li
' J . f
Li
11..;
l!
i i i f
.1
4 '
ili’
ilGARDH to restrict tlic gciius Echinella to tluat species for
which it was originally intended; and at the same time could
scarcely see any propriety in placing the two plants I have mentioned
in the genus Diatoma, as A g a r d h has done; notwithstanding
the appearance represented hy him in Svensk Botanik,
t. 491. I t is very true, as A g a r d h observes to me in a
letter, that though all the other Diatomata are at first rectilinear,
they afterwards separate, some of them grotesquely
enough. But in the case of his D. fasciculatum and D. crystallinum,
we must suppose the rectilinear filaments to be attached
by one of their edges, and after separating into portions
to be still fixed by the same attachment, which is contrary to
all we know of the true Diatomata. 1 am inclined to think
that the discoveries of Captain C a r m i c h a e l have thrown
much light upon these plants, and will support me in removing
the two above named doubtful Diatomata into the genus I
have proposed to call Exilaria. Besides the beautiful species
now figured. Captain C a r m i c h a e l has discovered another,
upon which he has bestowed the appropriate name oi fulgens ;
and it is singular that both are furnished with a receptacle for
the attachment of the linear corpuscula, which proves them to
he very distinct from Diatoma. To this place will also belong
the Echinella circularis of this work.
Exilaria fulgens will be published in the next number.
Fig. 1. E. flabellata, on Zostera marina, natural size. Fig. 2 . Plants, maa-
nified. ^