MARINE ALG OF BEAUFORT, N. C. 483 
KEY TO GENERA. 
Cystocarps not formed in special branches; gonimoblast composed of several coalescent tufts 
of branches, rather lax, the apices of the branches unequally extended; tetrasporangia 
cruciately divided. . sera -1. Gracilaria (p. 483). 
Cystocarps not formed in bapecial deranchiés} eavity ‘of the aporecaep i Weaverseed by a lax net 
from the threads of which arise numerous glomeruli of spore-bearing filaments; tetra- 
Sporangia/zonately divided %).........4.. xen} « dele ccfiemenh > dokaspnpoctinle adsbage 2. Hypnea (p. 485). 
Genus 1. 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 Lappe fairly regular, lateral, in all 
planes. . Me -1. G. confervoides (p. 483). 
Frond from. flat to slightly flattened ¢ or r rather terete, coarse, usually parple to dark green, 
branching sparse, irregular, dichotomous or polychotomous and lateral, more or less in 
GHe Planers IIA ALL WGI is SR ae SBS ath aoe ede MALE PaT ILE (pO “Bay: 
1. Gracilaria confervoides (Linnzus) Greville. Pl. XCIX, fig. 1. 
Fucus confervoides, Linnzvs, 1753, vol. 2, p. 1629. 
Gracilaria confervoides, Greville, 1830, p. 123. 
Gracilaria confervoides. Harvey, 1853, p. 108. 
Gracilaria confervotles, De Toni, 1900, p. 431. 
P. B.-A. Nos. 384, 1041. 
Fronds elongated, terete, vaguely laterally branched, flagelliform, o.5 to 3 mm. diameter, 14 cm, 
to 1 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, rors, 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 
