Ser. MELANOSPEKME.E. ( 165 ) Fam. ECTOCARPE^. 



Plate CLXXIV. 

 ECTOCARPUS SILICULOSUS.— i?/»f/i. 



Gen. Char. — "Frond capillary, jointed, olive or hrown, flaccid, single-tubed. Fruit, 

 either spherical, elliptical, or lanceolate utricles (or spores), borne (externally) 

 on the ramuli, or imbedded in their substance." Name from tKrhs, "external," 

 and Kapnhs, "fruit." A name equally applicable to many other genera, and 

 unfortunately only to a few of the species in the present. 



EcTOCARPUS siliculosus. — Fronds flaccid, filifoi-m, very slender, and 

 much branched ; branches dichotomous, alternate, or secund ; apices 

 attenuated ; " utricles " stalked, elongate-ovate, acuminate. 



EcTOCARPUs siUculosiis.—Lynrjh. Hyd. Dan. p. 1.31, t. 43 ; Arj. Syst. p. 161 ; 

 Grev. FL Edin. p. 314; Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. ii. p. 37 ; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. 

 No. 172; /. Ag. Alg. Medit. p. 26 ; Eiidl. 3rd. Suppl. p. 21 ; Kiitz. 

 Phyc. Gen. p. 288 ; Harv. in Hooh. Br. FL vol. ii. p. 325 ; Harv. 

 in Mach. FL Hib. part 3, p. 181; Harv. P. B. plate 162; Harv. 

 Man. p. 58 ; Harv. Syn. p. 53; Atlas, plate 19, fig. 81 ; Harv. N. B.A. 

 part 1, p. 139 ; /. G. Agardh, Sp. Gen. Alg. vol. i. p. 22. 



Ceramium siliculosum. — Ag, Syn. p. 65 ; Hook. FL Scot, part 2, p. 86. 



Ceramium confervoides. — Roth, Cat. vol. i. p. 151, t. 8, f. 3; and vol. iii. p. 148. 



Conferva siliculosa. — Dillw. Syn. No. 112, t. E. ; E7igL Bat. t. 2319. 



Var. /3. longijjes. — Stalks of the utricles very long. 



Hab. — Parasitical on various Algse, between tide-marks, and in two to six fathoms 

 water. Annual. Spring to autumn. Very common. yS. at Jersey {Miss White and 

 Mr. F. P. Girdlestone). 



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



Description. — Fronds filiform, veiy slender, nearly cylindi-ical, very 

 soft and tender, thi-ee to ten inches or more in length, much tufted and 

 branched ; branches irregularly scattered, more or less dichotomous or 

 alternate, nearly cylindrical, but more and more slender upwards ; 

 ultimate ramu.li excessively delicate, and occasionally secund and acu- 

 minate, all erecto-patent. Articulations veiy slightly constricted at the 

 dissepiments, variable in lengih, mostly nearly twice as long as their 

 diameter. Utiicles ovate, acuminate, shortly pedicellate, or in var. /3. 

 Harv., " on long stalks," marked by close transverse striaj, "tapering to 

 a fine point, and occasionally produced at the ape.x into a hyaline 

 filament." They are generally scattered abundantly over the upper 



