184 Mr. Hassall's Notices of British Freshwater Alga. 



cm'iously formed species a distinct genus, contenting liimself with 

 communicating his views to some of his coiTCspondents, of whom 

 I may name the follo^nng as being conversant with those views : 

 Mr. BoiTer, the Rev. M. J. Berkeley and Mr. Ralfs. Within these 

 few days I have been informed by Mr. Berkeley that Kutzing has 

 proposed this genus under the term of Staurospermum in a sketch 

 of a work on the Alga?, inserted in the first number of the new 

 series of ' Linnsea.'' No account of the genus is given by Kutzing, 

 but merely the name and an enumeration of species belonging to it. 

 Mr. Shuttle worth's appellation I conceive to be much more appro- 

 priate and accm-ate than that of Kutzing, and have therefore ven- 

 tured to retain it ; for the word Staurocay-pus applies to the fi-uc- 

 tification generally, which is either square or cruciform, while 

 Staurospermum appears to me to specify the reproductive granules 

 or zoospores themselves \^-ith which each sporangium is filled, and 

 which are more or less of a circular foi-m. 



That Agardh entertained a veiy strong suspicion that the 

 square-fruited species ought to be separated from the genus Mou- 

 yeotia, will be apparent from the following obseiTations : — 



" Ceterse species quoad fructum non satis cognitse, et postea 

 forsan separandre, hue tantum ob habitum retentpe.'" 



The genus Staurocarpus differs from Mougeotia in the facts of 

 the transference of endochrome and formation of sporangia, while 

 from the genus Spharocarjms, hereafter to be described, it is se- 

 parated by the form of the sporangium. 



But one species of this genus is described by British \n-iters. 

 In a recent number of the ' Annals ■" I added two others, and I 

 have now the pleasm-e, assisted by my valued colleagues jNIr. Ralfs 

 and Mr. Jenner, of describing three other species of the genus. 



St. glutinosus. Sj^ionym, Mougeotia glutinosus. For descrip- 

 tion see ' Annals and Magazine of Natm-al History,' vol. x. ; and 

 for figm-e, Plate YII. fig. 1. 



St. capucinus. Filaments of less diameter than those of ;S^/. glu- 

 tinosus ; cells usually eight or ten times as long as broad ; en- 

 dochrome generally of a pm-ple hue ; sporangia cruciform, large, 

 and filled \A'ith zoospores of a greenish colom*. See PL YII, 

 fig. 2. 

 Hab. Henfield, a\Ir. Bon-er ; Tunbridge Wells, jNIr. Jenner ; 



Penzance, ]Mr. Ralfs ; High Beech, Essex. 



This is a veiy distinct species, and appears fiLrst to have been 

 described by Agardli under the name here adopted. A spionym 

 of this species is undoubtedly the Conferva cierulescens of ' English 

 Botany.' The colom- of the filaments in this as in other Conferva 

 woidd appear to be subject to considerable variety, but is usually 



