Tin: M.VKIXi: AL(;.K OF NKW ENGLAND. 73 



aiioimaio; articiihuioiis of the branches twice or thrice as loii'^as broad, 

 of the ramiili once and a half as lon^; propajjiihi elliptic-oblong or 

 linear, quite sessile and very obtuse, transversely striate, several to 

 gether." (Harvey, 1. c.) 

 Nantucket, .Vm Mitchell. 



() I'v k:i.>A:i fi;. 11 ill,' tl;'s;Tiptioii iiiul phitc ill tlic Ncivis. 

 SCBGEXUS PYLAIELLA, Bory. 



Both lorius of si)oraugia formed from the cells in the continuity of 

 the branches, and uot by a transformation of special branches. 



lu the present suUjjenus oiio mij^lit, at first sight, bo inclined to include IJ. sUiculosim 

 var. hienuiUji and IJ. Ititosus, but in those species the sporan<;ia are rather situated at 

 the end of branches, which are prolou;j:t>d beyond the sporangia in the form of hairs, 

 than in the continuity of the branches themselves. 



E. LITTORALIS, Lyugb. {Ectocarpus firmus^ Ag. — rUaijcUa Uttorali.s, 

 Kjellman.) 



Filaments tufted or irregularly expanded at the base, two to ten 

 inches long; branches numerous, usually opposite, given oflf at wide 

 angles, erect; cells .02-4:'"'^- broad; plurilocular sporangia irregularly 

 cylindrical, very variable in size; unilo3ular sporangia formed of from 

 two to thirty contiguous cells, .02-3'"'" broad ; fertile branches monili- 

 form. 



Var. ROBUSTUS. {Ectocarpus Farloicii, Thuret, in Farlow's List of 

 the Marine Algixi of the United States, 187G.) 



Filaments three or four inches long, densel}' branching; branches 

 robust, opposite or irregular; cells .OS-j""" in breadth ; fertile branches 

 short and rigid, often transformed through nearly their whole length 

 into unilocular sporangia, which arc stout and cylindrical, only slightly 

 moniliform at maturity ; cells .OJ:""" broad and .03-4""" in length. 



Very common along the whole coast. , 



Var. rohusttis in exposed places from Nahant northward. 



A very common species on our coast, which, although offering numerous forms, can- 

 not, as it seems to us, be well specifically divided. When growing on wharves, where 

 it is very common, or on other wood work, it forms expansions of indefinite extent 

 from which rise tufts several inches long. The basal or prostrate portions branch 

 verj- irregularly, and the cells are infested with Chytridia and other parasites. If 

 Bpecies of Eciocarpus could be formed from sterile specimens, the basal portions of E. 

 ^'</ora/j« would offer a rich field to the species-maker. What is called var. rohmtus 

 has uot yet been fouml south of Capo Cod, but is common on the northern coast on 

 Fuci and other algie exposed to the action of the waves. The original E. Farlowii was 

 founded on specimens collected by Mr. Higbce, at Salem, in November, 1874, and pro- 

 nounced by the late M. Thuret, in a letter dated April 26, 1875, to be distinct from E, 

 littoralU. In the Coutributiones ad Algologiam et Fiingologiain, PI. 20, Reinsch 

 ligures, under the name of Edocarinm antico^tiennis, a form which, as far as can be 



