NO. 1 TAYLOR : PACIFIC MARINE ALGAE 135 



Helminthocladiaceae 



Plants erect, of moderate size, generally coarsely branched, mucous or 

 sometimes partly calcified ; structurally uni- or pluriaxial, the central fila- 

 ments developing lateral assimilatory branches ; monosporangia present or 

 absent ; sexual reproduction by spermatangia borne in clusters on the ends 

 of assimilatory filaments ; carpogenic branches three celled, borne on the 

 assimilators, the terminal cell being the carpogonium and auxiliary cells 

 being absent; cystocarps immersed among the assimilators, without a 

 special pericarp, the outer cells of the gonimoblasts producing carpospores. 



LIAGORA Lamouroux, 1812 



KEY TO SPECIES 



1. Calcification soft; adventitious branches common . L. ceranoides 

 1. Calcification brittle below; adventitious branches not prominent 

 L. valida 



Liagora ceranoides Lamouroux 



Taylorl928, p. 135, pl.21,fig. 7. 



Costa Rica: common and large in rock crevices and in the lower 

 tide pools, Golfo Dulce, no. 39-97, 26 Mar. 1939. 



Liagora valida Harvey 



Plants to 5 cm tall, abundantly, chiefly dichotomously, branched, stiff, 

 especially below firmly calcified, the calcification commonly fracturing at 

 the forks; branches 0.6-1.0 mm diam., the segments 3-7 mm long; periph- 

 eral filaments closely forked, their outer cells approximated, about 4-6 ^ 

 diam.; cystocarps immersed, about 120-180 /t diam., without well-defined 

 involucral filaments ; spermatangia not seen. 



Taylor 1928, p. 137, pi. 21, fig. 3, pi. 30, figs. 7, 11. 



Costa Rica: scarce in the tide pools near the entrance to Golfo 

 Dulce, no. 39-94 (cystocarpic), 26 Mar. 1939. 



These plants seemed rather less calcified, less friable, and more dis- 

 colored than the same species in the Caribbean, but probably this is due to 

 local conditions and endophytic organisms in the surface calcification. 



