A smaller and more slender plant than E. crinitus; the ramuli different, and capsules more oblong. This comes near E. simpliciusculus of Agardh, but is a larger plant.

8. E. distortus, Carm.; filaments very much branched, matted together, dark brown, angularly bent; branches spreading at obtuse angles; ramuli divaricated or recurved, obtuse, spine-like; capsules obovate, sessile or sub-sessile. Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 326.

On Zostera at Appin, Capt. Carmichael.—Tufts 4-8 inches long, dense, matted, deep chesnut-brown. Filaments bent here and there at acute angles, zigzag, apparently distorted; the branches long, spreading åt obtuse angles, and beset with spine-like, divaricated ramuli. Capsules scattered, obovate or elliptical, with a pellucid limbus, containing a dark brown mass, sessile or slightly stalked. The whole plant is remarkably brittle, if moistened after having been dried.

** Secondary branches and ramuli opposite.

9. E. granulosus, Ag.; tufts greenish or yellowish; main filaments slightly entangled; lesser branches distinct and feathery; upper branches and ramuli opposite, spreading, the apices often transparent; capsules solitary, elliptical, sessile. Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 326; E. Bot. t. 2351; Wyatt, Alg.

Danm. No. 38.

Parasitical on other Algæ. South coast of England, frequent. Bantry Bay, Miss Hutchins. Shores of Cork, Miss Ball.-Tufts 4-8 inches long, greenish or yellowish; main branches frequently, and lesser ramuli almost constantly opposite, erecto-patent, the extreme ones occasionally secund. Capsules large, oblong-elliptical, dark brown, sessile on the ramuli or near the tips of the branches.

10. E. sphærophorus, Carm.; filaments slender, short, tufted, much branched; upper branches patent, opposite or in fours, bearing patent opposite ramuli; capsules globose, sessile, either opposite to each other or to a branchlet. Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 326; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 173. E. brachiatus, Ag. (not of E. B.)

Parasitical on other Algæ. Appin, on Conf. rupestris, Capt. Carmichael. Sidmouth and Torquay, on Ptilota plumosa, Mrs. Griffiths. Bantry Bay, Miss Hutchins.-Filaments 1-3 inches long, finely tufted, straight, the main stems somewhat matted, the branches free, repeatedly divided, all the divisions opposite or quadrifarious, spreading. Colour olivaceous, or rusty or yellowish brown. Capsules abundant on the upper branches, placed either opposite to each other on opposite sides of the stem, or opposite to a ramulus; occasionally in fours, sessile, globose and prominent.

11. E. brachiatus, Harv.; finely tufted, feathery, much branched; the branches free, opposite or quaternate; ramuli opposite, patent; capsules imbedded in the filaments, forming

oblong swellings, scattered on the ultimate branchlets or in the axil of two opposite ramuli. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 174! Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 326? Conf. brachiata, E. Bot. t.

2571 ?

Parasitical on Rhodomenia palmata, at Torquay, Mrs. Griffiths. Coast of Norfolk, Messrs. Turner and Hooker.-Filaments 2-4 inches high, finely tufted, wavy and feathery; the main stems slightly entangled, excessively branched, all the branches and branchlets opposite or quaternate; the lesser branches generally naked at the base, their upper half bearing, at distances of 6-8 joints, a pair of opposite, patent ramuli, which again throw off from their upper half a second and third series. Capsules imbedded in the branchlets. Colour a pale olive-green. Such is the plant published by Mrs. Griffiths in the "Álgæ Danmonienses," and which I had formerly confounded with E. sphærophorus. From that species, however, it strikingly differs in habit, (as can better be seen by a glance at the specimens in the "Alg. Danm." than understood from the most laboured description), and also, as first pointed out by Mrs. Griffiths, in the fructification. Whether or not it be the same species as the plant figured in 'Eng. Bot.,' the original brachiatus, I cannot say, having never seen an authentic specimen of that plant; nor am I aware whether any authentic specimens exist. The figure in Eng. Bot.' was taken from a specimen picked up on the Norfolk coast, by Sir W. J. Hooker, many years ago, but no such plant now exists in Sir William's herbarium; and nothing more nearly resembling it than the present has since been found.

12. E. Mertensii, Ag.; distichous; branches opposite, of unequal length, linear, mostly undivided, closely set throughout their whole length with slender, subulate ramuli; joints of the stem longitudinally striate, transparent, with a central coloured band, rather shorter than broad; capsules imbedded in the ramuli. Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 327; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 130; E. Bot. t. 999.

