cell-coat while yet within the parent cell, and 
when the process is completed, and all the endochrome of the mother cell has thus been 
used up in providing for the progeny, the cell-coat bursts and a multitude of minute 
cell-plants, similar in all respects to the parent except in size, are launched into the 
world. These grow till they attain the dimensions of the parent, when a similar cell 
division takes place ; and thus in a very few generations millions of new plants may 
be produced from a few or even from a solitary original. As the process of growth and 
* Orders XI. Desmidiacece, and XII. Diatomacece are omitted in this work ; the American species having 
been already partially described and published by Professor Bailey, and the author not being supplied with 
any new materials for publication. PALMELLACEtE. 
117 
development is very rapid, we may easily account for the rapidity with which the 
Protococcus nivalis has been seen to extend, and also for the vast surface covered by so 
minute an organism. Each individual is not more than toW of an inch in diameter, yet 
the surface of snow visibly reddened by the congregated masses often covers hundreds 
of square miles. A species very similar, if really different, called P. pluvialis, is found 
in shallow pools of rain water, on the surface of rocks, in gutters of houses, &c,; and 
has been noticed in very distant parts of the globe under various climatial conditions ; 
and of this species a most elaborate monograph* illustrated by figures, has been given 
by De Flotow, in the Nov. A ct. Leop. Carol. Nat. Cur. vol. 20, where no less than 
twenty-two distinct and many more subdistinct varieties, or rather states, are enume- 
rated, described, and measured to fourteen places of decimals (!) and figured. Several of 
these forms are endowed with movements resembling those of the infusorial animalcules, 
and have been described as animalcules by Shuttleworth in his account of the Red Snow 
(Bib. Univ. Geneva, Feb. 1840.) 
A little higher in organisation than Protococcus is the genus Gloeocapsa (Hcemato- 
coccus) in which what is only a passing phase of the Protococcus becomes a permanent 
character. In this we have several cells (of the structure of Protococcus) enclosed 
within a common, primary cell, which is persistent, or at least partially so. In some 
species (as in G. Hookeri) the primary cell-coat exfoliates repeatedly, the old coats 
remaining permanently attached on one side to each other, and to the cell, which per- 
petually bursts through them ; and thus a sort of spurious frond, simple or branching, 
is formed, consisting of exuviae, each branch being tipped with the living cell, which 
shines like a gem at its summit. These plants occur generally in damp situations, on 
rocks and among mosses, about the spray of cascades, &c., and Kiitzing has described 
and figured upwards of fifty. 
Next come the Palmelloe proper, where a large number of protococcoid cells are enclosed 
within a common gelatine, in which they sometimes appear to be distributed without 
order ; and sometimes arranged in a subquaternary manner. In this latter case the 
structure approaches very closely to that of Tetraspora, a genus we have already 
referred to the Ulvacece ; but which is placed by many authors next to Palmella. 
Possibly among these obscure plants forms are associated in one genus which will be 
separated when their development is better understood. Among some of the Palmellce 
Broome and Thwaites have described and figured a more definite organization than was 
previously known ; namely, that the apparently scattered cells of the mass are connected 
in an early stage of growth, by means of slender gelatinous threads, with a central cell 
* This extraordinary essay is well worth looking at—(I will not say carefully perusing)—as one of the most 
remarkable commentaries on the text, “ how great a flame a little fire kindleth.” The object to be examined 
is a microscopic Alga of the simplest possible structure, being in fact merely an isolated living cell. All that 
need to be said of its history might, one would suppose, easily have been written in a page or two. But the 
learned and most laborious author has occupied nearly two hundred large quarto pages on this theme ; and 
not content therewith, has appended long tables of decimal measurements of microscopic areas and volumes, 
whose only reference to his subject appears to be that they enable him to arrive at such important calculations 
and useful results as describing the mean differences of the shorter and longer diameters of different individuals 
of his Protococcus, and their mean comparative bulk and spherical aberration. In computing these tables, the 
decimals have been carried sometimes to fourteen places, and in most cases at least to six. PALMELLACEfiE. 
118 
of large size, from which they radiate. Afterwards they become detached, and then each 
is seen at the end of a mucous prolongation similar in appearance to that already 
noticed as occurring in Gloeocapsa. Mr. Thwaites compares these threads to the 
mycelium of a fungus, but regards the increase of cells by cell-division as properly an 
act of gemmation and not of true reproduction. The reproductive process in these 
plants is by conjugation of two cells, which takes place in a manner similar to that 
already noticed as occurring in Zygnemacece. A narrow connecting tube, soon enlarg- 
ing to the breadth of each cell, is formed between two contiguous cells, through which 
the contents of both cells are mixed together ; and thus a sporangium filled with a 
denser and more distinctly granular endochrome is formed, the membranes of the 
original cells being absorbed in the process. Probably at a future stage the contents 
of this sporangium are resolved into zoospores. (See Thw. An. Nat. His. ser. 2, vols. 
2 and 2>.) 
Higher in structure than Palmella, and showing some approaches to the Nostochinece, 
or even to the gelatinous ConfervacevE (Chcetophora) is Hydrums, the only genus 
which we shall further describe. 
I. HYDEUEUS, Ag. 
Frond fixed at base, cylindrical or compressed, elongated, branched, gelatinous. 
Structure : seriated, but separate, cellules, filled with bright-green endochrome, enclosed 
in gelatinous parallel tubes, ranged longitudinally in the frond, and surrounded by a 
common gelatinous envelope. 
Of this genus several species have been described by authors, all having a close 
resemblance to each other, and all very variable in ramification. Indeed it is almost 
impossible to fix characters by which they can be permanently kept apart; and instead 
of adding another specific name to the already too numerous list, I prefer to consider the 
American specimens received as constituting a luxuriant variety of the best known of 
the established species. All previously recorded species or varieties of these plants are 
natives of rapid rivers and streams in various parts of Europe. 
1. Hydrurus penicillatus, var. occidentalism Harv.; frond very long (1-2 feet or 
more) much branched ; branches very irregular, scattered or crowded, wormlike, taper- 
ing to a fine point, naked or clothed with feathery villous ramuli; cells ellipsoidal or 
pearshaped, twice as long as their diameter. 
IIab. On the rocky bottom of rivers and streams, in a strong current. Santa Fe, 
New Mexico, Mr. Fendler, February to April, 1847. (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) PALMELLACEiE. 
119 
Fronds attached at base, one or two feet long, from one to four lines in diameter, 
very much and irregularly branched ; branches scattered or crowded, simple or divided, 
a foot or more in length, attenuated to a fine point, sometimes smooth and naked, but 
generally densely clothed with slender, villous ramenta, spreading to all sides. The 
gelatinous tubes or sheaths in which the cells are seriated are very obvious, and lie close 
together in longitudinal, parallel strata. The cells are of large size, bright-green colour, 
and variable shape ; some are twice as long as others. 
This I had at first supposed to be a new species, but now regard it as a very gigantic 
state of H. penicillatus, Ag. which under various forms and of various sizes is common 
in alpine streams in Europe. I fear characters derived from the shape and size of the 
cellules are not more to be depended upon than are those taken from the ramification. SUPPLEMENT. 
