Ser. Rhodospkrme.e. Fam, Rhodomelacea. 



Plate CXLVII. 



CHONDRIA UMBELLULA, ^«ry. 



Gen. Char. Frond filiform, cartilaginous, dendroid, opaque, coated with 

 small, polygonal, irregularly placed cells. Axis articulated, polysi- 

 plionous. Hamuli clavseform, much constricted at their insertion. 

 Fructification : 1, ovate ceramidia ; 2, tripartite tetraspores, formed 

 irregularly, in the clavate ramuli. — Chonduia, {Ag.), %ovSpo9, car- 

 tilage. 



Frous filifo'iiiis, cartilaghiea, dendroidea, opaca, celluUs irregnlaribns pohjgonis 

 corticata. Axis articidatus, poly sipl tonus. Ramuli claoatl, basi constricti. 

 Fruct. : 1, ceramidia ovata ; 2, letraspora triangule divis(S, in ramulis im- 

 merses, sparscB V. irregulariler aggregatce. 



Chondria Vinhellula ; frond dwarf, saccato-clavate, subsimple, once or 

 twice umbellate; ramuli, 5-10 in each umbel or umbellule, clavate, 

 very obtuse ; conceptacles ovate, constricted at base, sessile ; tetra- 

 spores scattered. 



Cli. Umbellula ; fronde pusilla saccato-clavata suhsimpUci semel v. itermn nm- 

 bellata ; ramulis 5-10 in umbella v. umbellnlis clavatis obtusissimis ceramidiis, 

 ovatis basi conslriclis sessilibus ; tetrasporis sparsis. 



Chondkia Umbellula, Harv. in Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 539 ; Alg. Austr. 

 Exsic. n. 161. 



Hab. Rottnest Island, on Zostera, (F. H. H. Garden Island, on the 



smaller Algse, G. Clifton. 

 Geogr. Distr. Western Australia. 



Descr. Root discoid. Fronds solitary or tufted, f-1 inch long, linear, clavate, 

 crowned with an umbel of 5-10 or more ramuli of similar shape to the pri- 

 mary frond ; sometimes never becoming more branched, and sometimes 

 throwing out from the apices of the umbellate ramuli a secondary umbel of 

 similar character ; and again, in very luxuriant specimens, tertiary umbel- 

 lules from the tip of each secondary ramulus. It is possible that the frond 

 may continue to extend by further repetitions of this mode of branching. 

 All the internodes and ramuli are clavseform. very obtuse, cylindrical, suc- 

 culent, \-\\ lines in diameter. Fruit of both kinds is found on the smaller 

 and simpler as well as on the larger and more compound individuals. The 

 conceptacles are quite sessile, broadly ovate,with large apertures, thin-walled, 

 and containing a dense tuft of linear-clavate spores. The tetraspores are 

 scattered in the substance of the ramuli below the apex, and are surrounded 

 each l)y a very brojid hyaline limbus. The colour is a j)urplish or a pinkish 

 red, soon discharged, and varying in intensity iu different specimens. The 



