MARINE ALG^E OF BEAUFORT, N. C. 515 



Cold and temperate North Atlantic and Pacific, reported on our coast as far south as Charleston, S. C. 

 One specimen, Bogue Beach, Beaufort, N. C., April, 1908. 



This species will not be mistaken for any other in our region, being easily recognized by the com- 

 pletely corticated fronds. Several varieties have been described. 



3. Ceramium strictum Harvey. PI. CXI, fig. 3. 



Ceramium strictum, Harvey, 18493, p. 163 (in part and excluding synonyms, not Gongroceras strictum Kuetzing). 

 Ceramium strictum, Farlow, 1882, p. 136. 

 Ceramium strictum, De Toni, 1903, p. 1484. 

 P. B.-A. Nos. 347, 846. 



Frond capillary, tapering toward the apices, forming more or less dense tufts, usually 2 to 15 cm. tall, 

 regularly dichotomously decompound with short lateral dichotomous branches scattered here and there; 

 branches fastigiate, apices forcipate, lower segments 4 to 6 diameters long; cortex confined to a narrow 

 band surrounding each node and extending a short distance over the internodes; remainder of inter- 

 node naked; tetrasporangia occurring in single circles surrounding the nodes, immersed among the 

 cortical cells; cystocarps lateral near the apices of branches, surrounded by a few rather elongated, 

 simple, incurved branches; textuie flaccid; color purplish pink. 



Temperate North Atlantic; Mediterranean. 



Beaufort, N. C.: Few specimens on Bogue Beach, February and March, 1909; very abundant 

 throughout harbor and on Fort Macon and Shackleford jetties, o to 30 cm. below low water, April, 1908; 

 fairly abundant throughout harbor and on jetties, May, 1907; on few specimens of Gracilaria confervoides 

 from coral reef offshore, May, 1907; one specimen on Fort Macon jetty, July, 1908. 



This species varies considerably in the diameter of the frond, the color, and the amount of branch- 

 ing, but good specimens will usually be easily recognized by the narrow bands of cortical cells and the 

 single whorls of tetrasporangia around the nodes. It is the only species which has been observed grow- 

 ing here in the spring. The only species observed in this region with which it is likely to be confused 

 is C. tenuissimum (?), from which it is distinguished by its whorls of tetrasporangia and often by its 

 narrower bands of cortical cells. Typical specimens of these species will not be mistaken for each 

 other, but as the tetrasporangia of C. tenuissimum are sometimes borne in more or less of a semicircle , 

 and those of C. strictum sometimes form incomplete whorls, some specimens will give considerable 

 trouble in their determination. In C. strictum the naked internodes are often more conspicuous than in 

 C. tenuissimum, being strikingly evident to the naked eye. 



This is the southern limit recorded for the species on our coast, but it probably extends farther south 

 in the spring. In this region it seems to appear about February, reach its greatest development in April, 

 and disappear about June, unless some of the small specimens found during the summer are stunted 

 summer forms of this species. 



Besides the specimens referred to above, minute, undeveloped plants, insufficient 

 for reference to any species, are found occasionally on other algae on Fort Macon jetty 

 and on Bogue Beach. 



Order 4. Cryptonemiales. 



Cryptoneminse, De Toni, 1905, p. 1523. 



Carpogenic branches and auxiliary cells occurring separately in the thallus. The 

 fertilized egg cell sends out through the tissue of the thallus more or less long, often 

 branched filaments whose terminal or intercalary cells fuse with single auxiliary cells; 

 thereupon these auxiliary cells develop gonimoblasts toward the surface or. interior of 

 the thallus, usually attached to a basal placenta; cystocarps usually immersed. 



KEY TO FAMILIES. 



Carpogonia and auxiliary cells formed on special secondary filaments, which develop 

 branches forming upright, oval, or flask-shaped structures inclosing the reproductive 

 cells, gonimoblast embedded ' in the thallus, forming several successive lobes 



i. GRATELOUPIACE^ (p. 516). 



