CRYPTONEMIACE.E. 173 



rising in groups from a common disc-root, irregularly 

 branched, sometimes simply forked at the top, and some- 

 times having a few side branches. Spores massed in the centre 

 of thick spherical conceptacles, which are densely clustered 

 on the branches ; tetraspores oblong, cruciately divided, con- 

 tained in lance-shaped pods at the tips of the branches. 



This interesting little plant grows at the bottom of 

 sandy pools, and fruits in winter, when it may be easily 

 recognised. In a barren state it closely resembles a 

 stunted growth of Gracilaria confervoides, and this 

 fact may probably account, in part, for the small number 

 of recorded specimens, as the plant is no doubt frequently 

 overlooked in summer and autumn, which are usually the 

 most convenient seasons for collecting. 



Order XVIII. CRYPTONEMIACE^E. 



Purple or Hose-red Sea-weeds ivith an inarticulate, horny, car- 

 tilaginous, gelatinous, and rarely coriaceous or membranous 

 frond, composed of confer void filaments set in gelatine. The 

 membranous species are sometimes composed of many-sided 

 cells, gradually decreasing in size towards the surface. 

 Fructification: — 1. Spores congregated without order in cells 

 sunk in the frond, or in external conceptacles. 2. Zonate 

 or cruciate tetraspores dispersed among the cells of the 

 periphery, collected in definite sori, or, more rarely, in wart- 

 like bodies, called nemathecia. 



Genus LXXVI. STENO GRAMME. 



Frond flat, dichotomous, proliferous from the margin, 

 composed of two strata of cells ; those of the inner stratum 

 many-sided and empty, those on the surface minute and 

 coloured. Spores roundish, in dense clusters, disposed in 



