56 RHODOMELACE^. v. 



Fronds in large, bushy tufts, three to four inches long. Stems thicker than hog's 

 bristle, gradually attenuated upwards, undivided, strongly arched or deflected back- 

 wards ; in the lower half, generally thorny Avith the remains of broken branches 

 set one to two lines apart ; in the upper half, closely et with distichous, alternate, 

 nearly horizontal branches. Branches bi-tri pinnate, the lowermost shorter and less 

 compound, the middle ones longest, the upper short and usually bent in pairs to 

 one side, and thus (felsely) secund. Stems and rainuli opaque, inarticulate ; the 

 stems dotted with many rows of small, quadrate, pellucid-bordered cells, the ramuli 

 dotted with similar but fewer cells, and the extreme tips consisting of a single row 

 of cells. A cross section of the stem shows a minute central cavity surrounded by 

 many rows of small cells, each containing a small purple endochrome. I have not 

 seen conceptacles. Stichidia are common, and are formed in the ramuli ; they are 

 linear-lanceolate and acuminate and contain a double row of tetraspores. Colour 

 a brownish purple, varying in intensity. Substance rigid. The plant does not 

 adhere to paper in drying. 



This forms large tufts on the stems of mangrove trees at various places near 

 Key West, and probably occurs in similar situations among the other reefs and 

 keys. It invests the stems up to the very limit of high water mark, and is conse- 

 quently left dry for many hours each tide ; and then strongly resembles collapsed 

 fronds of Hymenophyllum Tunbridgense. 



The specific name is imposed in honour of Dr. Camille Montague of Paris, the 

 well known author of many works on Cryptogamia, and who first defined this 

 genus. B. Montagnei is one of the largest and handsomest species ynih which 

 I am acquainted, and I have much pleasure in dedicating it to my learned 

 friend. 



Specimens of a strangely metamorphosed variety of this plant, said to have been 

 collected at Valparaiso, have been communicated to me by Mrs. Tyers of Bristol 

 (England). In this variety or monstrosity, several of the secondary branches (or 

 primary pinnre) are resolved into a system of capillary, subdichotomous, exces- 

 sively divided branches, two to three inches long. This completely alters the 

 aspect of the plant, and these feathery specimens might pass for a different species, 

 were it not that, on the same stem, some branches retain their jiroper character. 



Plate XIV. B. Fig. 1, Bostrychia Montagnei., the natural size. Fig. 2. portion 

 of a branch, with pinnte ; fig 3, a pinnule and a stichidium, on opposite sides 

 of the l)ranchlet ; fi.g. 4, transverse section of the stem ; more or less highly 

 magnified. 



2. Bostrychia calamisfratfi, Mont. ; stem subcompressed, inarticulate, dotted, 

 alternately branched ; branches distichous, subhorizontally patent, oljlong, circum- 

 scribed, bi-tripinnate ; pinnte closely set, dotted ; pinnula; capillary, multifid, invo- 

 lute, articulate, single-tubed ; articulations rather longer than broad ; conceptacles 

 ovate, terminating the dotted pinnaj ; stichidia similarly placed (on different indi- 

 viduals) spindle shaped, incurved. 3Iont. ^^at. Hist. Cuba, p. 36, t. A, fig. 1. Harv. 

 Ner. Austr. p. 68. (var. repens). (Tab. XIV. C.) 



