Seb. MELANOSPERME^. ( 83 ) Fam. DICTYOTEiE. 



Plate CLIX. 

 STILOPHORA RHIZODES.— /. Ag. 



Gen. Char. — Frond filiform, cyliudrical, solid or tubular, cellular, much liranched ; 

 branches irregiUarly dichotomous. Fructification : obovate spores, nestling among 

 hemispherical wart-like tufts of clavate jointed filaments, scattered over the 

 surface. Name from o-ti'Atj, "a point or dot," and ^ope'w, "to bear;" alluding 

 to the dots of fructification. 



Stilophora rhizodes. — Frond solid when young, much branched ; 

 branches irregularly dichotomous, ramvili mostly forked ; fructification, 

 scattered over the whole frond. 



Stilophora rhizodes. — /. Ag. Linn. vol. xv. p. 6 ; Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 26; Han'. 

 P. B. plate 70; Harv. Man. p. 39 ; Harv. Syn. p. 33 ; Atlas, plate 10, 

 fig. 38 ; Harv. N. B, A. part 1, p. 112 ; /. G. Agardh, Sp. Gen. Alg. 

 vol. i. p. 85. 



Spermatochnus rhizodes. — Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 335. 



Spokochnus rhizodes. — Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. i. p. 156; Ag. Syst. p. 260 ; Spr. Syst. Veg. 

 vol. iv. p. 329 ; Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 43, t. 6 ; Hoolc. Br. Fl. vol. ii. 

 p. 275 ; Harv. in Mach. Fl. Hib. part 3, p. 173 ; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. 

 No. 5 ; Harv. Man. 1st edit. p. 27 (excl. var. 0). 



Chordaria rhizodes. — Ag. Syn. p. 15 ; Lyngh. Hyd. Dan. p. 52, t. 13. 



Focus rhizodes. — Turn. Hist. t. 235. 



Conferva rhizodes. — Ehr. in Herh. 



Conferva gracilis. — Wulf. Crypt. Aquat. No. 23. 



Conferva verrucosa. — E, Bot. t. 1688. 



Ceramitjm tuberculosum. — Roth, Cat. Bot. vol. ii. p. 162. 



Has. — On rocks, stones, and parasitically on other Alg^, near low-water mark. 

 Annual. Summer. Common on the southern shores of England, and on the eastern, 

 southern, and western shores of Ireland ; Belfast Bay and Strangford Lough (Mr. 

 Thompson) ; Jersey, Rothesay (Rev. G. Laing) ; Lamlash Bay (Major Martin). 



Geogr. Dist. — Atlantic shores of Europe and North America ; Baltic Sea. 



Description. — Root minute, naked. Frond solitary or slightly tufted, 

 six inches to a foot or more in length, and scarcely half a line in dia- 

 meter, filiform, cylindrical, much branched from near the base ; branches 

 iiTCgularly dichotomous, sometimes secund, sometimes alternately pin- 

 nated, all the divisions subpatent, with rounded axils, the ultimate 

 ramuli at one time long, slender, and simple, at another short, forked, or 

 repeatedly dichotomous, all tapering to a fine point ; in some specimens 



