SPHACELARIA. 57 



dense. Tbe filaments robust and much branched ; the larger branches 

 quadrifariously or irregularly furnished with lesser ones, which are long, 

 erecto-patent, set in a very irregular manner with sub-pinnated or quadri- 

 farious, spine-like ramuli, which are either simple or bearing others. 

 Spores spherical, containing a dark mass, sessile or stalked near the base 

 ol the ramuli, one or two together ; as correctly figured by Dillwyn. 

 Colour a dark brown, and substance rigid. Another variety is found by 

 Mrs. Griffiths and Miss Cutler on the stems of Desmarestia aculeata. It is 

 a very dwarf plant, with curved, simple stems, pretty regularly pinnated, 

 and sometimes hooked at the apex. The filaments of this are rarely half 

 an inch long. 



6. S.fusca, Dilhv. ; filaments brown, distantly and irregu- 

 larly branched ; branches long and simple, bearing a few 

 clavate, occasionally trifid ramuli ; articulations twice as 

 long as broad, marked by a transverse band ; spores globose. 

 Dill to. Conf. t. 95 ; Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 324 ; Harv. Phyc. 

 Brit. t. cxlix. 



Shores of Wales, Dilhv. Sidmouth, 3Irs. Griffiths. St. Michael's Mt. 

 Cornwall, Mr. Ralfs. — Tufts " 3 to 5 inches long, varying in colour from 

 a dull to a reddish brown," Dillw. A very obscure plant, which I only 

 know through Dillwyn's figure and description, and from a specimen 

 marked " Sidmouth, June, 1827,'' which I have received from my valued 

 friend, Mrs. Griffiths, and which agrees with Dillwyn's figure very exactly. 

 The filaments in this specimen are an inch and a half long, deep brown, 

 very slender, sub-simple, with a few alternate, long, simple, distant branches, 

 some of which bear near the apex one or two lineari-clavate ramuli, atten- 

 uated at the base, and trifid at the apex. The joints are marked with a 

 pale brown band, and about twice as long as broad. Mr. Ralfs' plant, 

 above noticed, is more branched, rigid, and with shorter joints than that of 

 Dillwyn. 



7. S. radicans, Dillw. ; filaments decumbent, sending out 

 fibrous radicles in the lower part, with a few irregular, simple, 

 straight, naked branches ; spores clustered, sessile. Harv. 

 in Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 324. Conf. radicans, Dillw. ; E. Bat. 

 t. 2138. Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. clxxxix. »S, cirrhosa, f, sim- 

 plex, Ag. Sp. Alg. ii. p. 29; Wyatt, Alg. Damn. No. 301. 

 S. olivacea, Hook. I. c. ; E. Bot. t. 2172. 



In the sea, on sand-covered rocks, in various parts of Great Britain and 

 Ireland ; first noticed by the late Miss Hutchins at Bantry. Filaments 

 rising from a few decumbent fibres, forming small tufts from half an inch 

 to an inch in height. Branches few, scattered, and mostly simple. Spores 

 abundant, scattered over the branches. Colour a dull greenish olive. 

 Substance riffid. 



'o' 



8. S. racemosa, Grev. ; " filaments short, tufted, oliva- 

 ceous, dichotomous ; capsules ovate, racemose, pedunculate." 

 Grev. Crypt. FL t. 96 ; Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 325. 



