Ser. Rhodosperme^, Fain. Ceramiacea. 



Plate LXVI. 



DASYPHILA PREISSII, Sond. 



Gen. Char. Frond filiform, distichous, decompound-pinnate, inarticulate, 

 fibroso-cellular, with an articulated monosiphonous axis ; the surface 

 densely clothed with articulated, free, hair-like ramelli. Fructifica- 

 tion: 1, \\vjo\\x.cxdiie favella, terminating short branches, and contain- 

 ing numerous angular spores ; 2, tripartite tetraspores, formed at the 

 tips of the investing ramelli. — Dasyphila {Sond.), from 8aav^, 

 hairy, and (fjtXeco, to love ? 



FronsfiUformis, disticJia, decomposite pinnata, inarticidata, fibroso-ceUulosa, axi 

 articulato monosiplionio percursa, et fdis minutis ramosis articulatis undhiue 

 vestita. Fruct. : l,favell(S involucratce (tit in Ptilota) ; 2, tetrasporce ex arti- 

 culis terminalibus filorum formatcB, triangide divisce. 



Dasyphila Preissii, Sond. 



Dasyphila Preissii, Sond. in Mold and Sch. But. Zed. 1845,;?. 53. Sond. in 

 PI. Freiss.v. 2. p. 169. Kiltz. Sp. Alg. p. 673. /. Ag. Sp. Ahj. v. 2. p. 104. 

 Harv. Alg. Austr. Exsic. n. 483. 



Hab. On the stems of the larger Algse, in deep water. Western Aus- 

 tralia, common, Freiss ! IF. H. H., etc. Port Phillip Heads, and 

 Western Port, Victoria, IF. U. H. 



Geogr. Distk. Western and southern coasts of Australia. 



Descr. Root discoid. Frond 4-8 inches long, and as much in the expansion of 

 the branches, fiUform, half a line in diameter, opaque, everywhere velvety 

 with a thick coating of minute, irregularly branched, hair-like ramelli. The 

 ramification is distichous, and several times pinnately compounded, the 

 branches and their divisions beiug all alternate. The primary pinnfe are of 

 unequal length and development, long and short occurring ou the same 

 branch, the shorter being but once or twice pinnulate, the longer thrice or 

 four times. The pinnae and pinnules are patent ; the axils obtuse ; and the 

 ultimate pinnules subulate, nearly horizontal, and 1-2 lines in length. The 

 rainelli are microscopical, irregularly branched, articulate, confervoid, with 

 the joints scarcely twice as long as broad. The stem is composed as follows: 

 a single axial tube of large diameter, articulated and containing endochrorae, 

 runs through the whole frond, sending branches to each of its divisions ; 

 round this are densely packed innumerable longitudinal, articulated, coloured 

 filaments of small diameter ; then a single, double, or triple circle of larger 

 longitudinal filaments; and lastly, the cortical layer, of various thickness, 

 composed of slender filaments similar to those that invest the axis, and ex- 

 ternally emitting the free, horizontal ramelli that form the velvety surface. 

 T\\&favdl(B are borne, 2 or 3 together, on the tips of short branches, where 



