Fhe BRITISH MARINE ALG®. 
(Fig. 61) is represented at a, Fig. 75, highly magnified, on a portion of the 
frond of the Dictyota. Under the microscope this is a very beautiful object. 
The delicate little filaments radiate from the basal tubercle, and among 
these, for about half their length, are inserted paranemata, or false fila- 
ments, at the base of which the spores are seated. LE. flaccida occurs in 
little tufts about half an inch long, on Cystoseira fibrosa (Fig. 41). E. 
scutulata in oblong wart-like masses about lin. in length, on the thongs 
of Himanthalia (Fig. 42) ; and sometimes in society with it, in little velvety 
patches, the minute species known as E. velutina. 
The genus which I am about to describe consists entirely of minute 
parasites, several of which require the microscope even to detect them. 
And here, again, I once more direct my readers’ attention to the necessity 
for acquiring a knowledge of micro- 
scopic manipulation. 
An examination of the tiny plants 
which are included in the genus 
Myrionema will amply reward the 
student for any amount of trouble 
he may incur in preparing these 
parasitic alge for the various 
powers of the microscope. As 
these plants are usually in per- 
fection when the various species 
on which they grow are in a state 
of decay, I recommend collectors to 
search for them in early autumn 
rather than during spring and sum- 
mer. Those which are constant 
on such plants as the Ulv@ and 
Enteromorphe, for instance, are 
much more easily detected when 
the fronds of those bright green 
plants are bleached or faded, than 
_ when they are in perfection. The 
Fic. 74. ee et On. CUCOSI Seams Myrionema is from the Greek, 
signifying ‘‘ multitudinous threads,”’ 
in reference to the numerous thread-like unbranched filaments of 
which these little seaweeds all consist. Fig. 75, b, represents the 
species Myrionema strangulans, several ring-like masses of which 
encircle the branch of a frond of Enteromorpha compressa (Fig. 8). It is 
found also on the decaying fronds of Ulwa lattissima (Fig. 5), and on them 
it appears like a number of little brownish spots, scattered over the surface 
of the plant sometimes abundantly. M. punctiforme is, at maturity, a 
little globular dot, or rosette, composed of tiny radiating filaments, par- 
asitical on Ceramium rubrum, as represented at c, Fig. 75. It is found also 
on some other red weeds, and on whatever species it does occur, it generally 
