CONFERVA FONTINALIS. 



C. filamentis fimplicibus cylindricis, truncatis, atro-virentibus, fafciatis ; 

 diffepimcntis obfcuris, articulis breviffimis. 



C. fontinalis. Sp. Plant, p. 1633. Fl. Ang. p. 592. Fl. Scot. p. 976. With. 

 IV. p. 128. Fl. Dan. t. 651. f. 3. Roth, Fl. Germ. III. pars. 1. p. 593- 

 Cat. Bot. II. p. 191. 



Conferva minima biffi facie. Dill. Mufc. p. 14. t. 12. f. 3. 



Conferva fontalis fufca omnium minima mollis. Ray Syn. p. 58. 



In Rivers, Pools, Ditches, Sec. common. 



IN Dillenius's Herbarium the fpecimen correfponding with t. 2. f. 3. is entirely 

 deflroyed by age, which perhaps renders it impoffible pofitively to afcertain the 

 plant he intended, but his defcription in the Hiftoria Mufcorum fo ftrikingly 

 correfponds with every appearance of the prefent plant, that I feel no hefitation 

 in publifhing it as that fpecies. From fpring to autumn it abounds in cifterns, 

 ditches, pools, rivers, and in fhort in waters of almoft every defcription, generally 

 floating in irregular mafles on their furface- I gathered it lately in the King's 

 Bath at Bath, where the temperature is 112 degrees, and it feemed not at all 

 afFe£t.ed by the heat. In aerated waters, as Dillenius remarks, the furface of the 

 mafs aflumes an ochery color ; in ditches and ftagnant water it is frequently 

 covered with decayed vegetable matter, in which it appears to delight, and I have 

 found it in a rapid part of the River Lea, where its color was of a very dark 

 and bluifh green, and as it floated on the furface I at firft miftook it for C. 

 diftorta, for which, as Dr. Roth obferves, it is very liable in this ftate to be mif- 

 9 



