Ser. Melanospermeje. Fam. Sporochnoidea. 



Plate LVI. 



SPOROCHNUS PEDUNCULATUS, A a . 



Gen. Char. Frond filiform, solid, cellular, the axis more dense. Fructi- 

 fication ; lateral, crested, stalked receptacles composed of horizontal, 

 branching filaments whorled round a central axis, and producing 

 obovate spores. Crest deciduous, consisting of byssoid, jointed fibres. 

 — Sporochnus {Ag), anopos, a seed, and x vo ° s > wool; because tufts of 

 fibres accompany the fructification. 



Sporochnus pedunculatus ; stem undivided ; branches lateral, long, simple, 

 horizontal ; receptacles elliptical. 



Sporochnus pedunculatus, Ag. Sp.Alg. vol. 1. p. 14-9. Syst. p. 259. Grer. 



Alg. Brit. p. 41. t. vi. Hook. Br. Fl. vol. ii. p. 274. Han. in Mack. II. 



Hib. part 3. p. 173. Wyatt, Alg. Damn. no. 104. Harv. Man. p. 27. 

 Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 28. Kilt:. Fhyc. Gen. p. 342. 



Gigartina pedunculata, Lam. Ess. p. 48. 



Fucus pedunculatus, Huds. Fl. Aug. p. 587. With. vol. iv. p. 120. Stack. 

 Ner. Brit. p. 110. t. 16. E.Bot. t. 545. Turn. Syn. vol. ii. p. 367. 

 Turn. Hist. t. 188. 



Hab. On submarine rocks, shells, &c, near low water mark, and at a greater 

 depth ; rare. Annual. Summer and Autumn. Eastern and southern 

 coasts of England. Anglesca, Rev. II. Davies. Preston Pans, Frith 

 of Forth, Mr.Hasell. Bantry Bay, Miss Eutchms. Killiney, W.Il.II. 

 Belfast Bay, Mr. IF. Thompson. Malahide, and Eoundstone Bay, 

 Mr. Mc' Calla. Jersey, Miss incite. 



Geogr. Distr. Atlantic shores of France. British Islands. 



Descr. Root a small disc. Stem 6-18 inches long, as thick as hog's bristle, 

 cylindrical, smooth, perfectly simple, furnished throughout its length with 

 numerous lateral branches, at distances of from one to four lines asunder. 

 Branches three to six inches long, half the diameter of the stem, gradually 

 tapering to a fine point, quite simple, like the stem, the whole margined 

 throughout with receptacles. The receptacles are at first sessile and wart- 

 like, gradually they become stalked, the stalk varying, at different ages, 

 and in different specimens, from a quarter of a line to nearly two lines 

 in length. They are of an oblong-elliptical, or, finally, spindle form, and 

 are crowned with a pencil of delicate byssoid, simple, jointed fibres a 

 quarter of an inch in length, and finally deciduous. Their structure con- 

 sists in a slender cellular axis, round which diehotomous, jointed, hori- 

 zontal filaments are whorled. To these filaments the narrow oltovate spores 



are attached. Substance cartilaginous, tender, becoming more rigid in the 

 stem. The structure in cellular, the cells of the centre and those near the 

 surface being minute; the intermediate ones Large, lax, and pol\. 



Colour when fresh, a clear olive, drying to a yellow green, and becoming 

 brown in age. When young the plant adheres closely to paper in drying 



p 



