34 RHODOMELACE^. v. 



3. PoLYSiPONiA Havanensis, Mont.; filaments short (one to three inches long), 

 dull reddish brown, very soft and lubricous, densely tufted, rising from creeping 

 filaments, byssoid, four-tubed, pellucidly articulate, alternately decompound, much 

 branched; secondary branches subdistant, often secund; ramuli filiform, fibrilli- 

 ferous; internodes in the lower part of the stems once or once and a half as long 

 as broad, in the larger branches 4-5 times, in the smaller 2-3 times, and very short 

 in the ramuli ; conceptacles . . . . ? tetraspores large, subsolitary in the 

 ramuli. Mont. Nat. Hist. Cabce, p. 34, t. 5, jig. 3. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. j9. 818. 



Hab. On chalky rocks, near high water mark. Very abundant at Key West in 

 February, Dr. Wurdeman (30), W. H. H., Professor Tuomey (1). (v. v.) 



Tufts very dense, soft and gelatinous, 1, 2, or 3 inches high. Filaments rising 

 from matted fibres, much finer than human hair, excessively branched in a manner 

 between dichotomous and alternate. Branches very irregularly divided, repeatedly 

 decompound, their apices not fastigiate, the ultimate ramuli either simple or 

 filiform, or more or less cleft at the apex. Branches and i^amuli erecto-patent. 

 Internodes having the nodes slightly swollen, four-tubed, pellucidly jointed, variable 

 in length ; in the lower part of the stem and branches usually very short, scarcely 

 longer than their breadth, in the upper parts gradually longer, but differing greatly 

 in different specimens ; in some pretty uniformly twice or at most thrice as long as 

 broad, in others frequently four or five times their breadth, or even of greater 

 length ; in the lesser branches and ramuli about twice as long as broad. Tetra- 

 spores of large size, mostly solitary, sometimes in pairs, much wider than the ramuli 

 in which they are imbedded. Colour a deep reddish brown, varying in intensity. 

 In drying, the plant adheres to paper, and gives out a brownish liquid in fresh 

 water. 



I am perhaps incorrect in referring my specimens, gathered within eighty miles 

 of Havana, to the P. Havanensis of Montague ; but yet, after having inspected a 

 si^ecimen of Dr. Montague's plant, notwithstanding the differences it shows, I am 

 afraid to propose mine as distinct. The chief differences which strike me are in 

 the internodes, which are uniformly shorter in the Cuban specimen, though not so 

 short as shown in the figure above-quoted. On the Key West specimens I find 

 considerable variation. In the smaller and younger ones the internodes are uni- 

 formly short, while in the more luxuriant the internodes of the branches are 

 frequently several times longer than broad ; those of the lower stem and upper 

 ramuli being short. Dr. Montague's specimens appear to me to be undeveloped ; 

 mine are of various ages. I hope some algologist may investigate the question at 

 Havana, where alone it can be satisfactorily settled. 



4. PoLYSiPHONiA suhtilissima, Mont. ; filaments short (2-4 inches long), rising 

 from creeping filaments, densely tufted, dull purplish brown, not gelatinous, capil- 

 lary or byssoid, articulate, alternately decompound ; lesser branches multifid, 



