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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



it in Bovisand Bay, it certainly is very remarkable 

 that no specimen should have been detected else- 

 where even in the vicinity of this one habitat. As 

 this beautiful Griffithsia is an annual, it must of 

 course be propagated by fruit, though all the 

 specimens that I ever took at Bovisand were des. 

 tif.ute of even the appearance of fructification ; and 

 this convinces me that the plant produces its fruit 

 during the month of December or January, during 

 which periods its place of growth is altogether 

 inaccessible ; for even during the lowest spring tides 

 it is submerged to a depth of four feet or more, and 

 no boat could approach tlie locality except when the 

 water was smooth or free from swell, which I never 

 found it there until the summer. 



And here I may revert to a curious fact with 

 reference to a species of Fucus, which, although 

 belonging to the commonest group of plants, known 

 as " rock -weeds," is yet one of the rarest in our 

 marine flora. I refer to Fucus Mackaii, which was 

 first found on the shore at Connemara, by Mr. 

 Mackay, and is specifically named in his honour. 

 It is said to have been found in Scotland, but my 

 most diligent search in the most favourable localities 

 in Scotland was never rewarded with a single 

 specimen, neither have I taken it on any of the 

 English shores ; the only specimen I possess having 

 been sent to me from the north-west coast of 

 Ireland. From the fact of this rare plant always 

 being found unattached, without root or hold-fast, 

 and lying among rocks or under the sides of large 

 Moulders, I am inclined to think it is a deep-water 

 species, or that its place of growth is, at least, 

 beyond low-water mark. It may readily be dis- 

 tinguished by its pendulous fruit, which is produced 

 near the base of the lower branches. 



There is a very beautiful species of Polysiphonia 

 which is found occasionally at Plymouth, but very 

 regularly and abundantly round the south-eastern 

 coast of the Isle of Wight, especially at Ventnor. 

 This is the species P. byssoides, the branches of 

 which are densely clothed with closely-set branching 

 fibres, which are not deciduous, but persistent, 

 during the entire life of the plant. Some years ago 

 I took this fine species in abundance at Hastings, 

 every day regularly for a week or two, but for 

 several seasons afterwards I did not see a single 

 specimen. 



The same capriciousness of appearance and dis- 

 appearance in that locality and during the particular 

 Season referred to, applies to P. fibrillosa and 

 Arthrocladia villosa, as well as Brijopsis plumosa, 

 all of which I took that season at Hastings in 

 unusual plenty, but never afterwards. One summer, 

 too, I found cast ashore at St. Leonard's a beautiful 

 form of the rare Gloiosiphonia capillaris; but this 

 species I also never found there again. Duringthe last 

 three years I have been applied to by several of my 

 ?ilgological correspondents for specimens of the rare 



Gigartina pisfillata and G. Teedii. The former I 

 never took anywhere but in Whitsand Bay, near 

 Plymouth ; but the latter I have sought for in vain. 

 Mrs. Grifiiths found it, in former times, in one par- 

 ticular rocky cave at Elberry Cove ; but although I 

 very carefully examined every nook and corner of 

 the rocks and shores all around Elberry, and indeed, 

 all round Torbay, for three seasons, I have never 

 found a single scrap of this species. I therefore con- 

 clude that it either grows in deep water or it is lost to 

 us for the present. That extremely rare and most 

 lovely plant, Sphacelaria filicma, used to be found at 

 Plymouth in tolerable abundance, but of late years I 

 have had the greatest difficulty in obtaining a single 

 specimen from any locality. This beautiful Melano- 

 sperm grows abundantly in the Channel Islands, and is 

 found in fruit there occasionally. Hitherto I have 

 not been successful in finding it in Torbay, though 

 I have no doubt it exists here. A single specimen 

 of it was taken at Ilfracombe last autumn by a 

 collector there, who wrote word to me, that it was 

 the only one he had ever taken there. During my 

 residence in that part of North Devon, I sought 

 in vain for either of the Sphacelarice, and as for the 

 extremely rare S. sertularia, the only specimen I ever 

 saw is a small fragment which was taken in Torbay 

 many years ago, and is now in my possession. It is 

 now generally regarded as a deep-water variety of 

 S. filicina, and indeed was formerly described by 

 Dr. Harvey as var. 'patens, from the spreading habit 

 of its branches. However, it is very strange indeed 

 that this lovely little plant is so rarely met with ; 

 nothing, I fear, but careful dredging will ever reward 

 the most enthusiatic algologist in his search for this 

 rarity. 



And, again, I may ask, who ever finds Cladophora 

 redangularis ? The only specimen I possess was 

 obtained from a collector at Roundstone Baj', on 

 the west of Ireland, but I never found it on the 

 English shores. Mrs. Griffiths took it occasionally 

 in Torbay, but hitherto I have not been fortunate 

 enough to find a single plant on any part of the 

 Devonshire coast. Among the olive seaweeds there 

 are two species which at present must certainly be 

 considered rarities, though, if the dredge were inmore 

 general use, I am convinced that many a plant 

 which is now looked upon as a rarity, would cease 

 to be regarded as such, and I have little doubt that 

 by this means occasional interesting discoveries 

 would be made. Probably too, by this means, the 

 very rare NitopJiyllum versicolor might be found in 

 other situations besides those which are already 

 recorded. It is found, I believe, on some parts of 

 the Irish coast, but its only known English habitats 

 are the shores from Minehead, in Somerset, down to 

 Ilfracombe and its vicinity. During a residence of 

 ten months in Ilfracombe, several years ago, I was 

 constantly on the look-out for this rare plant, but I 

 never met with a scrap of it ; and perhaps its scarcity 



