“ The sporangia, though elliptical, arc not nearly so much
so as those of AI. depressus, and the filaments not one half
so large.” — Annals.
8. M e so c a r p u s a n g u s t u s Hass.
Plate X L V . Fig. 4.
Char. Filaments very slender. Cells many times longer than
broad. Sporangia circular, very larye in comparison with
the size o f the filaments.
Spharocarpus angustus Hassall, in Annals of Nat. Hist,
vol. xii. p. 187. plate 7. fig. 16.
Hah. Penzance: Mr. Ralfs.
“ This is a very distinct species, and for its discovery avo
are indebted to Mr. Ralfs.” — Annals.
Sporangia formed without union o f the filaments, or commingling
o f the contents o f two cells.
9. M e so c a r p u s n o t a b il is Hass.
P late X L VI. Fig. 2.
Char. Filaments at fir s t cylindrical, but subsequently becoming
angulated, the angle o f flexion being situated in
the centre o f each cell. Cells usually about eight or ten
times as long as broad, but frequently longer. Sporangia
non-symmetrical, a single one being placed in the angle
formed in each o f the cells.
Mougeotia notahilis Hassall, in Ann. Nat. H. vol. x. p. 46.
Hah. Found iu great abundance In some brick-fields near
Netting H ill: A. H. H.
I am unAvilling to create a ncAV genus for the reception of
this curious and anomalous production, and am induced to
refer It to Alesocarpus, on the supposition tha t were the filaments
in any case to conjoin, and sporangia to be formed,
th a t these Avould present the characters of the genus, and be
either spherical or oval.
13. MOUGFOTIA Ag.
Char. Filaments coalescing usually without the intervention
o f transverse tubes ; no transference o f endochrome, and
no formation o f sporangia taking place. Conjugation aw-
gular.
Named in honour o í M .J . R. Mougeot, a German botanist.
The genus Mougeotia corresponds Avith Mesocarpus, save in
the important fact that, although the filaments conjoin, there
is no transference of endochrome, and consequently no formation
o f sporangia.
The following account of the genus Mougeotia Avas inserted
in the “ Annals and Magazine of Natural History : ” —
“ The real nature of the genus Mougeotia does not hitherto
appear to have been at all understood, and consequently the
definitions given of it up to the present time are either erroneous
or incomplete.
“ Vaucher thus defines the genus Mougeotia:— ‘ Conjugées
à tube intérieur: And Agardh, as folloAvs : — ‘ Fila articúlala
reticulata conjuncta, granulis absque ordine dispositis, fructibus
in angulis reticidi collocatis:
“ The first of these definitions is imperfect, and the second
inaccurate, inasmuch as it contains a reference to perfect
fructification distinct from the granules or zoospores.
“ The true and original species of the genus Mougeotia are
all characterized by the singular fact, that sporangia, which
Agardh calls the fruit, are never found in them as they are in
all other species of the conjugating tribe of Confervoe. The
filaments do indeed unite, but no transference of the contents
of one cell into the interior of the other, and consequently
no formation of sporangia ever take place.
This remarkable circumstance in the history of the genus
Mougeotia, resting as it does on long-continued and careful
observation o fth e species composing it, does not admit o fthe -
smallest doubt ; and although not absolutely stated as a fact,
it is yet strongly implied by Vaucher in his description of Mougeotia
genuflexa, in Avhich the folloAving observations occur :__
“ ‘ This Conjugata has not presented to me the round