No. 1. Additional Species discovered since the publication of the 
First and Second Parts. 
Part I.—MELANOSPERMEiE. 
Part 1, p. 61, add, 
I * TURBINARIA. Lamour. 
Root branching. Frond alternately decompound, having a distinct stem, branches, 
vesicated leaves and receptacles. Branches filiform, simple or pinnate. Leaves spirally 
inserted, on long petioles, peltate, becoming inflated and changed into peltate air-vessels 
with leafy dentate margins. Receptacles cylindrical, verrucose, much branched, rising 
from the petiole of the leaf, near its base, on the upper side ; of similar structure to 
those of Sargassum. 
A genus consisting of two or three tropical or subtropical Algm, distinguished from 
Sargassum by its peltate leaves, which are at first thin and flat, hut afterwards become 
hollow and are changed into flat-topped, margined air vessels. 
1. Turbinaria vulgaris, Ag. ; frond membranaceo-coriaceous ; leaves on an inflated 
petiole obconic or top-shaped, the margin entire or toothed, the disc naked. J. Ag. Sp. 
Alg. 1, p. 267. Turbinaria denudata and T. decurrens, Bory. Fucus turbinatus, 
Turn. Hist. t. 24, jig. a. and b. 
Hab. At Key West, Mr. Ashmead. (v. v.) 
Boot a mass of branching fibres, as thick as sparrow’s quills, loosely entangled 
together. Fronds several from the same mat of roots, either quite simple, or dividing 
near the base into three or four principal branches ; or pinnately compound by the 
evolution of lateral branches, erect and rigid, 6-10 inches high, cylindrical and smooth. 
Leaves spirally inserted, spreading to all sides, patent, rigid ; petioles at first cylindrical, 122 
SUPPLEMENT. 
then becoming clubshaped and somewhat inflated, from half an inch to an inch long, 
crowned with a peltate horizontal lamina, which is either subentire or sharply dentate 
at the margin. In young specimens or on young branches the peltate leaves are found 
flat and thin, their upper and lower surfaces forming one substance ; but more com- 
monly the centre of the leaf becomes inflated or vesicated, and then is formed a compound 
top-shaped flat-topped body, half vesicle, half leaf, which is characteristic of the genus. 
Receptacles dichotomous, much branched, shrubby, their branches verrucose. 
when growing a pale olive, but in the herbarium changing to a dark brown or black. 
Substance, when dry very hard and rigid. 
A common plant in tropical seas, both in the eastern and western hemispheres. Mr. 
Ashmead obtained fine specimens at Key West, but it appears to be of rare occurrence. 
Part 1, page 64, add, 
III * CYSTOPHYLLUM. 
(Generic character the same as that of Cystoseira, except that the air-vessels are 
confined to the ultimate ramuli, which are simple and filiform.) 
1. Cystophyllum geminatum, Ag. ; stem ; fronds elongate, filiform, un- 
armed, decompound-pinnate ; branches issuing from all sides, geminate ; vesicles solitary 
in the ramuli near the summit, oval, tipped with an excurrent point ; receptacles 
paniculate, warted, attenuate, often tipped with a vesicle. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 232. 
Cystoseira tliyrsigera, Post, and Rupr. 111. Alg. 13, t. 38,/. 4. 
Hab. Banks’ Island, North Western America, Mr. Menzies, 1787. (v. s.) 
In Mr. Menzies’ Herbarium, now preserved at the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, is 
a specimen of this plant, marked C. trinodis in Mr. Menzies1 handwriting. Two 
branches are laid on one piece of paper. The largest is about 10 inches long, as 
thick as sparrow’s quill, smooth, decompound, pinnate and ovato-lanceolate in circum- 
scription. The branchlets are mostly geminate, filiform, alternately decompound ; 
their lesser divisions also subgeminate. Vesicles oval, lines long, scarcely a line 
wide, either solitary in the filiform ramuli, about the middle or a little beyond it, or two 
in the ramulus, the second one terminal, apiculate, and removed by a rather long pedi- 
cel from the first. Receptacles lanceolate, 2-3 lines long, verrucose, apiculate, often 
with a slender beak nearly as long as the receptacle, and sometimes two receptacles occur 
on the same ramulus. The upper branches are very dense. 
Page 71, add, 
8. Fucus serratus, Linn. ; frond flat, dichotomous, midribbed, serrated, without air- 
vessels; receptacles flat, terminating the branches, serrated. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 211. 
Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 590. Turn. Hist. t. 90. E. Bot. t. 1221. Harv. Phyc. Brit, 
t. 47, dfc. SUPPLEMENT. 
123 
Hab. On rocky sea-shores. Newbury port, Mass. Captain Pike, 1852. (v. v.) 
Fronds, two feet long or more, from one half-inch to one or two inches in width, 
dichotomous, with a thick midrib, bordered by a sharply serrated lamina. Air-vessels 
none. Receptacles flat, formed in the acuminated extremities of the branches, sharply 
serrate like the other parts of the frond. 
I have received a small fragment of this common European plant, stated to have 
been found in the above locality on the American coast. It is hardly probable that it 
is either confined to one locality, or even rare, wherever it occurs ; yet none of my 
other American correspondents have sent it ; nor do I know the circumstances under 
which Captain Pike obtained it. I hope this notice may lead some one on the coast to 
investigate the subject; for European botanists are yet uncertain whether F. serratus 
be really a bona fide native of the American coast, or merely a stray waif, accidentally 
cast ashore. 
Page 106, add, 
2. Zonaria flava, Ag. ; frond erect, with an elongated, branched, woolly stipes, the 
branches expanding into cuneate, flabelliform, vertically cleft and laterally laciniated, 
naked laminae ; segments wedge-shaped, with radiating, longitudinal striae ; sori 
roundish, scattered. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1, p. 110. Stypopodium flavum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 
p. 563. 
IIab. Pacific Coast, Dr. Schott, (v. s.) 
A small specimen, apparently referable to this species, was collected by Dr. Schott 
on the Pacific coast, but the locality is not stated. It is about two inches high, much 
narrower and more branched than Z. lobata, with stupose, linear, riblike patches 
extending up the principal lobes. Perhaps, therefore, it is rather referable to Z. stuposa, 
J. Ag., if that be a distinct species from Z. flava. 
Page 113, add, 
VI.* STKIARIA, Grev. 
Root a small, naked disc. Frond tubular, membranaceous, continuous, branched. 
Fructification, groups of naked, roundish spores, disposed in transverse lines. 
1. Striaria attenuata, Grev. ; branches and ramuli mostly opposite, tapering to each 
extremity. Grev. Crypt. FI. Syn. p. 44. tab. 288. Alg. Brit. p. 55. t. 9. Wyatt, 
Alg. Danm. No. 160. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1. p. 80. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 25. Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 553. Phyc. Gen. t. 21./. 11. 
Hab. Flushing, New York Bay, Professor Bailey. 124 
SUPPLEMENT. 
The only American specimen I have yet seen is small and very slender, about two 
and a half inches long, and not thicker than hog’s bristle. It is abundantly in fruit; 
otherwise it could hardly be recognised. The branches are few, opposite or alternate, 
some of the larger ones bearing a few ramuli, and all tapering to a very fine point. 
