MARINE Al<GJE OF BEAUFORT, N. C. 483 



KEY TO GENERA. 



Cystocarps not formed in special branches; gonimob last composed of several coalescent tufts 

 of branches, rather lax, the apices of the branches unequally extended; tetrasporangia 

 cruciately divided L Gracilaria (p. 483). 



Cystocarps not formed in special branches; cavity of the sporocarp traversed by a lax net 

 from the threads of which arise numerous glomeruli of spore-bearing filaments; tetra- 

 sporangia zonately divided 2 . Hypnea (p. 485). 



Genus i . Gracilaria Greville. 



Gracilaria, Greville, 1830, p. 121. 



Frond terete or flattened, dichotomously or laterally branched, structure densely 

 cellular, inner cells large, outer ones smaller, cortical ones minute, sometimes developed 

 into vertical filaments; tetrasporangia scattered over the surface among the cortical 

 cells, cruciately divided; antheridia scattered over the branches, in small, flask-shaped 

 cavities opening to the exterior by a pore; cystocarps scattered over the thallus, promi- 

 nent, hemispherical, pericarp thick, usually free (not joined to the "nucleus" by sterile 

 strands) , composed of outwardly radiating rows of cells, finally opening by an apical pore; 

 "nucleus" hemispherical-convex, arising from the base of the fruit, bearing filaments 

 of unequal length from its convex surface; carpospores obovate or oblong produced in 

 longer or shorter chains from the apical segments of the filaments. 



About 50 species, all marine, generally distributed, many of the species exceedingly 

 varied in habit and distinguished with difficulty. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



Frond terete, slender, light to dark red, branching profuse, fairly regular, lateral, in all 



planes , i. G. confervoides (p. 483). 



Frond from flat to slightly flattened or rather terete, coarse, usually purple to dark green, 

 branching sparse, irregular, dichotomous or polychotomous^and lateral, more or less in 

 one plane 2. G. multipartite (p. 484). 



i. Gracilaria confervoides (Linnaeus) Greville. PI. XCIX, fig. i. 



F ucus confervoides, Linnaeus, 1753, vol. 2, p. 1629. 

 Gracilaria confemoi&es, Greville, 1830, p. 123. 

 Gracilaria confervoides. Harvey, 1853, p. 108. 

 Gracilaria confervoides, De Toni, 1900, p. 431. 

 P. B.-A. Nos. 384, 1041. 



Fronds elongated, terete, vaguely laterally branched, flagelliform, 0.5 to 3 mm. diameter, 14 cm. 

 to i m. long, branches elongated, subundivided, branchlets subsecund, slightly attenuated at both ends, 

 filiform, more or less numerous; tetrasporangia numerous, immersed among the cortical cells of short 

 filiform branchlets; cystocarps prominent, hemispherical, numerous on all sides of branches and 

 elongated branchlets, substance fleshy-cartilaginous, color light to dark red. 



Warm and temperate seas. 



Very abundant throughout harbor, Beaufort, N. C., attached to shells, etc., April to November, 

 less abundant on Fort Macon and Shackleford jetties, abundant on Bogue Beach, abundant in North 

 River, few specimens on coral reef offshore May, 1907, and July to August, 1915, fruiting throughout 

 season; abundant in sound, Wrightsville Beach, N. C., attached to shells; abundant on muddy bottom 

 of tidal marsh, James Island, Charleston, S. C. ; abundant on muddy bottom in sound, Port Royal, S. C. 



The species varies considerably in the size of plants, coarseness of fronds, and amount of branching, 

 varying from coarse, slightly branched forms to fine, slender, much-branched ones. The habit may be 

 dense or open, according as the branching is more or less abundant, but in all the typical forms the 

 branching is fairly regular and the branches are long, terete, and flexuous. Although some of the speci- 

 mens approach G. dura (Ag.) J. Ag. in appearance and structure, they do not seem separable from the 

 other specimens, and all have been referred to G. confervoides. The specimens from Charleston and 



