CONFERVACE^. 69 



TABLE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. 



Sub-order 1 . Ch-STOPhore^e. Frond invested with gelatine. 



I. Chjetophora. Numerous filaments combined into a gelatinous frond of definite 

 form. 



II. Draparnaldia. Filaments separate, fasciculately ramulose. 

 Sub-order 2. Conferve^. Frond destitute of a gelatinous coating. 



III. Cladophora. Filaments tufted, erect, branched. 



IV. Ch^tomorpha. Filaments unbranched, membranaceous, with a thin cell-wall. 



V. Hormotrichum. Filaments unbranched, gelatino-membranaceous, with a thick 

 cell-wall ; nodes constricted. 



VI. Rhizoclonium. Filaments decumbent, spuriously branched, the branches few 

 and rootlike. 



I. CH^TOPHORA. Ag. 



Frond gelatinous, polymorphous, of definite form ; the gelatine tran versed by many 

 filaments aggregated together and issuing from a common base. Filaments articulated, 

 branched ; articulations of the branches nearly hyaline, those of the ramuli filled with 

 green endochrome. Sporangia globose, attached to the ramuli. Zoospores formed in 

 the articulations. (In fresh water.) 



The species form gelatinous masses, of definite or sub-indefinite form, attached to 

 sticks, water-plants, or stones, in stagnant or running water. The gelatine is colourless, 

 tolerably firm and tenacious, and when a portion is placed under the microscope is seen 

 to be traversed in every part with slender, articulated, branching filaments, variously 

 arranged. The filaments are dimorphous, that is, their main divisions are formed of 

 differently shaped cells from those that compose the ramuli. The latter alone contain 

 much endochrome. Fructification has, as yet, been seen only in very few species. In 

 some stage of growth the terminal cell of the ramuli is tipped with a very long, hyaline 

 bristle, whence the generic name, from ^aiTJ?, a bristle, and <^opem, to bear. The two 

 following species have been sent me from America ; both are common European plants. 

 Probably several others occur in American waters. 



1. CHiETOPHORA endiviwfoUa, Ag. ; frond elongate, irregularly much branched ; 

 branches linear, scattered, or fasciculate, very patent, dichotomous or pinnate, or 

 secundly ramulose ; longitudinal filaments parallel, hyaline, or transversely banded, 



