38 ZONARIA — TAONIA. 



finally burst and drop off. This most beautiful plant, not incorrectly com- 

 pared to a peacock's tail, is found pretty extensively in the seas of warm 

 countries in both hemispheres, perhaps reaching its highest latitude on our 

 shores. 



IV. ZoNARiA. [Plate 6, D.] 



Root coated with woolly fibres. Frond flat, ribless, fan- 

 shaped, entire or variously cleft, marked with concentric 

 lines ; the cells of the surface radiating. Fructijication : 

 roundish, or irregular, scattered sori, bursting through the 

 cuticle of both surfaces of the frond, consisting, at maturity, 

 of numerous 5/)ore.s, nestling among jointed threads. Name, 

 from ^cjv>5, a girdle or zone. 



1. Z. farvnla, Grev.; frond procumbent, attached by fibres 

 issuing from its lower surface, membranaceous, suborbicular, 

 variously lobed ; lobes free, rounded, scarcely marked with 

 concentric lines. Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 63 ; Hook. Br. Fl. ii. 

 p. 282 ; Grev. Crypt, t. 360. 



On rocks and corallines, between tide-marks, and in 4 — 15 fathom water. 

 Annual.'' Spring and summer. All round the coast. — Fronds spreading 

 over the rocks in patches, one to several inches in diameter, attached by 

 means of whitish fibres, except at the margins, which are free and lobed ; 

 the lobes rounded, smooth, entire, often imbricated. The substance is 

 membranous, somewhat transparent, and highly reticulated ; the cells 

 quadrangular. The colour is an olivaceous green. The fructification has 

 not yet been observed in Britain, but is described, on Swedish specimens, 

 by Dr. Areschoug. 



V. Taonia. J. Ag. [Plate 7, B.] 



Root coated with woolly fibres. Frond flat, ribless, im- 

 perfectly fan-shaped, irregularly cleft, highly reticulated, 

 marked with concentric lines. Fructijication : linear, wavy, 

 concentric, superficial sori, on both surfaces of the frond, 

 consisting of clustered, naked spores, destitute of filaments. 

 Scattered spores occupy the intermediate spaces. Name, 

 raoiv, a peacock. 



1. T. atomaria, Good. & Woodw. ; frond membranaceous, 

 broadly wedge-shaped or somewhat fan-shaped, deeply and 

 irregularly cleft and laciniated ; spores forming waved, trans- 

 verse lines, with intermediate scattered ones. Grev. Alg. 

 Brit. p. 58 ; Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 280 ; Wyatt, Alg. Damn. 

 No. 60; E. Bot. t. 419; Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. i. 



