Ser. Melanosperme.e. Fam. Chordariece. 



Plate CCXL. 



ELACHISTEA FUCICOLA, Fries. 



Gen. Char. Frond parasitical, consisting of a dense tuft of free, simple, 

 articulated, olivaceous filaments, rising from a common tubercular base, 

 composed of vertical branching fibres closely combined into a cartila- 

 ginous mass. Fructification, pear-shaped spores attached to the base 

 of the filaments, concealed in the tubercle, and frequently accom- 

 panied by paranemata. Elachistea (Fries), from eXaxio-ra, the least; 

 from the small size of these plants. 



Elachistea fucicola ; tufts pencilled ; filaments elongate, flaccid, membra- 

 naceous, attenuated upwards ; articulations once or twice as long as 

 broad ; tubercular mass spherical. 



Elachistea fucicola, Fries. Fl. Scan. p. 317. Aresch. Pug. t. viii. f. 6-7. 

 /. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. i. p. 12. 



Myrionema fucicolum, Fhdl. 3rd. Suppl. p. 23. 



Phycophila fucorum, and P. Agardhii, Kiitz. Plujc. Gen. p. 330. 



Converva fucicola, Velley, PI. mar. No. 4. Dillw. Conf. t. 66. Lyngb. 11yd. 

 Ban. t. 50. Ag. Syst. p. 103. Harv. in Hook. Br. Fl. vol. ii. p. 354. Harv. in 

 Mack. Fl. Hib. part. 3. p. 227. Harv. Man. p. 131. Wyatt, Alg. Damn, 

 no. 192. 



Conferva ferruginea, Ag. Syst. p. 103. 



Hab. Parasitical on Fucus serratus and F. vesiculosus. Annual. Summer 



and Autumn. Common. 

 Geogr. Distr. Atlantic shores of Northern Europe. Baltic Sea. 



Descr. Filaments forming brush-like tufts, an inch in length, rising from a 

 hemispherical, cartilaginous tubercle, which gradually increases in size as 

 the plant advances in growth. This tubercle is composed of numerous 

 dichotomous, articulated, vertical filaments, issuing from a common point, 

 beneath the surface of the Fucus on which the parasite grows, and radiating 

 in all directions. After several forkings the tips of the branches terminate 

 in a cluster of linear club-shaped fibres or paranemata, three or four of which 

 spring from each apex, and among these, which constitute the periphery of 

 the tubercle, are attached both the spores, and the \o\\gfi!ah/(ui/.s which form 

 the brush-like tuft. Filaments an inch long, scarcely tapered at the base, 

 much attenuated to the apex; the articulations once and a half to twice as 

 long as broad. Spores at first club-shaped, then pyriform, and at length 

 ellipsoidal. Colour olive-green, becoming brown or fo\\ 



This is the largest species, the longest known, and the com- 



