122 



CEYLON MARINE BIOLOGICAL REPORTS. 



Whether such a form as this should be classed under the Lamourouxii series, however, seems to 

 me to be very doubtful. There are no transition forms at all from davifera to such ones with flat main 

 axis to be found in Ceylon. This form should, on the contrary, most certainly be derived from davi- 

 fera, the only closely related form that grows in the district and of which it must be considered as a deeper 

 water or shade form. Naturally it could imaginably be derived from C. uvifera, but this Caulerpa does not 

 occur at aU within the south-west region of Ceylon, but only in the north. Whether it is identical with 

 J. G. Agahdh's C. racemosa laxa (Till. Alg. Syst. I p. 35) can only be determined by examining the type- 

 specimens, but there are none in Agardh's Herbarium. I propose to call this form /. remota. 



I have not found any periodicity at all in the development of this species ; it seems to have 

 the same appearance all the year round. 



Geographical distribution. — ^Ceylon : very common along the coast, but especially on the south- 

 west, more rocky part with coral reefs. Tangalla ! Dondra Head ! Matara ! Weligama ! Galle (with 

 /. remota) ! Ambalangoda ! Beruwala ! Kosgoda ! Jaffna ! Kangesanturai ! Trincomalee ! 



Red Sea; Indian Ocean; Pacific; Atlantic (West-Indies), 



10.— CAULERPA UVIFERA (Turner). 



Syn. C. racemosa ft. uvifera, J. G. Agardh. Till. Algernes Syst. I., p. 35. 



G. racemosa var. uvifera, Weber v. Bosse, Monographie des Caulerpes, p. 362. 

 F. compress A, Weber v. Bosse, loc. cit. p. 363. Exsicc. : Harvey, Ceylon Algae 

 No. 63. 

 f. intermedia, Weber v. Bosse, loc. cit. p. 363. 



f. pianiuscula. Somebranchletsflattenedout from above, but between these and 



the spherical ones regular transition forms are to be found (fig. 16, 17). 



Syn. G. racemosa var. uvifera f. intermedia Weber v. Bosse. loc. cit. (pro parte) 

 Fig. 24 a, b, PI. XXXIII. 

 What constitutes the main difference between the davifera and the uvifera series is that in the 

 latter (fig. 15) the vertical axes (=:= assimilators, Reinke) reach a higher degree of development, while at the 

 same time they are not so close. They are, as a rule, somewhat longer and have more numerous extremely 

 close branchlets, which are situated around the vertical main axis. The assimilation system does not, 

 therefore, he on the same level, but each assimilator forms a more limited whole. This probably depends 

 to some extent on the mode of growth. 



Fig. 15. — C. uvifera {TTTRTfTEB,). (1 x 1). 

 For, in Ceylon, G. uvifera is not to be found in the same places as C. davifera, i.e., in the strictly 

 littoral regions. On the contrary, I have never seen thisC. uvifera on the coral reefs or rocks in the south- 

 west of Ceylon, where rocks predominate ; I have only found it at Jaffna and Kangesanturai in the 

 north of Ceylon from rather deep water and where the shores have quite a different character, with a 

 loose bottom consisting of sand and coral-mud. At Kangesanturai it occurred abundantly, lying free 



