Ser. MelanospermejE. Tarn. Chordariece. 



Plate CCCXXXII. 



ELACHISTEA CURTA, Jresck. 



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 strings of cells, closely com- 

 bined into a cartilaginous mass. Fructification, pear-shaped spores 

 attached to the bases of the filaments concealed in the tubercles, and 

 frequently accompanied by paranemata. Elachistea (Fries), — from 

 eXaxicrra, the least; from the small size of these plants. 



Elachistea curta ; filaments very short, tapering to the base, obtuse, 



pencilled, rather rigid, rising from a tubercle ; articulations about as 



long as broad ; spores pyriform, on long pedicels ; paranemata linear- 



clavate. 



Elachistea curta, Aresch. in Linn. vol. xvi. p. 234 ? Harv. Man. cd. 2. p. 50. 



Conferva curta, Dillw. t. 76. Ag. Syst. p. 103. Harv. in Hook. Brit. Fl. 

 vol. ii. p. 35 5 ? Harv. Man. ed. 1. p. 132. 



Hab. On Fuci, between tide-marks. Annual. Summer. At Swansea, 

 Mr. L. W. Billwyn. (Not found recently.) 



GrEOGR. DlSTR. 



Descr. Tufts minute, from one to three lines in diameter, with an evident tu- 

 bercular base. Filaments linear-club-shaped, very slender below, and 'gra- 

 dually widening upwards, ending in a blunt point. Para?iemata filiform, 

 composed of slender cylindrical cells, and tipped with a pyriform coloured 

 cell. Articulations of the filaments about as long as broad, coloured. 

 Spores large, pear-shaped, on longish stalks. Colour a brownish-olive, or 

 foxy. Substance rather rigid. The plant does not adhere to paper. 



This species has long been in doubt, and notwithstanding the 

 figure and description now given, my doubts are not fully re- 

 moved. By Dillwyn, who first described E. curta, it is said to 

 be common in the neighbourhood of Swansea, and probably not 

 rare elsewhere ; yet no one has met with it of late years. I have 

 repeatedly brought home the battered stumps of E.fucicola in 

 the belief, always dissipated by the microscope, that I had nut 

 with E. curta ; and my only acquaintance with the latter is from 



