336 
THE SEAWEEDS 
pinnae alternate, few, very long, flexuous, obtuse. Tetrasporangia on the 
sides of the pinnellae, sessile, solitary. 
Victoria (Warrnambool), Tasmania. 
Spongoclonium dasyurum (Harv.) J. Agardh. 
= Callithamnion dasyurum Harvey. 
Frond spongiose, stupose, bi-tri-pectinate, pinnate, pinnae and pinnellae 
close together, virgate; decurrent filaments densely intertwined, velate, 
and even the small ramelli are hirsute ; ramelli when young slightly stupose, 
very dense, alternately plumed ; plumes minute, oblong, pectinate-pinnate ; 
pinnellae of the plumes are long, incurved, simple or branched at the base ; 
articulations all very short. Colour intense red. 
Victoria (Port Phillip). 
HALOPLEGMA Montagne. 
Frond sponge-like, expanded, wholly composed of interwoven 1 and 
anastomosing confervoid filaments; the central filaments longitudinal, sub- 
parallel, anastomosing; the superficial short, vertical and free. Cystocarps 
involucrated, sessile on the network. Tetrasporangia tripartite, borne on 
the superficial filaments. 
Haloplegma Preissii Sonder. 
Frond somewhat flabelliform, subdichotomous, laciniated; the segments 
pinnatifid; pinnules oblique, falcate, fringed on the outer edge; articula- 
tions of the filaments two-three times as long as broad. 
Attachment a mass of woolly filaments. Frond a flat, sponge-like or 
cloth-like body, very irregular in shape, 5 cm. to 30 cm. long, and as much 
in expansion of the segments. The form is so greatly varied that it is 
difficult to describe, except in general terms. The outline, when young, is 
generally flabelliform, and in some specimens this form is retained, the 
fan being but slightly cleft into a few shallow segments; in others the 
frond is dichotomo-multifid, the main branches not more than 6 mm. wide, 
or even less; the lesser ones deeply pinnatifid or bi-pinnatifid. In other 
specimens the lesser branches are deeply lobed on one edge only. All the 
axils are rounded. The ultimate lobes are very generally falcate, especially 
the younger ones, and are finely fringed on the outer edges. The spongy 
body of the frond is composed of several strata of closely interwoven, 
anastomosing, and subparallel longitudinal filaments, resembling those of 
Callithamnion ; the surface is coated with a pile of minute, simple or forked, 
incurved, subulate, horizontally excurrent ramuli. Favellae are clustered, 
surrounded by an involucre of many ramuli, and scattered over the surface 
of the network, on which they form little wart-like prominences. Tetra- 
sporangia are plentifully born on the sides of the ramuli. The colour varies 
from a livid-purple to a clear rosy-red, and fades through orange to 
yellowish and tawny. The substance is membranous, but soft, holding 
water like a sponge. In drying adheres firmly to paper. 
South Australia (Encounter Bay, Investigator Strait, Eastern Bays), 
West Australia, Tasmania. 
