Ser. Rhodospermeje. Fam. Rhodomelacece. 



Plate III. 



DASYA CLIFTONI, Harv. 



Gen. Char. Frond filiform or compressed, dendroid ; stem and branches 

 coated with small, polygonal cellules (rarely articulate and many- 

 tubed), the axis articulate, composed of numerous radiating cells sur- 

 rounding a central cavity; ramelli articulated, one-tubed. Fruc- 

 tification: 1, ovate or urceolate ceramidia ; 2, lanceolate stichidia, 

 attached to the ramelli, and containing triangularly parted tetraspores 

 in transverse rows. — Dasya {Ag.), from haaw;, hairy. 



Frons filiformis v. compressa, dendroidea. Caulis ramique majores strato cellu- 

 larum corticati fraro pellucide artictdati,) ramellis monosiphoniis obsessi ; 

 axis articulatus, ex cellulis pluribus radiantibus tubum centralem cingentibus 

 formatus. Fruct. : 1, ceramidia ovata v. urceolata ; 2, stichidia lauceolata, 

 ex ramellis enata, tetrasporas transversim ordinatas foventia . 



Dasya Cliftoni ; stem long, slender, flexuous or spiral, glabrous, inarticu- 

 late, subdistichously branched, bi-tripinnate ; pinnae patent, glabrous ; 

 pinnules alternate, subdistant, ramelliferous ; ramelli divaricately 

 much branched, dichotomous, scarcely attenuate, obtuse, their articu- 

 lations 3-4 times longer than broad ; stichidia lanceolate. 



D. Cliftoni; caule pedali termi Jlexuoso v. scandente glabro corticato sitbdistiche 

 ramoso bi-triphmato ; pinnis patentibus glabris, pinnulis altemis remotius- 

 culis ramellosis ; ramellis multeities diraricato-dichotomis vix attenuatis ob- 

 tusis, articidis diametro 3-4<-plo longioribus ; stichidiis lanceolatis. 



Dasya Cliftoni, Harv. in Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 542; Alg. Austr. 

 Exsic. n. 200. 



Hab. Dredged in Fremantle Harbour, by Geo. Clifton, Esq. Also col- 

 lected at Garden Inland and Rottnest, and at King George's Sound, 

 "Western Australia, JF. H. H. 



Geogr. Distr. As above. 



Descr. Fronds very densely tufted, and rarely extricable, a foot or more in 

 length, about the thickness of hog's bristle, gradually attenuated upwards, 

 subdistichously bi-tripinnate. The main stem and primary branches are 

 everywhere inarticulate, being coated externally with a layer of slender, 

 cylindrical, longitudinal, parallel cellules, and are glabrous or bare of 

 ramelli ; the penultimate branchlets or pinnules are alone ramelliferous. 

 These are from quarter to half an inch in length, and densely clothed on all 

 sides with dichotomous ramelli, which are peculiarly crowded at the tips, 

 into a dense dark spot-like fascicle. These ramelli are about the tenth of 

 an inch long, very many times forked, the forkings divaricate ; they are not 



