Mr. HassalPs Notices of British Freshwater Conferva. 45 



rarely met with in a state of conjugation : there is no other 

 species of the genus with which it can be confounded. 

 Pond in the parish of Enfield. 



Mougeotia reticulata. Filaments nearly as slender as those of 

 Vesiculifera bombycina, conjugating angularly; cells about 

 six times as long as broad, united by transverse tubes of 

 remarkable length. 



Frequently a number of pairs of cells will unite in the same 

 filament, as in Mougeotia glutinosa and M. coerulescens ; these 

 however are not as in them contiguous pairs, but alternate, so 

 that four or five filaments are sometimes united with each 

 other by means of those alternate cells, which have not con- 

 jugated in the pair of filaments which were the first to be- 

 come united. 



Mougeotia alpina. On a careful examination of a specimen 

 of this interesting Conferva, kindly forwarded to me by Dr. 

 Greville, I came to the conclusion that it ought to be regard- 

 ed as a member of the family of Conjugate, and that the con- 

 jugation was most probably angular. On informing Dr. Gre- 

 ville of my opinion, that gentleman w r rote me word, that Mr. 

 Shuttleworth, who had examined some of his specimens, had 

 arrived at the same conclusion, and considered it to be iden- 

 tical with the Seda capucina of Bory, Mougeotia capucina of 

 Agardh. This led me to compare specimens of both species, 

 which I was enabled to do through the kindness and liberality 

 of Dr. Greville, who has placed in my hands the whole of his 

 valuable collection of Confervm ; and the result of this compa- 

 rison is, that I feel assured of the distinctness of the two spe- 

 cies, the cells being in Mougeotia capucina many times longer 

 than those of M. alpina. Outwardly the resemblance between 

 the two species is very striking— the texture and colour being 

 nearly the same in both, although the purple is somewhat 

 richer in Mougeotia capucina*. 



Mougeotia scalaris. Filaments about equal in diameter to 



those of Mougeotia genuflexa, conjugating parallelly ; cells 



about four times as long as broad ; spores oval, lodged in 



the transverse tubes by which each pair of cells is united. 



That this species is really to be regarded as a Mougeotia, 



notwithstanding its parallel conjugation, there cannot be the 



slightest doubt, from the circumstance of the sporular matter 



at first filling the entire cavity of the cells, and subsequently 



sometimes contracting into longitudinal lines, as in the other 



* Sir William Hooker has likewise with great liberality permitted me to 

 make use of his collection of Conferva, so rich in authentic species. 



