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P l a t e CCLXXVIII.
POLYSIPHONIA SIMULANS, Harv.
Ge n . Ch a e . Frond filamentous, partially or generally articulate; joints
longitudinally striate, composed of numerous radiating cells or tubes,
disposed round a central cavity. Fructification twofold, on different
individuals : 1, ovate capsules (ceramidia) furnished with a terminal
pore, and containing a tuft of pear-shaped spores; 3, tetraspores
imbedded in swollen branchlets. P olysiphonia (O re v ), — from
rroKvs, many, and a-Kpiov, a tube.
P olysiphonia simulons ; filaments slender, bushy, branched from the base;
branches alternate, patent, repeatedly (but irregularly) pinnate; the
jenultimate branches long and simple, set with short, distant, spine-
ike ramuli ; articulations of the branches once and half as long as
broad, of the. ramuli shorter, many-tubed; siphons about twelve;
ceramidia globose or ovate.
P olysiphonia simulans, Harv. Man. ed. 3. p. 89.
P olysiphonia spinulosa, Griff, in Harv. Man. ed. 1. p. 87.
o f Grev.)
P olysiphonia divergens, y Grevilleana, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p
. (Torquay
specimens.)
H ab. On rocks, &c., in tide-pools near low-water mark. Annual?
Summer. Eare. Bathing Cove, Torquay and Torabbey Eocks, Mrs.
Griffiths. Bovisand, Bev. W. S. Hore. Jersey, Miss White and
Miss Turner. Valentía, Kerry, W. H . H . Skaill, Orkney, Bev.
■J. H . Pollexfen.
Geoge. D is t r . Not noticed out of Britain.
D esc e. Fronds densely tufted, two or tliree inches high, branched from the base
and bushy, setaceous below, capillary above, irregularly divided. Branches
alternate, somewhat pinnate, not perfectly distichous, decompound, the
divisions set with short, subulate, scattered, spine-like ramuli, and connected
together by irregular spine-hke processes, so that the lesser divisions
are difficult to spread out. Articulations of the stem and branches about
once and half as long as broad, of the ramuli very short, with pellucid dissepiments,
multistriate ; siphons about twelve, surrounding a small central
tube. Ceramidia ovate, sessile, scattered on the smaUer branches. Tetraspores
immersed in shghtly swoUen ramuh. Colour a duU reddish-brown,
or dark brown-red. Substance stiff and brittle, becoming flaccid in fresh
water, and then adhering to paper.
In the first edition of my “ Manual,” I fell into an error in
confounding this species with P. spinulosa of Greville, a plant to