f cation: 1, roundish or oval, opake tuhercles borne on short stalks, which
spring irregularly from the sides of the stem, and from the lower pai-ts of
the frondlets, containing, beneath a thick coat formed of closely packed
filaments, a dense mass of minute spores. 2, dark-red, thickened, wart-like
patches of irregular form and size, occupying the disk of the frondlet, and
prominent on both surfaces, composed of moniliform filaments. These are
usually found on distinct plants, but sometimes occur on those which also
bear tubercles. Tetraspores unknown (to me). Colour of the frond, a deep
brownish or livid purple-red; passing to greenish and whitish in decay.
Substance rigid, somewhat cartilaginous, and thin, very tough.
This plant bears a considerable resemblance in form to Bhody-
menia .Palmetta, and still more to the B. flahellifera of the
Southern Ocean, but the colour and the fructification, so far as
the latter is known, are very different : and I agree with my
valued friend Mrs. Griffiths in regarding this as a species of Phyllophora,
neai-ly related to P. Brodiæi. In the list given at the
end of our first volume a different place has been inadvertently
assigned to it.
I am not aware that tetraspores have yet been noticed on P.
membranifolia. The swellings of the periphery which are called
nemathecia, and which, in their dark colour, and the high organization
of their tissue, seem to be connected with fructification,
are not uncommonly formed. They usually occur on individuals
which do not produce tubercles ; but Mrs. Griffiths once found a
specimen, a part of which she has kindly communicated to me,
which bears both tubercles and nemathecia. This, though a rare
occurrence, is not to be wondered at, because these organs have
really much resemblance to each other in structure ; so much so
that it is probable that one is but a metamorphic form of the
other, or, at least, is an organ of an analogous nature.
Pig. 1. P h y llo p h o e a MEMBEANiPOLiA, 2. A frondlet, -witli nematkecium:—
both o f the natural size. 3. Vertical section of a nemathecium. 4. Part of
the same. 5. A tubercle. 6. The same, cut across. 7. Part of a vertical
section of the same. 8. Section of the frond;—all more or U
P-'l