62 ECTOCARPUS. 



Br. Fl. ii. p. 326; Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 173. E. brachi- 

 atus, Ag. (not o/E. B.J, Harv. Phyc Brit. t. cxxvi. 



Between tide-marks, parasitical on the smaller Algae ; chiefly on Plilota 

 sericea ; sometimes on Cladophora rupestris. Annual. Summer. Various 

 places from Orkney to Cornwall, but rare. Filaments 1 3 inches long, 

 finely tufted, straight, the main stems somewhat matted, the branches free, 

 repeatedly divided, all the divisions opposite or quadrifarious, spreading. 

 Colour olivaceous, or rusty or yellowish brown. Spores abundant on the 

 upper branches, placed either opposite to each other on opposite sides of 

 the stem, or opposite to a ramulus ; occasionally in fours, sessile, globose 

 and prominent. 



15. E. brachiatus, Harv. ; finely tufted, feathery, much 

 branched ; the branches free, opposite or quaternate ; ramuli 

 opposite, patent, spores imbedded in the filaments, foi-ming 

 oblong swellings, scattered on the ultimate branchlets or in 

 the axil of two opposite ramuli. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 

 174 ! Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 326 ? Conf. brachiata, E. Bot. t. 

 2571 ? Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. iv. 



Parasitical on Rhodymenia palmata. Annual. Summer; rare Fila- 

 ments 2 4 inches high, finely tufted, wavy and feathery ; the main stems 

 slightly entangled, excessively branched, all the branches and branchlets 

 opposite or quaternate ; the lesser branches generally naked at the base, 

 their upper half bearing, at distances of 6 8 joints, a pair of opposite, pa- 

 tent ramuli, which again throw off from their upper half a second and 

 third series. Spores imbedded in the branchlets. Colour a pale olive- 

 green. Such is the plant published by Mrs. Griffiths in the Algae Dan- 

 monienses and which I had formerly confounded with E. sphierophorus. 

 From that species, however, it strikingly differs in habit (as can better be 

 seen by a glance at the specimens in the Alg. Danm. than understood 

 from the most laboured description), and also, as first pointed out by Mrs. 

 Griffiths, in the fructification. Whether or not it be the same species as 

 the plant figured in Eng. Bot., the original brachiatus, I cannot say, 

 having never seen an authentic specimen of that plant ; nor am I aware 

 whether any authentic specimens exist. The figure in Eng. Bot. was 

 taken from a specimen picked up on the Norfolk coast, by Sir W. J. 

 Hooker, many years ago, but no such plant now exists in Sir William's 

 herbarium ; and nothing more nearly resembling it than the present has 

 since been found. 



16. E. Mertensii, Turn.; distichous; branches opposite, 

 of unequal length, linear, mostly undivided, closely set 

 throughout their whole length with slender, subulate, opposite 

 ramuli; joints of the stem longitudinally striate, transparent, 

 with a central coloured band, rather shorter than broad ; 

 spores imbedded in the ramuli. Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 327 ; 

 Wyatt, Alg. Danm. No. 130; E. Bot. t. 999; Harv. Phyc. 

 Brit. t. cxxxii. 



