The Conferva have hitherto been confidered as principally diftinguifhed from 

 other Alga: by the jointed ftruflure of the filaments ; but this circumftance is 

 not of itfelf fufficient to feparate them from many of the Fuci, nor even perhaps 

 from ibme of the Lichens and Fungi.* There are alfo feveral plants which 

 have by the general content of Botanifts been always called Conferva, in which 

 no joints are obfervable, fo that, if, in addition to what is here obferved, 

 be added the many remarks upon the fame fubjecl that occur in the prefent 

 work, and in Mr. Turner's admirable H\flory of the Fuci, (particularly in his 

 defcription of F. daffpbytlus) it appears fufficiently proved that the jointed 

 ftru£t,ure can no longer be ufed as a diftin£Hve generic mark. Indeed the 

 Confervx mufl be regarded rather as a natural family, comprehending many 

 genera of plants than as a fingle genus, and I have therefore felt it would be 

 abfurd, as -well as unneceflary, to attempt fuch a generic character as would 

 comprife the whole, becaufe, according to the rules of botanical philofophy, 

 this fhould be formed from the fructification, and the fructification of the 

 Conferva differs fo infinitely in different fpecies, that it would be impoffible to 

 include them all under any fuch defcription. I have, however, for the prefent, 

 retained Conferva as a general name for all thofe plants which have been, or 

 which if known, would have been fo called by preceding authors, in the fame 

 manner as the term Lichen was applied by Dr. Acharius, in the Prodromus of 

 his Lichen-jgraphia Suecka. To thefe I have alfo added the Byjl flamentofa, as 

 they differ in no refpeft from the Conferva in ftructure ; and fince the publication 

 of my defcription of C. aurea, the propriety of this union has been eftablifhed 

 by a difcovery of its capfules, which refemble thofe of Dr. Roth's Ccramia. 



Drs. Ingenhouz and Girtanner, from the general prevalence of Conferva in 

 almoft all waters and moid places, have been led to fuppofe that they are gene- 

 rated fpontaneoufly from the decompofition of water by the folar rays ; but 



* Since I publilhed the defcription of C. atro-virrns, Mr. Hooker has afcertained that it is CV- 

 nicalaria pubacau of Acharius, but the capfules which 1 difcovered in July, 1806, near Beddgellart, 

 prove that it belongs to the Coufiru*. Fibrillaria ramositshTia of Sowerby's Englifh Fungi, as well as 

 fome other fpecies of the fame genus, and of the Aurkularix, are links which connect the latter 

 tribe with the Conferva;. 



