666 
IX. ALGiE. 
[. Polysiplionia . 
39. POLYSXPHONIA, Greville. 
Proud, rose-red or purplish, filiform or capillary, articulate ; joints striate, 
of few or many long tubular cells surrounding one or a few smaller central 
ones, the whole sometimes coated with a series of minute cortical cells. 
Conceptacles ovate or urceolate, enclosing a tuft of pyriform spores. Tetra- 
spores sunk in swollen branchlets. 
An immense genus, found in all oceans, but chiefly the temperate ; the species are most dif- 
ficult of discrimination and of definition : very many more are to be found in New Zealand than 
arc here recorded. The most important characters for sectional purposes, are whether the 
primary stem creeps or is erect ; whether the articulations are naked or coated with cortical 
cells ; and the number of parallel tubes in each joint surrounding the central one. Secon- 
dary characters, all very variable, are afforded by size of frond, habit, ramification, colour, 
and comparative rigidity or flaccidity of stem and branches. The fructification is very 
uniform. Some species are with difficulty distinguished from Dasya and Rkodometa. I 
have adopted Agardh’s classification as far as I cau. Harvey divides the genus as follows : — 
harvey’s classification. 
Subgenus I. Oligosiphonia. Trimary tubes 4, rarely 5. 
§ 1. Elongate. Stem opaque, inarticulate. Branches articulate. — 10, dumosa ,- 19, 
Lyallii. 
§ 2. Diciiotomea:. Frond all pellucid, articulate, subdichotomous, decompound. — 
11 , stnetissima ; 13 , abscissa; 9, rudis ; 7, imp! ex a ; 8, macra ; 17 , brachygona ; 14, va- 
riabilis ; 15, nana ; 16, rhododactyla ; 12, amphibia ; 1, Colensoi. 
Subgenus II. Polysiplionia. Primary tubes numerous. 
§ 5. Bvssoidea;. Frond alternately branched, with 1-tubed branchlets. — 23, australis. 
§ 6. Puniceas. Frond purplish, vaguely branched ; lateral branchlets dichotomous, 
many-tubed. Tubes 6-8. — 18, P. Brodiai? ; 6, P. neglecta; (P. punicea see Dasya 
Berkeleyi). 
§ 7. Pennata:. Frond rose-colour or purple, often distichonsly pinnate ; branchlets 
simple, subulate, alternate or 4-farious. Tubes 12-16.- — 2, dendritica ; 3, ceratoclada ,- 
4, Su/ivanee ; 5, pennata. 
§ 8. Cancellated. Frond brown, black when dry, shrubby, furrowed, vaguely branched ; 
branches decompound. Tubes 7, rarely 8 or 9.-25, cancellata ; 24, decipiens ,- 26, ater- 
rima ; 27, ramulosa. 
§ 9. Atrorubescentes. Fronds red-brown or blackish, darker when dry, cylindric, 
vaguely or pinnately branched ; branchlets decompound. Tubes 10-16 or more. — 20, corym- 
bifera ; 21, comoides ; 22, isogona ; 28, nigrescens. 
§ 11. Botryocarpa;. Frond more or less inarticulate, tall, red, brown when dry, cells 
anastomosing. (P. botryocarpa, see Bhodomela glomerulata.) 
j. agardh’s classification. 
§ I. Ptilosiphonia. — Primary stem erect or creeping, distichously or 2-fariously 
pinnate. Articulations naked or coated with small cells. Tubes 4-16. 
a. Dendritica:. Small, parasitic ; primary stem creeping; pinna; appressed or ascend- 
ing ; articulations naked. Tubes 4-8 or more. 
1. P. Colensoi ; 2, dendritica. 
