18 SIPHONACE^. 



branches, scarcely stipitate or subsessile, linear (in outline), 2-6 inches long, less than 

 half an inch wide, pectinato-pinnate from a short distance above the base to the extremity. 

 Rachis filiform, scarcely thicker than hog's bristle, closely set with pinnae. Pinnce 

 opposite, sometimes a little obliquely inserted, setaceous, 2-3 lines long, rarely straight, 

 generally more or less incurved or falcate, their apices sometimes very acute, ending in 

 a sharp mucro, sometimes bluntish. Substance when dry horny and semitranslucent. 

 Colour a deep and rather dark green, the tips of the pinnae often yellowish or orange. 



A native of the tropics generally, both of the eastern and western hemisphere ; occa- 

 sionally straggling into the warmer parts of the temperate zone. It varies much in the 

 diameter of the surculi, and somewhat in the length of the pinnae, but is easily recog- 

 nised by the closely pectinate fronds, which resemble small green feathers. The speci- 

 mens from Key West are peculiarly robust, and if compared with some slender varieties 

 from the Pacific, might pass for difierent. But at Vavau, in the Friendly Islands, where 

 this plant is common, I collected specimens both of the robust and slender form. 



Plate XXXVIII. C. Fig. 1. Caclerpa plumaris, the natural size. Fig. 2, a pinna, 



magnijled. 



4. Caulerpa Ashmeadii ; surculi naked, glabrous ; fronds erect, shortly stipitate, 

 distichously pectinato-pinnate ; rachis subcompressed ; pinnae opposite (or suboblique), 

 erecto-patent, straight, linear, somewhat incrassated at the very obtuse extremity. 

 (Tab. XXXVIII. A.) 



Hab. Key West, rare. W. H. H., Samuel Ashmead, Esq. (v. v.) 



Surcidi prostrate, distantly rooting, one or two lines in diameter, glabrous and 

 glossy, collapsing, and mostly channelled when dry. Fronds scattered, rising from the 

 upper side of the surculi, erect, each furnished with a stipes from half an inch to upwards 

 of an inch in length, and closely pectinato-pinnate throughout. Each frond, pinnae 

 included, is about an inch in breadth, and from four to six inches in length. The 

 pinnce are half a line in diameter, three-fourths of an inch long, terete, and nearly linear, 

 but more or less thickened towards the extremity, which is very obtuse, without trace 

 of mucro or acumination. The substance when dry is homy and semi-transparent. 

 The colour, when recent, is grass green, but in drying it turns to olive. 



The roots, Mr. Ashmead remarks, penetrate so deeply, and fix themselves so firmly 

 in the hard sand, that it is with difiiculty obtained, except in fragments. I regard the 

 present as a distinctly marked new species, and have much pleasure in inscribing it to Mr. 

 Samuel Ashmead of Philadelphia, a gentleman who has already made some interesting 

 discoveries among the Algae at Key West, and from whom many more may be expected. 

 It is a much larger and stronger growing plant than C. plumaris, and remarkable for 

 the very obtuse and almost club-shaped ends of the nearly straight pinnae. 



Plate XXXVIII. A. Fig. 1, Caulerpa Ashmeadii, the natural size. Fig 2, a pinna, 

 magnijied. 



