246 APPENDIX. V. 



1. WuRDEMANNiA setacea ; frond capillary, densely tufted, slightly branched, sub- 

 dichotoraous ; branches simple, naked, divaricating, the apices obtuse ; tetraspores 

 zonate, lodged in the incrassated, club-shaped apices, or in club-shaped, apical, 

 clustered ramuli. 



Hab. Key West, abundant. Dr. Wurdeman, W. H. H. (53.) (v. v). 



Fronds densely tufted, covering other Algte, corals and Gorgonioe with a shaggy 

 coat, 2 — 3 inches high, as thick as horse-hair, rigid, matted together, not much 

 branched. Branches irregularly dichotomous or secund, widely spreading and 

 divaricate, equal in diameter throughout, their lesser divisions few, and similar in 

 every respect. Ramuli very few, a line long, and mostly towards the ends of the 

 branches. Tetraspores zonate, crowded in the apical, club-shaped, somewhat 

 flattened and frequently fasciculate ramuli. Colour^ a dark red. Substance, rather 

 rigid. It scarcely adheres to paper in drying. 



PIKE A. {Nov. Gen.) 



Frond piano-compressed, linear, cartilaginous, internally costate, distichously 

 decompound, composed of three strata : the axis being a single, articulated, per- 

 current filament ; the intermediate stratum consisting of slender, longitudinal, 

 densely packed, anastomosing filaments ; the cortical very narrow, formed of minute 

 cells. Fructijication unknown. 



In the absence of all knowledge of the fructification of this curious plant, it is 

 impossible to speak with certainty of its aflfinities. Notwithstanding its inarticulate 

 frond, I am disposed to refer it to Ceramiaeece, near Carpoblepliaris ; but this opinion 

 is grounded as much on external habit as on the internal structure. Mere out- 

 ward form, however, is a most fallacious guide to natural affinities ; and there are 

 certain Sphcerococcoidex and Cryptonemiaceoi (especially Prionitis), to which, out- 

 wardly, our plant has considerable likeness. I am not acquainted with any Alga 

 exactly agreeing in structure with it, and therefore propose it as the type of a new 

 genus, which I inscribe to Capt. Nicholas Puce of Brooklyn, from whom I received 

 the specimens, and whose many contributions of materials to the present volume 

 are recorded under the species received from him. 



1. Pike A Calif ornica ; frond linear, more or less strongly compressed, flabelli- 

 form, distichous, sub-fastigiate ; branches irregularly disposed, repeatedly com- 



