22 Bulletin Vandei'hilt Marine Museum, Vol. VII 



record being apparently the first for tomentella from this archi- 

 pelago. 



Material examined : One very fine cluster taken on Teviatoa 

 Reef, Raiatea Island, Society Islands, August 21, 1931. 



Technical description : The genus Cavlerpa, which includes 

 eighty-odd species, is the characteristic algoid covering of the 

 rocks and sands in the shallow water lagoons of the tropical seas. 

 The members of the genus are widely scattered, giving it an ex- 

 tensive circumtropic distribution. There are also several species 

 of fossil algoid plants accredited to this genus. 



The present subspecies, represented in the "Alva" collection 

 by a large cluster of fronds, has the surculo robust, with but very 

 few hairs, prostrate, creeping, the underside giving rise to small 

 clusters of root-like fibers that attach to bits of sand, etc. ; the 

 upper surface of the surculo gives rise at short intervals to erect, 

 stipitate fronds, the larger of which are frequently once branched. 

 These fronds are two to three centimeters high, each supporting 

 numerous ramuli arranged in continuous series around the cen- 

 tral axis, these ramuli being dichotomous, each half being equally 

 forked, Y-like, the distal ends of this Y being bifurcate, acuminate, 

 as shown in figure B. 



References: Caulerpa wehhiana, Montagne, C, Ann. Sci. Nat., 

 2nd ser., t. IX, Botanique, Paris, 1838, p. 129 and 146, pi. 6, 

 figs. 1-5. — Maze, H., et Schramm, A., Essai de Classification 

 des alges de la Guadeloupe, 1865 et 1870, p. 77, Basse Terre. — 

 Agardh, J., Till Alg. Syst., 1872, Pt. I, Lund Univ. Arsskrift, 

 vol. XIX, p. 7. — Weber van Bosse, A., Ann. Buitenzorg 

 Jardin Bot., Leide, 1898, t. XV, p. 269.— BoRGENSEN, F., K. 

 Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. 7 Rk. Naturv.— Math. Afd. IV, 

 5, 1907, p. 357 ; the Marine Algae of the Danish West Indies, 

 vol. I, 1913-14, Chlorophyceae and Phaeophyceae, Copen- 

 hagen, p. 125. — F. S. Collins, Tufts College Studies, vol. II, 

 No. 3, July, 1909, p. 412. 



Chauvinia wehhiana, KuTZiNG, F. T., Spec. Alg., p. 499, Tab. Phy- 

 col. 1857, vol. VII, tab. 6. 



Caulerpa tomentella, Harvey, W. H., List of Friendly Island Algae, 

 Agardh, J., loc. cit., p. 8. 



Caulerpa wehhiana variety divergens, Agardh, J., loc. cit., p. 7. 



