Ser. MELANOSPERMEiE. ( 41 ) Fam. SPOROCHNOIDEiE. 



CARPOMITRA CABREI^M.—Kutz. 



Gen. Char. — Frond linear, dichotomous, flat, with an indistinct midrib (or " iiUform '), 

 cellular ; cells of the axis minute, of the rest larger ; those of the periphery very 

 minute. Fructification: "Mitriform receptacles terminating the branches, com- ' 

 posed of horizontal branching filaments, whorled round a vertical axis, and pro- 

 ducing elliptic oblong seeds." — Phyc. Brit. 



Carpomitra Cabrerce. — Frond linear, flat, with an indistinct midrib, 

 dichotomous, " here and there constricted." 



Carpomitra Cabrera. — Kuiz. Phyc. Gen. p. 343 ; Harv, P. B. plate 14 ; Harv. 

 Man. p. 26 ; Harv. Syn. p. 24; Atlas, plate 6, fig. 22; /. G. Agardh, 

 Sp. Gen. Alg. vol. i. p. 177. 



Sporoohnus Cabrera. — Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. i. p. 156 ; Sysf. p. 260 ; Grev. Syn. 

 p. 40 ; Harv. in Mack. Fl. Hib. part 3, p. 154 ; Harv. Man. 1st 

 edit. p. 28 ; Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 28. 



Fuctrs Cabrera. — Clemente, Ess. p. 313; Turn. Hist. Fiic. t. 140. 



Hab. — Very rare. Beach at Youghal, 1813 {Miss Ball) ; Plymouth Sound (^c?-. W. 

 S. Hore, Dr. Cocks). 



Geogr. Dist. — Cadiz {Clemente) ; south of Ireland ; south of England. 



Description. — Root, an irregidarly oblong tuber, covered with woolly 

 fibres. Fronds with an imperfectly percurrent main stem, irregularly 

 pinnated or somewhat dichotomous, more or less rounded at the base, 

 flattened upwards, with an indistinct midrib, especially in the lower part 

 of the branches, less distinct upwards ; branches more or less dichoto- 

 mous, sometimes irregularly pinnated or even fascicled ; upper branchlets 

 quite flat, all linear, sometimes attenuated towards the base, or con- 

 stricted, as if younger branches issued from the apices of the others in a 

 proliferous manner. The midrib, composed of minute cellules, runs 

 through the whole of the frond, but in the upper branches is scarcely 

 apparent externally ; it is surrounded by a stratum of larger cells, forming 

 the main body of the frond, and that by a thin layer of minute cellules 

 constituting the periphery. Substance cartilaginous, rather brittle when 

 dry, imperfectly adhering to paper. Fructification " formed upon the 

 thickened apex of the midribs of the branches, mitriform, minutely 

 capitate, having a central, densely cellular cylindrical axis, round which 

 branching, horizontal articulated filaments are whorled." "The lower 

 joints of these filaments are slender, the upper beaded, and the terminal 

 joint — which contains minute bodies, probably the remains of sperma- 

 tozoa — oblately elliptical." "Spores pedicellate, linear elliptical, borne 

 towards the base of the whorled filaments." — Phyc. Brit. 



vol,. III. 8 



