Ser. RuoposPeRMEs. Fam. Squamariea. 
Puate CCLXIV. 
RHODOPELTIS AUSTRALIS, Zar. 
Gen. Cuar. Frond spreading horizontally, adnate, composed of articu- 
lated, vertical, closely-placed filaments, surrounded by hyaline, firm 
gelatine. Fructification: 1, ovoid, immersed cystocarps, wholly 
formed of dichotomous, whorled spore-threads, radiating from a ver- 
tical axis.—Ruoporvettis (Harv.), from podeos, red, and wedtts, a 
shield ; in allusion to the colour and form of the frond. 
Frons horizontaliter expansa, adnata, filis verticalibus articulatis densissime sti- 
patis, muco firmiore obvallatis, constituta. Fruct.: 1, cystocarpia ovoidea, 
immersa, filis sporiferis dichotomo-multifidis, avi verticali verticillatim radi- 
antibus formata. 
Ruoporetttis australis, Harv. MSS. 
Cruoria? australis, Harv. MSS. in Herb. T. C. D. 
Has. Parasitical on Amphiroa australis, at Rottnest Island, West Aus- 
tralica, W. H. H. 
GeoGcr. Distr. Western Australia. 
Descr. Fronds forming oval-oblong, shield-like patches, 3-4 lines in length and 
-about 1-2 lines in breadth, on the surface of the joints of Amphiroa aus- 
tralis, one or more patch on each joint, separate, perfectly defined in out- 
line. Filaments perfectly simple, erect, not half a line in length, closely 
placed, surroupded by hyaline gelatine, attenuated at base, wider upwards, 
articulated; the lower joints nearly cylindrical, scarcely contracted at the 
nodes, twice or thrice as long as broad, the upper more moniliform, and 
shorter in proportion to their diameter. Cystocarps? immersed in the 
substance of the frond, basal, oblong-ovoid in form, wholly composed of 
repeatedly-forked, fastigiate filaments (spore-threads ?) which radiate to 
all sides from a central axis. No spores have been seen. etraspores 
unknown. Colour a dark blood-red, much deeper than the tint of the 
Amphiroa. Substance gelatinoso-coriaceous, very closely adhering to the 
substance on which it grows. 
I have been puzzled where to place the curious little parasite 
here represented. In the structure of the skin-like frond there 
is a near agreement with Crworia, so much so that at first I 
referred it to that genus. But as it happens that the cysto- 
carpie fruit of Crvoria is unknown (as indeed is also that of all 
