THE MARINE ALG^H OF NEW ENGLAND. 107 



sima, but it must be confessed approaching C. dasypliylla. Bailey was inclined to refer 

 it to C. dasypliylla. He quotes Montagne, who first described the species, as Laurencia 

 dasyhhylla, as follows: " Notwithstanding the close affinity of this alga >to Laurencia 

 temdssima and to L. dasypliylla, it cannot be confounded with either of them. The 

 absence of ramification distinguishes it sufficiently from the first, and the form of the 

 ramenta does not permit it to be referred to the second, from which it is in other re- 

 spects quite distinct." Just what is meant by the "absence of ramification," by which 

 L. Bailcyana is to be distingished from L. tenuissima, is not easy to see. 



C. littoralis, (Harv.) J. Ag. (Chondria littoralis, Ner. Am. Bor., 

 Part II, p. 22.) 



"Fronds robust, elongate, subdichotonious or irregularly much 

 branched, branches flexuous, attenuated, with rounded axils, ramuli 

 scattered or crowded, fusiform, attenuated at the base and apex, simple 

 or pinnulated, acute." (Harvey, 1. c.) 



Wood's Holl, Mass., W. G. F. 



The description taken from the Nereis applies pretty well to a specimen collected at 

 Wood's Holl. We have seen several specimens of the species collected at Key West. 

 It is dark colored and coarse, but has the branching and habit of C. tenuissima. The 

 Key West specimens are reddish yellow, perhaps owing to exposure to the sun. Spe- 

 cies of the present genus vary so much in appearance, according as they are more or 

 less thoroughly " squashed " in pressing, that the determination of dried specimens fre- 

 quently has but little value. 



0. atropurptjrea, (Harv.) J. Ag. (Chondria atropurjmrea, Harv., 

 Ner. Am. Bor., Part II, PI. 18 e.) 



Fronds four to six: inches high, robust, very densely branched ; branches 

 patent, secondary branches tapering at the base and apex, beset with 

 scattered fusiform ramuli. 



Var. fasciculata, Farlow. 



Secondary branches borne in clusters ; cystocarps broadly ovate, sessile 

 on short lateral branchlets. 



From Charleston, S. 0., southward, Harvey. Var. fasciculata, Fort 

 Hamilton, N. Y. 



The characters of the present species are not well defined. Specimens from Charleston, 

 determined by Harvey himself, are robust and have the ultimate branches scattered, but 

 unfortunately they are without fruit. What has been supposed to be a variety of the 

 same species occurs rather commonly on the coast of California, and was distributed in 

 the Alg. Am. Bor., No. 57. It is, however, not beyond question whether the form dis- 

 tributed should not rather have been referred to C. nidijica, Harv., described in the 

 Supplement to the Nereis The plant which is here described as var. fasciculata is less 

 robust than specimens from California and Charleston, but resembles them in the dark 

 color and secondary branches which taper at both extremities. It differs from Charles- 

 ton specimens in having the branches in tufts, in which respect it resembles some Cal- 

 ifornian specimens. Whether the New York form should be considered a variety o£ 

 C. atropurpurea rather than C. nidijica is perhaps doubtful. 



