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Ser. C h lo k o sp ekm eh s . P am . Ilm-mosporea o r Pahmlleai ?
P l a t e CCXIII.
HORMOSPORA RAMOSA, T hw .
G e n . C h a e . Mlaments g e la tin o u s, confervoid, each e n closing a line a r
series of oval o r sp h erica l cells. Endochrome gre en. Fructification :
cells o f th e filaments en la rg ed an d become co n v e rted in to spores.
H o em o sp o e a [Brebisson),—from opgos, a necklace, a n d o-iropa, a seed.
H o em o sp o e a ramosa; filaments branched; endochrome radiated.
H a b . Growing attached to the filaments of Cladophora fr a c ta in a saltwater
lake near Wareham, Dorsetsluie. August and September.
Bev. W. Smith.
D e s c e . Mlaments gelatinous, irregularly branched. Cells at first subcylindrical
and closely coherent; subsequently becoming ovate and distinct. Endochrome
pale green, radiating from a central nucleus. Filaments at length
resolved into separate spores, each of which is surrounded by a considerable
amount of gelatine.
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This pretty species bears a considerable resemblance to Hor-
mospora mutabilis, Brebisson; it differs, however, in its filaments
being branched instead of being simple as in that species. In
II. mutabilis the young cells are described as being subsphcrical,
and the endochrome is stated to be lamellose; whereas in the
present species the endochrome is radiated, and the immature
cells are nearly cylindrical. H. mutabilis occurs in fresh-water
ponds; whilst this inhabits a salt-water lake, to which the sea
has access occasionally.
The filaments of TI. ramosa when young are not unlike those
of a Spharoplea, between which genus and the Palmellece, Tlor-
mospora would seen to form a connecting link.
[I am indebted to my friend G. H. K. Thwaites, Esq., of
Bristol, for the drawing and description here, given. The genus
Ilormospora was first proposed by M. Brebisson in the year
1840, and a further account accompanied by figures of two
species, both natives of stagnant fresh water, has been given by
that accomplished naturalist, in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles
for January, 1844. The species now described is the first yet
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