Descr. Root a thick, villous mass. Primary frond perennial, 2-6 inches to a 

 foot or more in length, 1-2 lines in diameter, shaggy with dark-red woolly 

 hairs, irregularly divided or dichotomous, its branches widely spreading. 

 This primary frond emits an annual crop of deciduous, slender, glabrous 

 branches, one or two feet long, and either simple or emitting laterally from 

 a main rachis, several similar, long, simple branches. The branches of 

 either series are generally denuded at base, and closely pinnated above with 

 horizontal pinnae, which are from §— 1 inch long, the older ones becoming 

 pinnulate. Both pinnae and pinnulae are clothed with very slender, dicho- 

 tomous, rose-red, soft ramuli. The ceramidia are as large as rapeseed, 

 much inflated, with a prominent orifice ; the spore-filament is excessively 

 branched, resembling a miniature tree, loaded with innumerable pear-shaped 

 spores, and nearly fills up the cavity of the pericarp. The stichidia are of 

 small size, and clustered. The colour, when quite fresh, is a beautiful, 

 clear rosy-red or crimson, but old specimeus are frequently brownish-red. 

 The substance of the primary stem is rigid, that of the branches very soft 

 and flaccid. The plant adheres closely to paper in drying. 



With every respect for my friend Dr. Mueller, I am sorry to 

 be compelled, in obedience to the law of priority, to alter the 

 specific name of this plant ; and I am sure that Dr. Mueller will 

 share in the regret when he knows that this beautiful species 

 was first detected by our mutual friend Dr. Curdie, to whom 

 therefore properly belongs the honour of discovery. It was 

 through my fault, in not having more promptly published the 

 results of Dr. Curdie's explorations at the Glenelg, that the con- 

 fusion has arisen. Recent explorations of the Australian coast 

 have shown that D. Muetteri is a very widely-dispersed and 

 abundant species. Our figure represents a small and compara- 

 tively simple specimen : the plumes are frequently again com- 

 pounded. 



Fig. 1. Dasya Muelleri, — the natural size. 2. Portion of a pinnule, bearing 

 a ceramidium. 3. A branch from the decompound (dendroid) placenta, 

 bearing spores. 4. A pair of stichidia. 5. Portion of a ramellus, some of 

 its furcations excised, from want of space : — the latter figures magnified. 



