Ser. RhodospermejE. Fam. Rhodomelacece. 



Plate XII. 



SARCOMENIA HYPNEOIDES, Haw. 



Gen. Char. Frond flat and midribbed, or compressed, or terete, inarticu- 

 late, pinnately decompound or proliferous, carnoso-membranaceous, 

 composed of two strata of cells ; the inner stratum of oblong, thick- 

 walled, gelatinous cells, in several rows ; the outer of a single row of 

 minute, coloured, vertical cellules. Fructification: 1. pedicellate, 

 thick-walled ceramidia, containing a tuft of branching spore-threads, 

 bearing pyriform spores ; 2. lanceolate stick" idia, containing tripartite 

 tetraspores in a single or double row. — Sarcomenia (Sand.), from 

 crapi;, flesh, and vfirjv, a membrane. 



Frons plana, costata ; v. compressa ; v. teres; continua, pinnatbn decomposita 

 v. e disco prolifera straits duobus contexia ; strato medullari ex cellulis mag- 

 nis oblongis (jelineis crassis, peripherico ex cellulis minutis coloratis serie sim- 

 plici dispositis verticalibus evoluto. Fruct.: 1, ceramidia pedicellata intra 

 pericarpium crsasum ostiolo pertusum sporas pyriformes in fills ramosis termi- 

 nates foventia ; 2, stichidia lanceolata tetrasporas triangule divisas uni-biseri- 

 atas continentia. 



Sarcomenia hjpneoides ; frond linear, very narrow, compressed, disti- 

 chously much branched ; branches and ramuli opposite, attenuated, 

 acute, not narrowed at the base ; stichidia lanceolate, scattered or 

 tufted. 



S. hypneoides ; fronde lineari angnstissima compressa distiche ramosissima ; ra- 

 mis ramulisque opposilis attenuatis acutis basi nee angustatis ; stichidiis lan- 

 ceolatis sparsis v. fasciculatis. 



Sarcomenia hypneoides, Harv. in Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 537. Harv. 

 Alg. Austr. Exsic. n. 142. 



Hab. Cast ashore at Fremantle, Mr. Geo. Clifton. At Garden Island, 

 W. H. H. 



Geogr. Dtstr. West coast of Australia. 



Descr. Root a small disc. Frond 8-12-18 inches long, from half a line to a 

 line in diameter, compressed, distichously much branched. Branches oppo- 

 site, or, by occasional suppression, irregular, patent, 4-6 inches long, about 

 half the diameter of the main stem at the point of their insertion, gradually 

 attenuated upwards, and ending in a fine, hair-like point, not in the least 

 constricted or narrowed at the base. These branches are set throughout, 

 at short intervals, with opposite pairs of similar but smaller secondary 

 hranches, and these bear a third and fourth series, the last series being fur- 

 nished with small, opposite, subulate ramuli. Ordinary specimens are about 

 four times compound. A variety sometimes occurs, of rather stronger 



