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branches distant, irregularly alternate or secund, long and subulate, 

 tapering to a rather obtuse point, furnished with a second series of 

 similar shorter branches, which are simple above, furnished near the 

 base on the upper edge with three to four short, simple, subulate 

 ramuli ; that next the base longest, upper very short ; all more or less 

 cui-ved upwards. Substance delicately membranous, closely adhering to 

 paper in drying. Colour, a pale but bright rose red. Favellse unknown. 

 Tetraspores minute, elliptical, pedicellate, lateral near the base of the 

 axillary ramuli, solitary or two or three together. 



This beautiful little species is scarcely less puzzling than its pigmy 

 congeners, from the extreme variableness in its habit. 



We have united the two forms, kept separate by most botanists under 

 the names C. Daviesii and virgatulum, sensible of the impossibility of 

 drawing any distinct line of demarcation between them. In reference to 

 this, Dr. Harvey remai'ks in his own case, that he has figured " virga- 

 tulum" as a species more on account of "pressure from without" than 

 from being satisfied in his own mind of their distinctiveness. It is only 

 after very careful examinations and re-examinations we have united the 

 two, and we trust future observation will prove the correctness of our 

 judgment. 



This species in one form or other appears very generally distributed on 

 all our shores, and in many places in great abundance. On the eastern 

 coast it is extremely abundant, covering everything that comes in its 

 way for several yards with its short pilose fronds. So minute are these, 

 that when under water they are scarcely apparent to the naked eye, still 

 less so when out of water, until dry, when the plants that are infested 

 with them appear as if washed over with a coat of paint. Rliodymenia 

 palmata, Alaria esculenta, Porphi/ra vulgaris, Chondrns crispns, and many 

 other common species, are often completely covered with it, especially 

 when their fronds begin to decay. Its favourite habitat seems to be 

 the seaward sides of exposed rocks near low water, where it is exposed 

 to the full sweep of the surge, and where most of the Algse, at an early 

 part of the season, have become torn and disfigured by the force of 

 the waves ; it thus clothes with an interesting and beautiful fringe 

 objects which would not only be uninviting but positively repulsive to 

 the eye. 



This tiny plant is named after the late Eev. Hugh Davies, an 

 accomplished botanist of the last generation, and whose name is 

 of very frequent occurrence in English Botany. He discovered it 

 about fifty years ago on the Welsh coast, since which time it has been 

 traced all round our shores— on those of Europe generally as well as 

 America. 



