MARINE AU^B OF BEAUFORT, N. C. 50 1 



usually abundant on the secondary branches, arising singly or in clusters, markedly constricted at the 

 bases, usually more or less truncate at the apices, cylindrical, club-shaped to top-shaped, apices more 

 or less markedly sunken, usually truncate, sometimes obtuse and rounded, sometimes almost oblong, 

 often with a short, pointed projection; tetrasporangia borne below the apices of ultimate branchlets; 

 cystocarps round-ovate, sessile, lateral below the apices of ultimate branchlets, which are often pointed 

 at the apices, these points later being pushed to one side by the growth of the cystocarps; texture fleshy- 

 cartilaginous, rigid, brittle; color usually dark, purplish red, sometimes yellowish pink. 



Warm and temperate North Atlantic; Mediterranean. 



Beaufort, N. C.: Abundant on Fort Macon jetties, o to 50 cm. below low water, June to October, 

 fruiting throughput the summer and autumn, an occasional battered specimen found during the winter; 

 abundant in harbor south of laboratory, summers 1903 and 1904; fairly abundant oh coral reef offshore, 

 May, 1907, and few slender specimens, August, 1914 and 1915. Ocracoke, N. C.: One faded specimen 

 on jetty , August , 1907. 



In this region the species is fairly uniform, usually being distinguished by its coarse, rigid, brittle, 

 dark, purplish red fronds densely branched in the upper portions and by the ultimate branchlets, many 

 of which are extremely short and shaped like a top. Tetrasporic and cystocarpic specimens are abun- 

 dant throughout the summer and autumn, but antheridial plants are rare. Specimens which seemed 

 to be young plants of this species were observed, in fair abundance, on Fort Macon jetties in April, 1908, 

 but the determination could not be made with certainty, and no plants of the species were observed 

 in May, 1907. The species had almost disappeared on October 17, 1908. Specimens have been col- 

 lected on Fort Macon jetties twice during the winter, a few small, matted plants, 2 to 4.5 cm. tall, in 

 December, 1908 (PI. CVII, fig. 2), and one battered fragment in February, 1909. While these plants 

 suggest the probability that the species may winter in this condition, they were not found with 

 sufficient regularity during the winter to establish the point. Plants collected June 12, 1909, were 

 large and well developed. This species has not been observed on Shackleford jetties, nor in the harbor 

 since 1904. 



Young stages of this species are frequently observed attached to mature fronds of the same species 

 or to other algae, especially Padina -vickersiae. These appear at first as small, convex disks (fig. 4oA), 

 from the middle of which single upright shoots arise, and later give off downward-growing filamentous 

 attaching organs from their basal cells (fig. 406). 



From the bases of mature fronds many short branches grow down and branch profusely, sometimes 

 finally into filamentous branches consisting of single rows of large, thick-walled cells. When these 

 branches reach the substratum 'they spread out into irregular disks, forming a secure attachment for the 

 frond. The bases of the mature fronds are usually covered by a spongelike animal growth and by small 

 tubes of animals, apparently worms. 

 5. Chondria sedifolia Harvey. PI. CVIII, figs, i and 2. 



Chondria sedifolia, Harvey, 1853, p. 19, pi. 18 G. 

 Chondriopsis dasyphila var. sedifolia, Farlow, 1882, p. 166. 

 Chondria sedifolia, De Toni, 1903, p. 845. 

 P. B.-A. No. 594- 



Fronds robust, of medium coarseness, 2.5 to 27 cm. tall, about 0.4 to i mm. in diameter in main 

 stems, uniformly branched throughout, branching profuse, usually alternate, sometimes multifid, main 

 branches more or less elongated, straight or curved, spreading in all directions, ultimate branchlets 

 about 2 to 5 mm. long, sometimes borne on the main branches, usually abundant on the secondary 

 branches, usually arising singly, obovate-oblong or somewhat elliptic, usually markedly contracted at 

 the bases, obtuse or acute, usually truncate, at the apices, apices sunken; tetrasporangia borne below 

 the apices of the ultimate branchlets; cystocarps ovate, opening by a conspicuous apical pore, sessile 

 below the apices of ultimate branchlets, the apices later being pushed to one side by the growth of the 

 cystocarps; texture gelatinous-cartilaginous; color reddish brown to pinkish straw. 



New England to Florida and West Indies. 



Beaufort, N. C.: Fairly abundant on jetties, and attached to Zostera, shells, etc., between jetties 

 at Fort Macon, 15 to 45 cm. below low water, May to September since 1906, not found in earlier years, 

 fruiting throughout the season; one specimen on Fort Macon jetty, December, 1908; fairly abundant 

 cm coral reef offshore, July, 1915; fairly abundant in Core Sound on one jetty at Lecklys Island, July, 

 1908. 



