184 FRESHWATER WEEDS. 



Linnaeus placed them in the first class of Flowering 

 Plants. Others have since counted them as fern allies ; 

 and their whorls of leaves have a certain resemblance to 

 Horse-tails. Then, again, their immersed habit, and en- 

 tirely cellular structure, seems to indicate Algse as their 

 natural companions; so let us place them here, for the 

 present at any rate. These plants are formed of simple 

 or compound articulated threads; they bear spores, as 

 well as the brick red globules mentioned above ; these 

 germinate by the formation of a cell above the centre of 

 the spore. As the plant grows, it assumes the form of 

 a branching stem, with whorls of leaves at certain dis- 

 tances ; the fructification appears in the axils of the 

 whorls. The outside of these whorls is coated with car- 

 bonate of lime in most species. The common Chara first 

 met my eye when a party of us were seeking for fresh 

 water Mollusks in the Warwickshire canal, near Hawks- 

 borough. As the boys landed each hawl of weed, and 

 after picking off the shells, flung it aside, I subjected it to 

 a fresh inspection. I had secured two land-weeds which 

 were new to me : perplexed myself afresh with the then 

 undescribed plant of recent immigration, the Water Thyme; 

 and was disentangling some Conferva threads, when the 

 rough whorls enclosing the circle of red globules attracted 

 my attention. I recogized it as a Chara from the des- 

 cription in the English botany. It was harsh to the 

 touch, and of a whitish green (Chara Vulgaris). The 

 shining Chara (C. translucens) I got from the sixty-two 

 pools left by the receding waters of the Wye. In general 

 form it resembles the common species, but it is smooth 



