2954.
RHIZONEMA interruptum.
M a tte d R h iz o n e m a .
CRYPTOGAMIA Alga.
Gen. Char. S h e a th cellular, and furnished throughout
its entire length with numerous branched and
anastomosing rootlets. E n d o c h r o m e distinctly
annulated, interrupted here and there by a c o n n
e c tin g c e ll. B r a n c h e s in pairs, arising from
the protruded endochrome.
Spec. Char. . . . . . .
Syn. Calothrix interrupta. C a r m . M S S . H a r v e y
in H o o k e r 's B r i ti s h F lo r a , v . 2. 368; M a n u a l o f
B r i t i s h A lg c e , 158.
Stigonemainterruptum. H a s s a ll B r i t . F r e s h w a te r
A l g a , 229. t. 69./. 2.
HJLP HIS interesti• ng speci•es differs so essentially from all the
rest of the Scytonemece with which we are acquainted, that
I have considered it necessary to establish a new genus for its
reception. Its peculiar character consists in the investing sheath
of the filament being composed of distinct cells, and furnished
with numerous branched rootlets, which anastomose
freely and thus bind the fasciculated filaments so firmly together,
that it is very difficult to separate them saas to be enabled
to ascertain the real structure of the plant.
The endochrome is cylindrical or occasionally somewhat
moniliform, of an intense blue-green colour, and interrupted
here and there by a connecting cell of a pale yellowish colour.