Ser. Melanosperme/E. Fam. Dictyotacecc. 



Plate XXXVIII. 



DICTYOTA FURCELLATA, A g . 



Gen. Char. Root woolly. Frond flat, linear, membranous, ribless, areolate, 

 dichotomous or irregularly cleft. Fructification : spores superficial, 

 either collected in spot-like sori, or scattered singly over both surfaces 

 of the frond. — Dictyota {Lamx.), from Siktvov, a net; because the 

 surface, under a lens, has a netted, or rather, a tessellated appearance. 



Radix stuposa. Frons plana, linearis, membranacea, ecostata, areolata, di- 

 chotoma aut vage jissa. Fruct., spores superficiales in soros maculceformes 

 aggregates v. singulatim per utramque paginam frondis disperses. 



Dictyota furcellata ; frond extremely narrow, distantly forked or sub- 

 simple, zigzag, alternately compounded; the lateral divisions many 

 times dichotomous, with very wide axils, spreading segments, and 

 divaricating, acute points; spores solitary, distant. 



D. furcellata ; fronde angustissima subsimplici angulatim flexa alterne decom- 

 posita ; segiuentis laterulibus pluries dichotomis, axillis laciniisque patentis- 

 simis, apicibus divaricatis acutis ; sporis solitariis distantibus. 



Dictyota dichotoma, Ag. Syst. Alg. p. 266. /. Ag. Sp. Alg. v. I. p. 90. 

 Harv. in Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 536 ; Alg. Exsic. Austr. n. 67. 



Dictyota angusta, Harv. in Herb. Cardie, etc. (olim). 



Hab. Covering the bottom, in 4-5 fathoms. Extremely common in 

 Princess Royal Harbour, K. G. Sound, W. H. H. Premantle, G. 

 Clifton. Port Phillip, Mrs. Mallard. South Australia, Br. Curdle. 



Geogr. Distr. West and south coasts of Australia. 



Descr. Forming large, globular or rolled tufts, the numerous slender fronds 

 frequently inextricably interwoven. Fronds 8-10 inches long or more, 

 scarcely half a line and often much less in breadth, with a zigzag, subsimple 

 or remotely dichotomous leading stem, which is set throughout with lateral 

 branches. The branches are one or two inches long, fastigiate, many times 

 dichotomous, all the axils extremely patent, and the apices divaricate. The 

 surface of the membrane is marked with oblong, linear cells. The spores (?) 

 are distinct, vesicated with wide perispores, and form a subsimple line 

 down the centre of the segments. Under some of the axils, especially 

 toward the apex of the frond, there is often a tuft of jointed hairs. The 

 colour is a pale yellowish-olive. The substance is membranous and rather 

 soft, and the frond adheres to paper in drying. 



I am not sure whether this plant be the same as that de- 



