CeramiecB.'] grifpithsia. 191 



]My sliding chariot stays ; 



Thick set with agate and the azure sheen 



Of Turkish blue, and emerald green 



That in the channel strays, 



Whilst from off the waters fleet. 



Thus I set my printless feet, 



O'er the cowslip's velvet head 



That bended not as I tread ; 



Gentle swain, at thy request 



I am here." — Milton's Conius. 



Genus XXXIX. GEITOTHSIA, AgarclL 



Gen. Char. Trond rose-red, filamentous; filaments jointed 

 throughout, mostly dicliotomous ; ramuli single-tubed ; dissepi- 

 ments hyaline. Fructification of two kinds, on distinct indivi- 

 duals : 1, tetra spores affixed to whorled involucral ramuli; 2, 

 gelatinous receptacles (favellae) surrounded by an involucre, and 

 containing a mass of minute angular spores. — G7'iffitJma, so 

 named by Agardh, in honour of Mrs. Griffiths of Torquay, the 

 most distinguished of British Algologists. — Harvey. 



1. Griffithsia EQuiSETiFOLiA, AgardJi. 



Hab. On rocks at low-water mark. . Perennial. Summer. 

 Common in several parts of England^ Ireland^ and Wales ; 

 but very rare in Scotland. It was first figured more than 

 seventy years ago by Lightfoot in his ' Flora Scotica/ from 



