92 
CONFER, VAC EiE. 
Confervoid Algae, forming decumbent strata ; the filaments lying heaped together, 
and emitting at irregular distances rootlike branches. Kiitzing enumerates 28 species, 
among which are several which we refer to Chcetomorpha. 
1. Rhizoclonium riparium, Roth. ; filaments long, slender, decumbent, pale-green, 
forming wide strata, flaccid, entangled, angularly bent, furnished at the angles with 
short, rootlike processes (which sometimes, but rarely, lengthen into very patent 
branches, and often attach themselves to neighbouring filaments). Conf. riparia , Roth. 
Cat. Bot. 3. p. 216. E. Bot. t. 2100; Dillw. Conf. p. 111. Sup. t. E. Ag. Syst. 
p. 106. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 238. Conf. obtusangida, Lyngb. Hyd. Dan. t. 55. B. 
Rhizoclonium obtusangulum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 261. 
FIab. On sand covered rocks near high water mark. Greenland, Wormskiold, fide 
Lyngbye. (v. s.) 
I have not seen American specimens of this plant. 
Okdek VII. ZYGNEMACEiE. 
Zygnemacece, Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 274. Sp. Alg. p. 433. Zygnemece , Endl. 3 d 
Suppl. p. 14. Algce Synsporece, Dne. Class, p. 32. Conjugates , Berk. Crypt. Bot. 
p. 150. Conjugates, Hass. Br. Fr. W. Alg., p. 129. 
Diagnosis. Green (freshwater) Algse, consisting of simple, articulated, floating 
threads, composed of cylindrical, seriated cells. Endochrome usually definitely figured. 
Spores of large size, and mostly solitary, formed by the union of two endochromes or 
by the division of a single endochrome. 
Natural Character. Freshwater, floating, confervoid Algae, at first consisting of 
unbranched threads, formed of a number of cylindrical cells placed end to end ; after- 
wards often linked together in pairs by connecting processes. The endochrome in 
different genera puts on a variety of forms. It is rarely diffused equally through 
the cell as in ordinary Confervae, but is either arranged in spiral bands, attached to 
the cell-walls, or divided into two star-like masses ; or it consists of larger and smaller 
grains subsymmetrically arranged. The cell-wall varies also much in character ; in 
some it is membranous, in others gelatinous, and occasionally very thick. The 
fructification consists of large and mostly solitary spores formed usually from the union 
and condensation of the contents of two cells, either consecutive cells of the same fila- 
