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152
THE MARINE ALGÆ OF NEW ENGLAND.
A species only known from the description in the Nereis, which is quoted above, and from the specimen
in Herb. Harvey for an examination of which we are indebted to Prof. E. Perceval Wright. In the
absence of fruit, the genus must remain in doubt, and it is hardly likely that the species, as described
by Harvey, will be again recognized by American algologists.
RHODOPHYLLIS, Kütz.
(From ροδον [rhodon], a rose, and φυλλον [phyllon], a leaf.).
Fronds membranous, dichotomously compound, with proliferous or pinnatifid
margins, composed of an internal layer of large roundish-angular cells and a cortical
layer of smaller cells; tetraspores zonate, immersed in the cortex of the frond or
marginal processes; cystocarps external, subspherical, borne usually on the margin
of the frond or on lateral processes, spores arranged around a central carpogenic cell
in masses composed of densely packed radiating filaments, whose cells at maturity
become irregularly placed.
A genus comprising .about twenty species, which mostly inhabit the Australian coast. They have
membranously expanded fronds resembling those of the genus Rhodymenia, but they are as a rule
smaller and thinner, the internal layer consisting of usually two series of cells. The genus is
distinguished from Rhodymenia by the zonate tetraspores, and by having the carpogenic cell or
placenta in the center of the conceptacle instead of at its base. In the typical species of Kützing, R.
bifida, there is, according to Dr. Bornet, a large carpogenic cell at the center of the conceptacle, around
which the sporiferous masses are gathered, and the same is true with regard to our own Rhodophyllis
veprecula.
R. VERRECULA, J. Ag. (Ciliaria fusca, Rupr.—R. veprecula and Calliblepharis ciliata,
Harv., Ner. Am. Bor., Part II, pp. 105, 152, non Calliblepharis ciliata, Kütz.)
Fronds deep red, attached by a branching base, two to five inches long, a quarter of
an inch to an inch and a half broad, decompoundly dichotomous, margin pinnate,
pinnæ linear-lanceolate, ciliate, with short subulate or forked teeth; tetraspores
zonate, borne in the cortex of the cilia; cystocarps subglobose, usually borne at the
base of the cilia, often densely aggregated, sometimes borne on the surface of frond.
Var. CIRRHATA, Harv.
Fronds very narrow, dichotomous, the apices cirrhiform, repeatedly forked.
On the larger algæ in five to ten fathoms, and rarely in deep tidepools. Autumn and
winter.
Campobello Island, Grand Menan, Maine, Prof. Eaton; Gloucester, Mass., W. G. F.;
Arctic Ocean.
The present species is a characteristic Arctic form which occurs as far south as Cape Ann, where it is
not rare although hardly common. It is usually found washed ashore late in the autumn or in winter. It
is recognized by its beautiful red color and frond