On the British coast this species varies greatly in size. Sometimes it is nearly as 
small and slender as that just noticed. Other specimens, like that figured in Phyc. 
Brit, are 8-12 inches long, and from one to two lines in diameter. The branching is 
irregular and sometimes whorled. 
Page 137, add, 
3. Sphacelaria arctica ; filaments naked at the base, erect, elongate, slender, irre- 
gularly branched, scarcely pinnate ; ramuli filiform, naked, erect. 
Hab. In tide pools, Isle of Disko, Greenland, Dr. Lyall. (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Filaments 1-2 inches high, irregularly once or twice compounded, the main branches 
few, the secondary numerous, densely set and very erect, lateral, either naked or bearing 
few or many, long, filiform, erect, naked, slender ramuli, from half an inch to an inch 
in length. Articulations short in the stem and branches ; once and a half as long as 
broad in the ramuli. Colour a dull olive. Fruit unknown. 
Page 138, add, 
III.* MYRIOTRICHIA, Harv. 
Frond capillary, flaccid, jointed, (simple), beset with quadrifarious, simple, spinelike 
ramuli, clothed with byssoid fibres. Fructification, elliptical spores, containing dark- 
coloured endochrome. 
1. Myriotrichia filiformis, Griff. ; stem filiform, slender, often flexuous or curled, 
beset at irregular intervals with oblong clusters of short, papilliform ramuli. Harv. 
Phyc. Brit. t. 156. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 213. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1. p. 14. Kiitz. 
Sp. Alg. p. 470. 
Hab. Parasitic on Dictyosiphon foeniculaceus at Penobscot Bay, Mr. Hooper, (v. v.) 
Fronds an inch or more in length, very slender, filiform, but thickened at intervals, as 
if nodose ; the thickening caused by the dense aggregation of short ramuli of two or three 
cells each. These ramuli emit byssoid fibres. Spores roundish, scattered. Substance 
soft. It adheres closely to paper. 
On the British Coast this parasite commonly infests Chorda Lomentaria. 
Page 139, add, 
2* Ectocarpus longifructus, Harv.; tufts large, branching, the divisions feathery ; 
filaments robust, excessively branched, branches mostly opposite, the lesser ones set SUPPLEMENT. 
125 
with short, spine-like, opposite, or rarely alternate ramuli ; articulations as long as 
broad; silicules very long, linear-lanceolate, attenuate, densely striate transversely, 
terminating the principal branches and ramuli. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 258. 
Hab. Penobscot Bay, Mr. Hooper, (v. s.) 
I have seen an American specimen collected by Mr. Hooper, which I venture to 
associate with the Orkney plant to which the above character is given in Phyc. Brit. 
Perhaps it is a mere form of E. littoralis; though a remarkable one. 
Page 140, add, 
3* Ectocarpus amphibius, Harv.; tufts short, loose, soft, pale olive ; filaments very 
slender, sub-dichotomous ; ultimate branches alternate, spreading ; articulations two or 
three times longer than broad ; silicules linear-attenuate, spine-like, mostly sessile, 
scattered. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 183. 
Hab. In fresh (probably brackish ?) water, near New York, Mr. Hooper, (v. s.) 
Tufts 2-3 inches long, very flaccid and slender ; pale brown when fresh, fading to a 
dull greenish-olive in drying. This is nearly related to E. siliculosus, and may perhaps 
be regarded as a depauperated variety of that common species, altered by having grown 
in a less saline medium than usual. In England it occurs in brackish ditches near the 
coast. The American locality is not particularly specified. 
Part II.—RHODOSPERMEiE. 
Page 23, add, 
7. Chondria nidijica ; frond ultrasetaceous, filiform, sparingly and distantly branch- 
ed ; branches alternate or secund, quite simple or forked, long, cordlike, naked, 
or emitting at intervals fascicles of forked or multifid fructiferous ramuli ; tetraspores 
several, near the tips of the ramuli. (Tab. L. B.) 
Hab. Pacific Coast, Dr. Schott, (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 
Fronds 6-8 inches long, as thick as sparrow’s quills, cylindrical, inarticulate, sparingly 
branched in a manner between alternate and dichotomous ; the branches, by frequent 
non-development of one of the arms of the fork, appearing unilateral. Branches several 
inches long, quite simple, or once or twice forked ; or bearing a few secondary branches 
one or more inches long, either quite naked or furnished at intervals of about an inch 
with tufts of short, fructiferous ramuli. These latter are about quarter-inch long, 
as thick as hog’s bristle, densely tufted, and simple or sub-divided. In the specimen 
examined some of them bear tetraspores. A transverse slice of the inarticulate frond 126 
SUPPLEMENT. 
shows a central axial-cell surrounded by several primary radiating cells, and many 
external rows of secondary cells which become smaller towards the circumference. 
Colour a dull brownish red. Substance cartilaginous, not adhering to paper. 
I have seen but a single specimen of this seemingly very distinct plant, which has 
more the habit of Champia lumbricalis than of one of the present genus. It was picked 
up, it is presumed on the Western coast, by Dr. Schott, during the Mexican Boundary 
Survey, but no note regarding its exact habitat accompanied the specimen. I am 
indebted to my friend Professor Torrey for specimens of this and other Algae collected 
by the officers attached to the Mexican Boundary Survey. 
Plate L. B.—Fig. 1. Ciiondria nidijica ; the natural size. Fig. 2. Portion of a 
branch, with a tuft of ramuli. Fig. 3, a ramulus, containing tetraspores. Fig. 4, a tetra- 
spore. Fig. 5, transverse section of a branch ; the latter figures more or less magnified. 
Page 26, add, 
4.* Rhodomela lycopodioides, Ag.; frond divided near the base into several long, 
simple branches, which are densely beset with slender, finely divided branchlets, mixed 
with the short, rigid, bristlelike remains of a former series. Ag. Sp. Alg. 1. p. 377- 
Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 50. Lophura lycopodioides, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 850. Fucus lyco- 
podioides, Linn. Turn. Hist. t. 12. E. Bot. t. 1163. 
Hab. Whalefish Islands, Davis Straits, Dr. Lyall. (v. s.) 
Fronds 1-2 feet long, half a line in diameter at base, attenuated upwards, filiform, 
either quite simple or divided a short way above the root into several long simple 
branches. In its winter state the virgate branches are closely set with short, rigid, 
simple or slight divided ramuli,from half an inch to one inch in length. In summer, long? 
capillary, multifid ramuli from one to two inches in length are thrown out both from 
the remains of the winter ramuli and from the main branches, and the frond thus 
acquires a plumose aspect very different from its winter state. Conceptacles are abun- 
dantly borne on the summer ramuli ; and tetraspores, lodged in clustered, podlike 
branchlets or stichidia, are found on the winter ramuli. Substance cartilaginous. 
Colour a purplish brown, becoming very dark in drying. 
This interesting addition to the American Nereis occurs abundantly in various places 
on the shores of Northern Europe. In the British Isles it is almost confined to the 
coasts of Scotland and of the North of Ireland ; but has occassonally been met with on 
the East coast of England. 
