54
SIPHONED.
seed-vessel, which is of smaller size, rests almost immediatelyon the incurved anther.
Found in fructification, according to Vaucher, in theautumn; my specimens were obtained in a hedge atCheshunt in March, and were also in fructification.
b. Vesicles lateral, sessile, geminate.
6. Vaucheria aversa Hass.
Plate VI. Fig. 5.
Char. Capsules usually in pairs, and in the form of abird’s head, with the beaks averted from each other. Spo-rangia circular, not entirely filling the cavity of the capsule.Hassall, in Annals of Nat. Hist. vol. xi. p. 429.
I have now met with this species repeatedly ; it is one ofthe best marked and most peculiar of the genus, thebeaks of the capsules being turned in opposite directions atonce, distinguish it from all other known species, in which,when the vesicles are in pairs, they are directed towardseach other. This averted position of the capsules rendersthe existence of a distinct horn or anther essential for each.In the form of the seed-vessels, and in the circumstance of thesporangia not filling the entire cavity, the species resemblesVaucheria ornithocephala.
7. Vaucheria ornithocephala Ag.
Plate VI. Fig. 4.
Char. “ Vesicles binate or quaternate, with a short beak, andpellucid border, upon short, straight peduncles .”— Harv.
Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 193.; Hooker, Brit. Flor. p. 320.; Conf.vesicata Dillw. Brit. Conf. t. 74.; Harv. Manual Brit.Algse, p. 148.