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REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 119
in Callithamnion, held together by a gelatinous envelope. The trichophoric apparatus and the early
stages of the development of the cystocarps, however, scarcely differ in the two genera. The species of
Spermothamnion have been considered related to Wrangelia, but if we are to regard W. penicillata as
the type of the last-named genus, as has been done by Thuret and Bornet in Notes Algologiques, the
resemblance is not close. In spite of the fact that the fruit of Spermothamnion is not a true favella,
there is little doubt that the genus should be placed in the Ceramieæ, near Callithamnion. The
development of the genus has been very thoroughly studied and has formed the subject of several
admirable papers, among which maybe mentioned Pringsheim’s account of S. roseolum, in his Beiträge
zur Morphologie der Meeres-Algen; Nægeli on S. Turneri and hermaphroditum, in Beiträge zur
Morphologie und Systematik der Ceramiaceæ; and Thuret and Bornet on Spermothamnion flabellatum,
in Notes Algologiques.
S. TURNERI, Aresch. (Callithamnion Turneri, Ag.; Phyc. Brit., Pl. 179; Ner. Am. Bor.,
Part III, p. 241.—S. roseolum, Pringsh., l. c.?—Herpothamnion Turneri, Næg.)
Fronds forming densely matted tufts, procumbent filaments branching, attached by
disk-like cells, vertical filaments one to three inches high, simple or slightly
branching, naked below, pinnate above with opposite or sometimes alternate
spreading pinnate branches, ultimate branches long and slender, often ending in a
hair; antheridia ovate or cylindrical, sessile on the upper side of the branches;
cystocarps involucrate, terminal on the branches; tetraspores tripartite, borne on the
upper side of the ramuli, either solitary and pedicellate or clustered and sessile on
short fastigiate branches.
Var. VARIABILE, Harv.
Branches and branchlets alternate or secund.
In very dense tufts on algæ at low-water mark or in deep water.
Common in Long Island Sound; var. variabile, Boston, Dr. Durkee.
A species which is often found washed ashore in dense globose tufts from our southern limit to
Nantucket. At the latter locality it is often found in very large quantities washed from deep water by
the surf on Siasconsett Beach. The filaments are delicate and of a pleasant lake color. North of Cape
Cod the species is hardly known with certainty. Specimens collected at Noank, Conn., have both
tetraspores and young cystocarps on the same individual, but we have never seen antheridia on
American specimens. Our plant seems to be the same as that figured by Pringsheim under the name of
S. roseolum, and also corresponds closely to the species of that name in Algæ Scandinavicæ, No. 83. It
appears without doubt to be the C. Turneri of the Phycologia Britannica and the Nereis, but we are
unable to say whether it is the true C. roseolum of Agardh.
SUBORDER CERAMIEÆ.
Fronds filamentous or compressed, either monosiphonous or with a more or less
corticated monosiphonous axis; antheridia in sessile tufts or patches or in a series of
whorls; cystocarps (favellæ) composed of spores arranged without order and
surrounded by a gelatinous envelope, naked or involucrate.