Page 69, 
1. Dasya Gibbesii, Harv. 
Add to the description : Conceptacles of large size (A inch in diameter), borne on 
the penultimate ramuli, at first globose, afterwards broadly ovate, inflated, with thin5 
highly cellular walls and a berry-like nucleus of much branched filaments, bearing many SUPPLEMENT. 
127 
small, pyriform spores. Specimens in fruit communicated by Mr. S. Aslimead from 
Key West. (v. s.) 
Page 61, 
3. Dasya ramosissima, Harv. 
Add to description : Conceptacles sessile on the lesser branches, ovato-globose, thin 
walled, inflated, without prominent orifice, containing a large nucleus. Stichidia on 
the ramelli, either fusiform or ovato-acuminate, always tapering to a slender point ; 
tetraspores in a single or double row. Specimens in both kinds of fruit communicated 
by Mr. S. Ashmead from Key West. (v. s.) 
Page 63, add, 
3.* Dasya Harvey i, Ashmead ; rose red ; stem cartilagineo-membranaceous, longi- 
tudinally striate, glabrous, inarticulate, robust, attenuated upwards, much branched ; 
branches alternate or secund, once or twice decompound, their ultimate divisions being 
pinnated with capillary, closely set, articulated (polysiphonous) ramuli, which are 
densely clothed with byssoid, dichotomous ramelli; cells of the epidermis of the branches 
very narrow, parallel ; articulations of the ramelli many times longer than broad ; 
conceptacles sessile near the tips of the lesser ramuli, urceolate, with a prominent orifice ; 
stichidia on the ramelli, tapering to each end. (Tab. L. A.) 
Hab. Key West, Mr. Ashmead. (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Frond 8—10 inches long, as thick as crow-quill in the main divisions ; very much 
branched, the successive divisions being more and more slender, till the ultimate ones 
have become finer than human hair. The branching is irregular, the larger divisions 
frequently secund, several lateral branches directed successively first to one side and 
then to the opposite one of the main branch. All the main branches and their lesser 
divisions down to the last are inarticulate, being coated with very slender, coloured, 
longitudinal, parallel, seriated cells, which give the branches a striated appearance under 
the microscope ; they are also glabrous, or bare of ramelli. The ultimate branchlets, 
which are half an inch to an inch long, are plumose, very flaccid and soft, and closely 
set with lateral, but not strictly distichous pinnules, which are clothed with excessively 
slender, cobweb-like, flaccid ramelli. These latter are many times dichotomous and 
taper to the points; their articulations are many times longer than broad. The concep- 
tacles are nearly of the form of those of Folysiphonia urceolata, and are sessile at or 
near the ends of the pinnules of the plumose branchlets. The stichidia spring from the 
lower forkings of the byssoid ramelli, and are much attenuated, tapering at each end? 
and containing a double row of tetraspores. The whole plant is of a beautiful, clear, 
rose-red colour. Its substance is very soft and flaccid, and in drying it adheres very 
strongly to paper. SUPPLEMENT. 
128 
For fine specimens of this distinct and beautiful species I am indebted to its discoverer 
Mr. Ashmead of Philadelphia, who sent them to me marked with the specific name here 
adopted. 
Plate L. A. Fig. 1. Dasya Ffarveyi, the natural size. Fig. 2. A ramulus bearing a 
conceptacle near its summit. Fig. 3. Portions of different ramelli bearing stichidia. 
Fig. 4. A portion of a branch, showing the linear striaeform surface-cells : the latter 
figures magnified. 
Page 64, 
7. Dasya Tumanowiczi, Gatty. add to the description : Conceptacles on very short 
peduncles, borne by the lesser branches, ovate or sub-urceolate, thin walled, without 
prominent orifice, with a large nucleus. Specimens from Dr. Blodgett and Mr. Ash- 
mead. 
Page 106, add, 
3. Nitophyllum Fryeanum,; frond sessile, full-red, nerveless, thickish, deeply divided 
into many cuneate lobes, which are again vertically cleft, the segments rounded, frequently 
crisped at the margin, specially towards the base, the sinuses narrow ; fruit ? 
Hab. Golden-gate, California, Mr. A. D. Frye. (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
I propose this species with much hesitation, having as yet seen only very imperfect 
specimens, which I know not how to dispose of but by giving them a local habitation 
and name. Two specimens are before me ; one faded, the other in a better state of 
preservation, but neither in fruit. The frond is about 3 inches long, and 4 in lateral 
expansion, and is deeply divided into 4 or 5 principal segments which are broadly 
cuneate, and each again partially cloven into 4 or 5 lesser, vertical segments. The 
margin towards the base of the lobes is crisped or undulate ; in other parts it is plane. 
The lesser lobes are somewhat crenate or sub-lobulate, and all the tips are rounded, and 
the axils or sinuses very narrow. The substance of the membrane is thickish ; the 
surface-cells large and tessellated ; the cells of the interior appear also to be of large 
size, and quadrate, but the specimens examined have been too much squeezed in the 
process of drying, and their cells are consequently broken and difficult to examine. No 
traces of veins in the specimens seen. More perfect specimens must be had before this 
species can be considered as other than provisional. 
Fragments of one or two other Nitopliylla have reached me from the Pacific Coast, 
but not sufficiently perfect to warrant me in naming them. 
Page 160, add, 
5. Kiiodymenia corallinci, Grev. (?); stipes cylindrical, sub-simple, expanding into 
a fan-shaped, many times dichotomous, rose-red frond ; lacinhe linear, with rounded SUPPLEMENT. 
129 
interstices and a flat, entire margin ; apices rounded ; conceptacles clustered near the 
ends of the lacinim, on the surface of the lamina ; tetraspores forming deep-red sori in 
the dilated apices. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 379- Sphcerococcus corallinus, Bory, Cog. 
p. 175, t. 16. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 780. 
Hab. San Diego, California, Mr. A. D. Frye. (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
A single Californian specimen only has yet been seen, and I doubtfully refer it to 
B. corallina, in preference to founding a new species on such imperfect data. The frond 
is stipitate ; the stipes filiform, 2-3 inches long, then widening and passing into the 
cuneate base of a flabelliform, dichotomously parted lamina, with broadly linear or 
somewhat cuneate segments. The lower part of the stipes throws out 2 or 3 proliferous 
frondlets, and similar ones spring from the margin of the laciniae. The conceptacles are 
immersed in the ultimate segments of the lacinite, which then are truncated and foliiferous. 
The colour is a deep-red, and the substance rigid and membranaceous. Such is the 
Californian specimen, and it tolerably agrees with the Chilian species, whose character 
is given in the above diagnosis. 
Page 175, add, 
2* Gigartina Chamissoi, (?) Mont. ; J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 267. Sphcerococcus 
Chamissoi, Ag. Ic. Med. t. 6. Mart. lc. Sel. Bras. t. 3, Jig. 1. 
Hab. West Coast, Dr. Schott. 
A fragment of a Gigartina, closely allied to G. Chamissoi, if not a mere form of it, 
occurs in Dr. Schott’s new Mexican collection. It is too imperfect for description. 
G. Chamissoi is a common species on the coast of Peru, and may very probably extend 
to the north of the Equator. 
