226 MR. GEORGE MURRAY ON A NEW SPECIES OF RHIPILIA 
With the exception of an immature specimen, which I was unable to examine 
critically, labelled А. longicaulis, from Australia, in the Kew Herbarium, there has, 
until now, been no record of the occurrence of a В ра away from the West 
Indies. However, on seeing Dr. Anderson’s plants I was led to re-examine some 
fragmentary specimens in the British-Museum Herbarium labelled “Cuming, Philip- 
pines,” which had hitherto defied identification ; they consisted of fronds only, 
plucked off from the rhizoids, which had been left immersed in the mud, and these 
were badly preserved. In the light thrown on them by Dr. Anderson’s specimens 
(brought home in spirit in excellent condition) there was no difficulty in recognizing 
Cuming's plants to be none other than our Лира Andersonii. It is well 
known that Cuming collected in other places than the Philippines, and, moreover, 
there is reason to believe that many of his plants supposed formerly to be Philippine 
are from other regions. There is no doubt that he collected in Malacca, and at all 
events the possibility is not excluded of this unnumbered alga having been collected by 
Cuming in the region from which Dr. Anderson has now brought us these excellent and 
complete specimens. To Cuming, anyhow, belongs the credit of having collected the 
first oriental Rhipilia, though it may be regretted that he collected it so badly. 
As has been mentioned, Ше Rhipilia from Mergui was found inhabiting mudflats at 
low water of spring tides. The rhizoids penetrate the soil to a depth of three or four 
inches, and when drawn forth bring with them a cylindrical mass of small stones, broken 
shells, and other like débris matted together by the interwoven filaments. Above this 
mass of rhizoids sunk in the mud the sessile frond waves freely in the water. І care- 
fully examined the filaments of the frond for organs of reproduction or propagation, but 
without success. The filaments are regularly dichotomous (Plate XX XI. figs. За-Зе), 
usually constricted at the point of origin, and some of them at one or more places 
throughout their course. Ав preserved in spirit they are pale or pale yellow beneath, 
and become in most cases of a rich orange towards the apex, with, in many cases, yellow 
tips *. With these are mixed younger filaments of equal length, filled with granular 
colourless protoplasm up to the apex. Sometimes the colouring-matter is so distributed 
at the apex that an appearance is conveyed of a special cell occupying that portion, 
in shape like the zoosporangium of Saprolegnia ; however, after employing the 
usual methods, no indication of such a cell could be discovered. 
The rhizoid filaments are of unequal diameter; but, on the average, they resemble 
those of the frond in this respect. They are frequently and irregularly constricted—in 
a wide sense, torulose. "They terminate sometimes in fine filaments, sometimes in blunt 
unequal apices ; these unequal ends and frequent irregular constrictions may probably 
be due to the passage of the filaments through the stony soil, though it ought to be 
borne in mind that other species are regularly torulose even in the frond. 
The rhizoids contain in great abundance—at some places in densely packed masses, 
at others in more scattered fashion—starch-granules of a somewhat peculiar kind. ‘They 
are of fairly uniform size, and most of them are nearly kidney-shaped, while a careful 
* Dr. Anderson mentions that in the fresh state the frond is of a bronze-green tint with the free margin of an 
orange hue, as shown in Plate XXXI. 
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