In the sea, very rare. Yarmouth, Mr. Wigg. Coast of Durham, Mr. W. Backhouse. Torbay, Mrs. Griffiths and Mrs. Wyatt. Sidmouth, Miss Cutler. Strangford Lough, dredged, Mr. W. Thompson. - Main stems 2-5 inches long, nearly simple, set throughout with opposite, or by suppression, alternate branches of unequal length; the branches linear and undivided, furnished for their whole length, and at distances of every second or third joint, with slender, spreading, subulate ramuli, one-third the diameter of the branch, and at intervals bearing a larger pinnated ramulus; all the divisions exactly distichous and opposite; the branches resembling delicate feathers. Joints of the stem marked with a central, longitudinal, coloured band, those of the ramuli bright green, very short. Capsules imbedded in the distended ramuli, transparent, with a dark central mass. Colour a fine olive-green. A highly beautiful species, unlike any other of the genus, and in many respects showing affinity with Sphacelaria, from which it is chiefly distinguished by its flaccid substance.

XXV. MYRIOTRICHIA. Harv.

Primary filament olivaceous, flaccid, (simple), beset on

every side with simple, spine-like ramuli, which bear from their tips colourless, dichotomous, long-jointed fibres. Fructification: ovate capsules, containing a dark mass of seeds. -Name, upos, a thousand, and p, a hair; from the innumerable, hair-like fibres which spring from the ramuli.

1. M. claveformis, Harv.; stem densely beset with quadrifarious ramuli, which gradually increase in length from the base upwards, giving the frond a club-shaped figure. Harv. in Hook. Journ. of Bot. Vol. i. p. 300, t. 138; Fl. Hib. p. 182; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 131.

Parasitical on Chorda lomentaria. Bantry Bay, Miss Hutchins. Torquay, Mrs. Griffiths. Cable Island, near Youghal, Miss Ball. North of Ireland and Ballentrae, Ayrshire, Mr. W. Thompson. Probably common. -Fronds half an inch long, tufted, flaccid, sub-gelatinous, simple, lineariclavate, olivaceous, surrounded by colourless fibres. Primary thread running the whole length of the plant, simple, attenuated at base, articulated, naked below, towards the apex densely clothed with ramuli; the young plants destitute of ramuli, or merely bearing rudimentary processes. Ramuli quadrifarious, whorled or irregularly scattered, obtuse, the lower ones short and naked; the upper, (like the primary thread), bearing lesser ramuli, from whose tips spring long, colourless, dichotomous, long-jointed fibres, of a very thin membranous texture and flaccid substance. Joints of the primary thread very short, transversely dotted, the dots proliferous, (finally becoming ramuli); of the ramuli oblong, with pellucid dissepiments. Capsules sessile, elliptical or ovate, with a pellucid limb, and containing a dense olivaceous mass. Miss Hutchins appears to have been the earliest discoverer of this plant, having communicated it to Mr. Mackay more than thirty years ago, as 66 a curious new Conferva."

2. M. filiformis; stem filiform, slender, often flexuous or curled, beset at irregular intervals with oblong clusters of minute, papilliform ramuli. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 304.

Parasitical on Chorda lomentaria and Asperococcus echinatus, sometimes accompanying the preceding. Torquay, Mrs. Griffiths. Youghal, Miss Ball. Kilkee, Co. Clare.-Fronds an inch or more in length, very slender, straight, or more usually flexuous, often twisted or several bundled together into rope-like tufts; the stem quite simple, at intervals appearing thickened into dark-coloured knobs, which are found, under the higher powers of the microscope, to consist of very dense, minute, papillæform ramuli, from whose apices issue, as in the last species, long, dichotomous, colourless fibres. The intervals between the knobs or papillated portions are cylindrical and jointed, the joints being rather shorter than broad. I have long been acquainted with this plant, but have been hitherto contented to regard it as a state of M. claveformis, with which it is occasionally found mixed. But my acute friend, Mrs. Griffiths, having lately found it in great perfection at Torquay, has drawn my attention more closely to it, and the result is, that I am disposed to agree with her in considering it specifically distinct. It is a much taller and slenderer plant than M. claveformis, and easily distinguished by its interrupted ramuli, which are besides very much shorter than in that species, and do not increase in length toward the upper

part of the stem. I believe it to be a much more common plant than M. claveformis, and perhaps some of the stations assigned to that species belong to this. In Miss Ball's specimens the two occur together.

TRIBE 7. CHORDARIEÆ.

