31 SYNOPSIS OF BRITISH SEAWEED3. 



and irregularly branched, the branches Bubdiohotomom 

 tennatedj ramuli scattered, forked; fructification densely 

 covering the whole plant, ./. Ag. Linm. r. L5.jp. 6. (Atlas, 

 PL X. Fig. 38.) 

 Bpermatoohnufl rhizodes, Ktz. Sporochnua rhizodes, Ag. Chor- 

 daria rhizodes, Ag. Fucus rhizodes, Turn. Conferva rhi- 

 zodes, JEhr. C. gracilis, Wirff. C. verrucosa, J£. Bot. Cera- 

 mium tnberculosum, Both. 

 II ah. Southern shores of England, frequent. Common on the 

 eastern, southern, and western shores of Ireland. Near low- 

 water mark, growing either on rocks, or paraflitically on 

 other Alga?. Annual. Summer. 

 Hitherto, in British works, the plant here figured has 

 been regarded as a species of Sporoehnus. It is now re- 

 moved, according to the views of all recent continental 

 authorities, to the Dictyotece, in which family it constitutes 

 the type of a new genus. If we compare its fructification 

 with that of Asperococcus, or of Punctaria, we shall be 

 satisfied that its true place in the system cannot be very 

 far apart from these genera. From the true Sporochni 

 the fructification of the present plant essentially differs, the 

 position of the spores, their form, and the nature of the 

 filaments that accompany them, being quite dissimilar. 



40. Lyngbysei (Lyngbye's Stilophora); frond tubular, at length 

 distended, much branched, the branches dichotomous, 

 spreading, with wide, rounded axils, much attenuated to- 

 ward the apices ; ramuli scattered, forked, capillary ; sori 

 subdistant, disposed in transverse lines, /. Ag. Symb. v. 1. 

 p. 6. (Atlas, PL X. Fig. 39.) 

 Scytosiphon paradoxus, Fl. Dan. Spermatochnus paradoxus, 

 Ktz. Chordaria paradoxa, Lyngb. Striaria Grevilleana, 

 Bollexf. Sporoehnus rhizodes, /3 paradoxa, Ag. 

 Hab. Atlantic coasts of Britain. In land-locked bays, and es- 

 tuaries, on a muddy and sandy bottom, in 4-10 fathoms 

 water. Annual. Summer. 

 Hitherto this plant has appeared in British works as a 

 variety of the preceding species, and notwithstanding its 

 different appearance, when typical specimens of each are 

 under examination, it is not without hesitation that I ad- 

 mit the present to be specifically distinct. Those who are 

 acquainted with the difference in aspect assumed by ma- 

 rine plants, according to the depth of water at which they 

 grow, will best understand my doubts ; remembering that 

 the typical S. rhizodes grows within tide-marks, and S. 



