CONFERVA FUCOIDES. 



C. filamentis fub-cartilagineis ramoiiilimis ; ramulis dichccoinLs, difiepi- 

 mentis ex venarum anaflomofibus, articulis breviufculis ftriatis, cap- 

 fulis ovatis fub-feffilibus. 



C. fucoides. FI. Aug. p. 603. With. IV. p. 141. 



Ceramium violaceum. Roth. Cat. Bot. I. p. 150. HI. p. 151. Fl. Germ. II!. 

 pars. 1. p. 462. 



On Rocks and Stones in the Sea frequent. 



AMONG the Confervas few are fo little known as the black marine fpecies, 

 which may be principally attributed to the fhortnefs of Hudfon's defcriptions, to 

 his not having had any figures to which he could refer, and to the unfortunate 

 deftruclion of his Herbarium. The difficulty in the prefent fpecies has been 

 removed by the kindnefs of my friends the Rev. Hugh Davies and Archibald 

 Menzies, who, from among fome authentic fpecimens which they fortunately 

 poffefs, have obligingly fpared me two pieces marked ' C. fucoides' exactly 

 correfponding with the plant here figured, as indeed does the defcription in the 

 Flora Anglica with fome of the numerous appearances which it affumes in 

 different fituations and periods of its growth. 



C. fucoides varies from two or three inches to a foot in length; its mode of 

 growth is remarkably thick and bufhy ; the color in the young plant is of a 

 reddifh-brown, becoming darker, and almoft black with age ; the root is a callus 

 common to two or three irregular branched Items ; the Item and main branches 

 when the plant has arrived at maturity are in a confiderable degree tough and 

 hornv ; towards the ends they are repeatedly dichotomou? ; the diffepiments, as 



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