110 NITOPHYLLUM. 



manner, composed of linear-oblong, obtuse, midribbed leaves, 

 scarcely tapered at base, the younger series springing from 

 the midribs of the older; tetraspores forming an oblong line 

 at each side of the midrib. Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 76 ; Hook. 

 Br. Fl. ii. p. 286; Wyatt, Alg. Damn. No. 64; Harv. 

 Phyc. Brit. t. xxvi ; E. Bot. t. 1297. 



On rocks and Laminarieee, &c. ; vatlier rare. Annual. Summer and 

 autumn. Shores of England and Ireland. — Originating, like the last, in 

 a simple leaf, branched in a similar manner, and with a similar fructifica- 

 tion. It differs chiefly in the form of the leaves, which are shorter, boader, 

 obtuse at the apex and not tapering at the base; but specimens are occa- 

 sionally found presenting intermediate appearances. The colour, too, is 

 generally deeper, the substance rather firmer, and the reticulations smaller 

 than in the last. 



IT. NiTOPHYLLUM. Grev. [Plate 15, B.] 



Frond membranaceous, reticulated, rose-red (rarely pur- 

 plish), veinless, or furnished with irregular veins towards the 

 base. Fructijication : 1, convex tubercles {coccidia) sessile 

 on the frond, containing a tuft of filaments which bear the 

 spores : 2, tetraspores forming distinct, scattered spots. 

 — Name, from nitor, to shine, and (puxxov, a leaf. The 

 absence of a nerve distinguishes this genus from Delesseria, 

 as do the thinner, more reticulated substance, and distinct 

 spots of tetraspores, from Rhodymenia. 



1. N. punctaium, With. ; frond very thin and delicate, 

 destitute of nervures, either regularly dichotomous or cleft 

 into two or three principal segments, whose margins are 

 fringed with dichotomous lobes, the axils rounded; spots of 

 tetraspores large, scattered over the whole frond or confined 

 to its segments. Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 79, t. 12; Hook. Br. Fl. 

 ii. p. 287. Fucus punctatus, E. Bot. t. 1575 ; Harv. Phyc. 

 Brit. t. ccii. cciii.' — ft. ocellatiim ; frond with a roundish 

 outline, cleft nearly to the base, the segments repeatedly di- 

 chotomous, linear. N. ocellatnm, Grev. Hook. Br. Fl. ii. 

 p. 286; JVyait, Alg. Damn. No. 15. Delesseria ocellata, 

 Grev. Crypt, t. 347. 



Attached to various Algae within and beyond the tidal limit. Annual. 

 Summer. On the coasts of England, Ireland and Scotland, in many 

 places ; the Irish specimens of large size. ^. coast of Moray, Mr. Brodie. 

 Torquay and Sidmouth, Mrs. Griffiths. Bantry Bay, Miss Hutehins. — 

 Frond primarily of a broadly wedge-shaped form, afterwards dichotomously 

 divided, wiih rounded axils, the segments preserving their wedge shape, 

 commonly from 4 to 12 inches long and about as broad, but in favourable 

 situations much larger, and in some gigantic specimens gathered by Mr. 



