LEMANEACE.E. 295 



" From a cartilaginous disc, stixmgly applied to foreign bodies, proceed 

 a great number of close filaments, elastic, of a brownish-green colour, 

 and a little curved at the base, but they become more pale and straight 

 in the remainder of their length. These filaments are ordinarily from 4 

 to 7 inches in length. Some are entirely simple, the others throw out 

 here and there branches, or divide towards the middle of their length. 

 The internodes are oblong, from a line to a line and a half, cylindrical, 

 and inflated at their points of contact. Their divisions are often but little 

 apparent, and disappear towards the base of the filaments, which appear 

 continuous, cylindrical, and equal in diameter to a strong horse-hair. 

 The surface of the filaments in old age is encrusted in such a manner as 

 not to become recognizable either by its colour, which changes, or by the 

 destruction of the internodes, which become confused and disappear." 

 Bory. 



Plate CXXV1II. fig. 1. Filaments natural size ; a, portion of fila- 

 ment magnified ; b. section of same ; c, chains of spores x 200. 



Lemanea toxulosa. (Roth.) Ag. Spec. n. 4. 



Nearly simple, for the most part bent like a bow, 1-2 inches 

 long, nodules approximate, papillad flattened, sometimes con- 

 fluent or almost obsolete. 



SIZE. Spores '04- x -022--03 mm. 



Kabb. Alg. Eur. iii., 411. Kirch. Alg. Schles. 43. Eng. 

 Fl. v., 322. Gray AIT. i., 288. Hass. Alg. 71, t. 7. 



Conferva torulosa, Dillw. Conf. p. 77, t. F. 



Conferva fluviatilis nodosa fucum emulans, Dill. Muse. t. 7, 

 f. 48. ' 



Lemanea ftuviatilis, var. /3- torulosa, Eng. Bot. ii., t. 2423. 

 Harv. Mon. 119. 



Conferva fluviatilis, var. 2. With. AIT. iv., 134. 



In streams. 



" From a little horny disc, fixed to the hard bodies which support it, 

 arise from six to thirty filaments, from one inch to 2^ inches in length, 

 curved in one direction. Their colour is of a brownish or reddish-green, 

 obscure or livid. They acquire in diameter the greatest dimensions of 

 all the Confervae." Bory. 



Bory states that " M. Thore, of Dax, first remarked, in the Conferva 

 fluviatilis of Linnaeus, a fact which is verified in the other species of our 

 genus. The recent filaments of this Lemnnea, presented towards the 

 flame of a candle, explode and extinguish the candle. This phenomenon 

 does not take place in dried specimens. It is owing to some gas shut 

 up in the connections of the joints, and which, put in expansion by the 

 heat, presses against the walls and breaks them with an explosion. A 

 remarkable movement of retraction is experienced in the fingers which 

 hold by the two extremities! the filament experimented upon. As to the 

 smell of the burnt plant, although very peculiar, it cannot be compared 

 to^that of animal substances submitted to the fire. I have not met with 

 any Lemania in stagnant waters ; they grow in quick waters. It is in 

 the pm-e fountains, large rivers, in very rapid rivulets, that they appear 

 to delight. Many, moreover, flourish especially in those places where 

 the current has the greatest force, such as in mill sluices, and the most 

 impetuous falls of cascades." HassalVs Algtz, p. 70. 



Plate CXXVIII, fiy. 2. Filaments natural size. 



