242 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-iGOSSIP. 



But here also this species was absent, and in its place 

 I found a beautiful form of Ectocarpus granulosus, a 

 filamentous olive weed, which I found there for the 

 first time. 



Daring Easter week I paid some visits to the 

 rocky shelves and pools near Hope's Nose, a rocky- 

 promontory between Torquay and Babbacombe, 

 eagerly expecting to find Laminaria fascia growing 

 abundantly there, as I had found it during two pre- 

 vious seasons. I did not, however, find a single 

 frond ; but one morning, about a week afterwards, 

 I was sauntering aloag the beach below Hesketh 

 Crescent, a\id caught sight of a pretty little rock- 

 pool literally full of this rare Laminaria. This is 

 one of the smaller and somewhat rare species of the 

 genus, usually found in sandy nooks in rock-pools, 

 but rarely, as in this instance, near high-water mark. 

 I mounted a number of groups to imitate the 

 appearance of its ribbon-like fronds in the growing 

 state, having left behind me a vast number of 

 beautiful fronds ; but on a subsequent examination 

 of the locality, every portion of the plant had dis- 

 appeared. Very near the spot, nearly at high-water 

 mark, are other pools very abundantly productive 

 in species ; and here I took this season a curious 

 and interesting form of Chordaria flagelliformis, a 

 long scourge or whip-like plant of the olive series, 

 the fronds of which were literally covered with the 

 tiny frustules of a marine diatom. Hard by, in 

 another pool, and completely encircling a great rock 

 in its centre, was the pretty green plant Cladophora 

 arcta, by no means a common species, and one I 

 have rarely met with for years, yet here it was grow- 

 ing in the greatest profusion. The same morning 

 I had the good fortune to find a beautiful specimen 

 of Desmarestia viridis, cast ashore by the waves ; 

 but as my small seaweed-bag was full, I placed my 

 Desmarestia inside the folds of my umbrella, a very 

 convenient method of carrying some species, though 

 it did not agree with D. viridis, for, upon removing 

 it at home for examination, I was surprised to find 

 it in a rapid state of decomposition. All the species 

 of Desmarestia not only rapidly decompose and turn 

 a verdigris green in drying, but have the singular 

 property of destroying all kinds of delicate red weeds 

 with which they are placed in contact. The odour 

 which these curious olive plants emit is very 

 offensive ; but if they are put into a bottle of sea- 

 water and kept so until they are removed for 

 mounting on paper, they may be preserved without 

 injury for several hours. 



Punctaria tenuissima is an extremely rare plant, 

 which I took on one of the groynes at Brighton ten 

 years ago, but have never seen since until the spring 

 of this year, when a characteristic tuft of it was 

 floated in by the tide near Corbon's Head. It 

 generally grows parasitically on the green blades of 

 Zostera marina, or " grass-wrack," or on the old 

 hondsoi Chorda flum., or "sea-rope." Mrs. Grilfiths, 



of Torquay, considered this plant to be merely the 

 young of Tunetaria latifolia, but I am of a very 

 different opinion. The substance of P. tenuissima 

 is much more delicate ; and besides, I have never 

 found these plants growing in the same situations. 

 P. latifolia is parasitic, or at least epiphytic, on 

 algse in rock-pools, but never, or very rarely, in deep 

 water, whence P. tenuissima is usually cast ashore, 

 and always attached to species on which P. latifolia 

 is never found growing. 



That delicate little Rhodosperm, Callithamnion 

 Brodicei, has been cast ashore rather plentifully this 

 spring, and finely in fruit. It requires sharp eyes 

 to detect this tiny plant as it comes floating in with 

 other and ruder forms of marine vegetation, but 

 when nicely spread out and carefully mounted, it is 

 indeed a lovely object. Last season, the gorgeous 

 Padina pavonia, or "peacock-laver," was abundant 

 in some of the shallow pools near the Torquay Abbey 

 Rocks, and down towards Paignton ; but as it is a 

 summer annual, it should not be looked for until 

 the early days of June, or a little later. A subse- 

 quent visit to that on which I found the Callitham- 

 nion Brodi(ei, convinced me that Padina pavonia 

 would be very plentiful this summer, and so I 

 found it all through July ; the fronds being clothed 

 with those beautiful golden filaments wliich are 

 mainly the cause of the peculiar iridescence observ- 

 able on this plant when it is seen in shallow water 

 under a strong sunlight. 



Just at the close of last season I met with a 

 solitary plant of the rare Griffithsia setacea, growing 

 in a deep rock-pool between Torquay and Paignton. 

 I took a few bunches and left the rest undisturbed. 

 As this species is perennial, I looked anxiously for 

 it during my visit to that locality in June, and was 

 delighted to find it growing in the same place, and 

 in tolerable plenty. Some of the tufts were in fruit, 

 the form known as "involucral; " the involucres 

 being in fact a transformation of lateral ramuli, or 

 tiny branchlets, for this express purpose ; the'eudo- 

 chrome, or colouring matter, of the terminal joints 

 of the ramuli, being converted into spores. These 

 little involucres are extremely beautiful microscopic 

 objects ; under a high power they appear like pink 

 wicker baskets filled with crimson cherries. In my 

 former paper I spoke of that extremely rare plant 

 Gigartina Teedii, as having disappeared from its 

 habitat in Elberry Cove, Torbay, where in years 

 gone by it was taken by the late Mrs. Griffiths, of 

 Torquay. I am delighted to say I picked up a 

 specimen of this rarity among the rejectamenta of 

 the tide on the 31st of May last. The specimen 

 was hardly the normal development of the species, 

 but it was clearly the long-lost G. Teedii ; and thus 

 I am in hopes of meeting with good plants of this 

 species next season. 



It is not often that the water is sufficiently free 

 from motion to admit of an examination of the out- 



