INTRODUCTION. 



SECT. I. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



A HE Confervx, whether confidered with regard to their 

 external appearance, their internal ftrufture, or the extraordinary manner in 

 which the propagation of many fpecies is effected, may undoubtedly be reckoned 

 among the molt beautiful and curious of the order of vegetables to which they 

 belong. It was my original intention to have given in this work a magnified 

 drawing of each Britifh fpecies, but the number of thofe already difcovered is 

 fo great, and it is fo impoflible to obtain fpecimens of all fufficiently recent for 

 the purpofe, that I find it a talk almost endlefs, and above my ability to com- 

 plete. I have therefore been obliged to content myfelf with giving a brief 

 account, by way of fynopfis, of nearly all thofe fpecies which have fallen under 

 my obfervation*, and a drawing, accompanied with a more full defcription, of 

 moft of thofe which I have met with recent, and which have not been figured 



* Since this was written, I have been induced lb far to deviate from what 1 had here propofed, 

 as to give a flight flcetch (generally from dried fpecimens) of all the fpecies not figured by other 

 authors, excepting C. fanguinea, which would not revive fufficieatly in water to enable me to 

 trace its ftructure. 



*7'r 



