CONFERVA CAPILLARIS. 



C. filamentis fimplicibus teretibus rigidiufculis crifpatis implicatis 

 fragilibus ; difiepimentis pellucidis ; articulis cylindricis brevibus ; 

 capfulis feffilibus. 



C. capillars. Sp. PL p. 1636. Fl. Ang. p. 598. Fl.Scot.p. 988. With. IV. p. 135. 



C. Linum. Fl. Dan. t. 771. Roth. Cat. Bot. I. p. 174. 



C. filamentis longis geniculars fimplicibus. Dill. Mufc. p. 25. t. 5. f. 25. A. 



C. paluftris, five Filum marinum anglicum. Ray. Syn. p. 60. n. 16. 



C. geniculata minima noftras. Morifon. Hift. Ox. p. 644. f. 15. t. 4. f. 4. 



I11 the Ditches and ftagnant Pools of Salt Marfhes. 



THIS fpecies, no uncommon inhabitant of ditches near the fea, may, at firft 

 fight, be diftinguifhed from all others by the thicknefs of its filaments, which in 

 fize are equal to large thread ; by their brittle and rigid nature when frefh ; by 

 their never adhering together, and by the remarkably curled and entangled mode 

 of its growth ; from which circumftance I have hitherto found it impoffible to 

 trace with fatisfaction either the root or apex of the plant, each end having an 

 equally truncated appearance. The filaments extend to the furprifing length of 

 three or four feet ; their colour is a pale yellowifti green ; the diffepiments are 

 quite pellucid, but unlefs carefully examined they appear darker than the joints, 

 there being a thin blackifh line on either fide of them : in many filaments they 

 are extremely apparent to the naked eye, and fome of them, even without the 

 aihftance of a glafs, may be feen to be fwelled and much blacker than the reft, 

 ■which, in a fpecimen now before me, is the cafe in every fourth, but in fome 

 others I have not found them fo regular; this dark appearance, when highly mag- 



D 



