I lf i
t ,
E C H IN E L L A f a s c i c u l a t a .
Linear EcMnella.
Clío» a n d O r d e r CRYPTOGAMIA ALGÆ, Linn.—NsT. O r d . CBÆTOPHOROIDEÆ,
Grev— ALGÆ, Juss. De Cand.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Corpúsculo minuta, suhgdatinosa, sparsa, vel in massa densa congesta, sessilia vel
stipitata, suhhyalina, granulis coloratis internis.
Minute, subgelatinous bodies, scattered, or crowded into a dense mass, sessile
or stipitate, subhyaline, and containing coloured granules.
s p e c i f i c c h a r a c t e r .
E chinella fa scicu la ta ; corpúsculo sessilia, oequalia, stricta, rígida, continua,
fastigiafa, subradiata, granulis luteo-viridis ; in Algis Jiliformibus parasitica.
E. minute bodies, sessile, equal, straight, continuous, fastigiate and subra-
diating ; parasitic on the filiforai algæ.
E chinella fasciculata, Lyng. Tent. Hydrophyt. Dan. p. SIO. t. 70. A .— Grev.
Fl. Fdin. ined.
D 1AT031A fasciculata, Ag. Disp. p. 35.—Syn. p. 120.
F l. D an. t. 945. f quoad pih s qui in coTiferva pennatula, i. e. conferva Jlavescenti
adsunt) , Lyngb.
i8 truncata, aqua dulcís.
H ab. On the filiform and capillary Algæ, plentiful ; particularly on Fctocar-
pus littoralis, {Conferva liltoralis of Eng. Bot.) Common in the F rith of
Forth. /3, in fresh water, attached to confervoe, stems of grass, the Lem-
næ, &c. Ditches near Edinburgh. Both are found at all seasons.
Excessively minute, invisible to the naked eye, b u t giving a downy or dirty
appearance to the Algæ on which it grows ; under the microscope very
distinctly composed of simple, sessile, and filiform bodies, slightly rounded
and attenuated at each extremity ; very short, straight, rigid, continuous,
equal in diameter and in length, partly diaphanous, and partly
filled with a mass of greenish-yellow granules, 2—8 growing together
from the same point, in a fasciculated and radiating manner.
/3 resembles the other in all respects, except in being perfectly truncate, not
attenuated at either extremity, and growing in fresh water.
This belongs to a most curious genus of aquatic plants,
the claim of which to a place in the vegetable kingdom has
been doubted by some, who are willing to assign it a station in
VOL. I.