NOTES ON LTCHNOTHAMXUS 127 



globular fruits so characteristic of the Oligocene beds, the original 

 " gjrogonites " of the earlj^ geologists. The generic name Mtelhjjsis 

 Hj, antedating that of Tolypellopsis must be retained, and as the 

 oldest specific name for the single species is Cliara ohtusa Desvaux 

 (1810), to complj with the International Rules, the name must stand 

 as Nitellopsis obtusa, the synonymy being as follows : — 



NiTELLOPSIS OBTUSA, COmb. UOV. 



Chara ohtusa Desvaux, in Loiseleur, Notice ai. Fl. France 



p. 136 (1810). 

 C. vulgaris var. elongata Wallroth, Annus Botanicus, p. 182 



(1815). 

 C. ulvoides Bertoloni, in Brimi, Nuov. coUez. d'opusc. Scient. 



1825, p. 113. 

 C. translucens Eeichenbach, Iconographia, tt. 804j-5 (1830) 



noil Persoon. 

 C. stelliqera Bauer, in Mossier, Handb. Gewachs. ed. 2, iii. 



p. 1595 (1829) {fde Wallroth & Buprecht). 

 Nitella ulvoides & J^. stelliqera Kiitzing, Phyc. Gen. p. 318 



(1843). 

 N. Bertolonii Kiitzing, Tab. Phyc. vii. p. 11, t. 26. f. 2 



(1857). 

 Lychnothamnus stelliger Braun, in Braun & Nordstedt, 



Fragm. Monogr. Charac. p. 102, t. 6. t. 189 (1882). 

 Nitellopsis stelligera Hy, in Revue de Bot.inique, viii. p. 46 



(1890). 

 Tolypellopsis stelligera Migula, Die Characeen, vol. v. of 



Kabenhorst, Krypt. Flor. Germ. ed. 2, p. 255, ff. 70-73 



(1890-1). 

 T. ohtusa Beguinot & Formiggini, Bull. Soc. Bot. Ital. 1907, 



p. 102. 



This species has, I believe, so far been recorded from European 

 localities only. There is, however, a specimen in the herbarium of 

 the Calcutta Botanic Gardens, collected in 1892 by Abdul Huk, at 

 Fort Stedman, Upper Burma, which, in my late brother's opinion and 

 my own, can only belong to N. ohtusa, or some very nearly allied 

 species. The specimen is unfortmiately an extremely poor one and is ' 

 sterile, so that conclusive determination was not possible. It would 

 be satisfactory if perfect specimens of the plant could be collected, as 

 if it should prove to be N. ohtusa it would represent an important 

 extension of its known distribution and, if a new allied species, of 

 immense interest. 



In examining L. macropogon the next species of Lychnothamnvs 

 in the Fragmente, one is struck by the great similarity in its vegeta- 

 tive parts to our European Lamprotharmiium papulosum {^Lampro- 

 thamnus alopecuroides Braun). In the Fragmente (p. 100) is the fol- 

 lowing remark: — '' LyclinotJiamniis macropogon macht Schweirigkeit, 

 ist nach Habitus ein Lamprotliamnus, nach der Stellung der Sporan- 

 gien eher ein Lychnothavimis.'''' Braun does not however mention 

 having found an antheridium and an oogonium at the same free node 



