Howe : Phvcological studies 77 



Hairs dimorphous, the two forms in allernating zones ; branches 

 of the second order subfusiform, scarcely forming a cortex, sur- 

 face of the plant after the fall of the hairs somewhat shaggy or 

 minutely and irregularly punctate ; sporangia free or coherent 

 in short rows of 2-8. 6. N. Cokeri. 



I. Neomekis dumetosa Lamour. Hist. Polyp. 243. pi. 7. /. 8. 

 1816; Expos, mcth. Polyp. \g. pi. 68. f. 10, I'l [i i poor). 

 1 82 I. — Cramer, Neue Denkschr. Schweiz. Naturf. Ges. 30: 

 — (10-14, 38). //. 2. f. 13-15 ; pi. 3. f. 3. 1887. Not A^. 

 diivictosa Cramer, op. cit. 32: — (19—21). pi. i.f. 13 ; pi. 2. 

 f.7,S. 1890. 



Plants gregarious or scattered, subcylindrical, elongate and 

 slender, 20-40 mm. long, 1-2 mm. thick, mostly 15-20 times as 

 long as thick, acute or acuminate at apex : successive whorls of 

 primary branches about 300-400 in number, 80-90// apart near 

 the middle of the plant, 135 // near apex ; number of branches in 

 a whorl usually 28-40 : hairs all of one form, sparingly persistent 

 in an inconspicuous apical tuft : * ends of branches of the second 

 order in the mature stage forming a cortex with irregular hex- 

 agonal facets in irregular, often scarcely recognizable, transverse 

 and oblique rows, each pair of corticating branches commonly 

 lying in a somewhat oblique plane, cortex easily deciduous, usu- 

 ally persistent only in upper fourth or sixth, reticulate-alveolate on 

 drying : branches of the first order in adult fertile stage 500- 

 680 />« long, 14-30/^ in diameter in their median and basal parts, 

 slender, mostly 18-35 times as long as their median diameter, 

 soon very strongly calcified and regularly coherent by heavy 

 intercalary deposits of lime into flat, cuneate, flabelllform, or some- 

 what annular densely crowded transverse scales or bands, these 

 consisting usually of 3-8 branches with the intercalary masses of 

 liine 2-4 times as broad as the branches, very easily caducous, the 

 main axis often becoming extensively naked in basal and median 

 parts : branches of the second order capitate, the terminal infla- 

 tions 100-185 //in gi'eatest diameter, outwardly rounded-obtuse, 

 their walls moderately gelatinous, the pedicels scarcely calcified, 

 the terminal inflations strongly calcified proximally and laterally 

 but not on their outer surfaces : sporangia strongly calcified but 

 mutually free, first appearing at 2-3 mm. from base of the mature 

 plant, soon deciduous, persisting in irregularly crowded groups or 

 loosely scattered, 150-200/^ long (decalcified and including stalk), 

 the calcareous capsule 16-50 /i thick; spores subglobose, 135- 



*The apparently conspicuous apical tuft shown in I.amouroux's figure 3 consists 

 quite largely, judging from specimens in the Paris Museum, of young uncalcified col- 

 lapsed facets from which the hairs h^ve already fallen. 



