126 SPONGIOCARPE^. v. 



beyond the tuft, naked at the base, pyramidally branched beyond the middle ; 

 branches thick, rather obtuse, those bearing tetraspores sub-unilaterally warted at 

 the base and pod-like below the apex, containing one or more sori. /. Ag. Sp. Alg. 

 vol. 2, p. 453. 



Hab. On the Pacific coast of the Mexican Republic, Lkhman. 



Oeder YI. SPONGIOCARPE^. 



Spongiocarpece, Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 69- Part of Cnjptonemiece, J. Ag. Alg. Medit. 

 p. 81. Endl. 3d Suppl. p. 36. Harv. Man. Ed. 2, p. 131. Part of Gigartineoe^ 

 Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 724. Pai^t of Chondriece, J. Ag. Sp. Gen. and Ord. Alg. vol. 2, 

 p. X. 



Diagnosis. Brown-red, cartilaginous, fruticose (cylindrical and branching) sea- 

 weeds, almost wholly composed of confervoid, interlaced filaments closely set in 

 firm gelatine. Sporferous nucleoli numerous, globose, many associated together in 

 external, wart-like, amorphous excrescences, formed of vertical, confervoid, filaments. 

 Spores large, obconical, radiating from a central point of each nucleolus. 



Natural Character. Root an expanded fleshy disc. Frond cylindrical, firmly 

 cartilaginous, shrub-like, dichotomously branched, composed of three sub-distinct 

 strata of cells, all disposed in filamentous series. The medullary layer, occupying 

 more than half the diameter of the frond, is composed of densely packed, longitu- 

 dinal, elongated, cylindrical, branched and anastomosing filaments, from which are 

 given off towards all sides the filaments of the intermediate layer. These are com- 

 posed of large, elliptical, ovate, or oblong, coloured cells, set in dichotomous fila- 

 ments which curve outwards, gradually passing from an erecto-patent to a 

 horizontal position. From the ends of these filaments spring those of the cortical 

 layer, which are perfectly horizontal, (that is, vertical to the surface of the erect 

 branches), very slender, composed of minute oblong cells formed into dichotomous, 

 fastigiate series. The ends of these filaments, more deeply coloured, constitute the 

 periphery. 



In specimens about to produce spores, the cortical layer grows out in places into 

 oblong, irregularly shaped u-arts which extend along the branches, sometimes for 

 the space of half an mch. These warts are of a piJe, flesh-colour, and wholly 



