90 KJELLMAN, THE ALGiE OF THE ARCTIC SEA. 



in the present acceptation of the name probably comprises several specifically distinct 

 forms. Lamark's description of L, fasciculatum Hist. Anim. 2, p. 203 is very summary. 

 Nevertheless he inentions a character which does not accord with my species, namely, 

 »ramis apice incrassatis, obtusis». The plant, delineated (Phyc. Brit. Plate 74) and 

 described, under the name of Melohesia fasciculata, by Harvey, who quotes as synony- 

 mous the Millepora fasciculata of Lamark, is obviously distinct from the one in question, 

 as is easily seen on comparing Harvey's figures with mine. Melobesia fasciculata Harvey 

 is distinguished from L. soriferum mihi by its strongly developed »solid, centralstony 

 mäss», and by its short branches that are »remarkably truncated at the tips, which 

 are moreover depressed in the centre». L. fasciculatum Areschoug (in J. G. Ag. 

 Spec. Alg. 2, p. 522), with which Harvey's M. fasciculata is cited as synonymous, 

 certainly coincides in several particulars with my species, but it differs from it by 

 the frond being »circa lapillum plerumque undiqiie effusa» and by the branches being 

 sometimes simple, sometimes compound, thickened upwards, with truncate tips. Even 

 in very young specimens of L. soriferum the branches issuing from the centre are 

 decompound. L. fasciculatum Areschoug (Obs. Phyc. III, p. 5) differs most essentially 

 in development and ramitication from L. soriferum, and, as far as I can see, it com- 

 prises both M. fasciculata Harvey and that species which I describe below under 

 the name of L. glaciale. L. fasciculatum Solms-Laubach (Corall. Monogr.), with which 

 name the author very hesitatingly designs a species occurring in the Mediterranean at 

 Naples, can hardly be identical with Harvey's M. fasciculata. In ramification and in 

 the shape and arrangement of the conceptacles of the sporangia it agrees, in its most 

 developed form, with L. soriferum, but it differs from this by the lower part of its 

 frond spreading över stones in the form of a crust. But, on the other hand, I think 

 it is possible or probable that the fragment from Iceland mentioned by the author 

 belongs to L. soriferum. 



The species occurring in Bohuslän, called L. fasciculatmn, agrees with 3f. fasci- 

 culata PIarvey and L. fasciculatum Areschoug (Spec. Alg.) and through the form of the 

 branches is distinctly known from the plant here described. Professor J. E. Areschoug, 

 the well-known monographer of the CorallineaB, has kindly allowed me to look över 

 his coUections of such plants. I have not found in these any species, to which L. 

 soriferum could be considered to belong. Thus no other course was left me than to 

 describe under a specific name this species, which is very abundant in the southern part 

 of the Polar Sea. 



Hab. According to my own experience, the present species grows on sandy and 

 shingly bottom in quiet bays or on protected coasts, in 10 — 15 fathoms water. Dead 

 it is found at greater depths, and it is probably such specimens that Kleen has 

 bröught up from the elitoral region (ef. Kleen, Nordl. Alg. p. 11). It is gre- 

 garious, covering large spaces of the bottom in great masses, and serves as substra- 

 tum for various smaller algse, such as Antithamnia, Rhoilophyllis dichotoma, Derhesia 

 marina a. o. I have found specimens with ripe sporangia in July and at the end of 

 September. 



