V. SPHJ2R0C0CC0IDE.E. 107 



certain -whether the author intended to include in his description one or many 

 species. 



The type of this genus is the Fucus confervoides, Lin. ; a widely dispersed plant, 

 found from the tropics to a high latitude in both hemispheres. G. multipartita has 

 also very considerable geographic range. Many of the species, perhaps all, may 

 be reduced by boiling to a tasteless gelatine, which when properly seasoned is 

 palatable and considered wholesome. Some of the tropical species, particularly 

 G. lichenoides, yield a very tenacious jelly. 



1. Gr ACiLAm A cervicomis, J. Ag.; membranaceo-cartilaginous, flattish, pinnately 

 decompound ; pinnaj linear, dentate, the ultimate ones often filiform, teeth very 

 acute ; conceptacles hemispherical, apiculate, on the disc of the upper laciniaj near 

 the margin. J. Ag. Sji. Alg. 2, p. G04. Sphcerococcus cervicornis, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 

 77«'5. Rhodyrnenia cei-vicornis, Montague. Voy. JBonite, p. 108. Fucus cervicornis, 

 Turn. Hist. t. 121. 



Hab. Gulf of Mexico, /. Agardh. (v. s. in Herb. T. C. D.) 



Frond six or eight inches long, pinnately much branched, the upper branches 

 more or less dichotomous. Maiii rachides flat, one or two lines broad, linear ; 

 branches not half that breadth, the upper ones very narrow and subterete. Mar- 

 ginal teeth very acute. Colour in the dry state dull brownish, with a purple tinge. 

 Substance rigid. 



Of this plant I possess only South American specimens. 



2. Geacilaria midtipartita, J. Ag. ; frond compressed or flat, dull purplish-red, 

 deeply cleft vertically in an irregularly dichotomous or palmate manner ; laciniaj 

 linear-wedge-shaped, acute ; conceptacles conical, very prominent, numerous, scat- 

 tered. J. Ag. Sp. Alg.'2,p.Q00. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 15. Spha^rococcus polycar- 

 pus, Grev. Crypt. Scot. t. 352. Fucus granateus, Turn. Hist. t. 215. Var. ^. angustis- 

 sima ; frond exceedingly narrow, almost filiform below, compressed, irregularly 

 dichotomous, the apices frequently palmatifid. 



Hab. Pacific Coast, California, Douglas ! Capt. Pike ! INIassachussetts Bay, Capt. 

 Pike ! Long Island Sound and New York Harbour, Prof. Bailey ! Mr. Hooper ! 

 W. H. H, &c. Charleston Harbour, Prof. Gibbes ! W. H. H., &c. /3. at Providence, 

 Rhode Island, Prof Bailey ! Mr. S. T. Olney ! Longbranch, New Jersey, Miss 

 Morris. Charleston, W. H. H. (v. v.) 



Frond six to twelve inches long, extremely variable in breadth and in its rami- 

 fication. Stem short, at first sub-filiform, coinpi-essed, soon expanding into the 

 cuneate base of a flat, multifid frond, somewhat flabelliform in outline, and more 

 or less deeply cleft vertically into numerous laciuia?, varying in breadth from quar- 



p 2 



