V. SPYRIDIACE^. 205 



ing in a simple, acute point. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 340. Haw. Phyc. Brit. t. 46. 

 Conferva Griffithsiana, E. Bot. t. 2312. j8 rrfrada ; frond robust, sub-dichotomous, 

 the branches divai-icating, -with very wde axils, arched ; the terminal ones hv- 

 quently revolute, all but the youngest branches bare of ramelli ; ramelli as in the 

 ordinary vai'ieties. (Tab. XXXIV. A.) 



Hab. Massachusetts Bay, Capt. Pike. Newhaven, Mr. Hooper. Stonington and 

 Newport, Prof. J. W. Bailey. Red Hook, New York, Mr. Walters, &;c. Greenport, 

 Long Island, W. H. H. Key West, Dr. Wurdeman ; W. H. H. /8 at Key West, 

 W. H. H. (v. V.) 



Very variable in size and ramification. Frond three to eight or ten inches long, 

 sometimes only as thick as hog's bristle, sometimes twice or thrice as thick ; gene- 

 rally much branched, but very irregular in the order of branching. Branches 

 spreading, many times compounded, the younger ones especially beset with hair- 

 like ramelli a line or two in length. TheSe ramelli are articulated, each internode 

 formed of a single cell which varies in proportionate length and breadth in different 

 specimens ; the nodes are coated with a ring of small cellules, from some of which 

 the tetraspores are evolved in fertile specimens. Conceptacles pedicellate, terminat- 

 ing short branches, surrounded by a few involucral ramelli, bi-trilobed, each con- 

 taining several distinct clusters of spores. Tetraspores oval, clustering round the 

 nodes of the ramelli. Colour a purplish-red, changing through various shades of 

 brown to dingy yellow-white. Substance soft, but not lubricous. It does not 

 adhere strongly to paper in drying, and is without gloss. 



/3 is a very remarkable variety. The frond is of much greater diameter than in 

 the ordinary American forms, and has thinner walls. Our fig. 1 is strictly charac- 

 teristic of the extreme form of this variety ; and I should have considered it specifi- 

 cally distinct, had not intermediate forms accompanied these strangely straggling 

 ones, connecting them Avith the well-known European vars. midiuscrda, repens, &c. 

 By Kiitziug, indeed, these and other varieties, in all some sixteen, are erected into 

 species ; but I fear, were the characters given by this author to be regarded as 

 specific, it would be easy to quadruple the number of such species, if a sufficiently 

 extensive suite of specimens were closely examined. 



Plate XXXIV. A. Fig. I. Spyjudia flamentosa, var. refracta ; the natural ib.c. 

 Fig. 2, branchlet and ramelli; y?^. 3, apex of a ramellus; /^. 4, small portion of the 

 stem ; fig. 5, the same cut open longitudinally ; fig. 6, a transverse section of the 

 same ; more or less highly magnified. 



2. Sptridia aculeata, Kiitz. ; frond filiform, decompoundly much branched, 

 branches excessively divided, ramellose ; ramelli densely set, hair-like, articulate, 

 having three or more uncinate prickles at the extremity. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 342. 

 Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 668. {Excl. Syn.) Spyridia Berhleyana, Mont. Ft. Alg. p. 141, t. 

 15,/. 6, Kutz. I. c. 



