See. MELANOSPERME.E. ( 105 ) Fa.m. DlL'TVOTEyE. 



LITOSIPHON LAMINARLE.— ^am 



Gen. Char.— Frond unbranched, cylindrical and cartilaginous, subsolid at length, 

 tubular, composed of several rows of cells; the surfiice areolated. Fructificatron*: 

 solitary or aggregated, naked spores, scattered irregularly over the surface of the 

 frond. Name from Kiros, "slender or mean," and aicpov, "a tube."— P%c. Brit. 



LiTOSiPHON Laminar-ke. — Fronds in stellate corymbose tufts, somewhat 

 clavate upwards, attenuated towards the base, smooth or with a few 

 scattered hair-like filaments towards the extremities; cells quadi-ate, 

 arranged in circular bands ; " spores solitary in the transverse rows of 

 cells." 



LiTOsiPHON LaminaricB.—Harv. P. B. plate 295 ; Haw. Man. p. 43 ; Harv. Syn. 

 p. 39 ; Atlas, plate 13, fig. 53. 



Desmotrichum Laminarioe. — Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 470. 



Chlorosiphon Laminarice. — Harv. in Phyc. Brit. vol. i. p. x. (list of species,. 



Bangia Laminarice.— Lyngh. Hyd. Dan. p. 84, t. 24; Ag. Syst. p. 75; Hoolc. 



Br. Fl. vol. ii. p. 316; Harv. in Mack. Fl. Hib. part 3, p. 241 ; 



Harv. Man. 1st edit. p. 172. 



AsPERococcus (?) Laminarice. — /. G. Agardh, Sp. Gen. Alg. vol. i. p. 79. 

 Hab. — ^axasiXicaX on Alaria esculenta. Annual. Summer and autumn. Very common. 

 Geogr. DiST. — Atlantic shores of Eui-ope. 



Description. — Fronds forming minute stellate- tufts, frequently so 

 numerous as to become confluent, uniform, of equal length, often covering 

 parasitically the whole of the plant on which they grow. The filaments 

 are more or less clavate, attenuated to the base ; apices rounded, with 

 generally a few scattered hairs. Structm-e cellulai", solid ; cells irregu- 

 larly quadrate, those of the periphery arranged in circular bands round 

 the frond. Substance very soft and flaccid, adhering closely to paper. 

 Colour, a brownish olive, yellowish when young. Fructification : " spores 

 scattered, one or more in each transverse band, each spore foimed from 

 a cell of the band, become enlarged and prominent" [Phyc. Brit.), where 

 we are also informed that " the cells sometimes form into four smaller 

 cells, which occupy the space of one large cell." 



We have not been able to find the fruit of this curious little plant, 

 although the fronds are by no means unfrequent, covering mostly the 

 upper part of the Alaria, on which alone wo have met with it, with its 



VOL. III. ^ 



