lOG 



that several of the East Indian species agree with those of South 

 America and the warmer parts of North America." 

 The first species to which I desire to call attention is 

 NiTELLA POLYGi.ocHiN, A. Br. — This name was proposed by the 



JV. 



Hooker s Journ.^ i, 292, Char a /; 



Lysimocepas Voigtii^ Griffith's posth. papers. It is the type of a series 

 of forms which belong to the Diarthrae-monoicae division of the genus 

 Nitella, The species of this large division possess two-celled termi- 

 nals and are divided into two series — the Mucronaia with single 

 tips and the Polyglochin with multiple tips, (the Greek words 

 from which it is derived signifying many points). Nitella Roxburghii^ 

 of the coast of Coromandel near Madras, answers perfectly to the 

 specimens that I have found in this country. The plant is not 

 known in Europe, neither is there any representative there of this Poly- 

 glochin series.' Nothing can exceed the superb beauty of masses of 

 this Nitella as brought up from deep water in Litchfield Lake, Conn., 

 where it grows along with the roots of Marsilia quadrifolia, L. The 

 antheridia are not red as in most Characeae but a very delicate green, 

 with a shade of old gold ; and one afternoon when I captured a mass 

 half the size of my boat while the setting sun shone across it as it lay just 

 beneath the surface, my enthusiasm was unbounded. It there grows from 

 two to four or, I believe, even six feet in length, I have also gather- 

 ed it in New Jersey, and have received it from the West and from Box- 

 ford, Mass., by the kindness of Mr. John Robinson, of Salem. Twen- 

 ty years ago, when I sent the small-fruited variety to Prof. Braun, it 

 was then considered distinct {N. microcarpa A. Br., Characeae of Cen- 

 tral America). These two forms of the Polyglochin series differ from 

 other allied species by their clustered fruit ; I often find four or five 

 sporangia in_ one verticil, reminding me of the Tolypellae, They 

 seem to be widely distributed over the American contijient. 



Chara Hydropitys, Reichenb. This species belongs to the Hap- 

 lostephanae.^Bistipulatae, mplostichae Monoicae AW\%\or\ of the genus 

 Chara. The name was first bestowed on specimens from Surinam. 

 In 1830 Salzmann gave the name C longibracteata to some speci- 

 mens from Brazil, and Prof, Braun in his Characeae of Central America 

 gives Dutch Guiana, Brazil, Mexico, the South-Sea Islands, VanDie- 

 man's Land, AustraHa, Southern Africa, and the East Indies as hab- 

 itats for it. In Hooker s Jotcrn., i, 297, 1847, it is reported from the 

 coast of Coromandel, Assam, and Busna in India. It is a beautiful 

 microscopic object; the leaves are either entirely naked or have two 

 or three corticated nodes. The finest specimens are found in New 

 Jersey, where it is abundant (Panther Pond, Sussex Co., and Morris 

 Pond, Sparta). I have also gathered it in Apponaug Pond, Rhode 

 Island. I have received the naked-leaved form {Chara Cham- 

 aepitys, A._ Br.) or a variety nearly allied to it, from Florida 

 (Curtiss). It is thus apparent that the species is widely diffused in 

 this country; but no plant of this division is known in Europe, I 



have also a dioecious Chara of the same section, either a variety of 



C. Dichopitys or a closely allied new species, which was sent me by Mr 



Curtiss from Key West. The fruit is much larger than in C Hook- 



