RopER; on the genus Licmophora. 
57 
circular bodies which are seen in the contracted endochrome 
of some gatherings appear more as if they were the com- 
mencement of the reproductive process than merely a simple 
contraction of the endochrome itself. The fact has been 
noticed by other writers^, but it is a point on which I place 
little reliance as a specific character_, and can only be cleared 
up by a careful comparison of living specimens. 
In contradistinction to these decidedly cuneate valves^ 
there are others^ and from the number of gatherings I have, 
and also from its being the first recorded, 
I should imagine byfar the most widely dis- Tig. 2. 
tributed,witlivalvesnarrow_,linear-cuneate a. g 
on the S.V., club-shaped but attenuate on ~ 
the F.V. (fig. 2, a, b), almost invariably 
and sometimes considerably longer than 
those of the cuneate form, with a long and 
much branched stipes, and altogether a 
larger and more robust plant than the 
other. 
Now, if these peculiarities are per- 
manent, and not the result of habitat 
or local influences, there is considerable 
probability that they ought to rank as 
distinct species, or, at all events, as well- 
marked varieties; and as far as my present 
information extends, I am inclined to 
think that the latter is the most correct 
classification ; but this is a point that can 
only be cleared up by a more extended 
examination of living specimens, and for 
the present I shall merely give the best 
specific characters I can to the two 
species of Agardh and Greville, with the 
synonymy as far as I have been able to 
trace it satisfactorily, with a few remarks on the gatherings 
on which my conclusions are founded. 
Genus. Licmophora, Ag, 
Frustules cuneate, stipitate, flabellate at the summits of 
the stipes ; stipes dichotomously branched ; incrassate, valves 
convex, elongated, and traversed by a longitudinal median 
line. 
1. Licmophora flabellataj Ag. 
Frustules linear-cuneate, truncate ; F.V. club-shaped, 
but attenuate, stipes much branched ; tafts usually three to 
four lines in height. 
