V. LAURENCIACE^. ' 77 



branches ; internodes about as long as broad ; conceptacles conical, scattered. (Tab. 

 XIX. B.) 



Hab. At Key West, W. H. H. (27), Dr. Blodgett (72). (v. v.) 



Root discoid. Fronds tAvo or three inches high, about a line in diameter, tufted. 

 Stems at first filiform, cylindrical and solid for half an inch or more, then distended 

 and either continued as a single articulato-constricted simple stem, or dividing into 

 a tuft of such stems. These upper stems are regularly constricted at short inter- 

 vals, and are thickest in the middle and gradually taper to the base and apex. 

 Branches opposite or whorled, similarly constricted, the lowest longest, and in fully 

 developed specimens furnished with a second or third series of shorter branches and 

 ramuli. All the lesser divisions are nodose, the internodes about as long as broad. 

 The conceptacles are conical, scattered over the ramuli, their walls very thick and 

 the sporiferous nucleus very densely tufted. Tetraspores very minute, dispersed 

 through the ramuli. Substance softly cartilaginous. In drying it closely adheres 

 to paper. 



This has a habit very similar to that of Lomentaria Mediterranea, J. Ag. with 

 which I had at first confounded it, but it is readily distinguished by its very differ- 

 ent conceptacles, the nucleus of which is not correctly given in our plate. Jigs. 5, 6, 

 which were taken from a hastily examined and imperfect specimen. The structure 

 of the sporiferous nucleus is exactly the same as in Ch. parvula, from which this 

 species differs very much in ramification. I gathered very few specimens at Key 

 West. 



Plate XIX. B. Fig. 1 . Champia salicornoides, the natural size. Fig. 2, section 

 of a branch to show the hollow chambers and diaphragms ; fig. 3, branch with 

 conceptacles ; fig. 4, a conceptacle ; fig. 5, section of the same (the contained nucleus 

 incorrectly drawn) ; fig. 6, nucleus (incorrect) ; fig. 7, spores ; all more or less 

 n^agnified. 



III. LOMENTARIA. Endl. excl. sp. 



(GASTRiDiyM, Lynh. Chylocladia, Grev. ; Han: Phyc. Brit, excl sp.) 



Frond (at least the branches) tubular, constricted at regular intervals and divided 

 by internal membranous diaphragms into chambers filled with a watery juice and 

 traversed by a few longitudinal confervoid filaments ; walls of the frond composed 

 of polygonal cellules in one <n- many rows. Conceptacles spherical, without orifice : 

 sporiferous nucleus globose, very dense, consisting of many obconic, subsessile 

 spores radiating from a minute basal placenta. Tetraspores tripartite, scattered 

 through the supei-ficial cells of the branches and ramuli. 



