I 



Aug.,"j Lucas, Among the Semveeds at Portsea. 63 



brown, and coralline seaweeds. It is a good rule never to pass 

 a thrown-up plant of Cymodocea without looking it over to 

 see what is growing on it ; you gain all sorts of treasure trove 

 in this way. Thus, I found Mychodea pusilla (Harv.), J. Ag., 

 and Pollexfenia crispata (Zan.), Falk., on Cymodocea — neither 

 of them recorded b}^ Wilson. At Anglesea the elegant form of 

 Corallina Cuvieri, Lamx., predominated on the host, but at 

 Portsea I did not see this form at all, its- place being taken by 

 the condensed and hence coarser-looking "forma /3." The 

 Stellate Coralline, " Amphiron stelligera " of Harvey, was 

 common, but the other two species, granifera and charoides, 

 did not appear. A plant of Cymodocea bearing sprays of this 

 pink coralline is a beautiful object. Tisdall, in his paper in 

 the Naturalist, stated that the algae only attach themselves to 

 the nodes of the Cymodocea. While the nodes afford the 

 firmest attachment, the internodes are sufficiently firm, and 

 the smaller algae attach themselves anywhere along the 

 stem. 



Attached to the sides of the big rocks bordering the tidal 

 channels, great fronds of Sarcophycus potatorum (Lab.), Kuetz., 

 and Macrocystis are tossed to and fro in the advancing and 

 retreating waves. The former has broad (to a foot) leathery- 

 looking fronds, with a thick, solid stipes, and is the stoutest of 

 Australian algae. In Tasmania, where it attains a much 

 greater size, fishermen will moor their boats to the strong 

 stems. The attachments of these kelp-forming brown weeds 

 are interesting. Sarcophycus has a single broad disc. Macro- 

 cystis is attached by a number of spreading holdfasts, like the 

 adventitious roots of Ficus ; these branch several times, and 

 each branchlet ends in an adhesive disc. The pattern varies 

 again in Ecklonia and Phyllospora. These are our chief kelp 

 plants, and from them can be obtained good percentages of 

 potassium chloride and mannitol. 



On the surface of the reef, exposed at low water, there was 

 abundance of Splachnidium rugosum (L.), Grev., the plants 

 growing gregariously where they get the splash of the waves. 

 The plant looks like a diminutive branched sausage ; the 

 branches are but half an inch in diameter, and have a trans- 

 parent, slimy, jelly-like content, which makes the plant a 

 troublesome one to mount with effect. It grows near Sydney, 

 but I have never seen so fine a specimen as Harvey figures in 

 his " Phycologia Australica." The average height is not much 

 more than four inches. Another plant usually growing in such 

 situations is Laiirencia obtusa (Huds.), Lamx., one of the most 

 puzzling algae because of its infinite varieties of form. 



In the pools, and captured by the tufts of Hormosera, one 

 finds, even without the great swell, a number of drifted algae. 



