Ser. RuoposprrMp® Fam. Rhodomelee. 
Puate CLV. 
POLYSIPHONIA VARIEGATA, 4. 
Gen. Cuar. Frond Hlamenions Ptatie or generally articulate; jomts 
longitudinally striate, composed of numerous radiating cells or tubes, 
disposed round a central cavity. ructification two-fold, on different 
individuals; 1, ovate capsules (ceramidia), furnished with a terminal 
pore, containing a mass of pear-shaped spores ; 2, fe¢raspores imbedded 
in swollen branchlets. PotystrHonta (Grev.),—from modus, many, 
and oer, a tube. 
PotysiPHoNtA variegata ; filaments brownish-purple, or greenish, setaceous, 
and rigid below, gradually attenuated upwards to a capillary fineness, 
dichotomous, the lower axils very patent ; branches somewhat zig-zag, 
elongated, much divided, set with lateral, capillary and very flaccid, 
multifid, purple ramuli ; articulations near the base shorter than their 
breadth, twice as long as broad in the principal branches, and gradu- 
ally becoming shorter upwards, marked with three, broad, parallel, 
oblong cells, separated by pellucid spaces; tubes six or rarely seven, 
surrounding a minute cavity; capsules ovate, on a short stalk. 
PoLysIPHONIA variegata, J. 4g. Alig. Medit. p.129. Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 45. 
Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 424. 
PoLysIPHONIA peucedanoides, Mont. Herd. 
Hurcuinsta variegata, 4y. Syst. p.153. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. i. p. 81. 
Gramira peucedanoides, Bonnem. Mem. Mus. 1824. 
Has. On mud-covered rocks in bays and estuaries, also on Zostera, Chorda 
filum, floating timber, &e. “Annual. Summer and autumn. Very - 
local. St. German’s River (1846), Wr. Rohloff. Beggar’s Island, 
Trevol, Torpoint, and various other places near Plymouth, Rev. W.S. 
Hore fn) Dr. J. Cocks. 
Grocr. Distr. Atlantic shores of France and Spain. Mediterranean and 
Adriatic Seas; very abundant at Venice. West Indies, 4yardh. Atlantic 
shores of N. America, Prof. Bailey, &e. 
Descr. Fronds forming dense tufts, from four to eight or ten inches long. as 
thick as hog’s bristle and somewhat rigid at base, gradually attenuated 
upwards, and becoming more flaccid until they pass away into a capillary 
or byssoid fineness. Fi/aments very much branched, dichotomous, the 
lower axils very patent or divaricating, close together, the upper gradually 
more distant and less spreading; secondary branches somewhat virgate, 
zig-zag, set with more or less divided, and more or less dense 
ichorenious ramuli, whose axils are very acute; ramuli very flaccid and 
slender. Articulations in the lower part of the lament shorter than broad, 
sometimes opake (in old plants); in the branches once and a half to twice 
as long as broad; gradually shorter in the ramuli; all of them marked with 
three broad tubes. A cross section of a branch shows six, or rarely seven, 
radiant cells; that of an old stem has a more or less complete row of ex- 
ternal cellules. Capsules broadly ovate, plentiful on the lesser branches and 
ramuli, shortly stalked. Tetraspores small, imbedded in slightly swollen 
ramuli. Colour of the lower part of the stem often greenish, “of the upper, 
and especially of the ramuli, more or less dark- purple. Substance rigid 
below, flaccid and gelatinous above. 
VOL. II. I 
