386 50 



Weber van Bossé does not mention var. orcidentalis J. Ag. in her Monograph nor 

 does she give var. Chemnitzia from the West Indies, where the true var. Chemnitzia 

 perhaps also does not occur. 



This variety hesides often showing a great resemblance to var. uvifera can 

 also bear a great likeness to var. lœteuirens Mont. ; but while the characteristic for 

 this form is, that the ramuli are, either cylindrical or grow evenly thicker up- 

 wards the ramuli in var. occidentalis become suddenly swollen at the apex. 



This variety occurs as mentioned in coral-reefs and similar localities with 

 fresh water and some motion of the sea. On the coral-reefs e. g. Long Reef on the 

 north side of St. Croix it seems only to reach a small size (Fig. 28). The assimi- 

 lators become here seldom higher than 3 — 5 cm. as the specimen delineated here 

 shows, wliich was found growing between Corallinaceae. On the landing bridge at 

 Christiansfort on St. Jan, a locality a little more sheltered even if we can have some 

 surge, the erect shoots reach a length of about 10 cm. and wave to and fro following 

 the motion of the sea; fig. 29 shows a specimen froin here. It can nevertheless 

 reach a still more considerable size. A specimen from the Bermuda Isles in the 

 herbarium of Mme. Weber van Bosse and collected by Marshall A. Howe had 

 feet-long assimilalors. It was determined as C. racemosa var. In'teuirens but in my 

 opinion it belongs to var. occidentalis. 



To the var. lœteuirens I have referred a large vigorous plant which occurs in 

 a restricted locality in the lagoon of Christianssted in rather considerable quantity. 

 It grows in a very sheltered place at a depth of about two meters in soft bottom of 

 mixed sand and mud. The water seems always to be filled with mud and is there- 

 fore quite unclear (on each of my three visits to the West Indies I have visited 

 the locality several times); thus it is impossible to see the bottom. The erect shoots 

 reach a length of up to 16 — 18 cm. and are covered with ramuli placed in several 

 rows but rather open; these are cylindrical-clavate being evenly thicker towards 

 the apex. The rhizome is thick and creeps in and on the soft mud in which it is 

 fastened by vigorous roots. The plant is of a pale-green colour somewhat glassy, 

 translucent and of a flabby consistency. 



With the figure of Chauvinia lœteuirens by Kützing (20, Bd. 7, tab. 12) my spe- 

 cimens have a great resemblance; often the ramuli are however, as the illustration 

 given here shows (Fig. 30), somewhat more openly placed than in the figure of 

 Kützing; but specimens are to be found which quite agree with this. On the other 

 hand the figure of Montagne has more and more closely placed ramuli than the 

 West Indian specimens and the same is also the case by comparison with a little 

 piece of an original specimen from the herbarium of Montagne collected at "île de 

 Toud", which is to be found in the herbarium of Mme. Weber van Bosse. The 

 ramuli in my specimens are more scattered and the erect shoots and most probably 

 the whole plant longer than that of Montagne, but the form of the ramuli is about 

 the same and the likeness seems to me on the whole very great. 



As pointed out by Mme. Weber, var. lœteuirens may show a not inconsiderable 



