Ser. MELANOSPERME^. 1 179 ) Fam. ECTOCARrEJC 



ECTOCAEPUS VVS1LJ.US.—Gnf. 



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 frum eVrbs, "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 2)usillus. — Filaments very slender, forming small pencil- 

 like tufts, sparingly branched ; branches distant, irregular, or alternate ; 

 ramuli distant, very patent, utricles roundish, nearly sessile, mostly 

 opposite. 



EcTocARFvs pusillus.— Griff, in Wyait, Alg. Danm. No. 212; E. Bot. Suppl. 

 t. 2872 ; Harv. P. B. plate 153 ; Harv. Man. p. 60 ; Harv. Syn. 

 p. 56 ; Atlas, plate 21, fig. 92 ; /. G. Agardh, Sp. Gen. Alg. vol. i. 

 p. 17. 



Hab. — Parasitical on several of the smaller Alga3. Annual. Not uncommon. Torquay 

 {Mrs. Griffiths) ; Land's End, St. Michael's Mount, and Ilfracombe {Mr. Rolfs) ; Frith 

 of Forth (TF. (?./.) ; Forfarshire {A. C). 



Geogk. Dist. — British Islands. 



Description. — Filaments very slender, much tufted and interwoven, 

 forming small pencil-like tufts, two to four inches long or more, on other 

 small Algse, very sparingly branched ; branches few, distant, and flexuous, 

 very patent, scarcely tapering, the apices obtuse ; ramuli few, often none, 

 very patent, short and simple, slightly tapering to the apex. Articula- 

 tions about as long as their diameter, slightly inflated in the middle. 

 Substance rather flaccid, adhering rather closely to the paper in drying. 

 Colour, a fine delicate olive green, changing to a brown in age. Fructifi- 

 cation : minute, roundish, very shortly pedicellate utricles, gcnex-ally 

 abundantly scattered over the fronds. 



This pretty little species is one of many first recorded by the late 

 Mrs. Griffiths, to whom all lovers of marine botany are greatly indebted 

 for her numerous discoveries both in habits and habitats. 



The present species seems to be not unfrequent, preferring quiet, 

 weedy pools between tides, where it grows on the smaller Algse, on which 

 it is often associated in small pencil-like tufts scattered over the plants. 

 Our Forfarshire specimens are small, scarcely reaching two mchcs in 

 length, but are abundantly fruited. 



