characEjE. 179 



Var. /3.- — Professor A. Braun referred to this var. specimens in 

 the Kew Herbarium, from Kent ; Llyn Idwal, Carnarvon ; and 

 Killarney, Kerry. 



Var. y. — Common and generally distributed in England and 

 Scotland, in which it is known to occur northwards to Caithness and 

 Orkney. From south to north of Ireland. 



England, Ireland, and Scotland. Annual or perennial. 

 Spring and " Summer." 



The var, opaca, which is considered a distinct species by Braun 

 and others, is a variable plant 6 inches to 2 feet long, the branchlets 

 ^ to 2 inches long ; both in the male and female plant, but especially 

 in the latter, the fertile branches are usually so short that the globules 

 and nucules seem to be produced in heads, though occasionally two or 

 three nucules may be found at the forks of elongate branches. The 

 colour of the plant is usually dull olive, sometimes dark olive, and it 

 not unfrequently has the stem coated with carbonate of lime, generally 

 in rings, but sometimes continuously. It is so like N. flexilis that in 

 a barren state it is extremely difficult, sometimes impossible, to dis- 

 criminate between them, as the fact of the latter being monoecious is 

 not then observable. I have little doubt that the two ought to be 

 considered as at best but subspecies. 



The typical N. syncarpa and N. capitata are both usually more 

 slender and of a brighter green colour than N. opaca ; the heads are 

 smaller, and the nucules and globules are described as surrounded by 

 mucilage, a character which is not easily distinguishable in dried 

 specimens [unless held obliquely to the light and viewed under a 

 lens]. 



According to Cosson and Germain, N. syncarpa (genuina) germinates 

 in spring and fruits in the end of summer or autumn ; N. capitata 

 germinates in autumn and fruits in spring ; while N. opaca fruits 

 from May to July. In the pond at Balmuto it fruited in April and 

 appeared to be perennial. In an aquarium globe it lived two years, 

 but never fruited. 



[Of Ch. syncarpa, Thuill., there exists in the Kew Herbarium an- 

 authentic specimen from Thuillier, obtained from Gay's Herbarium, 

 labelled " Chara syncarpa, Thuill. Fl. Par. 473. Lois. Fl. Gall. II. 

 p. 623.— Thuillier 1812." Wallroth, who saw this specimen in 1828, 

 named it " Chara flexilis, L. ; " and A. Braun in Sept. 1834 has 

 labelled it" Chara. syncarpa, Thuill. (specimen ab auctore ! ) apices foli- 

 orum a forma comruuni paulo recedunt (Ch. syncarpa pseudoflexilis)." 

 An examination of this specimen shows that it is somewhat inter- 

 mediate in character between the plants now called N. syncarpa and 

 N. opaca, having more the appearance and dark colour of some states 

 of N. opaca ; the specimen is female, and the branchlets are simple, 