Page 180, add, 
6. dichotoma, Harv.; stipes linear, compressed, simple or branched, passing 
into the cuneate base of the broadly cuneiform or obovate, repeatedly forked lamina ; 
laciniae shallow and rounded, divaricating, their margin entire or denticulate ; surface 
smooth and glossy. I. micans, var. dichotoma. Hook. f. and Harv. FI. Ant. 2, p. 487. 
I. dichotoma, Harv. in Hook. Journ. 1845, p. 262. 
Hab. California, Mr. A. D. Frye. (v. s.) 
Stipes 1-2 inches long, about a line wide, throwing out 2-4 minutely stipitate fronds, 
which are 4-6 inches long, and 3-4 wide, at their greatest width. The base of the 
frond is cuneate, and the lobes into which it divides are also broadly cuneiform. They 
divaricate from each other, leaving very wide sinuses between. The frond is thus 
sometimes thrice forked, the last furcation being minute, and frequently a mere inden- 
tation. The substance is rather thin and membranous. The surface is smooth and 
glossy, and the colour a fine purple-red. 130 
SUPPLEMENT. 
Whether a distinct species or a mere variety of I. micans remains to be shewn, when 
some competent observer on the Pacific Coast shall have properly examined the several 
reputed species of this most troublesome genus. If we admit more than one species it 
is difficult to refuse admission to many, the forms are so varied. The present is, at 
least, a well-marked variety. 
Page 195, add, 
4. IIalosaccion dumontioides ; stem short, filiform, emitting many crowded, tubular, 
membranaceous, long branches, which are quite simple, destitute of ramenta, and taper 
much to the base and apex. 
Hab. Northumberland Sound, Queen’s Channel, lat. 76° N., Dr. Lyall. (v. s. in 
Herb. T.C.D.) 
Stem 1-3 inches long, simple or forked, filiform, about twice as thick as hog’s bristle, 
emitting throughout its length, and directed towards all sides, numerous crowded, perfectly 
simple branches. Branches two feet long, more than quarter inch wide in the middle, 
cylindrical for their greater extent, but attenuated and fusiform to the base, and tapering 
at the extremity to an acute point, hollow, destitute of ramenta, smooth and glossy, 
formed of a very thin membrane. Colour a brownish pinky-red, partly discharged in 
fresh water. • Cellular structure very dense. 
I have some hesitation in proposing this as a species distinct from H. ramentaceum ; 
but if not a good species, it is at least a strongly marked variety, and has so much the 
external aspect of Dumontia Jiliformis, that until I had submitted a section to the 
microscope, I supposed I had before me a very luxuriant specimen of that plant. The 
microscopic structure of the membrane is that proper to Halosaccion (section Halocoelia), 
but is not easy to see, as the collapsed cells do not readily expand on reimmersion of 
the dried frond. The substance is much softer and more membranous than in H. ra- 
mentaceum,, and in drying the branches adhere much more strongly to paper. Dr. Lyall 
brought home several fine specimens. 
Page 242, add, 
16.* Callithamnion tenue; filaments tufted, ultra-capillary, irregularly much 
branched, diffuse, flexuous, the branches and their divisions very generally secund, 
springing from the middle of the internodes; ramuli few and distant, patent, filiform, 
beset toward the attenuated apices with whorls of minute, byssoid fibres ; articulations 
cylindrical, those of the branches 4-6 times, those of the ramuli 3-4 times as long as 
broad, and gradually shorter towards the extremities, Griffithsia tenuis, Ay. Sp. Aly. 
p. 13. J. Ay. Sp. Aly. 2, p. 84. Kiitz. Sp. Aly p. 661. 
Hab. Beesley’s Point, New Jersey, Mr. Samuel Ashmead. (v. s. in Herb. T.C.D.) 
Filaments 3-4 inches long, somewhat thicker than human hair, loosely tufted, 
flexuous, very irregularly branched, the ramification on a lateral, not a dichotomous SUPPLEMENT. 
131 
type. Branches usually secund, in some cases opposite or alternate, springing from the 
middle of the articulation (or internode), or from near its base (not from the shoulder), 
long and filiform, flexuous, furnished with several distant, secund, filiform, patent, 
secondary branches, which are either simple, or furnished with a few similar, secund 
ramuli. All the branches and ramuli of every grade spring from the middle of the 
internodes of the branches of the preceding grade. The ramuli taper to their summit; 
the last six or eight internodes are very short, or rather are gradually developed whilst 
the ramulus lengthens, and their nodes are beset, especially those of the younger ones, 
with whorls of minute and very delicate byssoid ramelli, which seem to be connected 
with the growing process ; but perhaps may also accompany fructification, as they do 
in the nearly allied C. thyrsoideum. The articulations are cylindrical, 4-5 times as 
long as broad, with a wide, hyaline margin and dissepiment, and are filled with rosy 
endochrome. Substance membranaceous and delicate. The frond closely adheres to 
paper in drying. 
I have compared Mr. Ashmead’s specimens with an authentic one of Agardlfs 
Grifiithsia tenuis from the Mediterranean, and find them to agree in every essential 
character; the only difference that I can perceive being, that the American specimens 
are larger and more luxuriant than the European. The fructification has not been 
observed either in America or Europe, and I may therefore be accused of indiscretion 
in removing this species from Grifiithsia to the present genus. I do so because its 
affinity with C. thyrsoideum of Ceylon and Australia is so great that they cannot be 
placed in separate genera ; and the fruit of the latter is known. I only question 
whether I ought not to go a step further, and unite C. thyrsoideum to C. tenue as a 
mere variety. Both are remarkable for the manner in which the branches and ramuli 
are inserted ; and may be known by this character alone from all allied species. But 
there is no American species to which the present is nearly allied. 
Page 247, under Pikea californica, add to the specific diagnosis, 
(Tab. XLIX. B.) 
And insert the following reference to the figure, 
Plate XLIX. B. Fig. 1. Pikea californica, a robust specimen ; and fig. 2, a more 
slender and smaller individual ; both of the 7iatural size. Fig. 3. Longitudinal 
section of the frond, showing the central, articulated axial filament, and the two strata 
of cells. Fig. 4, a transverse section of the frond ; these two figures equally magnified. No. 2. List of Arctic Mg®, chiefly compiled from collections brought 
home hy Oflicers of the recent Searching Expeditions. 
1. Fucus vesiculosus, Linn. JSfer. Bor. Amer.part 1, p. 7L 
Hab. Common along the Arctic Seas, and continuing through Behring’s Straits along 
the North-west Coast. Whalefish Islands, and north end of Disco, Dr. Lyall. 
2. Fucus nodosus, Linn. JSfer. Bor. Amer. part 1, p. 68. 
IIab. North end of Isle of Disco, Dr. Lyall. 
3. Agarum Turneri, Post. & Pup. JSfer Bor. Amer. part 1, p. 95. 
IIab. Navy-hoard Inlet and Whalfish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
4. Laminaria saccharma, Lamour. JSfer. Bor. Amer. part 1 , y>. 92. 
IIab. Floating off the West Coast of Greenland, five miles from shore, in hit. 63, 
Dr. Lyall. 
