192 NEMATOPHYCE.E. 



Very common, and well known. Variable in the size, number, and 

 disposition of the fascicles. 



Plate LXXV. fig. 1 . Portion of filament of Draparnaldia glomerata 

 X 400 diam. Fig. 2, portion of filament of the variety distans X 400 

 diam. 



In 1857 Dr. Braxton Hicks first described in the "Journal of the 

 Linnean Society" (Vol. i., p. 192) what he believed to be a new species of 

 Draparnaldia under the name of Draparnaldia crudata, of which we 

 know nothing except from his description and figures, from which we 

 are disposed to regard it as a variety of Draparnaldia glomerata. It 

 was first found in the New Forest, and Avas more fully illustrated in the 

 " Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science " (Vol. ix., 1869, p. 383, 

 pi. xix.). " Nothing," he says, " is more remarkable than the direction 

 taken by the branches, which diverge strictly at right angles to the 

 stem. Even the lesser kind, called tufts, and their branchlets, pass off 

 in this way, and as four generally spring from the same joint, there is 

 a cruciate arrangement in every part." 



The following is given as its description : " Frond 3-4 inches long. 

 Light green colour, not so green as D. glomerata and D. plumosa, 

 possessing a flocculent appearance when in water, and highly mucous 

 when out of water. Every portion is surrounded by a distinct layer of 

 transparent mucous, extending on each side to the distance of three 

 diameters of the included ramulus. This is most easily seen after two 

 days, when extraneous matter adheres to the mucous. The main filament 

 is composed of cells very slightly inflated, 3-4 times longer than wide, 

 about g-i^th f an i n h wide, delicately fasciated. Primary ramuli pro- 

 ceeding at right angles, chiefly in whorls of four, from the main 

 filament, with an interval of 50-60 cells. The sub-ram uli also proceed 

 in the same way from the primary rarnuli, giving the plant a cruciate 

 appearance. The cells of the ramuli as wide as long, the larger fasciated, 

 the smaller quite filled with green chlorophyll. The interspace of 50-60 

 cells of main filament being great, to the naked eye it appears 

 nearly bare, but by higher magnifying powers small tufts, like 

 those terminating the sub-ramuli, appear at about every ten 

 cells; some larger, and approaching somewhat the sub-ramuli, 

 while the others are very simple. The larger terminal and lateral 

 tufts have a pyramidal form, and from all their divisions pro- 

 ceeding at right angles it appears much like a fir tree. All 

 the ultimate tufts bear cilia, as in the other Draparnaldife, but of 

 extreme length and tenuity. From the 1-3 basal cells of the ramuli 

 often roots spring, coiling themselves round the main filament, and 

 even spreading away from it, and sometimes the free point becomes 

 converted into a tuft, like those on the main filament. The smaller 

 tufts at times possess them. When the plant is mature the ramuli 

 disengage themselves, and can be seen floating about with their roots, 

 probably ready to attach themselves to any suitable object, and so 

 become separate plants. Zoospores not so large as in D. glomerata, 

 being oval, and about '0004 X '0003 inch. A whole tuft undergoes the 

 process simultaneously." 



" It can easily be distinguished from D. plumosa and D. glomerata 

 by the divisions diverging at right angles, and in whorls of chiefly 

 four (giving the cruciate appearance), the perceptible mucous sheath, 

 exceeding delicacy of the cilia, extreme tendency to give out radicles, 

 the nearly equal width of the main cells, as also their greater length. 

 The fir tree-like form of the tufts are so unlike the flexible shape of 

 the other species." 



A comparison of the plate given with the description we are bound to 

 say does not completely bear out all the distinctions. 



