1923] Setchell-Gardner: Melanophyceae <i! ,: ! 



Gardner, Genus Fucus, 1922, p. 53, pi. 57. Fucus vesiculosa Postels 

 and Ruprecht, Illus. Alg., 1840, p. 12, pi. 25 (cf. Kjellman, lac. cit.). 



Setchell and Lawson, no. 5121 (Herb. Univ. Calif., no. 99131), 

 Harvester Island, Uyak Bay, Alaska. Fucus evanescens f. macro- 

 ccphalus, Setchell and Lawson, no. 5178 (Herb. Univ. Calif., nos. 

 99117, 99118), Orca, Alaska; A. L. Bolton (Herb. Univ. Calif., 99115), 

 Skagway, Alaska. 



Kjellman cites plate 30 of Postels and Ruprecht, Illustrationes 

 algaruni, as representing this form. Plate 30 is labeled "Constantinea 

 rosa marina/' but has in addition a small plant of Fucus. This plant 

 has long, acuminate receptacles. Plate 25 of the same work, to which 

 Kjellman probably refers, is labeled Fucus vesiculosus and has decom- 

 positely furcate receptacles with long, acuminate apices. The plants 

 referred here by Setchell and Gardner (1903, p. 282) have the char- 

 acteristic receptacles referred to above. Comparison with a photo- 

 graph of Kjellman 's type specimen hardly bears out his conclusion 

 regarding the illustration in Postels and Ruprecht. The fronds are 

 reduced in width above each forking. Some of the receptacles are 

 relatively wide, others are very narrow, and those of Kjellman 's type, 

 which we have not seen, are very blunt. Some doubts must be enter- 

 tained as to the limits of this form. We are referring here plants from 

 Orca and from Skagway, cited above, as more nearly coinciding with 

 Kjellman 's type. 



14. Fucus evanescens f. irregularis Kjellm. 



Fronds about 15 cm. high, branching for the most part irregularly 

 dichotomous; segments narrow, at times scarcely extending beyond 

 the inconspicuous midrib, apices truncate; receptacles definitely 

 delimited, ovate, obovate, oblong, or obcordate ; conceptacles small. 



Kjellman, Om Beringh. Algflora, 1889, p. 35. 



A photograph of the type specimen indicates that this form, 

 segregated by Kjellman on Bering Island, is hardly to be considered 

 a distinct entity but rather a battered and distorted plant of some 

 other form. To our knowledge it has not been recognized since its 

 original discovery ; but if a valid form, it is quite likely to occur on 

 the North American side of the Pacific Ocean, hence we are including 

 it here as a possibility. 



