386 alg.e gloiocladea:. [Mesogloia. 



branched filiform, branches pinnate opposite, ramuli numerous 

 irregular obtuse. — Ag. Syst. Alg. p. 50, — but not Ulva rubra, 



Huds. 



Portland Island and near Poole, Dorset, Hudson. Devonshire, Mrs. 

 Griffiths. Bantry bay, Miss Hutching. Lossiemouth, Mr. Brodie. — 

 Frond excessively branched, slender, filiform ; the branches short, 

 patent, gradually shortening upwards, so as to form a lanceolate out- 

 line : famuli abundant, 1 — 4 lines long, divaricato-patent, obtuse, sub- 

 stance tender, gelatinous ; colour pale-red. " The structure is very re- 

 markable : the frond appears to be made up of tufts of fibres, radiating 

 from a centre, each tuft, when separated in water under a glass, resem- 

 bling a double Aster or sea Anemone. In the centre of the petal-like 

 fibres, are masses of purplish grains." Mrs. Griffiths in litt. — My friend, 

 G. A. W. Arnott, Esq., has favoured me with the following note on this 

 species. " Agardh has most erroneously referred to Ulva rubra, Huds. 

 as the type of this species ; of that, however, the E. Bot. figure is a suf- 

 ficiently accurate representation ; and I am confirmed in this opinion, by 

 a specimen which is in the late Mr. Brodie's herbarium, now be- 

 longing to me, which was given by Sir T. Frankland to Mr. Brodie, and 

 declared by him to be Hudson's plant. Now the U. rubra, Huds. and 

 E. Bot., is a mere state of Halijmenia ligulata. — At one time, I was 

 inclined to suspect that Agardh had in view not U. rubra, but U. rubens, 

 Huds.; but a specimen from Sir T. Frankland in Brodie's herbarium, 

 proves that almost forgotten species to be Mesogloia vermicidaris. Ag." 



3. M. purpurea, Harv. (purple Mesogloia); frond attenuated 

 at base, branches distichous linear-fusiform elongated simple 

 nearly bare of ramuli. 



Sidmouth, Mrs. Griffiths. — 1 — 2 feet high, robust, deep purple-red, 

 staining fresh-water pink. Stem subsimple, irregularly branched ; 

 branches subalternate, distichous, long, simple, patent, constricted at 

 the base, attenuated to a fine point. " Substance tender, gelatinous and 

 slippery to the touch, not so elastic as M. vermicidaris." Airs. Griffiths 

 in litt, 



4. M. coccmea, Ag. (moniliform rose-red Mesogloia); frond 

 much branched, branches moniliform irregularly dichotomous 

 attenuated, ramuli numerous crowded round the apex sub- 

 attenuate.-^-^. Syst. Alg. p. 51. — Rividaria verticillata, E. Bot. 

 t. 2466. 



Southern coasts of England and Ireland, very rare. Brighton, Mr. 

 Borrer. Bantry Bay, Miss Hut chins. Sidmouth, Mrs. Griffiths and 

 Miss Culler. — 2 — 6 inches high, fine rose-red, very gelatinous and deli- 

 cate. The branches and ramuli are moniliform, in consequence of the 

 whorls of filaments forming the periphery being sub-distant. 



5. M.? capilldris, Ag. (capillary rose-red Mesogloia); frond 

 tubular, branches opposite attenuated at base, ramuli short very 

 slender alternate flexuose subulate. — Ag. Syst. Alg. p. 51. — 

 Fucus capillaris, Turn. Hist. Fuc. t. 31. — Gloiosiphonia ca- 

 pillaris, Carm. MSS. (cum ic. eximia). 



South coasts of England, Mrs. Griffiths. Bantry Bay, MissHutchins. 

 Appin, extremely rare, Capt. Carmichael. — 5 — 6 inches high, much 

 branched ; main filaments often a line in diameter; branches and ramuli 

 very slender and flexuose. 



