178 ALG/E MELANOSPERMEjE. [Padim. 



Very rare. Bantry bay ; Miss Hutchins. Ballycotton ; Miss 

 Ball. A single specimen found at Kilkee, County of Clare ; W. H. 

 Harvey. Frond 2—12 inches high, broadly flabelliform, cut, often 

 nearly to the base, into many cuneate segments, which are again many 

 times divided ; the apices furnished with delicate confervoid fibres. 

 Miss Cutler, who has favoured me with many beautiful specimens, re- 

 marks, in a letter, that, when fresh, "it is a stiff, rather thick, slightly 

 curled plant, somewhat transparent, of a pale amber colour; so ex- 

 tremely brittle that the larger plants may be said to break with their 

 own weight ; on exposure to the air it becomes flaccid and turns 

 brownish— in fresh water it changes to a greenish hue. As it is not 

 very gelatinous it dries quickly under pressure, and leaves^ its impres- 

 sion, in a permanent brown colour, on the rags used to assist in drying 

 it ; a property common to many Algae. Of the fructification I have 

 nothing to add to the remarks of Dr. Greville, except that on one or 

 two specimens I observe the fructification is placed in wavy transverse 

 lines, as in D. atomaria. I find the delicate conferva-like fibres not 

 only fringe the edge in clusters, but clothe the fronds of the young 

 plants generally. May not these, by their elasticity, form a protection 

 to so brittle a plant ?" Miss Cutler in litt. 



18. Padina. Adans. Padina. 



Frond flat, highly reticulated, subcoriaceous, flabelliform, mostly 

 undivided, marked with concentric lines. Foot a mass of 

 woolly filaments. Fruct. : ovate, blackish seeds, fixed by their 

 base, bursting through the epidermis in compact, concentric 

 lines (rarely spots) mostly on one surface of the frond. Grev. 

 — Name of uncertain origin. P. Pavonia, one of the most 

 remarkable of British Algae, has not yet been found on our 

 shores; but it may be expected to occur on the southern 

 coasts of Cork or Waterford. 



1. P. parvula, Grev. Small Padina. Frond resupinate, 

 extensively creeping, suborbicular, lobed, membranaceous; lobes 

 rounded, scarcely marked with concentric lines. Grev. Crypt. 

 Fl. t. 360. Hook. Br. Fl. v. ii. p. 282. 



Rocks in (he sea, rare. Miltown Malbay ; W. H. Harvey. Fronds 

 olivaceous, depressed, creeping over the rock, to which they are at- 

 tached by white fibres from the under surface. I have compared my 

 specimens with English ones communicated by Miss Cutler, and find 

 them to agree exactly. 



2. P. (? ?) deusta, Grev. Dark-brown Padina. Fronds co- 

 riaceous, thick, brown, opaque, reniform or orbicular, with con- 

 centric lines, not reticulated, attached by the whole under sur- 

 face. Zonaria deusta, Ag. Sp. Alg. p. 132. Fucus deusta, 

 Fl. Dan. t. 420. P. deusta, Hook. Br. Fl. v. ii. p. 281. 



Marine rocks. Miltown Malbay ; W. H. Harvey. Fronds an 

 inch or two in diameter, closely adhering to the rock on which they 

 grow, of a rich brown colour and thick fleshy cellular substance, not 

 reticulated. I have no idea to what tribe of Algae this most properly 



