See. MELANOSPEKMEii:. ( 185 ) Fa.m. ECTOCARPE/E. 



Plate CLXXIX. 

 ECTOCARPUS LlTOBALIS.—Li/nrjb. 



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 eKrhs, "externaV 

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

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



EcTOCARPus litoralis. — Fronds very much tufted, main filaments 

 rather stout, much and irregularly branched; branches erccto-pateut, 

 mostly scattered, occasionally opposite or alternate; fructification im- 

 bedded in the upper branchlets, in the form of oblong, somewhat swollen 

 masses. 



EcTOCARPus litoralis.— Lyngh. Hyd. Dan. p. 130, t. 42 (excl. var. /3.) ; Ag. Sp. Ahj. 

 vol. ii. p. 40; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 129; Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 289; 

 Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 21 ; Harv. in Hool. Br. Fl. vol. ii. p. 325 ; 

 Earv. in Much. Fl. Ilih. part 3, p. 181 ; Harv. P. B. plate 197; Uarv. 

 Man. p. 61 ; Harv. Syn. p. 58 ; Atlas, plate 21, fig. 93 ; Harv. N. B. A. 

 part 1, p. 139 ; J. G. Agardh, Sp. Gen. Alg. vol. i. p. 18. 



EcTocAKPUs compactus. — Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. ii. p. 41. 



ECTOCARPUS /cm<^Mici«s.—^5'. Syst. p. 163; Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. ii. p. 43; Kiilz. 

 Phyc. Gen. p. 289. 



Conferva litoralis.— Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1634; Huds. Fl. Angl. p. 594; Light/. 

 Fl. Scot. p. 979 ; With. Br. PI. vol. iv. p. 130 ; Soth, Cat. Bat. vol. i. 

 p. 152 ; Dillw. Conf. t. 31 ; E. Bot. t. 2290. 



Hab. — Parasitical on Fuci and Laminarice, within and beyond tide-mark. Perennial ? 

 At all seasons. Common, 



Geogr. Dist. — Abundant throughout the Northern and Atlantic Oceans. 



Description. — Fronds forming often large brush-like tufts, three to 

 eight inches or more in length. Main stem rather stout, branched from 

 near the base in a capillaceo-multifid manner ; bi'anchcs mostly irregular, 

 rarely dichotomous, occasionally opposite or alternate, gi-adually tapering 

 upwards to a somewhat obtuse apex, crccto-patent, free when young, but 

 when old becoming much entangled and interwoven into more or less 

 compact, rope-like masses : the lower branches arc generally the longest, 

 becoming gradually shorter upwards, but very irregularly. Articulations 

 about as long as, or a little longer than their diameter, cylindrical, scarcely 

 contracted at the dissepiments. Substance soft and flaccid, and closely 



VOL. III. B B 



