First division into five or six rays, of which one or two may be 
simple, the remainder further divided; the succeeding segments 
becoming shorter, but the last again longer. * * * Java : 
China : Bengal: Borneo, var. mutila A. Br. 
In his Characeae Nov. Zeland. in Act. Univ. Lund, 1880, 
Nordstedt publishes a description of a forma mucosa and considers 
it a possible new species. 
The elongated first member of the leaf is taken to be a feature 
of this species ; it determines the peculiar aspect of the plant 
when growing and is quite unique. 
Nitella pseudoflabellata imperialis var. nov. 
Plants 20-25 cm. long ; stems usually simple, 540 o- in diam. 
Verticils remote (in the middle portions, 3—4 cm. distant), 12-15 
mm. in diam. Leaves 5—8 mm. long: first segment longest 
(longer than half of the entire leaf, about 220 in diam. ; 
second segment 102 in diam., about 1200 a long; third 
segment 68 in diam., 540 long; fourth segment 54m diam., 
about 600 long (if divided), when the fifth seg. becomes termi¬ 
nal it is about 800 long. The leaf bears three, and fre¬ 
quently four nodes, the first is sterile usually, and bears 6-8 rays ; 
the second node, fertile, bears 4—5 rays, same of which may be 
undivided. The third node, also fertile, carries 4 or 5 rays, and 
these are frequently again divided, this fourth node bearing three 
(usually) terminals. The mucro is pronounced, about 27 in 
diam. at base, by 82—102 long. Fruit mostly on the second and 
third nodes (not seen on the first or last nodes); oogonia isolated, 
oospore black, with seven or eight pronounced ridges, 326 long, 
272 broad. Membrane covered with a fine close felt of fine 
hairs. 
The membrane of the spore is most similar to the specimens 
from Hong Kong, and differ from those from Australia, New 
Zealand and Java by not having, in addition to the “felt,” short 
spines. In the size of the spores and the character of the mem¬ 
brane it cannot be separated from the Chinese form. These 
plants from Japan seem to be covered with mucus, which, when 
dried, causes a glistening appearance to the specimens and glues 
them tightly to the paper. Collected in Mishitani pond, Fujisato 
village, prov. Ise, Japan, in September. 
While the similarity in the oospore connects this form with 