XXVI. CHORDARIA. Ag.

Frond filiform, much branched, cartilaginous; the axis cellular; the periphery composed of simple, articulated, club-shaped, verticillate, horizontal filaments. Fructification: "obovate, brown seeds, (capsules?) mixed with the filaments of the periphery." Carm.-Name, Chorda, a cord; the branches resemble small cords.

1. C. flagelliformis, Ag. ; frond filiform, equal throughout; branches alternate, long and mostly simple. Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 44; Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 275; E. Bot. t. 1222; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 57.

In the sea, on rocks and stones, common. Annual. Summer.-Root small, discoid. Fronds from three inches to three feet long, slender, about half a line in diameter, with a central stem, which is either simple or irregularly divided in its upper part, and bears numerous lateral, irregularly inserted, long, generally simple branches, of equal thickness. The colour is dark olivaceous-green; the substance firm and cartilaginous. The whole frond, if viewed in the water, appears fringed with exceedingly fine colourless fibres, which give to the surface a slimy feel. They have some resemblance to the colourless fibres of Myriotrichia.

XXVII. HELMINTHOCLADIA. Harv.

Frond filiform, much branched, gelatinous; the axis composed of longitudinal, sub-simple, interlacing fibres, invested with gelatine; the periphery formed of radiating, dichotomous, coloured filaments. Fructification: ovate or elliptical olivaceous seeds (capsules?), attached to the ramuli of the periphery.-Name, uvs, a worm, and nλados, a branch; the branches resemble worms. I have been obliged to relinquish the name Trichocladia, imposed on this genus in the 'Flora Hibernica,' as too nearly approaching in sound and meaning the more ancient Trichocladus.

1. H. vermicularis; frond clumsy; branches irregularly pinnate, thick, worm-like, lineari-fusiform; ramuli copious, long, flexuous, resembling the branches. Harv. Gen. S. A. Pl. p. 397. Mesogloia vermicularis, Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 387. Riv. verm. E. Bot. t. 1818; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 100.

46

HELMINTHOCLADIA-CORYNEPHORA.

In the sea, common. Annual. Summer.-Fronds 1--2 feet high, gelatinous and flaccid; the branches clumsy, of unequal diameter, generally much attenuated at each end. Colour pale olive-green or yellowish. Capsules ovate, commonly produced.

2. H. Griffithsiana; frond slender, equal throughout; branches alternate or irregular, filiform, long, simple, nearly bare of ramuli. Mesogloia Griffithsiana, Grev.; Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 387; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 48.

In the sea, rare. Annual. Summer. Sidmouth and Torquay, Mrs. Griffiths. Bantry Bay, Miss Hutchins.-Fronds 8-16 inches high, of a rather pale olive-green, which becomes greener in fresh water. Stem sub

simple, beset throughout with very long, slender, simple, opposite or alternate branches; the surface covered with long colourless fibres, similar to what occur in Chordaria flagelliformis, which make the plant, as it waves in the water, look of much greater diameter than it really is. Capsules pyriform.

3. H. virescens; frond filiform, gelatinous; branches long, erecto-patent, slender, villous; ramuli numerous, patent, short, flexuous, obtuse. Mesogloia virescens, Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 387; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 49; Berk. Gl. Alg. t. 17, f. 2; (also M. affinis, Berk., and M. gracilis, Carm.; Berk. 1. c. t. 16, 2, and t. 17, 1).

Sea shores. Annual. Summer. Not unfrequent. Appin, Capt. Carmichael. Sidmouth and Torquay, Mrs. Griffiths. Bantry Bay, Miss Hutchins.-Fronds 8-12 inches high, olive-green, tender, gelatinous, slippery, excessively branched; branches long, simple or forked, furnished with numerous alternate or secund, spreading, flexuous ramuli. Frond to the naked eye appearing villous, owing to the filaments composing the periphery being very much protruded beyond the gelatine, and accompanied also by colourless fibres, similar to those of M. Griffithsiana. I have examined the M. gracilis of Carmichael, and do not consider it specifically distinct from the present; and though I have not seen specimens of Mr. Berkeley's M. affinis, yet, judging from the figure and description given in the Gleanings," I venture to refer it to the young of this species.

XXVIII. CORYNEPHORA. Ag.

Frond globose or lobed, carnoso-cartilaginous, hollow, (not filled with gelatine), composed of jointed, colourless, dichotomous filaments, issuing from a central point; their apices, (which constitute the fleshy coating of the frond), coloured and tufted. Fructification: oval seeds (or capsules?) attached to the terminal ramuli.-Name, xogun, a club, and popew, to bear; the apices of the filaments are clubshaped.

1. C. marina, Ag.-Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 390; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 149. Rivularia tuberiformis, E. Bot. t. 1956.