CONFERVA DIAPHANA. 



C. filamentis ramofiflimis ; ramulis apice forcipatis ; diffepimentis 

 obfoletis ; arriculis utrinque torofis, medio pellucidis; capfulis fub- 

 globofis lateralibus. 



C. diaphana. Fl. Dan. t. 951. Fl. Scot. p. 996. With. IV. p. 139. Fl. 

 Germ. III. pars. 1. p. 525. Cat. Bot. II, p. 226. 



C. nodulofa. Fl. Ang. p. 600. 



C. marina nodofa lubrica, ramofiffima, et elegantifTima rubens. Dill. Mule. 

 p. 35. t. 6. f. 38. A. Raii Syn. p. 62. t. 2. f. 3. 



Rocks, Stones, and Fuci, in the Sea, frequent. 



THIS Species, which is not an uncommon ornament of nearly every fhore, 

 is in beauty furpaffed by few, prefenting to the naked eye the appearance of a 

 feries of fmall beads alternately colored and pellucid. It varies from 2 to 6 inches 

 in length, and in color through all the intermediate gradations between a reddifh 

 brown and dark purple. The root, as in moft other marine fpecies, is a fmall 

 callus, from which feveral bufhy filaments proceed ; thefe are repeatedly 

 branched ; the branches difperfed without any regular order, but moft frequently 

 dichotomous, and fubdivided into ramuli, which are forked at the apices ; the 

 forks approaching each other in a forceps-like manner, though not fo ftrikingly 

 as in C. ciliata. The diffepiments are obfolete, but the joints are fwollen at each 

 end, and of a deep red color, occafioned by reticulated veins, fimilar to thofe 

 which cover the whole joint of C. rubra, but which, in this fpecies, leave the 

 middle perfectly colorlefs and tranfparent. The capfules are nearly round, 

 lateral, feffile, and often furrounded by 4 or 5 fhort incurved ramuli. 



