184 Mr. HassalFs Notices of British Freshwater Alga. 



curiously formed species a distinct genus, contenting himself with 

 communicating his views to some of his correspondents, of whom 

 I may name the following as being conversant with those views : 

 Mr. Borrer, the Rev. M. J. Berkeley and Mr. Ralfs. Within these 

 few days I have been informed by Mr. Berkeley that Kutzing has 

 proposed this genus under the term of Staurospermum in a sketch 

 of a work on the Algae, inserted in the first number of the new 

 series of ^ Linnsea.^ No account of the genus is given by Kutzing, 

 but merely the name and an enumeration of species belonging to it. 

 Mr. Shuttleworth^s appellation I conceive to be much more appro- 

 priate and accurate than that of Kutzing, and have therefore ven- 

 tured to retain it ; for the word Staurocarpus applies to the fruc- 

 tification generally, which is either square or cruciform, while 

 Staurospermum appears to me to specify the reproductive granules 

 or zoospores themselves with which each sporangium is filled, and 

 which are more or less of a circular form. 



That Agardh entertained a very strong suspicion that the 

 square-fruited species ought to be separated from the genus Mou- 

 geotittj will be apparent from the following observations : — 



"Ceterse species quoad fructum non satis cognitse, et postea 

 forsan separandse, hue tantum ob habitum retentse.^' 



The genus Staurocarpus difiers from Mougeotia in the facts of 

 the transference of endochrome and formation of sporangia, while 

 from the genus Sphcerocaipus^ hereafter to be described, it is se- 

 parated by the form of the sporangium. 



But one species of this genus is described by British writers. 

 In a recent number of the ' Annals ^ I added two others, and I 

 have now the pleasure, assisted by my valued colleagues Mr. Balfs 

 and Mr. Jenner, of describing three other species of the genus. 



St. glutinosus. Synonym, Mougeotia glutinosus. For descrip- 

 tion see ^ Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' vol. x. ; and 

 for figure, Plate VII . fig. I. 



St. capucinus. Filaments of less diameter than those of St. glu- 

 tinosus j cells usually eight or ten times as long as broad ; en- 

 dochrome generally of a purple hue ; sporangia cruciform, large, 

 and filled with zoospores of a greenish colour. See PI. VII. 

 fig. 2. 

 Hah. Henfield, Mr. Borrer; Tunbridge Wells, Mr. Jenner; 



Penzance, Mr. Ralfs ; High Beech, Essex. 



This is a very distinct species, and appears first to have been 

 described by Agardh under the name here adopted. A synonym 

 of this species is undoubtedly the Conferva c<jerulescens of ^ English 

 Botany.' The colour of the filaments in this as in other Confervse 

 would appear to be subject to considerable variety, but is usually 



