Notes on the Morphology of the Fucacea. 35 



XIPHOPHORA BILLARDIERII MONT. 



THE earliest description of Xiphophora Billaniierii is by Labillardiere 

 under the name of Fucus gladiatus (PL Nov. Ho//., ii., p. in, t. 256), 

 but neither here nor in the description of the plant in Turner's 

 Fnci (vol. iv., p. 102) is there any definite account of the structure. 

 The first detailed examination of the fruits was made by Montagne 

 and described by him in the Annales des Sciences naturelles, ser. 2, 

 vol. xviii., p. 200, where he founds the genus Xiphophora. In the 

 same place he dwells at some length on his theory that the antheridia 

 of the Fucacecs are possibly homologous with the tetraspores of the 

 Floridece, a theory which other botanists of the time seemed to favour. 



In 1860, Harvey added to the genus XipJtopJiora the Fncus cJiondro- 

 pJiyllus of R. Brown, the type specimen of which, preserved in the 

 British Museum, bears on the label ' cf. Fitats gladiatus,' in R. Brown's 

 handwriting, showing that he recognised the relationship of the two 

 species. Since an authentic specimen of Fucits gladiatus named by 

 Labillardiere himself is also in the British Museum, I have been able 

 to compare the other specimens in the Herbarium with the types of both 

 species ; there are, however, many intermediate forms, showing Fncus 

 gladiatus with comparatively short receptacles, approaching more nearly 

 to the short, dichotomous branches of Fucus cJiondropJiyllus. Agardh in 

 his Spec. gen. et ord. Alg., vol. i., amalgamates the genera XiphopJiora, 

 PycnopJiycns, Osotliallia and Pelvetia, and forms of them all a new genus 

 Fucodium, merely reserving the former generic names for sections in 

 that genus. I have, however, followed the example of Oltmanns and 

 others, and retained Montague's generic name of Xiphophora. 



This genus is confined to the southern hemisphere, where it is found 

 on the shores of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and the Auckland 

 Islands ; both species appear to be common. 



I have examined material of Xiphophora Billardierii preserved in 

 the British Museum Herbarium from Lyall's Bay, New Zealand, collected 

 by Dr. Lyall ; from New Zealand, collected by the Antarctic Expedition ; 

 and a plant, preserved in spirit, sent from Geelong, by Mr. Bracebridge 

 Wilson. 



Xiphophora Billardierii Mont, is, as its generic name implies, a plant 

 bearing long, sword-like branches, and these constitute the receptacles, 

 while the vegetative part of the thallus is shortly dichotomous. But, although 

 the generic name characterises the species which the genus was originally 



