580 Howe: Phycological studies 



as significant and appropriate as " Botryophora/' and in the Agardh 

 herbarium theT^name Batophora Ocrstcdi appears in connection 

 with one of Oersted's specimens. 



In the Agardh herbarium are several small sheets of speci- 

 mens which probably served as the original materials of Batophora 

 Ocrstcdi. Three of these are fastened to a larger sheet ; the others 

 are loose in another cover with a loose label. Only one (one of the 

 fastened sheets) has an individual inscription and this is inscribed 

 simply '^Batophora Ocrstcdi.'' The specimens illustrate the con- 

 dition of the species which is found in quiet and often merely 

 brackish water"* — a condition characterized by large size, lax habit, 

 and obovoid or oblong-ellipsoidal sporangia, which occur at the 

 ends of the branches of the first three orders, Coccocladiis occi- 

 dentalis laxns M. A. Howe is a form that is very common in the 

 Bahama Islands, growing in interior ponds of which the nearly 

 fresh water responds only slightly to the changes of the tides — 

 often associated in about equal abundance with CJiara Horneina?i?n 



w 



and Ruppia viaritima. Since seeing authentic material of Bato- 

 phora Ocrstcdi and Dasycladns Conqttcrantii and since studying 

 these plants in the living condition on two visits to the Bahamas, 

 we hardly think it worth while to maintain the subspecific name 

 laxa. The contrast in size and habit and in form and position of 

 sporangia, between the lax plants of the interior brackish ponds 

 and the condensed ones of the border of the open ocean (here 

 placed under the subspecific name occidentalis) is remarkably 

 ■striking, yet the peculiarities of each, we believe, are directly con- 

 nected with the degree of salinity and quietness of the water. 

 Intermediate forms occur in places of intermediate character. 



Neomeris Cokeri M, A. Howe, Bull. Torrey Club 31 : 97. 



pL 6. /. 3~i2. 1904 



This strongly marked species, described from material col- 

 lected by Professor Coker in 1903, on the island of Eleuthera, 

 Bahamas, is not uncommon throughout the Bahamian archipelago, 

 ranging at least from the Great Bahama on the north to the Great 

 Exunia on the south. Its usual habitat is under shelvincr rocks 

 near the low-water line. The original description was based on 

 rather small individuals having a length or height of 7-14 mm. 



