140 REPOET OP COMMISSIONER OP PISH ANX> PISHEEIES. 



SPYEIDIA, Harv. 



(From oTrvpis; a basket.) 



Characters those of the genus. 



S. filamentosa, Harv., Phyc. Brit., PL 46. PL X, Kg. 1, and PL XII, 

 Fig. 2. 



Fronds filamentous, in expanded tufts four to eight inches high, 

 branches irregularly placed, spreading, repeatedly divided, secondary 

 branches subequal, spirally inserted, ending in a mucronate tip com- 

 posed of two or three hyaline cells; tetraspores tripartite, sessile at 

 the nodes of branchlets, solitary or clustered ; cystocarps two or three 

 lobed. 



Var. refracta, Harv., Ner. Am. Bor., Part III, PL 34 a. 



Fronds robust, subdichotomous, the branches naked, divaricating, with 

 very wide axils, arched, the terminal ones frequently revolute. 



On Zostera, wharves, and mud below low-water mark. 



Common from Cape Cod southward; Massachusetts Bay, Harvey; 

 most warm seas. 



Rather a beautiful species when growing, but which becomes brownish in drying and 

 does not adhere very well to paper. It does not collapse when removed from the 

 water, but remains covered with drops which adhere to the branchlets. The branches, 

 although rather coarse, are brittle. The species is more common in Long Island Sound 

 than in Europe, certainly than on the Atlantic coast. It may be recognized under the 

 microscope by the monosiphonous corticated branches and hyaline branchlets, corti- 

 cated only at the nodes and with a mucronate tip. The antheridia, of which, so far 

 as we know, no description has hitherto been given, surround the branchlets, covering 

 several cells near the base. They arise from divisions of the cortical cells, which form 

 closely packed, short filaments, and extend over the internodes, those from the differ- 

 ent nodes becoming confluent. The individuals which bear the cystocarps are distinct 

 from those which bear the antheridia, and may be recognized by their more dense 

 habit. 



Suborder CRYPTONEMIE^. 



Fronds solid or becoming hollow with age, cylindrical, compressed or 

 membranaceous; antheridia forming superficial spots or small tufts; 

 tetraspores usually cruciate and scattered in the cortical layer, some- 

 times in localized spots ; cystocarps consisting of a single mass of irreg- 

 ularly placed spores surrounded by a gelatinous envelope, but not pro- 

 vided with a special cellular pericarp, immersed in the substance of the 

 frond, spores discharged by a narrow passage formed between the cells 

 of the cortex. 



An order comprising about 14 or 15 genera and between 125 and 150 species, most of 

 which are inhabitants of warm seas, and vary in consistency from subgelatinous to 

 coriaceous and cartilaginous. Our only two species belong to the tribe Nemastomece. 

 There arc numerous species on the Californian coast, nearly all difficult of determina- 



