Ser. Melanosperme*. Fam. Ectocarpetp. 



Plate CCCXXX. 



ECTOCARPUS CRINITUS, Cam. 



Gen. Char. Frond capillary, jointed, olive or brown, flaccid, single-tubed, 

 without longitudinal strise. Fruit, either spherical or elliptical, ex- 

 ternal or imbedded spores ; or lanceolate, linear, or conical silicles 

 (pod- like bodies) ; or granular masses formed in consecutive cells of 

 the branches. Ectocarpus (Lyngb.), — from euros, Kapnos, external 

 fruit. 



Ectocarpus crinitus-, filaments decumbent, forming extensive stratified 

 tufts, sparingly branched j the branches subsimple, distant, elon- 

 gated ; ramuli few, patent ; spores globose, scattered, sessile ; arti- 

 culations twice or thrice as long as broad. 



Ectocarpus crinitus, Carm. Alg. App. MSS. Harv. in Hook. Br. Fl. vol. ii. 

 p. 326. Harv. Man. ed. 1. p. 41. ed. 2. p. 60. 



Hab. On muddy sea-shores. Annual. Summer. Bare. Appin, Capt. 



Carmichael. Watermouth, Devon, Mrs. Griffiths. 

 Geogr. Distr. 



Descr. Filaments from two to six inches long, forming widely spreading, fleecy 

 tufts, which lie prostrate on the mud, at the recess of the tide, and fre- 

 quently cover wide spaces. Filaments sparingly branched (for the genus), 

 the branches long, distant, and subsimple, spreading at wide angles, 

 mostly alternate, rarely opposite. Ramuli few, distant, scattered, diva- 

 ricate or patent, short. Articulations twice or thrice as long as broad, 

 containing a pale olive, rather watery endochrome. Spores (which I have 

 only seen in a young state) globose, scattered, sessile. Colour a pale olive, 

 becoming greener after the plant has been dried, in which state it adheres 

 to paper. Substance soft and membranaceous. 



I am but imperfectly acquainted with this species, which I 

 have only seen in a dry state ; and though I have repeatedly 

 examined several parts of specimens collected by Capt. Carmi- 

 chael, I have not been able to detect the fructification described 

 by him ; save in a single instance that I chanced upon the 

 young spore represented at fig. 3. The nearesl affinity of 

 E. crinitus seems to be with E. pusiUus, which has a nearly 



2 a 2 



