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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. Ill, October, 1949 
done by Hauck (1885: 324-326); but much 
later Laing (1926: 138), and Lindauer (1947: 
544-545), still included both Herponema macu- 
lae j or mis and H. pulvinata in their lists. 
As the description given by Agardh is rather 
vague and incomplete, a more detailed descrip- 
tion is here given. 
Thalli forming small, low, soft, furry, cir- 
cular or confluent mats up to 1.5 cm. in diameter 
on the upper segments of Xiphophora chon- 
drophylla, black when submerged, brown when 
dry, colonies consisting of a prostrate basal sys- 
tem of horizontal, closely adpressed, radiating 
filaments, 15 g wide, and an erect system of 
slightly broader filaments, about 1 mm. high 
and 21-24 g wide, tapering slightly downwards, 
arcuate, sparsely and irregularly divaricatingly 
branched, the branches most frequently arising 
on the convex side of the bent rachis and of the 
same width; tips obtuse, swollen or attenuated 
into a hair; articulations about 2-3 times as 
long as wide; protoplast of a dense golden- 
brown, granulated, with chromatophores closely 
packed, rod-like; unilocular sporangia globose 
or ovate, about 42-60 g high and 45 g wide, 
pedicellate on the prostrate filaments; plurilo- 
cular sporangia very numerous, irregular in size 
and shape, ovate, ovate-acuminate or siliquose, 
up to 150 g high and 66 g wide, pedicellate 
or sessile, terminal or lateral; loculi pluriseriate. 
The height of the filaments varies a great deal 
according to their position in the colony. The 
plurilocular sporangia, recorded here for the 
first time, are excessively abundant and some- 
times resemble the unilocular sporangia to such 
an extent that it is very difficult to distinguish 
between them; plurilocular sporangia of this 
type are, however, generally sessile and lateral 
on the branches, whereas the unilocular spor- 
angia are usually pedicellate on the basal hori- 
zontal stratum. 
Distribution: This plant is found from Wel- 
lington southwards, becoming very abundant on 
Stewart Island in April and May, otherwise 
appearing sporadically and sparsely throughout 
the year. 
Distributed in Lindauer ( 1946), Algae Nova- 
Zelandicae Exsiccatae, No. 229, as Hecatonema ? : 
It will be seen from the above description 
that the plant, H. maculaeforme, which alone 
remains of the triumvirate of J. Agardh’s species, 
could seemingly be placed in Kuckuck’s genus, 
Compsonema and, vague as Agardh’s diagnosis 
of Herponema may be, it certainly appears to 
coincide with the description of what is under- 
stood as Compsonema in its broad sense, or 
with a group of algae which might embrace 
Compsonema. The generic epithet Herponema 
(1872) antedates Compsonema (1899); fur- 
thermore, Kuckuck’s genus was built around a 
species which is still unique in the possession 
of but one chromatophore ( vide Feldmann: 
1937: 119) in each cell together with a con- 
spicuously stratified filament producing en- 
dogenous hairs. Should Compsonema be ac- 
cepted in this narrow sense it is plain that at 
least some of the Setchell and Gardner species 
attributed to Compsonema do not belong there, 
but should, perhaps, be included in the older 
genus, Herponema, and it is possible that some 
species of Hecatonema would be more properly 
attributed to Herponema, or that the former 
genus might be entirely absorbed by the latter. 
Hapalospongidion durvilleae sp. nov. 
Fig. 5 e-i. 
Thallis parasiticis, erectis, pannos humiles 
ellipticos in Durvillea antarctica formantibus, 
filamentis artis, paene ecoloribus, 525-600 g 
aids, 11.25 /x lads, filamentis singulis constanti- 
bus e cellulis ad 15, cellulis 3-6-cies longioribus 
quam latioribus; sporangiis unilocularibus ellip- 
soidis, 71 /x aids, 22.5 g lads, terminalibus in 
brevibus erectis filamentis. 
Thalli parasitic, erect, forming low, ellipsoidal 
patches on Durvillea antarctica; filaments 
simple, narrow, almost colorless, 525-600 /x high 
and 11.25 /x wide, each filament consisting of 
up to 15 cells, cells 3-6 times as long as wide; 
unilocular sporangia ellipsoidal, 71 g long and 
22.5 g wide, terminal on short erect filaments. 
The nature of the basal system of penetrating 
