Geogr. Distr. Soutli-wostorn Australia. Cape of CJood Hope. 



Descr. Thickly coating the surface of what it grows on with a velvet-like pile of 

 minute, erect ranuili, not I a line long, rising from prostrate, creeping, 

 vaguely branched lihuuents, which arc 1-2 inches long, and completely 

 hidden. The frond is pellucidly articulate throughout. The colour is a 

 very dark red, becoming brown or black in drying. The tuhes vary from 

 8 to 12. Ceramidla ovate, subterminal. Siibslance rigid. 



First described from specimens from Algoa Bay, C. B. S., 

 where it occurs on corallines. The Australian plant is more 

 slender, with fewer tubes, but otherwise the same. 



(B.) Fig. 1. Part of a frond of Dlcranema Grevillei, with FolysipJiorda prorepens 

 growing on it, — the natural size. 2. Creeping branch and ramuli of P. 

 prorepens. 3. Base of ramulus and part of creeping stem. 4. Apex of 

 ramulus, with a ceramidimn. 5. Cross section : — magnified. 



Plate CLXXXV. (C.) 



POLYSIPHONIA CALOTHRIX, Haw. 



PoLYSiPHONiA Calotlirix ; minute, densely csespitose, growing on rocks, 

 dark brown; frond prostrate, creeping, with long radicular fibres, 

 vaguely divided; branches emitting from nearly every articulation, 

 erect, secund, simple, subulate, acute rarauh, tapering at base ; tubes 

 10-1'2; articulations of the creeping frond half as long as broad, of 

 the ramuli once and half, twice or thrice as long as broad ; tetraspores 

 few, seriated in the ramuli. 



P. Calothrix ; minuta, dense Cfespitosa, rupestris, badia ; fronde prostrata re- 

 pente filis radicantibus longis vage ramosa; ramis e geniculo fere quoque ra- 

 mulos erectos secimdos emittentibus ; ramulis simplicib/is subulatis acutis basi 

 attenuatis ; sipJionibus 10-12 ; articulis surcidorum diametro duplo breviori- 

 bus, 7'amulorum sesqui-duplo-triplove longioribus ; tetrasporis paucis in- 7'amuUs 

 seriatis. 



PoLYSiPHONiA Calothrix, Harv. in Trans. It. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 541 ; Alg. 

 Austr. Exsic. ?«. 178. 



IIab. On rocks, at half-tide level. King George's Sound, W. H. H. 



Descr. Porraing wide, plush-like patches on the surface of rocks, to which the 

 prostrate, vaguely-branched fronds are attached by long, lateral, hyaline, 

 creeping fibres, each terminating in a flat peltate disc. Ramidi rising from 

 every joint, 2-3 lines long, quite simple, subulate, but narrowed to the 

 base, taper-pointed. Colour dark purplish-brown. Substance soft. 



This agrees with P. prorepens in ramification, but differs in 

 habit and habitat, in substance, in the length of the articulations 

 of the ramuh, and in size. 



(C.) Pig. 1. Patch of PoLYsiPHOMA Calothrix, on a piece of rock,— ///^ natural 

 sice. 3. Part of the creeping frond, and erect rauudi. 3. Apex ; and 4. 

 Middle portion of a ramulus :— magnified. 



