Ser. Melanosperme^e. Fam. Ectocarpea. 



Plate CCLVIII. 



ECTOCARPUS LONGIFRUCTUS, Haw. 



Gen. Char. Filaments capillary, jointed, olivaceous or brown, flaccid, 

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

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

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

 the branches. Ectocarpus [Lyngb.), — from euros, icapnos, external 

 fruit. 



Ectocarpus longifructus ; tufts large, branching, the divisions feathery ; 

 filaments robust, excessively branched, branches mostly opposite, the 

 lesser ones set with short, spine-like, opposite or rarely alternate 

 ramuli; articulations as long as broad; silicules very long, linear- 

 lanceolate, attenuate, densely striate transversely, terminating the 

 principal branches and ramuli. 



Ectocarpus longifructus, Harv. Man. Ed. 2. p. 61. 



Hab. Parasitical on Algae between tide-marks. Skaill, Orkney, Mrs. 



Moffatt. 



Descr. Tufts six or eight inches long, much branched and feathery. Filaments 

 robust, not much entangled, excessively divided, the branches and ramuli 

 very generally opposite, sometimes alternate, spreading at wide angles. The 

 smaller branches are furnished with numerous, opposite or alternate, short, 

 spine-like ramuli, and mostly end in the very long silicules which are so 

 striking a feature in this plant. These silicules are very much longer than 

 the branchlet that bears them, and taper from the base to the apex, which 

 is very acute or acuminate : they are closely netted with longitudinal and 

 transverse lines. Articulations of the stem aud branches about as long as 

 broad, or a little longer. Colour \ a greenish olive. It closely adheres to 

 paper in drying. 



I here figure an Ectocarpus from Orkney nearly related to 

 E. litoralis, rather than to E. siliculosus, and differing chiefly in 

 the greater luxuriance of the frond, and the different form of the 

 fructification. The fructification of our present plant, however, 

 must be regarded more as an exaggeration of that of E. litoralis 

 than as essentially different. In E. litoralis the apices of the 

 branches grow out beyond the portion converted into fructifica- 

 tion, and the latter therefore appears as if it were immersed in 



