Ser. MELANOSrERME/E. (Kin) Fam. ECTOCARPE^E. 



ECTOCAEPUS FENE STRATUS.— i?erZ-. 



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

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

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

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

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



EcTOCARPUS fenestratus. — " Pale gi-een, very slender, forming small 

 tufts, filaments not much branched ; branches distant, alternate, fur- 

 nished with a few long and simple, alternate ramuli ; articulations of 

 the branches twice or thrice as long as broad, pellucid, silicules stalked, 

 scattered, at first clavate, then elliptic -oblong, obtuse, densely striate 

 transversely, and cross-barred, dark brown." — Phyc. Brit. 



EcTOOARPUS fenestratus. — Berh. in Herh. Griff. MSS. ; Harv. P. B. plate 2.J7 ; 

 Harv. Man. p. 58 ; Harv. Syn. p. 54 ; Atlas, plate 20, fig. 86. 



Hab. — Salcombe {Mrs. Wyatt). Annual. May. Probably common. 



Geogr. Dist. ? 



Description. — "Filaments forming small tufts, very slender, one or 

 two inches high, not very much branched ; the branches lying apart, 

 and somewhat feathery, alternate, repeatedly divided, all the divisions 

 erect, the ultimate ramuli prolonged and straight. Articulations variable 

 (as in all the genus), usually in the middle part of the stems, twice or 

 thrice as long as broad, full of a pale olive, translucent endochrome, with 

 a veiy few grains dispersed through it, in the lower part gradually 

 shorter ; silicules pedicellate, at first club-shaped and narrow, after- 

 wards becoming elliptic-oblong or somewhat fusiform, but always very 

 blunt at each end. When fully ripened, they are dark coloured, marked 

 with closely set transverse and longitudinal stria;, which mark the surface 

 with small square reticulations, like a mosaic pavement or the lattice of 

 a window ; an appearance alluded to in the specific name. Colour pale 

 greenish olive. Substance flaccid, closely adhering to paper," — Plii/c. 

 Brit. 



Of this apparently distinct, veiy rare, and pretty species we know 

 nothing, and give the characters and description as detailed in Phyc. 

 Brit., where Professor Harvey informs us that its discoverer, Mi-s. Wyatt, 

 had only met with it once. It is to be hoped that some other fortunate 



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