ECTOCARPUS. 59 



forms a small tuft, an inch or two high. The filaments are very slender, 

 distantly branched, with a few long, alternate ramuli. The silicules are 

 plentiful, scattered along the branches. Their shape, so different from 

 that of those organs in E. siliculosus, readily distinguishes the present 

 from that species. 



4. E. fasciculatus, Harv. ; tufts olivaceous, dense ; main 

 filaments slightly branched ; branches distant, bearing 

 throughout alternate or secund fascicles of multifid ramuli ; 

 silicules sessile, ovato-acuminate, secund on the ramuli ; 

 joints very distinct. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 302; Harv. 

 Phyc. Brit. t. cclxxiii. 



Between tide-marks, on the larger Algae. Not uncommon. Annual. 

 Summer. Tufts 1 2 inches high, dense, dark olive-green. Filaments 

 less branched than in most of the genus ; the branches alternate or sub- 

 dichotomous, bearing throughout short tufts of multifid branchlets, which 

 are very often secund. Silicules sessile. 



5. E. Hincksia, Harv. ; tufted, dark olive ; filaments ir- 

 regularly and distantly branched ; branches flexuous, fur- 

 nished with secund ramuli pectinated on their upper side; 

 silicules conical, sessile, lining the inner face of the ramuli. 

 Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. xxii. 



In the sea, parasitical on Laminaria bulbosa. Coasts of England, Ire- 

 land and Scotland : first noticed at Ballycastle, Giant's Causeway, by Miss 

 Hincks. Filaments 1 2 inches high, dark olive, somewhat rigid for the 

 genus (substance of E. littoralis), irregularly and rather distantly branched, 

 not matted together ; branches set in the upper part with secund, spread- 

 ing or slightly recurved ramuli, bearing on their inner faces a second 

 series of subulate ones, so as to resemble little combs. Silicules conical, 

 sessile, borne on the inner face of the ramuli, one rising from almost every 

 joint, giving the ramulus the appearance, under a low power, of being ser- 

 rated. In a variety of this species, more robust than usual, the silicules 

 are much less abundant, and of rather a different form, being somewhat el- 

 liptical. I had once regarded this variety as a distinct species, and pro- 

 posed to name it E. scorpioides, but I fear it has not characters sufficiently 

 marked. 



6. E. tomentosus, Huds. ; filaments flexuous, very slen- 

 der, irregularly branched, interwoven into a dense, sponge- 

 like, branching frond ; silicules stalked, linear-oblong, obtuse. 

 Hook. Br. FL ii. p. 326 ; Grev. Crypt, t. 316 ; Wyatt, Alg. 

 Danm. No. 37 ; Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. clxxxii. 



In the sea, on rocks and the larger Algae. Plant 1 8 inches long, 

 forming an irregularly divided, spongy frond, of an olivaceous or dull 

 brown colour. This frond is composed of a dense mass of slender fila- 

 ments, intricately woven together, flexuous and irregularly branched, 

 jointed throughout ; the joints mostly colourless, and about twice as long 

 as broad. Silicules linear-oblong, pedunculate. The lesser branches are 

 sometimes somewhat free and feathery, when the plant bears some resem- 

 blance to certain varieties of E. siliculosus. 



