Ser. MELANOSPERME.E. ( 189 ) Fam. ECTOCARPE^. 



Plate CLXXX. 

 ECTOCAEPUS GKANULOSUS.— ^r/. 



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 fKrhs, "external," 

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

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



EcTocAEPus granulosus. — Fronds densely tiifted, very slender, much 

 branched; branches more or less regularly bipinnate or triiDumate; pinnce 

 mostly, and pinnules almost always opposite ; utricles broadly elliptical, 

 sessile. 



EcroCAUFVS granulosus. — Ag. Sysf, p. 163; Ag. Sp.Alg. vol. ii. p. 45; Earv.P.B. 

 plate 200 ; Harv. in Hook. Brit. Fl. vol. ii. p. 326 ; Harv. in MacTc. 

 Fl. Hib. part 3, p. 182 ; Harv. Man. p. 61 ; Harv. Syn. p. 59 ; 

 4 <?as, plate 22, fig. 95; Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 21; Wyatf, Alg. Danm. 

 No. 38 ; /. G. Agardh, Sp. Gen. Alg. vol. i. p. 21. 



Conferva granulosa. — E. Bot. t. 2351. 



Hab. — On rocks, corallines, and various Algte, in rock-pools, between tide-marks. 

 Annual. May and June. Not uncommon. 



GrEOGE. DiST. — Heligoland ; coast of France. 



Description. — Fronds densely tufted, slightly entangled, capillaceous, 

 three to eight inches long or more, much branched; branches erecto- 

 patent, tapering to a more or less acute point, regularly pinnated, 

 bipinnated, or even, in luxuriant specimens, tripinnate ; pinnae, and espe- 

 cially pinnulse, opposite ; the hairs of the ultimate pinnules frequently 

 defective, slender and subulate, all erecto- patent, gradually attenuated 

 to a fine point, and becoming shorter and less compound upwards. 

 Articulations about as long as broad, slightly contracted at the dissepi- 

 ments. Substance soft and flaccid, and adhering closely to the paper. 

 Colour, a fine, rather pale, transparent olive gTeen when young, becoming 

 of a yellowish brown when old. Fructification : roundish, elliptical 

 utricles, scattered pretty plentifully among the upper ramiJi, sessile, on 

 the upper edge, and generally near the base of the ramuli. 



This fine species appears to be not unfrequent on vai-ious parts of 

 the coast, becoming still more plentiful as we proceed southward ; and 



