Ser. Rhodosperme^e. Fam. Sp/iccrococcoidece. 



Plate XXXIX. 



CURDIEA LACINIATA, Haw. 



Gen. Char. Frond flat, coriaceo-cartilaginous, laciniate, composed of two 

 strata of cells ; the inner stratum consisting of roundish angular cells, 

 the outer of very minute, aggregated, subvertically seriated, coloured 

 cellules. Fructification : 1, marginal, globose, sessile coccidia, con- 

 taining, within a very thick pericarp, minute spores arranged in spore- 

 threads issuing from a large, fleshy central placenta ; 2, cruciate 

 tetraspores formed in superficial, intramarginal warts (nemat/iecia) . 

 — Curdiea (Harv.), in honour of Dr. Curdie, of Tandarook, Geelong, 

 an early observer of Australian Algse. 



From plana, coriaceo-cartllaglnea, ladniata, duplicl strato constituta ; cellulls 

 interloribus rotundato-angidatls majoribus extus sensim minoribus, exterioribus 

 v. peripherics minimis coloratls vertlcallter subserlatls. Fruct. : 1, coccidia 

 marginalia, globosa, sessilia, sporas mlnutas infills ex placenta carnosa centrali 

 radlantlbus evolutas intra perlcarplum crassum foventia ; 2, tetrasporce cru- 

 clatim dlvlsce, in nemathecils intramarglnalibus oblongis superficiallbus evolutce. 

 — Alga rubro-sangulnea, slccitate riglda. 



Curdiea laciniata, Harv. 



Curdiea laciniata, Harv. in An. Nat. Hist. ser. 2. v. 15. p. 333 ; Alg. Austr. 

 Exslc. n. 303. 



Hab. Cast up from deep water. Port Fairy, Mrs. Eddington (communi- 

 cated by Dr. Curdie), W. H. H. Guichen Bay, Dr. F. Mueller. 

 Port Phillip Heads, Dr. F. Mueller, W. H. H. 



Geogr. Distr. South coast of Australia. 



Descr. Root a small disc. Frond 1-2 feet long, and as much in the expansion 

 of the lacinice, flat, cut into very many ribbon-like, very irregularly-divided 

 lacinise, which vary in breadth from half an inch to an inch or more. Some- 

 times the frond is palmatifid, and then the principal segments are cuneate 

 at base, the lesser ones linear ; sometimes the division is more on a pinnate 

 type, and then the principal segments are linear, margined with simple, 

 or cloven, or palmatifid lateral lobes. The axils are all narrow, and con- 

 tiguous segments are generally subparallel. The apices are nominally 

 blunt, but frequently attenuated, and variously jagged. The coccidia are 

 as large as cabbage-seed, sessile along the margin, and frequently studded 

 in regular series, resembling glandular crenatures : their walls are very 

 thick ; the cavity large, but nearly filled up with a cellular placenta rising 

 from the base ; the surface of the placenta is clothed with radiating, densely 

 aggregated spore-threads, which dissolve into minute spores, that are at 

 length ejected through a terminal orifice. The tetraspores are cruciate, and 



