CHANTRANSIACE &, 283 
* Bangia atro-purpurea. (Dillw.) Ag. Syst. p. 76. 
Forming lax purple tufts ; threads abbreviated, scarcely ex- 
ceeding an inch long, simple, varying in thickness according to 
age, joints nearly equal in length to their diameter, or one-third 
as long, more or less constricted at the joints. 
Sizz. Filaments :03-06 mm. diam. Cells ‘01 mm. long. 
Rabh. Alg. Eur. i., 398. Eng. Bot. ii., t. 241.3. 
Conferva atro-purpurea, Dillw. Conf., t. 103. Eng. Bot. i., t. 
2085. 
Girardia fusco-purpurea, B. Gray Arr.i., 287. 
Attached to wood and stones in streams. 
In his most recent work Agardh advocates the removal of this genus 
to the Ulvacez, on account of the absence of genuine tetraspores., 
Plate CXVILE fig. 1. a, portion of tuft, natural size; b, portions of 
threads x 400 diam. 
Famity Il. CHANTRANSIACEA. 
Forming dwarf pulvinate tufts, of a purplish-violet or steel- 
blue colour. Thallus filamentous. Threads articulate, formed 
of a single series of cells, branched, straight, naked, fasciculately 
branched above, joints cylindrical. Propagation by immovable 
spores formed at the tips of the branchlets. Tetraspores rarely 
observed. 
Genus 118. CHANTRANSIA. Zrics. (1825.) 
The only genus in the family, with the same characters as 
given above. 
Chantransia violacea. Xutz. Tab. Phyc. v. t. 44, f. 2. 
Tufts bright violet, scarcely exceeding a line broad, pulvi- 
nately rounded, threads straight, branches becoming erect, 
radiately disposed ; joints 3-6 times as long as broad, the apical 
joints rather obtuse. 
Size. Cells -008--009 mm. diam. 
Rabh. Alg. Eur. iii, 402. Kirch. Alg. Schles. 47. 
Parasitic on Lemanea, Cladophora, and aquatic mosses. 
Plate CXVI11, fig. 1. a, tuft natural size ; 6, portions of filaments % 
800 diam. 
