See. MELANOSPERME.?!:. ( 197 ) Fam. EOTOCARPE^E. 



MYPJOTRICIIIA CLAYMFOUMlS.—IIarv. 



Gen. Char. — "Filaments capillary, flaccid, jointed (simple), beset with quadrifarious, 

 simple, spine -like ramuli, clothed with byssoid fibres. Fructification: elliptic 

 utricles (or spores?), containing a dark-coloured sporaceous mass." Name from 

 fivpios, " a thousand," and 0pl|, "a hair." — Phijc. Brit. 



Myriotrichia clavceformis. — Fronds consisting of a single stem, every- 

 where beset frona near the base with quadrifarious ramnh, increasing in 

 length iipwards to near the summit, giving the frond a club-shaped 

 outline. 



Myriotrichia clavceformis. — Earv. in IIooTc. Journ. Bot. vol. i, p. 300, t. 138 ; 

 Ilarv. in Much. Fl. Bib. part 3, p. 182 ; Earv. P. B. plate 101 ; 

 Harv. Man, p. 63; Earv. Syn. p. 61; Atlas, plate 22, fig. 101; 

 Wyatt, Alg. Damn. No. 131 ; Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 24; /. G. Acjardh, 

 Sp. Gen. Alg. vol. i. p. 13. 



Hab. — Parasitical on Chorda lomentaria. Annual. Summer. Not uncommon round 

 the British Islands. 



Geogk. Dist. — British Islands. 



Description. — Fronds tufted, minute, parasitical, simple. Stems 

 subcylindrical or slightly club-shaped, everywhere beset from a little 

 above the base with subclavate filaments, very patent and quadrifarious, 

 the lower ones very short, gradually increasing in length upwards to 

 the summit, only a few of the apical ones being shorter, giving the 

 fronds a clavate outline. The lower part of the stem and the ramuli arc 

 covered with fine byssoid filaments with cylindrical joints, three to four 

 times longer than their diameter, those of the ramuli being about as long 

 as their diameter. Substance very flaccid, closely adhering to paper. 

 Colour, a pale greenish olive. Fructification: elliptical "utricles" (or 

 spores) attached to the main threads at the base of the ramuli. 



This cmious and minute parasite is likely to prove not uncommon, its 

 minuteness, no doubt, having caused it to be frequently overlooked. It 

 is often more conspicuous from its numbers than from its individual size, 

 giving a shaggy and coarse appearance to the fronds that arc aficctcd 

 with it to any extent. 



We have only seen specimens from the south-west of England, 

 although we believe it may be occasionally met with on all our shores ; 

 but, like other parasites of a similar natm'c, its appearance is very 

 uncertain. 



