Ser. MELANOSPERMEiE. ( 123 ) Fam. CHOR 



ELACHISTA FUCICOLA— J'; 



les. 



Gen. Char.— Fronds consisting of a more or less evident tubercular base, composed of 

 ovate cells, arranged in the form of mostly dichotomous filaments, densely packed, 

 terminating in free, simple filaments, forming a brush-like tuft. Fructification : 

 obovate spores, produced at the base of the simple filaments, and often accom- 

 panied by tufts of short, clavate " paraiiemata." Name from eAax"rTo, "the 

 least," in allusion to the small size of the species. 



ELACHiSTA/ttcico^a. — Free filaments elongate, much attenuated upwards; 

 articulations once or twice as long as broad ; tubercle hemispherical. 



Elachista fucicola.— Fries, Fl. Scan. p. 317 ; Aresch. Pug. t. 8, f 6, 7 ; /. G. 



Agardh, Sp. Gen. Alg. vol. i. p. 12 ; Harv. P. B. plate 240 ; Hai-v. 



Man. p. 49 ; Harv. Syn. p. 43 ; Atlas, plate 15, fig. 61 ; Earv. 



N. B. 4. part 1, p. 131. 

 Myrionema fucicolum. — Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 23. 

 Phycophila fucwum, and P. Agardhii. — Kiltz. Phyc. Gen. p. 330, 



Con FERYX fucicola. — Velley, PI. Mar. No. 4; Dillw. Conf. t. 66; Lyngb. Hyd. 

 Dan. t. 50; Ag. Syst. p. 103; Harv. in. Hook. Br. Fl. vol. ii. p. 354; 

 Harv. in Mack. Fl. Hib. part 3, p. 227; Haj-v. Man. 1st edit. p. 131 ; 

 Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 192. 



Conferva ferruginea. — Ag. Syst. p. 103, 



Hab. — Parasitical on the genus '^Fucus," more particularly '^serratus." Annual. 

 Summer and autumn. Very common. 



Gkoqr. Dist. — Atlantic shores of Northern Europe ; Baltic Sea. 



Description. — Tubercle hemispherical, at first mmute, partially 

 immersed in the substance of the plant on which it grows, gi'adually 

 enlarging in size, and composed of radiating filaments, three to five times 

 dichotomous, and formed of roundish elliptical cells, closely compacted 

 together into a hard subcartilaginous tubercle ; each of the ultimate 

 divisions is crowned with a tuft of from three to four short, simple, 

 articulated, club-shaped filaments (paranemata) forming the periphery of 

 the frond, and a long, slender, articulated filament, much attenuated 

 upwards, and slightly so at the base. Articulations about one and a-half 

 times as long as their diameter ; these constitute the brush-like tuft, 

 and are from half an inch to an inch in length. Substance cartilagineo- 

 membranaceous, slightly adhering to the paper. Colour, a dull brownish 

 or greyish olive. 



One of the largest and commonest species of the genus, and one of the 

 jnost common of our northern Algse, found in profusion wherever Fucus 



