Ser. Rhodosperme^. Fain. Rhodomelacea. 



Plate CLXXXV. (A). 



POLYSIPIIONIA ERICOIDES, iiarv. 



Gen. Char. Same as in Plate CLXXXIV. 



PoLYSiPHONiA cricoides ; small, blackish, rigid, rising from creeping fila- 

 ments; fronds erect, pellucidly articulate, sparingly branched; the 

 branches virgate ; both stem and branches densely clothed with short, 

 spine-like ramuli, often having a spiniferous ramulus in the axil ; ar- 

 ticulations thrice shorter than tlieir diameter, with about 16 tubes. 



P. ericoides ; pusilla, nigrescens, r'ujldimcida, e fills repe)itibus orta ; ftwuUbns 

 erectis peUucide articidalis parmn ramom; raniis virgatis cumfronde priiua- 

 ria ramuUs min/itis spinaforinlbus quaquaversum egredientlbus dense vestitis, 

 scepius ramulls axillaribus sputife)'ls alternantibus ; articuUs dlametro triplo 

 hrevionbus, siphonibus 16. 



PoLYSiPHOXiA ericoides, Ilarv. hi Lond. Joiirn. v. 6. p. 400; Ner. Austr. 

 p. 50; Fl. Tasm.v. 2. p. 301. 



Hab. Tasmania, Eev. Mr. Ewing. Port Arthur, on tidal stones, TF. H. H. 



Geogr. Distr. Tasmania. 



Descr, Fronds rising from a mat of creeping fibres, 1-2 inches high, ultra- 

 setaceous, rigid, not much branched ; branches alternate, simple, erect. All 

 parts of the frond are closely beset, on all sides, with minute ramuli, of two 

 kinds, one simple and spine-like, the other (usually supra-axillary, set with 

 subquadrifarious spines. Articulations very short, multistriate, showing 

 about 16 tubes on a cross section. Fruit not observed. Colour very dark. 



(A.) Fig. 1. PoLYSiPHONiA ERICOIDES, — tJie natural size. 2. A frond. 3. 

 Cross section of the stem. 4. Fragment of branch, with simple and 

 spiniferous ramuli. 5. Apex of a ramulus : — variously magnified. 



Plate CLXXXV. (B.) 



POLYSIPHONIA PROREPENS, iian 



PoLYSiPHONiA prorepens ; minute, parasitical, frond prostrate, creeping, 

 vaguely divided; branches emitting from every articulation, erect, 

 secund, compressed, thick, simple, falcate, acute ramuli, tapering at 

 base ; tubes 8 to 12 ; articulations shorter than their diameter, those 

 of the rainuli very short ; ceramidia solitary, nearly apical, sessile, 

 ovate ; tetraspores seriated in the ramuli. 



P. prorepens; viinuta; fronde prona prorepente vage divisa ; ramis e geniculo 

 fere quoqne r amnios erectos secundos compressos simpUces falcatos acntos basi 

 attcnuatos emittentibus ; siphonibus 8-12; articuUs diametro brevioribus, ra- 

 mulorum brevissimis ; ceramidiis solitariis fere apicalibus ; tetrasporis in ra- 

 mulis seriatis. 



PoLYSlPiiONiA prorepens, Ilarv. Ner. Austr. p. 50 ; Alg. Austr. Exsic. n. 1 SI. 



Hab. Parasitical on Bicrancma Grevillel, at King George's Sound, 

 JF. II. II. 



