M c o e c c j m i r .
P l a t e CCXXXVII.
SÏILOPHORA LYNGBYÆI, J.Ag.
G e n . C h a e . Root a small, naked disc. Frond filiform, solid or tubular,
branched. Fructification, convex, wart-like sori scattered over the
surface, composed of obovate spores nestling among moniliform,
vertical filaments. S t i l o p h o e a [J. A g .)—from a-nXr), a p o in t or dot,
and (¡¡opeco, to bear; in allusion to the dot-like fructifioation.
S t i l o p h o e a Lyngbyoei ; frond tubular, at length distended, much branched,
the branches dichotomous, spreading, with wide, rounded axils, much
attenuated toward the apices ; ramuli scattered, forked, capillary; sori
subdistant, disposed in transverse hues.
St il o p h o e a Lyngbyæi, J. Ag. Symh.yoX. i. p. 6. Sp. Alg. vol. i. p. 84. Fndl.
3rd Suppl. p. 26.
ScvTOSiPHON paradoxus, Fl. Ban. 1 .1595. f. 2.
Sp e em a t o c h n u s paradoxus, Kiitz. Fhyc. Gen. p. 335.
Ch o kda eia paradoxa, Byngb. Hyd. Ban. p. 5 3 .1 .14.
St e ia e ia Grevhleana, Pollexf. MS.
Spo e o c h n u s rhizodes |3 paradoxa, Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. i. p. 157. Orev. Ala.
Brit. p. 43. Hook. Br. Fl. vol. ii. p. 275. Harv. Man. p. 27.
H a b . In land-looked bays, and estuaries, on a muddy and sandy bottom,
in 4 -1 0 fathom water. Annual. Summer. Several places on the
shores of Scotland and Ireland, abundantly.
G e o g k . D i s t e . Baltic Sea. Atlantic Coasts of Emnpe. Mediterranean Sea.
D e s c e . Root, a small disc. Fronds from two to four or six feet in length, from
one to two lines in diameter at their widest part, but tapering to a capillary
fineness towards the apices, usually tufted, and sometimes covering the
ground in continuous patches that spread over several square yards. Stem
very much branched in a dichotomous manner, becoming irregular by the
occasional suppression of one of the arms of the fork ; the divisions widely
spreading, with very broad, rounded axils ; the forks distant below, gradually
nearer towards the apex. The lower part of the stem becomes, in
age, much distended, with a wide cavity and thin walls, the whole of the
central cellular substance dying out; in younger parts it is more solid.
Warts of fructification more distant than in S. rhizodes, and placed iu transverse,
slightly spiral hands, containing obovate spores attached to club-
shaped paranemata. Colour a pale, testaceous brown, olive toward the tips,
and becoming greener in drying, especially after the specimen has been
steeped in fresh water. Substance when recent crisp, and very brittle ;
soon becoming flaccid and somewhat tough, giving out mucus. It closely
adheres to paper.
A