Ser. Rhodosperme^. Fain. Spharococcoidece. 



Plate XCIV. 



NITOPHYLLUM EROSUM, Haw. 



Gen. Char. Frond membranaceous, expanded, areolate, unsymmetrical, 

 nerveless or irregularly veined. Fructification : 1, hemispherical con- 

 ceptacles, sessile on the frond, containing a tuft of moniliform spore- 

 threads, on a basal placenta; 2, tripartite tetraspores, in definite sori 

 or spots, scattered, or confined to some part of the frond, — Nito- 

 PHYLLUM ( Grev.), from nitor, ' to shine,' and <^vXkov, a leaf. 



Trans memhranacea, expansa, areolata, vagefissa, enervia v. basi vemdis irregii- 

 laribus peragrata. Fruct. : 1, coccidia frondi sessilia, hemisph(erica, fila 

 sporifera moniliformia a placenta basali emissa foventia ; 2, tetrasporce trian- 

 yide divises, iro soros definitos collectce. 



NiTOPHYLLUM CTOsum / stipcs miiiute, cylindrical, cartilaginous, passing 

 into the cuneate base of a broadly linear, dichotomously multifid 

 frond ; lacinise nerveless, linear, obtuse, with wide axils ; margin every- 

 where fringed with minute dichotomo-multifid processes ; conceptacles 

 crowned with cilia; sori numerous, oval, scattered over the whole 

 surface of the frond. 



N. erosum ; stipite brevi cylindraceo cartilagineo in basi cnneata frondis mox 

 evanescente, fronde lineari vage dicJiotoyna, laciniis enervihus obtusis axillis 

 rotundatis, margitie processibiis minutis ramosissimis dense fimbriato, coccidiis 

 coronatis, sorisque oblougis sparsis. 



NiTOPHYLLUM erosum, JIai-v. Alg. Exsic. Aastr. n. 293. 



NiTOPHYLLUM fimbriatum, Harv. Trans. R. I. Acad. n. 22. p. 549, non Grev. 



Hab, On Algae and Zostera. Garden Island, W.H.H., G. Clifton. Port 



Pairy, IV. H. H. 

 Geogr. Distr. Western and southern coasts of Australia. 



Descr. Root a small disc. Stipes 1-2 lines long', setaceous, cartilaginous, pass- 

 ing into a nerve, which soon disappears in the cuneate base of the frond. 

 Frond 1-4 inches long, nowhere more than h: an inch wide, more or less 

 divided, and frequently multipartite ; the segments broadly linear, irregularly 

 forked, somewhat curled or flat, patent, with wide rounded axils and blunt 

 extremities. The margin in every part is closely fringed with minute mul- 

 tifid processes, from \—\ line long, divaricately forked, the ultimate pro- 

 cesses capillary and articulate. The membrane is formed of 3-4 series of 

 quadrate cells ; the surface laxly areolated. Conceptacles irregularly scat- 

 tered, not numerous on each frond, hemispherical, but crowned (always?) 

 with forked processes resembling those of the margin ; placenta not very 

 prominent. Sori oblong or oval, \ line long, dot-like, thickly strewed over 



