Ser. MELANOSPERME.E. ( 193 ) Fam. ECTOCARPEiE. 



ECTOCAEPUS BRACHIATUS.— /i?^/T. 



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 e/crJis, "external," 

 and Kapwhs, "fruit." A name equally api^licable to many other genera, and 

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



EcTOCAEPUS hrachiatus. — Fronds very delicate, densely tufted and 

 branched ; bi-anches opposite, middle ones at length quaternate, sub- 

 patent or erecto-patent ; spores " imbedded in the branches, forming- 

 oblong swellings, situated on the lesser branches, or in the axils of two 

 opposite ramuli." 



EcTOCAKPUS hrachiatus. — Ilarv. in Uoolc. Br. FI. vol. ii. p, 32G ; Harv. P. B. 

 plate 4 ; Ilarv. Man. p. 62 ; Harv. Syn. p. 60 ; Atlas, plate 20, 

 fig. 90; /. G. Arjardh, Sp. Gen. Alg. vol. i. p. 20; Wyatt, Air/. JJanra. 

 No. 174. 



EcTOCARPUS cruciatus. — A(/. Sjy. Alcj. vol.iii. p. 44; Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 21. 



Conferva Irachiata. — E. Bot. t. 2571. 



IIab. — Rare. At Cley, Norfolk, in brackish water, ISOS [Sir W. J. IRolcer) ; in the 

 sea on JRIwchjmenia palmata, at Torquay (J/?*s. Griffiths) ; Youghal, July 1837 {Miss 

 Ball); Lambay, 1S3S {Mr. W. Thompson); Avdvossan, Ajrshire {Eev. Dr. Landsborour/h). 



Geogr. Dist. — Only known as above. 



Description. — Fronds forming small pencilled tufts, one to three 

 inches high or more, much tufted, very slender and branched ; branches 

 capillaceous, tapering, pinnated or bipinnated, with numerous rather 

 slender pinnules, opposite or quaternate, subpatent, very flexile. The 

 branching at the base becomes somewhat irregular, by repeated innova- 

 tions ; the intermediate pinnse are mostly quaternate, whilst towards the 

 summit they are simply pinnate, slightly tapering, and with the aj)ices 

 rather obtuse. Substance rather flaccid, and more or less adherent to 

 the paper in di-ying. Colour, at first gi-eenish olive, rather pale, and 

 changing as it advances in age to a pale, somewhat brownish orange 

 yellow. Fructification : roundish angular spores, immersed at the articu- 

 lations of the ramuli, or occasionally in the ramuli themselves. 



In om' specimens, there is certainly a very marked diffci"ence between 

 the colour of the present and that of the preceding; but that we 

 consider of little importance, as the colour in the present genus is 



VOL, HI. c 



