V. PJiODOMELACE.E. 35 



attenuate, of unequal height ; ramuli filiform ; internodes four-tubed, about once 

 and half as long as broad, shorter in the ramuli. Mont, in An. Sc. Nat. 2d Ser. 

 vol. xiii J}. 199. Kiltz. Sp. Al(j. p. 804. ^. Westpointensis ; more slender and 

 delicate. 



Hab. Jackson Ferry, New York, Mr. Walters and Mr. Hooper ! Little River, 

 Newbui'yport, Capt. Pike ! /8. at West Point, on the Hudson, 60 miles from the 

 sea, Prof. J. W. Bailey ! (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 



Tufts dense, jagged, (not fastigiate), 2-4 inches high. Filaments very slender, 

 capillary or byssoid, tetragonal, rising from a mat of rooting and creeping fibres, 

 erect, alternately multifid. The main stem rises about half an inch before it 

 branches ; thence upwards it throws out several lateral branches, which are simple 

 below, alternately multifid above, the ultimate divisions attenuate, erect or erecto- 

 patent, of unequal height, and simple or bifid at the point. The internodes in the 

 lower part of the frond are as long as broad, in the branches once and a half as 

 long, and in the ramuli very short. Apices often fibrilliferous. The filaments are 

 four angled, and a cross section shows four large tubes surrounding a small cavity. 

 Colour a blackish purple, brighter toward the tips. Substance flaccid, but not in 

 the least gelatinous. In drying, the plant, notwithstanding its delicacy, does not 

 strongly adhere to paper. 



This species was first discovered on the shores of Cayenne, from which locality 

 Dr. C. i\Iontagne has kindly sent me one of his original specimens. This I have 

 compared with those above described, and find them to agree in all respects. The 

 West Point plant, which was first found by Prof. Bailey several years ago, and 

 which has been acknowledged by Dr. Montague to belong to his species, differs 

 from the Cayenne variety in being of still greater tenuity ; a diflTerenCe which we 

 should naturally anticipate from its place of growth, nearly at the extreme limit of 

 marine vegetation in a tidal river. I have not seen fructification of either kind on 

 any of the specimens. 



5. PoLYSiPHONiA secunda.lloui. ; filaments minute (a quarter to half inch) rising 

 from creeping fibres, which are either arched or prostrate, throwing out numerous 

 erect, secund, filiform, subsimple branches ; internodes four-tubed, rather longer 

 than their breadth. Mont. Nat. Hist. Cuba;, p. 33, t. 5,fg. 2. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 804. 



Hab. Parasitical on other Alga;. At Key West, often growing on Bigenia sim. 

 plex. W. H. H. (v. V.) 



Tufts spreading over the surface of the plant on which they grow ; in my speci- 

 mens about a quarter inch in height. Filaments prostrate, creeping by means of 

 discs issuing from the under surface, throwing up from their upper surface nume- 

 rous filiform, simple, erect, secund branches. In older specimens these are often 

 deflected or arched, and a second series of similarly secund branches spring from 



K 2 



