y. CORALLINACE.E. 83 



SuB-OEDER 2. NuLLiPORE^. Frond crustaceous, foliaceous or shrubby, not jointed. 

 IV. Melobesia. 



I. CORALLINA, L. 



Frond filiform or compressed, calcareous, articulated, mostly pinnate. Nodes 

 very short, stria?forui. Concepfacles ovate or urceolate, formed from the terminal 

 articulation of the branches and ramuli, furnished with an apical i)ore, and contain- 

 ing in the base of the cavity a tuft of erect, pyriform or club-shaped, at lengtli 

 four-parted spore-threads. 



1. CoRALLiNA offi'dnalis, Lin. ; decompound pinnate ; the lower articulations 

 cylindrical, twice as long as broad ; the upper slightly obconical, round-edged (nut 

 ancipital), their upper angles blunt ; the ultimate ramuli cylindrical, obtuse. Uarv. 

 Phyc. Brit. t. 222. Kiitz. Sp. Alg. f. 705. 



Hab. On stones and shells. Halifax, W. H. H. (v. v. ) 



Fronds two to four inches high, twice as thick as hog's bristle, distichous, decom- 

 pound pinnate. Branches pinnate or bi-pinnate, especially at the top, sometimes 

 naked below, often fastigiate or corymbose, erecto-patent ; pinnules mostly simple, 

 attenuate. Articulations of the stem as long or tvnce as long as broad, sub-cylin- 

 drical ; of the branches more or less cuneiform, with rounded shoulders ; of the 

 ramuli linear, cylindrical, or compressed, the terminal one either obtuse or pointed. 

 Conceptacks formed either from the terminal articulation of a pinna, or from the 

 surface of any of the articulations of the stem or branches, ovate. Colour dark 

 lurid-purple when growing, becoming chalk-white when bleached. 



A very variable plant, according to the depth of water at which it vegetates. It 

 is probably common on the American shores, though I have not received it from 

 my correspondents. 



11. JANIA, Lamour. 



yrond filiform or compressed, calcareous, articulated, dichotomous, or (in some 

 Australian species) decompound pinnate. Nodes very short, stria-form. Concep- 



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