182 SEA MOSSES. 



Genus.— G J? AC/LA J^/A* Grev. 



Gracilaria multipartita, Ag. 



The many-fimes-divided Gracilaria is the only 

 representative of this genus, which grows in our 

 northern waters, and it is found on both the east 

 and west coast, being quite common in Southern 

 California. The narrow form, angustissima, is very 

 plentiful in Long Island Sound and adjacent waters. 

 I have collected this variety in considerable quanti- 

 ties in Providence river, in the month of August, 

 where Prof. Bailey and Mr. Olney found it in 

 abundance, many years ago. It has been reported 

 north of Cape Cod, by but one collector, Mr. 

 Collins, who finds it quite plentiful in the warm 

 waters and on the muddy bottoms of Mystic river 

 marshes, near Boston, from May to November. 



The plant is an extremely variable one. It grows 

 to a height of from six to twelve inches. It starts 

 with a short, cyhndrical stem. This immediately be- 

 gins to flatten, and directly expands into a narrowish 

 flat frond, which always widens upward, till it is a 

 third or half an inch broad. Then it divides into 

 two to four segments, which are, in the same way, 



* Gracilaria = Slender, giaceful. 



