Holmes . — New Marine Algae. 
337 
Ptilota cryptocarpa, n. sp. 
Fronde ad duas pollices longa , decomposito-pi nnaia / pinnis 
rachide compresso-plana , alternis , bipinnatis patentibus ; pinnellis 
a latiore basi acuminatis , terminalibus forcipatis , sterilibus 
integris , fertilibus apicent versus phyllis articidatis calli- 
thamnioideis plurimis vestitis ; favellis in ultimas pinnellas 
terminalibus , filis articulatis callithamnioideis dense circumdatis 
occultisque ; sphaerosporis tripartitis , zVzAr filamenta calli- 
thamnioidea brevissima nidulantibus , ad pinnellarum apicem 
sparsis; colore atro-purpureo. 
Hab. Near the mouth of the Kowie River, parasitical on 
the stem of Phacelocarpus tortuosus . 
This species belongs to a group of the Ptilotae, which is 
very distinct in facies from the rest of the genus, and indeed 
bears some resemblance to Phacelocarpus in habit. The other 
species of this group are Ptilota rhodocallis , Harv., P. siliculosa, 
Harv., and P. striata , Harv. From all of these, however, 
it differs in its dwarf stature, in the strongly forcipate tips of 
the sterile pinnae, the velvety coat of involucral filaments 
surrounding the favellae and extending some distance below 
them, and in the terminal position of the favellae. In the 
tetraspore-bearing plants the callithamnioid filaments are 
visible, only under a lens. 
Professor Schmitz has also received the plant I have named 
Ptilota cryptocarpa , and has referred it in MS. to Dasyphila 
under the name of D. minor. It seems doubtful to me, how- 
ever, whether these two genera should not be united, the 
section of Ptilota , to which P. striata belongs, being closely 
allied to Dasyphila . Indeed, Harvey (Phyc. Aust. II, PL LXVI) 
remarks under Dasyphila Preissii: ‘This handsome plant 
might, without much violence, be considered as a species of 
Ptilota , from which genus Dasyphila differs merely by having 
the frond covered with a velvety stratum of microscopic fila- 
ments. There is no essential difference in the fructification, 
especially if we compare it with our Ptilota striata , PI. LXXII, 
which may almost be regarded as a glabrous .Dasyphila) if such 
