Europe, and found according to Martius, in Brazil. It was 

 originally described by Lightfoot, whose excellent specific name 

 I retain in preference to that of Roth, conferred nearly thirty 

 years subsequently, and which is universally adopted on the con- 

 tinent. 



What are described as fruiting ramuli, and represented in our 

 plate at fig. 6, are regarded by Italian authors, the accurate and 

 acute Meneghini included, as a parasitical plant, which De No- 

 taris has named Sphacelaria Bertiana. Meneghini in his ' Algse 

 Italiane e Dalmatiche ' enters largely into this question, and zea- 

 lously defends the parasitical theory j regarding these ramuli as 

 analogous productions to the Elachistea velutina, which no one 

 supposes to belong to the plant that it infests. The case of the 

 so called Sphacelaria Bertiana is, however, widely different. 

 Unlike the Elachistea, which infests more than one species of 

 distinct genera, of a different family of Algae from that to which 

 it belongs ; the F. Bertiana is only found on the Cladostephi ; 

 but on these it is constantly produced at a particular season of 

 the year. It, moreover, has the same structure as their stem, 

 and certainly is not merely attached to the surface, but springs 

 from a prolongation of the peripheric cells , and above all the 

 fruit which it bears is exactly what, from analogy, we should ex- 

 pect on the Cladostephi, and, if this be not their fruit, no 

 other has been observed, unless the granular mass within the 

 tips of the whorled ramuli can be called so. These facts, and 

 others that might be adduced, compel me to form a contrary 

 opinion to that defended by Meneghini ; and in this opinion I am 

 supported by Mrs. Griffiths, to whom I owe my first acquain- 

 tance with these fruit-bearing ramuli, and by the Rev. Mr. 

 Berkeley whose judgment, on all such subjects, is of great 

 authority. 



Y\v. 1. Cladostephus verticillatus : — natural size. 2. Portion of a branch. 

 3. Hamuli. 4. Apex of the same. 5. Sphacelate apex, of another ramu- 

 lus. 6. Accessory fruiting ramuli. 7. Utricle in situ. 8. Portion of a 

 transverse section of the stem : — all more or less magnified. 



