208 CUBAN SEAWEEDS. 
If the two species just mentioned were insignificant at first sight, 
the Acetabularia (Fig. 56, A. crenulata, natural size) cannot fail to 
delight any one. It seems as though it were a most delicate par- 
asol made for some of the smaller crustaceans, or like a minute — 
toadstool, except that its color and texture are much too delicate. 
It has a stem composed of filaments surrounded by a calcareous 
coating, at the extremity of which is a disk formed of radiating — 
cells filled with zoéspores. Our species is exactly like Acetabu- 
laria Mediterranea, except that the edge is always crenate. There 
is a third species in Australia, in which the radiating cells form a 
shallow cup instead of a disk. In Polyphysa the cells do not co- — 
alesce at all. At some seasons of the year, tufts of green fila- 
ments grow from the summit of the stem. These are never seen 
in herbarium specimens. 
The Valoniacese (Fig. 49, structure of a plant of the group), = 
the last order which we shall mention, although regarded by — 
some as only a sub-order of Siphonacez, bears, perhaps, an 
equally strong resemblance to Confervaces, only the cells ate 
swollen and short, rather than narrow and rectangular. Some — 
genera are calcareous, while others are filamentous or membra- ; 
naceous this order, Harvey places the Penicilli, or salt water — 
shaving brushes, which, were they not quite so calcareous, wowe — 
answer their supposed purpose very well. Their microscopic struct- 
ure seems to me to place them next to Udotea, that is, if U. con- 
ylutinata properly belongs to the latter genus. The present genus s 
is not in the least related to the genus Penicillium, to which the — 
yeast plant belongs, as might be supposed from the resemblance 
of the names. The latter genus belongs to the Fungi, not to the 
Alge. Wright’s two species were P. capitatus (Fig. 57, 3 n3 o 
size) and P. Phoenix. The former would make a capital shavi 
brush. The stem is hard and solid, and three or four inches 10 
The separate filaments then diverge, and each receives & saloa: 
reous coating. The spores are probably borne in the root-like 
processes given off laterally from the filaments in the stipe. i 
Phenix (Fig. 58, natural size) is very much smaller, and the tare 
minal filaments are united in threes, so that the plant looks 
much like one of those remarkable trees found in the toy villag® 
with which children exercise their imaginations. va 
Anadyomena flabellata (Fig. 59, magnified 10 diameters), i 
this order, appears membranous like a small Ulva, but it g 
