Chaetophora elegans (Roth) C.Agardh

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GHAETOPHORA. 3LEGAITS, (BOTH) AGARDH. - Fresh-water Algae of the

United States page 18, February 1872. (Smithsonian contribution
to knowledge, 241).

Ch. thallo globoso vel subgloboso, pisi vel oerasi magnitudine, dilute
vel saturate viridi, nitido, superficie laevi vel quasi tubercu-
lata, elastice molli, nonnunquam indurato; fasciculorum ranralis
laxis vel confertis, articulis extremis brevi-cuspidatis, saepe
piliferis.

Syn.-C. elegans, (ROTH) AGARDH* RA3EUH0RST, Flora Europ. Algarum,
Sect. III. p. 384.

Hab.-United States.

Thallus globose or subglobose, of the size of a pea or cherry, light
green, with the surface smooth or quasituberculate, elastic but
soft, sometimes indurated; branches of the fasciculi lax or
crowded; end articles shortly cuspidate, often piliferous.

REHARES.-One of the ammonest of our fresh-water algae is a plant
belonging to this genus, which I think is probably the G. ele-
gans of Roth. I am, however, unable to discover any characters
separating G. pisiformis, C. elegans, and perhaps C. tuberculosa,
and haxdly know by which oi the three names our American f cr m
should be known. Out plant grows generally in shaded pools,
springs, and ditches in great abundance, adhering as little trans-
lucent balls to grasses, leaves, twigs or anything that may be
in the water. The size of the frond varies from the young one,
not so large as a pin’s head, to the old matured one, which
may be nearly an inch in diameter. The color also varies
greatly. It is always some shade of a pure green. The surface
is mostly smooth, but sometimes it is so puckered up as to be
a mass of large flat tubercles. It is these forms that I sup-
pose to represent C. tuberculosa. The thallus is. generally e-
lastic, but at the same time soft, so that although readily com-
pressed and pushed out of shape, it is entirely mashed with
some difficulty, especially as owing to its slipperiness, it
constantly escapes from the grasp.

In regard to the individual filaments, the method of their
branching aa the proportionate length and breadth of the cells
vary very much in different individuals and probably at different

ages of the same individual.

JFigl 5, pi. 6, represents rather indifferently well a young

individual of this species.

CHÆTOP-HORA ELEGANS.

NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN

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02105673