Vol. 28 



No. 5 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



MAY 1 90 1 



Ceramothamnion codii, a new Rhodophyceous Alga 



By Herbert M. Richards 



(With Plates 21, 22) 



While in Bermuda during February, 1898, the writer collected 

 a quantity of Codiiim tomentosum which proved on examination to 

 have growing upon it an epiphytic rhodophyceous alga that is 

 decidedly peculiar in character. More material was obtained 

 during the February of the following year and from these collec- 

 tions the following account of the morphology of this alga was 

 written. C odium tomentosum is common enough in the waters 

 about the islands, but only that obtained at two localities on the 

 south shore proved to have growing upon it this Callithamnion- 

 like alga. Codium is a favorite abiding place of many small algae 

 and it is very common to find the fronds fringed with small species 

 of Callithamnion, Ceramium, Ectocarpus, GoniotricJiiun, etc. The 

 form, however, which is the subject of this paper is not so con- 

 spicuous, scarcely more than slightly reddening the parts on which 

 it grows, the filaments being so short and so fine as to be scarcely 

 visible to the naked eye. Only occasionally are small tufts found 

 in the dichotomies of its host and even these would be hardly 

 noticed were it not for their red color. 



In habit it suggests a form like Rhodochorton Rothii, there 



being a prostrate filament which sends up at irregular intervals 

 erect filaments, that are always unbranched except under certain 



[Issued May 21] 



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