194 rntvcrsity of California Puhlications in Botany [Vol.8 



above; walls up to lo^a thick, hoinogeiu'oiis, hyaline; chromatophore a 

 thill, parietal, finely reticulate band, with numerous small pyrenoicls. 



Growinor on stones, shells, and other algae. San Juan County, 

 "Washington. 



Frye and Zeller, Hormiscia tetracUiata, sp. iiov., 1915, pp. 9-13, 

 pi. 2. ''Hormiscia Wormskjoldii" Collins, Green Alg. N. A., Suppl. 

 II, 1918, p. 86 (in part) ; Collins, Holden and Setchell, Phyc. Bor.- 

 Amer. (Exsice.), no. 2237. 



Hormiscia tetracUiata Frye and Zeller presents a number of inter- 

 esting and puzzling characters as described and figured. It seems to 

 be a species of the Penicilli formes section, in that the fertile cells are 

 short and only slightly swollen. It differs from all others of the species 

 of that section except H. collahens (Harv.) Collins in the greater 

 maximum diameter attained by the fertile cells. Frj'e and Zeller give 

 this diameter as 220/^ for H. tetracUiata while Batters (1894, p. 114) 

 states that H. collahens reaches a maximum diameter of 450/x (veri- 

 fied by an examination of the type specimen, loc. cit., p. 115). The 

 Vrospora hangioides (Harv.) Holmes and Batters (cf. Batters, 1894, 

 pp. 115, 116) seems too slender (up to 150fi, even perhaps to ISO/x 

 in maximum diameter), but the plant distributed under the name of 

 Vrospora collahens by Collins (Phyc. Bor.-Amer. (Exsice), no. 970) 

 shows sterile segments up to 220/^ in diameter and agrees closely with 

 the description of H. tetracUiata. We do not find any fertile segments, 

 however, in the Collins specimen, and the maximum diameter of the 

 fertile segments may be much greater. 



The plant distributed under no. 970 of the Phycotheca Boreali- 

 Americana is supposed to be H. tetracUiata since it was collected under 

 the supervision of Professor Frye and received his sanction. It seems 

 to have its fertile segments rather more swollen and elongated than is 

 indicated by the drawings of Frye and Zeller {loc. cit., pi. 2, f. 6 

 and 17) or as provided for in the description. The distributed speci- 

 mens seem rather to belong to the section Wormskioldiiformes. In 

 this connection, it may also be mentioned that a later gathering, by 

 Professor Frye, from the same locality has yielded no H. tetracUiata, 

 but a mixture of what we refer below to as //. grandUs and H. Worm- 

 skioldii. 



The unusual character of Hormiscia tetracUiata is shown by the 

 gametes. These, according to Frye and Zeller {loc. cit., pp. 10, 11) 

 have four cilia each and, judging from their figure, fuse in pairs 

 (loc. cit., f. 20) in an unusual way, i.e., not at the tips, but at the 



