368 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Lapponicis " merely shows that Linne had not learned to dis- 

 tinguish the Scandinavian and Arctic E. alphium (lactiflorum) 

 from E. an agallidi folium and E. alsinefolium. I may add that 

 the plants figured by Syme as anagaUidifoliuvi and alpinum are 

 both referable to the former. 



SOME BRITISH SPECIES OF PHJEOPHYCEM. 



By A. D. Cotton, F.L.S. 



The object of the present communication is to bring forward 

 ne observations on certain little known or imperfectly described 



My r ion 



known 



country. 



The plants dealt with belong to genera consisting of small and 

 inconspicuous species, concerning the morphology of which our 

 knowledge is still far from complete. To the systematist also 

 these genera offer a fruitful field for investigation, as is shown by 

 the fact that during a short period of collecting, not only were 

 three species added to the British flora, but several unfamiliar 

 forms were met with, some of which may prove to be undescribed. 

 Until our knowledge of the life-history and variability of previously 

 described plants is more complete, the advisability of dealing with 

 the new forms as distinct species is questionable, and for this 

 reason an account of the latter is deferred, and the present notes 

 are confined to species which are already known. 



The species recorded for the first time as British are Ascocyclus 



affinis Sved., Hecatonema diffuswn Kylin, and Streblonema effusum 

 Kylin. 



Ascocyclus affinis Sved. Ostersjons hafsalgflora, 1901, p. 107, 

 fig. 17. 



On Laminar ia saccharina Lamour. Cawsand Bay, Cornwall, 

 Aug. 1906. New to Britain. 



This plant, described by Svedelius in 1901, is a typical Asco- 

 cyclus, and distinct from any previously known; it does not 

 appear to have since been recorded. The distinguishing features 

 of the species are the size of the ascocysts and plurilocular 

 sporangia, which measure 30-50 x 8-12 /x and 40-50 X 6 fi 

 respectively. 



The British specimens agree with the diagnostic characters, 

 except in one particular, viz., the width of the sporangia, a point 

 which will be referred to later. The material was found fairly 

 plentifully on a frond of Laminaria which had begun to decay ; 

 the spots formed by the plant measured \~\ mm. in diameter, 

 and were scattered irregularly over the frond between plants of 

 Myrionema sp. and Streblonema aecidioides Fosl. Specimens of 

 different ages were present, varying from those previous to fructi- 

 fication to those in which the crop of spores had been liberated. 



