PlaU rCTWJ/.
Ser. E hodospeemete. Fam, Rhodomelece.
P l a t e CCXXVII.
POLYSIPHONIA SUBULIFERA, Ag.
G bn .C h a e . Frond filamentous, partially or generally articulate; joints
longitudinally striate, composed of nmnerous radiating cells or tubes,
disposed round a central cavity. Frzictification two-fold, on different
individuals; 1, ovate capsules {ceramidia), furnished with a terminal
pore, and contaming a tuft of pear-shaped spores; 2, tetraspores, imbedded
in swoUen branclilets. P olysiphonia {Grev.),—from mXw,
, and a tube.
P olysiphonia suhulifera; filaments setaceous, quickly beooming flaccid,
fiexuons, irregularly much branched; branches alternately decompounded,
spreading, the lesser divisions long and rod-like; ramuli
scattered, patent, subulate, simple or rarely bi-multifld; articulations
visible in all parts of the frond, variable in length, many striate;
tubes about thirteen, containing a coloured bag, and surrounding a
narrow cavity.
Hook. Journ. Bot. 1st Series, vol. i. p. 301.
Harv. Man. p. 86. Endl. 3rd Suppl.
P o l y s ip h o n ia suhulifera, Harv. i
Wyatt, Alg. Banm. no. 178.
p. 46 (no. 96).
H u t c h in s ia suhulifera, Ag. in Bot. Zeit. 1827, p. 638. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. ii.
p. 97.
H a b . Dredged in four to live or ten fathoms water, generally on NuUipore
banks. Annual. Summer. Torquay, very rare, Mrs. Griffiths.
Weymouth, “ parasitical on Rgtiphlcea pinastroides and Poh/ides
rotundus, between tide-marks,” Miss White. Belfast Bay, Mr. Templeton.
Carrickfergus and Roundstone, at the latter place very abundant,
M r. M ‘GaUa.
G e o g e . D i s t e . Adriatic Sea, Aj/ari/i. Coast of France, icMom«»«/
D e s c e . Moot a disc, generally accompanied hy grasping fibres, or else small
discs rising from the lowest parts of the stems and branches. Fronds
densely tufted, from four to six or eight inches in length, as thick as, or
somewhat thicker than, hog’s bristle, graduaUy attenuated to a point, much
and irregularly branched. Main divisions irregularly forked, soon breaking
up into a multitude of branches, which stand out from each other towards
every side, and are repeatedly divided alternately. Lesser branches frequently
long, rod-like, and subsimple, set, like the larger divisions, with
short, awl-shaped, spine-hke scattered ramuli. These ramuh are one or
two lines long, patent, acute, and generaUy simple. In a young state all
the apices terminate in colourless, byssoid fibres. Articulations varying
much in length in different specimens and in different parts of the same
specimen; sometunes nearly uniformly as long as broad, sometimes twice
or thrice as long, many tubed. Tubes in the stem thirteen. Substance at
first crisp, but quickly growing flaccid in the air. Colour a dark full red,
VOL. I I . 2 II
If;
ii
I