Seu. GONGYLOSPERME.E. (131) Fam. CERAMI 



GRIFFITHSIA BABBATA.— ^.^. 



Gkn. Char. — "Frond rose-red, filamentous; filaments jointed tbrongli out, mostly dicbi* 

 tomous ; ramiili single-tubed ; dissepiments hyaline." Fructification of two kinds, 

 on distinct plants : 1. Favel'.a?, surrounded by an involucre ; 2. Tetraspores, 

 attached to whorled "involucral ramnli.' Name in honour of Mrs. Griffiths, well 

 known for her numerous and valuable discoveries among British Algse. 



Grifftthsia harhata. — Fronds slender, cylindrical, dichotomously 

 bi-anched ; articulations clavate, niuch longer than broad, " terminal f(jrks 

 with very slender, dichotomous, whorled or opposite ramuli, bearing 

 sessile tetraspores ;" fixvelloe terminal on abbreviated ramuli. 



Gkiffithsia barhata. — Ag. Syst. p. 145 ; Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. ii. p. 132 ; Kiitz. Sp. 

 p. CtiO ; Harv. in Hook. Br. Fl. vol. ii. p. 338 ; Harv. P. B. plate 281 ; 

 Jiarv. Man, p. 168 ; Harv. Syn. p. 139 ; Atlas, plate 55, fig. 250 ; 

 /. G. Agardh, Sp. Gen. Alg. vol. ii. p. 80. 



Conferva harhata. — E. Bot. t. 1814. 



Hab. — Parasitical on the smaller Algm in tide-pools. Annual. Summer. Very rare, 

 and seemingly confined to the coasts of the British Channel. Beach at Brighton {Mr. 

 Boi-rer) ; Jersey {Miss Turner), 



Geogr. Dist. — North coast of France ; not uncommon in old oyster-beds, attached to 

 the shells and small stones {Lenormand) . 



Description. — Fronds slender, tufted, two to three inches high, as thick 

 as hogs' bristles at the base, regularly dichotomous ; branches capillary, 

 the upper ones furnished at the joints with opposite or whorled, byssoid, 

 articulated ramvili, once or twice dichotomous. Articulations of the 

 branches six to nine times longer than broad, clavate in their upper 

 part, the tube filled with deep red endoclxrome. Substance very flaccid, 

 closely adhering to the paper in di-ying. Colour, a fine bright rose-red, 

 soon decomposing in fresh water, and becoming transparent. Favellse in 

 pairs, roundish obovate, terminal on short abbreviated branchlets, with an 

 involucre of five to eight simple or once forked ramuli. Tetraspores 

 attached to the inner edge of the apices of the first joint of the whorled 

 ramuli, triparted, with a wide limbiis. 



Like most of the species of the Ceramiacece, and indeed not a few of the 

 more delicate species of Algfe, Griffithsia harhata is very intolerant of 

 fresh water, owing to its difference of density from that of salt water. 

 The greater pressure from within bursting the delicate cells, the coloured 



