Ser. RnoposPprRME®. Fam. Rhodomelee. 
Puiatr CCXXVII. 
POLYSIPHONIA SUBULIFERA, ~%. 
Gen. Cuar. Frond filamentous, partially or generally articulate; joints 
longitudinally striate, composed of numerous radiating cells or tubes, 
disposed round a central cavity. Fruetification two-fold, on different 
individuals ; 1, ovate capsules (ceramidia), furnished with a terminal 
pore, and containing a tuft of pear-shaped spores; 2, ¢etraspores, im- 
bedded in swollen branchlets. Potysrenon1a (Grev.),—from odvs, 
many, and oper, a tube. 
PotysirHonta subulifera; filaments setaceous, quickly becoming flaccid, 
flexuous, irregularly much branched; branches alternately decom- 
pounded, spreading, the lesser divisions long and rod-like; ramuli 
scattered, patent, subulate, simple or rarely bi-multifid; articulations 
visible in all parts of the frond, variable in length, many striate ; 
tubes about thirteen, containing a coloured bag, and surrounding a 
narrow cavity. 
PoLysrpHoNta subulifera, Harv. in Hook. Journ. Bot. 1st Series, vol. i. p. 301. 
Wyatt, Alg. Danm. no. 178. Harv. Man. p. 86. Endl. 3rd Suppl. 
p- 46 (no. 96). 
Hurcuinsta subulifera, 4g. in Bot. Zeit. 1827, p.638. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. ii. 
p. 97. 
Has. Dredged in four to five or ten fathoms water, generally on Nullipore 
banks. Annual. Summer. Torquay, very rare, Jrs. Griffiths. 
Weymouth, “parasitical on Rytiphlaa pinastroides and Polyides 
rotundus, between tide-marks,” Miss White. Belfast Bay, Mr. Tem- 
pleton. Carrickfergus and Roundstone, at the latter place very abun- 
dant, Mr. M‘Calla. 
Groer. Distr. Adriatic Sea, 4yardhk. Coast of France, Lenormand ! 
Descr. Root a disc, generally accompanied by grasping fibres, or else small 
discs rising from the lowest parts of the stems and branches. Fronds 
densely tufted, from four to six or eight inches in length, as thick as, or 
somewhat thicker than, hog’s bristle, gradually attenuated to a point, much 
and irregularly branched. Main divisions irregularly forked, soon breaking 
up into a multitude of branches, which stand out from each other towards 
every side, and are repeatedly divided alternately. Lesser branches fre- 
quently long, rod-like, and subsimple, set, like the larger divisions, with 
short, awl-shaped, spine-like scattered ramuli. These ramuli are one or 
two lines long, patent, acute, and generally simple. In a young state all 
the apices terminate in colourless, byssoid fibres. Articulations varying 
much in length in different specimens and in different parts of the same 
specimen ; sometimes nearly uniformly as long as broad, sometimes twice 
or thrice as long, many tubed. Twées in the stem thirteen. Substance at 
first crisp, but quickly growing flaccid in the air. Colour a dark full red, 
VOL. II. 2D 
