36 Notes on the Morphology of the Fucacece. 



formed to receive, the same cannot be said of X. chondrophyllus Harv. 

 Its main point of difference from X. Billardierii consists in the entire 

 absence of the long strap-shaped laciniae, all the branches of the thallus 

 ending in short dichotomous forks, which form the receptacles. It will 

 therefore be necessary to modify Montagne's generic description of the 

 receptacles if X. chondrophyllus is to be retained in the genus. Oltmanns 

 (Beilrdge zur Kenntniss der Fucaceen, p. 69) points out an external likeness 

 between XiphopJiora and Himanthalia, which, however, only extends 

 to both plants having the long receptacles ; and even these, as men- 

 tioned above, are often in XipJiopJwra very much reduced. 



The thallus is composed of three layers of cells : the cortex, consisting 

 of one row of narrow radiating cells, the parenchyma below the cortex, 

 and a central strand of long, narrow cells with thick longitudinal and 

 very delicate transverse walls. The thick longitudinal walls are marked 

 at intervals by thin places resembling pits, as in the central strand of 

 Turbinaria ; but, the material at my command not being fresh, I have 

 been unable to detect continuity of protoplasm. Oltmanns (loc. cit., p. 70) 

 queries the number of oospores in an oogonium as i ; but, on examining a 

 large number of conceptacles, I find each oogonium contains four oospores 

 divided tetrahedrally as in Ascophyllum. So far as I can see, in dried 

 material the oogonia have no pedicel cell, but grow directly from the 

 cells at the base of the conceptacle. Both species of this genus are 

 monoecious. E. S. BARTON. 



(For explanation of figures see p. 37.) 



NOTHEIA ANOMOLA BAIL, and HARV. 



EXCEPT a short account of it in the Transactions of the Neiv Zealand 

 Institute (vol. xviii., 1885), by Mr. R. M. Laing, I know of no adequate 

 description of Notheia anomola. The remarkable structure of the plant 

 led me to make a further examination of it. This so far has shown that 

 there are points of great interest waiting solution, but with the material 

 at my command I have been unable to make a detailed investigation of 

 the plant, and can only therefore give a preliminary note on the subject 

 at the present time. 



The points which appear to me of interest, and worthy of further 

 investigation, arc : 



