146 W. M. Bale: 



I mention this species for the purpose of describing its mode of 

 branching, and, incidentally, of contrasting it with the very dif- 

 ferent ramification of other members of the same section. The six 

 or seven species Ln question form a very natural group, distin- 

 guished from all our other species (except //. hiroxtrata) Ijy the 

 possession of a strongly-developed anterior ridge, and from all oui- 

 other Statoplea by the position of that ridge. The minor charac- 

 teristics of this group enable us to divide it into three sub-groups, 

 the first consisting of //. ai^cidioides and H . superha, which are very 

 intimately allied; the second of H. haileyi. H. fiircata, and H. 

 intermedia, which approximate even more closely ; and the third of 

 H . hians and H. haswellii, which also are nearly akin. 



I have not seen either of the two last-named species in a branched 

 condition, and though I believe I have seen a ))ranched specimen of 

 E. ascidioides, I cannot find one for reference. I have, however, 

 several such specimens of //. i^nperha, the ramification of which is 

 quite different from that of //. haileyi and its two allies. In these 

 latter there are strictly speaking no branches, every subdivision 

 being purely dichotomous (resulting in general from the bifurcation 

 of a single internode) ; the two new divisions are of equal diameter, 

 each diverges at about the same angle from the primary axial line, 

 and the perisarc is not interrupted at the bifurcation, but con- 

 tinuous, and even the regular spacing of the llydrocladia along the 

 outer sides of the hydrocaulus is not interfered with. 



H. svperha is generally unbranched, but here and there among 

 a large cluster is found a shoot giving off a small branch, or some 

 times two, and in one case I found three. In many instances these 

 branches sprang from the lower part of the stem, where it was 

 denuded of hydi'ocladia, and were themselves bare on the proximal 

 portion. There is no dichotomous arrangement, but a perfect 

 distinction is maintained between stem and branches, the latter 

 being smaller, and divergent abruptly from the side of the stem; 

 indeed, they mostly start out at a right angle, though very soon 

 curving upwards. The perisarc in their proximal portion is divided 

 into internodes, much more strongly marked than the internodes of 

 the hydrocladiate portions, and without hydrocladia, thus agreeing 

 with the structure of the branches in the Statoplea generally, which 

 is, in fact, simply a ic|H'tition of the primary structure of the 

 proiiniiil pait of thr striii itst'lf. On a specimen which I examined 

 one branch coiniiioiiifil with an exceedingly siidit disioid internode, 

 unarmed; the next was longer, cylindrical, with a large sa>-cotheca 

 in the middle; then ftillowed live longer internodes, each of which 



