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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. Ill, October, 1949 
part of the erect filaments, broadly clavate or 
cylindrical, 40-80 /x high and 15-27 /x wide, 
scattered irregularly over the frond; plurilocular 
sporangia up to 12 tiers of loculi in height, on 
pedicels of 1-5 cells, 2-4-seriate, 60-99 /x high 
and 15-18 /x wide, cross walls horizontal; hairs 
9 /x wide; chomatophores small, disciform. 
In its typical form the filaments are short 
and squat, but they vary a great deal in different 
areas of the colony, becoming longer and more 
slender. Unilocular and plurilocular sporangia 
are scattered promiscuously among the erect 
filaments or, in the case of the latter, taking 
their place in the course of the maturation of 
the filaments. As the colony matures the host 
seems to shed its cuticle to which the Myrionema 
remains attached, and the whole peels off nat- 
urally in due course. Dark-colored cells of homo- 
geneous content are present, and resemble uni- 
locular sporangia in size and shape and are, 
perhaps, merely degenerate sporangia. 
The species under discussion is closest to 
M. primarium Setch. et Gard. (=M. foecundum 
f. majus S. et G.), from which it differs in its 
very much more massive proportions, especially 
as to width of erect filaments, hairs, and pluri- 
locular sporangia, and in the number of loculi. 
Growing on Hormosira hanksii var. gracilis 
in tide-pools in the upper littoral. 
Distribution: Known only from the type lo- 
cality, Long Beach, Russell, Bay of Islands. 
Type specimen, Lindauer, No. 11306 (for- 
malin material), deposited in the Herbarium of 
Auckland University College. 
Genus Herponema J. Ag. 
On reading Agardh’s (1882: 55) diagnosis 
of his new genus, Herponema, it becomes ap- 
parent that the characters emphasized by him 
are vague and have been the cause of much con- 
fusion in New Zealand, where two species of 
the genus supposedly existed. The following is a 
translation of the diagnosis: 
Herponema J.Ag. mscr. — Frond flat-cush- 
ioned or subglobose, not particularly gelatinous, 
made up of a double layer: axis primarily de- 
cumbent, and forming along the periphery of a 
centrifugally rising cushion rather simple or 
sparsely branched filaments radiating from the 
center and attached below, then forming a 
hypothallic layer at times barely distinguishable; 
peripheral layer consisting of rising filaments, 
then of filaments erect, very dense, cylindrical, 
articulate, thickish, stiff, all of similar shape; 
single sporangia terminal in the simple peri- 
pheral filaments, or lateral on the modified 
branchlets, hollow where the apex is broken. 
Agardh included three species in Herponema: 
H. pulvinatum, H. velutinum, and H. maculans, 
which the writer proposes to discuss in turn. 
Herponema pulvinatum J.Ag. 
Agardh described the species from a specimen 
sent to him by Harvey under the herbarium 
name of Ectocarpus pulvinatus. The species 
was, however, never described by Harvey as such, 
but it is here suggested that Harvey described it 
at an earlier date (1855: 221) as Sphacelaria 
pulvinata, which name the plant still bears. It 
is unfortunate that Harvey’s material is not 
available for comparison, but an analysis of the 
descriptions of Herponema pulvinatum and 
Sphacelaria pulvinata shows that the two plants 
are identical in all major details; furthermore, 
the habit and the host plant of both are the 
same. It is noteworthy that de-Toni (1895: 
397 and 508) gives Ectocarpus pulvinatus Haw. 
as the synonym for both Herponema pulvinata 
and Sphacelaria pulvinata. Furthermore, the 
writer has collected a plant which answers to 
the description of Sphacelaria pulvinata Harv. 
and found it actually to be a species of Spha- 
celaria , and has distributed that plant in his 
Algae N ova-Zelandicae Exsiccatae (1942), No. 
131. 
Herponema velutinum ( Grev. ) J.Ag. 
H. velutinum (Grev.) J .Ag.— Sphacelaria ? 
velutina Grev. =Elachista velutina (Grev.) 
Eries=Ectocarpus velutinus YLuetz.—Streblon- 
ema ? velutinum ( Grev. ) Thur., vide de-Toni 
(1895: 578). 
This plant belongs to a group of parasitic 
species possessing vertical basal penetrating 
