the frond is only two or three inches long, while the ultimate segments are 

 14-20 inches in length. The main branches often throw out lateral dicho- 

 tomous ramuli, and these are sometimes so abundant that the frond becomes 

 quite bushy. The receptacles vary as much as the branches ; sometimes 

 they are short, and simple or once forked, sometimes elongated and repeat- 

 edly branched, or the whole upper portion of a branch is converted into a 

 receptacle. The colour is a dark-olive, becoming black in drying. The 

 substance is leathery when recent, horny when dry. 



An extremely variable species, of which we here represent 

 What may be called the normal form, to which the different varie* 

 ties may be reduced, by supposing the terminal lacinise very 

 much longer, and more strap-like ; the frond not half as wide ; 

 the branching more copious and less regularly dichotomous ; and 

 the lateral ramuli in excess, and multifid. Still, all the varieties 

 bear a common character, which, though it may deceive in the 

 herbarium, can never seriously puzzle an observer on the shore. 

 We must however caution our friends that there is another allied 

 species, F. chondrophyllum, which may be mistaken for the pre- 

 sent, but which differs in never producing the long, strap -shaped 

 lacunae, and in some other characters, which will be best ex- 

 plained when we figure it. 



Fig. 1. Fucodium gladiatum, — tJw natural size. 2. Top of a receptacle. 

 3. Transverse section of the same, showing one of the spore-cavities. 4. A 

 spore : — the latter figures magnified. 