5. Alaria Pylaii, Grev. Ner. Bor. Amer.part 1 ,jo. 89. 
Hab. Northumberland Sound, Queen’s Channel, Lat. 7 6°. 52', Dr. Lyall. 
6. Desmarestia aculeata, Lamour. JSfer. Bor. Amer. part 1, p. 78. 
IIab. Dredged in 6 fathoms,in Queen’s Channel,lat. 76°29/,long 96° 13' W.,Dr. L,yall. 
7. Dictyosiphon fceniculaceus, Grev. JSfer. Bor. Amer. part 1, p. 114. 
Hab. Whalefish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
8. Ciiordaria JlagelUformis, Ag. JSfer. Bor. Amer. part 1, p. 123. 
IIab. Whalefish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
9. plumosa, Kiitz. JSfer. Bor. Amer. part 1 ,y?. 136. 
Hab. Arctic Coast, Dr. Seeman. Boots of large Algce, floating near Whalefish 
Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
10. Spiiacelaria arctica, Ilarv. JSfer. Bor. Amer. part 3, suppl. p. 124. 
IIab. Isle of Disco, Dr. Lyall. 
11. Ectocarpus fasciculatus, Harv. Jfer. Bor. Amer. part 1, p. 141. 
Hab. Whalefish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
12. Ectocarpus littoralis, Lyngb. JSfer. Bor. Amer. part 1, p. 139. 
Hab. Whalefish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 13. Rhodomela lycopodioides, Ag. Ner. Bor. Amer. part 3, suppl. p. 126. 
Hab. Cast ashore on Disco and Whalefish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
14. Rhodomela gracilis, Kiitz. Ner. Bor. Amer. part 2, p. 26. 
Hab. In rock-pools. Disco and Whalefish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
15. Polysiphonia urceolata, Grev. Ner. Bor. Amer. part 2,p. 31. 
Hab. Dredged in 10 fathoms, off Cape Cockburn, 75° N. 100° W., Capt. MiClintoclc. 
16. Corallina officinalis, L. Ner. Bor. Amer. part 2, p. 83. 
Hab. Lively Harbour, Isle of Disco, Dr. Lyall. 
17- Delesseria sinaosa, Ag. Ner. Bor. Amer. part 2, p. 93. 
Hab. Off the Greenland Coast, Dr. Lyall. North Shore of Prince of Wales’ Strait, 
Sir It. McClure. Cape Cockburn 75°, and Lowtlier Island 74°, Capt. McClintock. 
18. Euthora cristata, J. Ag. Ner. Bor. Amer. part 2,p. 150. 
Hab. Disco Island, Dr. Lyall. 
19. Rhodymenia interrupta, Grev. Ner. Bor. Amer. part 2, p. 149. 
Hab. Arctic Sea, Lieut. W. H. Griffiths, B.N 
20. Rhodymenia palmata, Grev. Ner. Bor. Amer. part 2, p. 148. 
Hab. Queen’s Channel, Northumberland Sound, 76° 52' N., Dr. Lyall. 
21. PIalosaccion ramentaceum, J. Ag. Ner. Bor. Amer. part 2, p. 194. 
Hab. Whalefish and Disco Islands, and in Queen’s Channel, Dr. Lyall. 
22. Halosaccion dumontioides, Ilarv. Ner. Bor. Amer. part 2, supp. p. 130. 
Hab. Northumberland Sound, Lat. 76° N., Dr. Lyall. 
23. Kallymenia Pennyi, Dickie. Ner. Bor. Amer. 2,p. 172. 
Hab. Dredged in 15-20 fathoms in Assistance Bay, Dr. Sutherland. Dredged in 
6 fathoms, Queen’s Channel, Lat. 76° 29' N., Long. 96° 13', Dr. Lyall. 
24. Ptilota serrata, Kiitz. Ner. Bor. Amer. 2, p. 222. 
Hab. Arctic Coast, Sir J. Richardson. Whalefish Islands and West Coast of Green- 
land, Dr. Lyall. 
25. Ptilota plumosa, Ag. Ner. Bor. Amer. 2, p. 224. 
Hab. Arctic Sea Coast, Sir J. Richardson. 
26. Cladopiiora arcta, Kiitz. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 75. 
IIab. Whalefish Island, Davis’s Straits, Dr. Lyall. 
27- Cladopiiora rupestris, Kiitz. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 74. 
IIab. Whalefish Islands, Davis’s Straits, Dr. Lyall. Fiskernaes, near Cape Farewell, 
Dr. Sutherland. 28. CiiiETOMORPHA Melagonium, Kiitz. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 85. 
Hab. Roots of large Algae, Whalefish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
29. Ciletomorpiia Piquotiana, Mont. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 85. 
Hab. Floating in the sea, near Whalefish Islands, Davis’s Straits, Dr. Lyall. (A 
single filament only !) 
30. Hormotriciium Carmichaelii, Harv. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 90. 
Hab. Wellington Channell, Dr. Lyall. 
31. Hormotriciium boreale, Harv. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 90. 
Hab. Whalefish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
32. Hormotriciium Wormskioldii, Kiitz. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 91. 
Hab. Dredged in 6 fathoms, in Queen’s Channel, 76° 29' N., 90° 13' W., Dr. Lyall. 
Coast of Greenland, Lyngbye. 
33. Mougeotia (species innominata.) 
Hab. In fresh water. Isle of Disco, Dr. Lyall. 
34. Lyngbya muralis, var. aquatica. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 104. 
Hab. In pools of fresh water, Whalefish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
35. Ulva latissima, L. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 59. 
Hab. Isle of Disco, and dredged in Queen’s Channel, Dr. Lyall. 
36. Ulva bullosa, L. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3. p. 60. 
Hab. In pools of fresh water, Whalefish Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
37. Enteromorpha intestinalis, Link. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3 p. 57. 
Hab. Whalefish Island, Dr. Lyall. (Probably universally spread.) 
38. 0scillatoria corium, Ag. Harv. Man. Ed. 1 p. 166. 
IIab. On stones in a running stream. Wellington Channel, Dr. Lyall. 
39. Nostoc arcticum, Berk. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 113. 
IIab. Assistance Bay, lat. 75° 40' N., Dr. Sutherland. 
40. Nostoc verrucosum, Vaucli. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3,p. 114. 
Hab. Pools of fresh water, Isle of Disco, and at Beechey Islands, Dr. Lyall. 
41. Nostoc Sutherlandi, Dickie. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 114. 
Hab. Winter quarters, Baffin’s Bay, Dr. Sutherland. 
42. Nostoc microscopicum, Carm. Ner. Bor. Amer. 3, p. 115. 
Hab. Baffin’s Bay, Dr. Sutherland. ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
135 
ALPHABETIC INDEX OF NAMES. 
[The systematic names in capitals are those which are adopted. The names in italic indicate synonyms, 
whilst the vulgar names are in roman. The asterisks refer to the page of description.] 
Acetabularia, 35, 39.* 
CRENULATA, 40 * 
MEDITERRANEA, 40. 
Ahnfeldtia Lamourouxii, 19. 
racemosa, 19. 
uvifera, 19. 
Anadyomene, 42, 48.* 
FLABELLATA, 49.* 
stellata, 49. 
