Howe: Notes on Bahaman algae 95 



been influenced chiefly by the " articulis multo brevioribus quam 

 in aliis speciebus " * * * * " diametro vix longioribus." Rut 

 the articuli of the original Conferva umbilicata as figured by Vel- 

 ley (Trans. Linn. Soc. 5: pi. 7. 1800) are also often "diametro 

 vix longioribus," even though J. Agardh * describes the articuli of 

 Microdictyonumbilicatumd& " circiter 4-plo longioribus." Velley's 

 specimens were from New South Wales, and J. Agardh's remark, 

 " Quae prima vice ad insulas Sandwich detecta fuit C. itmbilicalis, 

 eandem quoque ad Novam Hollandiam obvenire statuit C. Agardh 

 (Syst p. Sj)," seems to indicate that he had seen neither the original 

 plants nor the original description and figures of the first-described 

 species of the genus. 

 Coccocladus t occidentalis laxus var. nov. 



Fertile plants reaching 7 cm. in height and 10-13 mm. in 

 width, flaccid : sporangia obovoid, oblong-ellipsoidal, or pyrifor'm- 

 subclavate, 460-880 // x 315-430//, often twice as long as broad, 

 lateral or occasionally terminal at the ends of branches of the first 

 three (rarely four) orders : aplanospores for a long time closely 

 coherent in a single peripheral layer surrounding a central cavity, 

 radially elongated, 66-85 // x 55-72//, mostly \]/ 2 times as long 

 as broad, usually angular-obovoid or ellipsoidal. (Plate 6, FIG- 

 URES I AND 2.) 



In small sink-holes by Big Pond, Nassau, June 23, 1903. 



This remarkable plant is so strikingly different from the usual 

 form of Coccocladus occidentalis as to suggest at first sight not 

 only a distinct species, but even a different genus, yet in the pres- 

 ence of some apparently intermediate forms from other collections 

 we dare not propose for it a rank higher than that of variety ; 

 though it is possible that a fuller knowledge of its life-history 

 would lead to another conclusion. Dr. Coker writes that the plant 

 grows " about one mile inland," in slightly brackish water which 

 responds to the changes of the tide. The lax habit, the elongated 

 sporangia, and extension of the sporangium- bearing capacity to 



*/. c. 105. 



I Coccocladus Cramer, Neue Denkschr. Schweiz. Naturf. Ges. 30: — (37)- 

 1887. 



Botryophora J. Ag. Till Alg. Syst. 5 : 139. 1887. Wille, E. & P. Nat. 

 Ptlanzenfam. I 2 : 157. 1891. Not Botryophora Bompard, Hedwigia, 6: 129. 1867. 

 The generic type of Coccocladus, as also of J. Agardh's Botryophora, is Dasycladus 

 occidentalis Harv. Ner. Bor.-Am. 3 : 38. pi. 41 R. 1858. 



