304 Mr. J. Ralfs on Chantransia. 



Plant bright red, at first appearing as minute reddish stains, 

 finally clothing the invested plant with a continuous downy co- 

 vering. Filaments creeping and interlacing at base, and sur- 

 rounding the plant on which it grows, much branched. Branches 

 not attenuated, alternate, erect, elongated ; joints very long, often 

 twelve times as long as broad, and filled with a pink, slightly 

 granular endochrome. Capsules clavate or obovate, alternate or 

 opposite, sometimes, though rarely, opposite a branch ; the ter- 

 minal ones are more orbicular. 



3. C. chalybea (Roth). Tufts rather lax, inky-green; joints of 

 filaments five to six times longer than broad, those of fructiferous 

 ramuli turgid; branches appressed. Conferva chalybea, Roth, 

 Cat. in. p. 286. t. 8. f. 2 (1806); Dillwyn, Brit. Conf. t. 91. Con- 

 ferva corymbifera, Smith, E. Bot. t. 1996 (1809). Ectocarpus 

 chalybeus, Lyngbye, Tent. Hydrophytologise Danicae, p. 133. t. 44 

 (1819) ; Fl. Dan. t. 1666. fig. 1. Trentepohlia pulchella, /3. cha- 

 lybea, Agardh, System, p. 37 (1824) ; Harvey, Manual of Brit. 

 Algse, p. 118. Auduinella chalybea, Bory, Diet. cl. iii. p. 340. 

 Chantransia chalybea, Fries ; Kutzing, Phyc. Germ. p. 229 ; Spe- 

 cies Algarum, p. 429 ; Ralfs, British Algse, no. 11. 



ft. major. Filaments longer with rather shorter joints, ramuli more 

 distant. 



a. Common. Rivulets, waterfalls, and on water-wheels. 



fi. Wells, Penzance, J. B. 



Plant laxly tufted, of an inky colour, more or less tinged with 

 green. Branches rather distant, level-topped, erect, their joints 

 four to six times longer than broad. Fertile branches short, 

 appressed, their joints shorter and usually turgid. Capsules 

 orbicular, corymbose, less crowded than in Chantransia Her- 

 manni. 



Chantransia chalybea differs from C. Hermanni in its colour, 

 penicillate tufts and its appressed fructiferous branches, the 

 joints of which are more turgid. The dried plant is usually more 

 or less glossy. 



4. C. compacta ( ). Plant minute, hemispherical, inky-green, 



firm ; filaments much branched, joints twice as long as broad ; 

 branches erecto-patent. 



On aquatic plants in a rivulet at Trengwainton near Penzance, J. R. 



Chantransia compacta forms very minute hemispherical tufts 

 or fronds of a dark colour, and very much resembles a Rivularia 

 in appearance ; the fronds are so firm as to require considerable 

 pressure in order to separate the filaments for microscopic exami- 

 nation. Filaments comparatively stout, rigid, much branched, 

 at the base horizontal and interlacing. Branches crowded, erecto- 



