122 SIPHOPHYCE. 
This is the Vaucheria polysperma of Hassall, who says of it: “It is by 
no means uncommon, and may be distinguished from all others known 
to me by the fineness of its filaments, which are not half so large as those 
of our other British species, no less than by the form and arrangement of 
the sporangia, These are slightly pedunculate, varying in number from 
3 to 5, but usually there are but three, the apices or beaks of which are 
neither turned towards or averted from each other, but are all directed 
one way. The resemblance which the capsules bear to a bird's head 
when viewed sideways is very remarkable, and this resemblance is 
rendered still more striking by the fact that the circular sporangium 
occupying only the central portion of each, and which therefore repre- 
sents the eye of the bird.’ 
Plate XLVII., fig. 4. Oogonia and antheridia of V. sericea x 
200. Fig. 5. Oogonia containing oospores x 200. Fig. 6. Mature 
Oospore enclosed in an oogonium X 200, after De Bary. Fig. 7. Zoospore 
X 200, after Walz. Fig. 8. Spermatozoids. 
b. Corntcutatz, Antheridia bent in the form of a horn ora 
hook, seated on short lateral branches. 
4. Vaucheria Dillwyni. 4g. 
Terrestrial, broadly expanded, forming a rather thin stratum, 
of bright or dark green colour. Oogonia globose, or ellipsoid, 
rostrate, sessile, usually single, sometimes in twins, enclosed in 
delicately punctate membrane. Mature oospores spotted with 
brown, sporoderm very thick, composed of several strata. 
Antheridia bag-shaped, formed from the apices of short lateral 
curved branches, either approximate to the oogonia or seated 
between a pair of them. 
Rabh, Alg. Eur. iii., 269. Grev. Ale. Britt. t. xix. Hass, 
Alg.t. 4, f. 3. Eng. Fl. v., p. 820. Jenner Tunb. Wells 176. 
Eng. Bot. ii, p. 124. Harv. Man. 147. Johnst. FI. Berw. it, 
251. Grev. Fl. Edin. 305. Mack. Hib. 234, FI. Devon ii, 
56. Hook. Fl. Scot. ii., 93. Gray Arr.i., 290. 
Vaucheria Ungeri, Thur. Ann, Sci. Nat, xix. (1848), t. 13, f. 
43? 
Vaucheria pachyderma, Walz Jahrb. p. 146, t. 12, f. 1-6. 
Conferva frigida, Dillw. Conf. t.10. Harv. Man. p. 147. 
Conferva amphibia fibrillosa et spongiosa, Ray. Syn. p. 59. 
On the ground in damp shady places. 
It is presumed that this is the same species as has been described by 
Walz under the name of Vaucheria pachycerma, but the synonyms of some 
of these species are a little mixed. Dillwyn says: “It is not unfrequently 
found in turnip fields during the winter and early months of the spring, 
particularly in a northern exposure, and on a cold soil. The patches 
vary in size, but are usually two or three inches in extent, adhering but 
slightly to the soil, and consisting of loose unconnected filaments.” 
“The form of the capsules, which are rarely pedunculated, will at once 
distinguish this from all other species,” says Hassall, ‘‘which have 
hitherto been described.” 
