OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 57 



being subjected to a considerable pressure. In this respect, as well 

 as in all others depending upon consistency, Taomeya resembles more 

 closely the rigid Lenianea rather than the gelatinous Batrachosj)ermum. 



From a discoidal base, which is often three sixteenths of an inch 

 (5 mm.) in diameter, there generally arises a stout stem, which is 

 soon lost above in the numerous long main branches. This stem 

 often reaches a diameter of a little over a sixteenth of an inch (2 mm.). 

 Harvey's expression, " Frond . , . scarcely as thick as a hoo^'s 

 bristle," refers of course only to the condition in the dried specimens 

 from which his description was drawn. 



The branching is monopodial, and is quite irregular, being, as 

 Harvey says, "alternate or secund, scattered or crowded," The 

 branches, which are long and somewhat flexuous, are from five to 

 six times branched. The axils are usually patent, and the ultimate 

 ramuli are rather numerous, comparatively short, and more or less 

 subulate. According to the description in the Nereis, these ultimate 

 ramuli are " slightly constricted at the insertions, and taper to an 

 obtuse point," but these characters are not always prominent in the 

 dried specimens in my possession. At the very base the stem and 

 the main branches are irregularly cylindrical, while farther up the 

 branches are generally nodose, whicb appearance is usually rendered 

 more conspicuous in drying. Tow^ard the tip the branches are quite 

 regularly cylindrical, and at the very apex are bluntly conical, or at 

 times acute. 



When the tip of a branch or branchlet is examined with a power 

 ot about five hundred diameters, it is seen to be composed of a cluster 

 of more or less erect microscopic filaments, fi-om the centre of which 

 projects the short, stout main filament to a height of from 16 to 

 20 p. (cf. Fig. 2). This main filament is composed of a single row of 

 cells placed end to end, and terminates in a cell which is in a state 

 of active growth. This apical cell is, in most cases, bluntly conical 

 in shape, and measures from 6 to 8 yu, in height, and from 4 to 6 /x in 

 basal diameter. Lining the external wall is a thick, dense chromato- 

 phore, but the contents of the central portion, as seen in a median 

 optical section, are colorless. From the base of the apical cell, new 

 cells are cut off by horizontal partitions, and the cells thus cut off 

 are in shape discoidal, measuring usually only 2 to 3 /x in heio-ht, 

 while the diameter equals 10 to 12 /a. The second or third cell 

 from the tip generally has a small lateral protuberance, or perhaps 

 two or three protuberances side by side, covering only a small fraction 

 of the external wall. The next two or three cells lower down also 



