V. RHODOMELACE.E. 39 



1 0. PoLYSiPHONiA hapalacantha ; densely tufted, soft and very flaccid ; filaments 

 setaceous and corticate below, much attenuated and articulate upwards, the termi- 

 nal divisions almost byssoid, sub-dichotomously decompound, fastigiate, the lower 

 axils patent ; upper branches less regularly forked ; all the branches furnished with 

 minute, simple, scattered, spinclike, quadrifarious ramuli, and copiously clothed 

 with byssoid (deciduous) fibres ; articulations in all parts of the frond about as 

 long as broad, four-tubed, those of the larger branches with supplementary cellules. 



Hab. Key West, Dr. Blodgett ! (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 



Filaments four or five inches long, branched from the base in a more or less 

 regularly dichotomous order, the lower forks pretty regular, the upper, by the 

 frequent suppression of an arm, subalternately decompound. The filaments are 

 greatly attenuated up^vards, the lower parts being thicker than hog's bristle, the 

 upper branches much finer than human hair. Axlls^ especially the lower ones, 

 patent. Spine-like, simple ramuli, one or two lines in length, and spreading to all 

 sides, are freely scattered over the segments at distances of a line or two. Our 

 specimens are copiously fibrilliferous. The articulations are uniformly short ; those 

 of the upper divisions marked with two broad tubes, those of the lower successively 

 coated with secondary cells, but not obliterated. Colour, when dry, a Vandyke 

 brown. Substance very soft. It closely adheres to paper. 



II. PoLYsrPHONiA Gorgoniee ; filaments subsolitary, short (an inch high), flaccid, 

 fla])ellately branched, irregularly dichotomous below, alternately decompound 

 above, attenuated, all the divisions rather patent ; ramuli of unequal length (not 

 fastigiate); internodes near the base very short, in the larger divisions once and 

 half as long as broad, in the smaller about twice as long as broad, four tubed ; 

 dissepiments pellucid ; conceptacles globose, on short stalks, abundant. 



Hab, Parasitical on various corals. Key West, W. H. H. (25) Dr. Blodgett, 40. 

 (v. s. in Herb. T. CD.) 



Filaments rising from discoid bases, scattered, rarely somewhat tufted, an mch 

 high, subsetaceous below, rapidly diminishing in thickness upwards, forking at two 

 or three lines from the base, and afterwards twice or thrice forked, tlie upper divi- 

 sions irregularly multifid and attenuated to a byssoid fineness. All the divisions 

 are patent and the branches open out like a fan in water. The dissepiments are 

 pellucid in all parts. The internodes four-tubed, and four angled ; those in the 

 lower part of the stem shorter than their breadth, of the branches once and half to 

 twice as long as broad, in the ultimate ramuli very short. Conceptacles, which are 

 plentifully borne on some specimens, globose, but depressed vertically or oblate, 

 very full of spores, on short pedicels of the lesser branches or subsessile. Colour 

 a pale ochrey biwvn, darker towards the tips. Substance soft and flaccid. It ad- 

 heres to paper in drying. This is a very pretty little species, distinct from any of 