Anadyomenece, 41. 
Arctic Algae, list of, 132. 
Arthrosiphon Grevillii, 99. 
Bangia, 52, 54.* 
atropurpurea, 54. 
ciliaris, 56.* 
■ FUSCOPURPUREA, 54.* 
VERMICULARIS, 55.* 
7, 61.* 
Batrachospermuh, 63.* 
americanum, 71. 
MONILIFORME, 63.* 
Blodgettia, 42, 46.* 
CONFERVOIDES, 48.* 
Bryopsis, 12, 31.* 
cupressoides, 32. 
HYPNOIDES, 32.* 
PLUMOSA, 31.* 
ramulosa, 31. 
Callitiiamnion tenue, 130.* 
Calothrix, 98, 104.* 
CONFERYICOLA, 105.* 
DURA, 105.* 
PILOSA, 106.* 
SCOPULORUM, 105* 
VIVIPARA, 106.* 
Caulerpa, 11, 12.* 
Caulerpa Ashheadii, 18.* 
CLAVIFERA, 19.* 
CUPRESSOIDES, 21.* 
ERICIFOLIA, 20.* 
LYCOPODIUM, 19.* 
MEXICANA, 16 * 
PASPALOIDES, 21.* 
PLUMARIS, 17* 
PROLIFERA, 16.* 
Wurdernanni, 21. 
Caulerpeas, 9, 11.* 
Chjetomorpha, 69, 84.* 
.erea, 86.* 
BRACHYGONA, 87.* 
LITOREA, 87.* 
LON GIARTIC UL AT A, 86.* 
MELAGONIUM, 85.* 
Olneyi, 86.* 
PlQUOTIANA, 85* 
RIGIDA, 87.* 
SUTORIA, 87.* 
TORTUOSA, 88.* 
ClLETOPIIORA, 69.* 
ENDIVLEFOLIA, 69.* 
PISIFORMIS, 70.* 
69.* 
ChoetophoroidecB, 67. 
ChamjEdoris, 42.* 
ANNULATA, 43.* 
Chauvinia, 19.* 
Chauvinia clavifera, 19. 
cupressoides, 21. 
ericifolia, 20. 
paspaloides, 21. 
Chlorodesmis, 12, 29.* 
comosa, 29 136 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
ClILORODESMIS VAUCHERIA3FORMIS, 30.* 
ChLOROSBERMEjE, 1.* 
Chondria nidifica, 125.* 
Cladophora, 69, 72.* 
adhcerens (note) 75. 
albida, 80.* 
ARCTA, 75.* 
BRACHYCLADOS, 81.* 
CARTILAGINEA, 75.* 
centralis, 75. 
Chamissonis (note) 75. 
coalita (note) 75. 
diffusa, 83.* 
FLEXUOSA, 78.* 
FRACTA, 83.* 
GLAUCESCENS, 77* 
GLOMERATA, 84.* 
GRACILIS, 81.* 
LA3TEVIRENS, 82.* 
LANOSA, 76.* 
LUTEOLA, 81.* 
MEMBRANACEA, 73.* 
Mertensii (note) 75. 
Montagneana, 81. 
Morrisle, 78.* 
prasina, 84. 
REFRACTA, 79.* 
REPENS, 73.* 
Rudolphiana, 80.* 
RUPESTRIS, 74.* 
scopceformis, 75. 
uncialis, 77.* 
vauchericeformis, 75. 
viminea (note) 75. 
CoDIEiE, 9, 12.* 
Codium, 12, 28.* 
TOMENTOSUM, 29.* 
Conferva cerea, 86. 
albida, 80. 
arcta, 75. 
atropurpurea, 54. 
hr achy dados, 81. 
centralis, 75. 
confervicola, 105. 
fracta, 83 
fuscopurpurea, 54. 
gelatinosa, 64. 
glaucescens, 77. 
gracilis, 81. 
Icetevirens, 82. 
lanosa, 76. 
linum, 87. 
litorea, 87. 
Conferva majuscula, 101. 
melagonium, 85. 
membranacea, 73. 
mutabilis, 72. 
obtusangula, 92. 
Piquotiana, 85. 
■ refracta, 79. 
repens, 75. 
reticulata, 95. 
riparia, 92. 
Rudolphiana, 80. 
rupestris, 74. 
scopceformis, 75. 
scopulorum, 105. 
sutoria, 87. 
uncialis, 77. 
vauchericeformis, 75. 
tortuosa, 88. 
Wormslcioldii, 91. 
Young ana, 89. 
ConfervacejE, 7, 67.* 
Confervoidece, 67. 
Corallina barbata, 36. 
conglutinata, 27. 
flabellata, 26. 
incrassata, 24. 
monilis, 24. 
Opuntia, 23. 
Penicillus, 45. 
Peniculum, 43. 
Phoenix, 46. 
rosarium, 36. 
tridens, 24. 
Tuna, 25. 
Corallocephalus dumetosus, 44. 
penicillus, 45. 
Corradoria plumaris, 17. 
Cymopolia, 35.* 
BARBATA, 36.* 
bibarbata, 36. 
Rosarium, 36. 
Cystopiiyllum, 122. 
GEMINATUM, 122.* 
Cystoseira thyrsigera, 122. 
Dasya Gibbesii, 126. 
Harveyi, 127.* 
RAMOSISSIMA, 127. 
Tumanowiczi, 128. 
Dasyclade.e, 7, 33.* 
Dasycladus, 35, 38.* 
CLAVEFORMIS, 38. 
OCCIDENTALIS, 38.* 
DesmidiacejE, 7. ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
137 
7. 
Dictyospileria, 42, 50* 
FAYULOSA, 50.* 
Dictyosphceriece, 41. 
Draparnaldia, 69, 71.* 
glomerata, 72.* 
opposita, 71.* 
plumosa, 72.* 
Ectocarpus amphibius, 125.* 
LONGIFRUCTUS, 124.* 
Enteromorpha, 52, 56.* 
CLATHRATA, 57.* 
COMPRESSA, 57* 
—: erecta, 57. 
• Hopkirkii, 58.* 
INTESTINALIS, 57.* 
paradoxa, 57. 
ramulosa, 57. 
Fucus clavifer, 19. 
cupressoides, 21. 
ericifolius, 20. 
Lamourouxii, 19. 
lycopodioides, 126. 
Ophioglossum, 16. 
plumaris, 17. 
serratus, 122.* 
taxifolius, 17. 
tomentosus, 29. 
lurhinatus, 121. 
uvifer, 19. 
Gigartina Chamissoi, 129. 
Haligraphium, 44.* 
Halimeda, 12, 22.* 
INCRASSATA, 24. 
rnonilis, 24. 
OPUNTIA, 23.* 
platydisca, 25. 
TRIDENS, 24 * 
TUNA, 25.* 
Halimedece, 9. 
Halipsygma, 46.* 
Halosaccion dumontioides, 130.* 
Hormotrichum, 69, 89.* 
boreale, 90.* 
Carmichaelii, 90.* 
speciosum, 90.* 
WoRMSKIOLDII, 91.* 
Younganum, 89.* 
Hydrodictyea:, 7, 94.* 
Hydrodictyon, 95.* 
UTR1CULATUM, 95.* 
Hydrurus, 118.* 
PENICILLATUS, 118.* 
dichotoma, 129.* 
Leibleinia chalybea, 105. 
confervicola, 105. 
