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REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 175
Var. FUCOIDES, Ag.; Phyc. Brit., Pl. 277.
Fronds robust and naked below, upper branches pectinate or corymbose,
articulations but slightly longer than broad.
Var. AFFINIS, Ag.; Phyc. Brit., Pl. 303.
Fronds elongated, diffusely branching, branches distant, undivided below, densely
pinnate at the tip, articulations two or three times as long as broad.
In tide-pools and below low-water mark on stones and algæ.
Common along the whole coast.
One of our commonest and least beautiful species, which, although very variable, is generally easily
recognized. In the Nereis, Harvey describes seven forms found on our eastern coast. Practically, the
species as found with us is recognized under two principal forms. The first is rather robust, and has
branches which are more or less pectinate or corymbose, and in the extreme forms, as var. Durkeei,
Harv., l. c., Pl. 17 c, they are compressed, and the pinnæ are distichous and abbreviated. The second
form of the species is represented by the P. affinis of the Phycologia Britannica, in which the main
branches are much elongated and more delicate than in var. fucoides, and the ultimate divisions are
arranged in pyramidal tufts. Between the two types described occur innumerable forms which hardly
require a further description.
P. FASTIGIATA, Grev.; Phyc. Brit., Pl. 299.
Fronds dark brown, forming globose tufts one to three inches in diameter, filaments
rigid, of nearly the same diameter throughout, repeatedly dichotomous, fastigiate,
apices subulate, spreading, occasionally forcipate, siphons averaging about 20,
articulations decidedly broader than long; antheridia oval, in dense terminal tufts;
cystocarps ovate, taking the place of a terminal dichotomy.
On Ascophyllum nodosum.
Common from New York northward; Europe.
A very common species, at once recognized by its form and place of growth. It forms tufts on Fucus
(Ascophyllum) nodosus and, according to Harvey, on F. vesiculosus. Its color is so dark that one at first
sight would hardly suppose it to be one of the Florideæ. The filaments are rigid, and the plant does not
collapse in the least when removed from the water, nor does it adhere to paper in drying. The
antheridia are very abundant early in the season. The species, like most of the genus found on our
coast, is diœcious, but occasionally one finds both sexes on the same individual. In this connection, it
would be well to inquire if there is not a proterandrous condition among the Florideæ, as in the higher
plants. It has seemed to us that such a condition may exist in P. variegata, and possibly in the present
species. P. fastigiata is said to have been collected in California, but the locality is doubtful. It has been
found also in Australia and New Zealand.
BOSTRYCHIA, Mont.
(From βοστρυχιον [bostrychion], a small curl.)
Fronds dark purple, compressed or filiform, distichously or irregularly branching,
composed of several (4-11) cells (siphons) arranged around a central filament, the
siphons either naked or corticated with subcubical cells, apices usually
monosiphonous; tetraspores tripartite,