ECTOCARPACE^. 83 



This plant is very like E. distortus, but is of a tougher 

 texture, aud grows in deeper water. It is rare. 



Ectocarpus litoralis. Littoral Ectocarpus. 



Tufts parasitical ou large sea-weeds, or growing on sub- 

 merged wood or mud, from six inches to a foot long, matted, 

 when young olive-green, becoming brown with age. Threads 

 coarse, much branched. Pods in the form of linear swell- 

 ings in the substance of the branches. 



This is one of the most abundant and least attractive of 

 British sea- weeds. It attaches itself to almost anything 

 that comes in its way, and is not at all particular as to 

 the depth of water in which it grows. It does not even 

 confine itself exclusively to the sea, but may be found 

 in estuaries and tidal rivers, sometimes far above the 

 region of pure salt-water. 



Ectocarpus lougifructus. Long-fruited Ecto- 

 carpus. 



Tufts parasitical on large sea-weeds, six or eight inches 

 long, much branched. Threads coarse, with numerous, 

 mostly opposite branches. Pods very long, tapering from 

 the base to the apex, growing at the tips of the branchlets. 



It is doubtful whether this plant be really distinct 

 from E. litoralis. Dr. Harvey has iigured it in the 

 ' Phycologia Britannica/ but he states that he did so 

 on the authority of a single specimen, and points out 

 that the only differences between the two plants are the 

 greater luxuriance and taper, terminal pods of E. lon- 

 gifructus. Among some specimens of undoubted E. 

 litoralis, which I collected near Ilfracombe, were a few 

 plants which, while possessing all the other characters 



G 2 



