See. MELANOSPEKME.E. ^ <)i > Eam. DKTVOTEE 



Plate CLXIII. 

 PUNCTARIA LATIFOLIA.-G^re«;. 



Gen. Char. — Frond gelatinoso-membranous, flat, without midrib. Fructification exter- 

 nal, scattered over the whole surface of the frond, consisting of roundish ovate 

 spores, mixed with short, articulated, club-shaped filaments, and forming little 

 tufts or sori. Name from imnctum, "a point or dot," in allusion to the dots of 

 fructification. 



PuNCTARiA latifolvx. — Frond oblong, obovate or iiTegularly lanceolate, 

 veiy shortly stalked, and very tender. 



Pdnctaria latifolia. — Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 52 ; Hooh. Br, Fl. vol. ii. p. 278 ; 

 Mack. Fl. Hib. vol. iii. p. 176 ; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 9 ; /. Ag. 

 Alg. Medit. p. 41 ; Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 25; Meneg. Alg. Hal. p. 174; 

 Earv. P. B. plate 8 ; Harv. Man. p. 41 ; JIarv. St/ii. p. 36 ; Atlas, 

 plate 11, fig. 42 ; JIarv. N. B.A. part 1, p. 116; /. G. Agardh, Sp. 

 Gen. Alg. vol. i. p. 73. 



Phtcolapathum debile. — Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 292, t. 24, II. (in part). 



Hab. — On rocks, stones, and old shells in the sea. Annual. Summer. Not uncommon 

 on the English coasts ; rather rare in Scotland. West of Ireland, common. 



Geogr. Dist. — British Islands ; Mediterranean Sea ; Trieste {Eerh. Eoolcer). 



Description. — Root, a flat, hard, naked disc. Frond with a short 

 cylindrical stalk from one to three lines long, and not much thicker 

 than a stout horse-hair, obovate, oblong or lanceolate, the margin 

 straight, entire, or slightly and irregularly sinuated, plane or more or 

 less waved and curled ; apex generally rounded and very obtuse, some- 

 times tapering to an obtuse point, base similar, sm-face quite flat. 

 Structure of rather small quadrate cells, an-auged in longitudinal lines. 

 Substance membranous and very delicate, but imperfectly adhering to 

 paper. Colom', a very pale olive green. Fructification : minute, roundish 

 ovate spores, collected in little groups, mixed with short elliptical or 

 clavate filaments, and scattered over the whole sm-face of the frond. 



This fine species is as liable to be confounded with Laminmia debilis 

 (the broad form), as the following species is with L. facia (the narrow 

 form). They are still, however, sufficiently distinct both in size and 

 form to separate the species, and when the present , is in fruit there 

 can be no difficulty at all. 



We have not met with this species in Scotland, and judging from the 