Lemanea, 63, 66.* 
torulosa, 66.* 
variegata, 67. 
Lemanieje, 63.* 
Lophura lycopodioides, 126. 
Lychaete, 84. 
Lyngbya, 98, 101.* 
aeruginosa, 102. 
Carmichaelii, 90. 
CONFERVOIDES, 103.* 
crispa, 101. 
FERRUGINEA, 102.* 
FULVA, 102.* 
HYALINA, 104.* 
MAJUSCULA, 101.* 
maxima, 101. 
MURALIS, 104.* 
NIGRESCENS, 102.* 
pacifica, 101. 
PUSILLA, 103.* 
■ speciosa, 90. 
Microcoleus, 98, 108.* 
CORYMBOSUS, 109.* 
Myriotrichia, 124. 
FILIFORMIS, 124.* 
Nescea annulata, 43. 
dumetosa, 44. 
Penicillus, 45. 
Phoenix, 46. 
Nitophyllum Fryeanum, 128. 
Nostoc, 113.* 
ARCTICUM, 113.* 
COMMUNE, 113.* 
CRISTATUM, 114.* 
FLAGELLARE, 114.* 
MICROSCOPICUM, 115.* 
muscorum, 115. 
nummular e, 114. 
SUTHERLANDI, 114.* 
YERRUCOSUM, 114.* 
Nostochinea:, 7, 110.* 
OsCILLATORIA, 98, 107.* 
alata, 99. 
Oscillatoriaceje, 7, 96.* 
Palmellacea:, 7, 116.* 
Penicillus, 42, 44.* 
CAPITATUS, 45.* 
DUMETOSUS, 44.* 
— Phcenix, 46.* 
Petalonema, 98, 99.* 138 
ALPHABETIC INDEX. 
Petalonema alatum, 99.* 
Phycoseris fasciata, 58. 
gigantea, 59. 
lanceolata, 59. 
Lima, 59. 
Phyllerpa, 16.* 
Phyllerpa prolifer a, 16. 
PlKEA CALIFORNICA, 131. 
Polyphysece, 33. 
Porphyra, 52, 53.* 
amethystea,, 53. 
laciniata, 53. 
linearis, 53. 
purpurea, 53. 
vulgaris, 53.* 
Ptilerpa, 16.* 
Ehipocephalus Phoenix, 46. 
Rhizoclonium, 69, 91.* 
* obtusangulum, 92. 
riparium, 92.* 
Riiodomela lycopodioides, 126.* 
Rhodymenia corallina, 128. 
Rivularia, 98, 109.* 
Rivulariece, 96. 
Schizosiphon scopulorum, 105. 
SCYTONEMA, 98, 100.* 
Siphoned, 7, 9.* 
Sphacelaria arctica, 124.* 
Striaria, 123.* 
attenuata, 123.* 
Stypopodium flavum, 123. 
Tetraspora, 52, 60.* 
Tetraspora bullosa, 60. 
Oodeyi, 61. 
lacunosa, 61.* 
perforata, 61. 
Tuomeya, 63, 64.* 
FLUVIATIL1S, 64.* 
Turbinaria, 121.* 
decurrens, 121. 
denudata, 121. 
vulgaris, 121.* 
Udotea, 12, 26.* 
CONGLUTINATA, 27.* 
FLABELLATA, 26* 
Palmetta, 27. 
Ulva, 52, 58.* 
Bei'tolonii, 59. 
bullosa, 60.* 
divisa, 58. 
FASCIATA, 58.* 
intestinalis, 57. 
lagtuca, 60.* 
LATISSIMA, 59.* 
LINZA, 59.* 
plumosa, 31. 
Ulvace.®, 7, 51* 
Valonia favulosa, 50. 
7, 41.* 
Vaucheria, 12, 30.* 
Vaucheriece, 9. 
ZONARIA FLAVA, 123.* 
7, 93.* REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
139 
REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
Plate XXXYII. A Caulerpa Mexicana, Sond. p. 16. 
B.—Caulerpa Lycopodium, Harv. p. 19. 
XXXVIII. A.—Caulerpa Ashmeadii, Harv. p. 18. 
B. —Caulerpa prolifer a, Lamour. p. 16. 
C. —Caulerpa plumaris, Ag. p. 17. 
XXXIX. A.—Caulerpa ericifolia, Ag. p. 20. 
B.— Caulerpa cupressoides, Ag. p. 21. 
XL. A.—Halimeda Tuna, Lx. p. 25. 
B. —Halimeda Opuntia, Lx. p. 23. 
C. — TJdotea conglutinata, Lx. p. 27. 
D. —Chlorodesmis vauchericeformis, Harv. p. 30. 
XLI. A.—Cymopolia barbata, Lx. p. 36. 
B. —Dasycladus occidentalism Harv. p. 38. 
XLII. A Acetabularia crenulata, Lx. p. 40. 
B—Chamcedoris annulata, Mont. p. 43. 
XLIII. A,—Penicillus dumetosus, Dne. p. 44. 
B—Penicillus capitatus, Lamk. p. 45. 
C. —Penicillus Phoenix, Lamk. p. 46. 
XLIV. A.—Anadyomene flabellata, Lamour. p. 49. 
B. —Dictyosphceria favulosa, Dne. p. 50. 
C. —Halimeda tridens, Lx. p. 24. 
XLV. A.—Bryopsis plumosa (vars.) Ag. p. 31. 
B. —Cladophora Morrisice, Harv. p. 78. 
C. —Blodgettia confervoides, Harv. p. 48. 
XLVI. A—Chcetomorpha brachygona, Harv. p. 87. 
B.—Chcetomorpha tortuosa, Dillw. p. 88. 
C—Chcetomorpha Piquotiana, Mont. p. 85. 
D. — Chcetomorpha Olneyi, Harv. p. 86. 
E. —Chcetomorpha longiarticulata, Harv. p. 86. 
XLVII. A.—Lyngbya majuscula, Harv. p. 101. 
B. —Lyngbya ferruginea, Ag. p. 102. 
C. —Lyngbya confervoides, Ag. p. 103. 
D. —Lyngbya nigrescens, Harv. p. 102. 
E—Lyngbya pusilla, Harv. p. 103. 
F. —Lyngbya fulva, Harv. p. 102. 
G. —Lyngbya hyalina, Harv. p. 104. 140 
REFERENCES TO THE PLATES. 
Plate XLYIII. A.—Petalonema alatum, Berk. p. 99. 
B. — Microcoleus coryrnbosus, Harv. p. 109. 
C. —Calothrix pilosa, Harv. p. 10G. 
D—Calothrix dura, Harv. p. 107. 
XLIX. A.—Bangia vermicularis, Harv. p. 55. 
B -—Pikea Californica, Suppl. p. 131. 
L. A.—Dasya Harveyi, Ashm. Suppl. p. 127. 
B Chondria nidifica, Harv. Suppl. p. 125. 
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