138 Dr. GooDENOUGH an J Mr. Woodward'j Ohfervations on 



lis — 3-pedalis — Color lutcfcens f". ex flavefcenti olivaceus ; poft ex- 

 iiccationem niger. 



Obf. Folia omnia alterna, ante fru£lificationcm longa funt, et in 

 ramos ftatim abeunt — Foliola tandem breviflima, fubulata, bafi tu- 

 mida et tuberculofa — Veficulae, utut fefe frondes quoad setatem ha- 

 beant, fortuito adfunt, aut, fi fors tulerit, ut in /Sdel'unt — In utroque 

 cafu nihil frutSlificationis intereft. 



We have reafon to think that there has been much confufion 

 made by different authors with refpcfl to this plant. In the firfi: 

 place, the figure of Morifon is given with a fibrous root, with 

 which we may venture to aflert this plant was never feen. In 

 other refpe6ls it is very good. 



In the next place, Gmelin appears to have feen this plant only in 

 the two extreme ftages of its growth : in its younger, when the 

 upper leaves are all entire and fetaceous, as he charaderifes it un- 

 der the name F. abrotamides ; and in its oldeft,when the finer leaves 

 are all either for the moft part broken off, or changed into 

 branches ; when alfo the veficles are confiderably enlarged. Not 

 having feen the intermediate gradation of its progrefs, we cannot 

 wonder that he deemed his F. baccatus a diftind fpecies. We 

 would hold out this inflance, among many others we could name, 

 as a warning to naturalifts how they defcribe from fingle fpeci- 

 mens : they cannot be aware, and that more particularly in marine 

 plants, of their true chara6ler from fuch a flight acquaintance. 



Mr. Hudfon having found different fragments of this plant, and 

 concluding that they belonged to different fpecies, called it in its 

 finer and more delicate appearance fetaceus, in its more diffufe one 

 Jibrofus. 



We found F. fbrofus growing in great plenty on the rocky fhore 



ntar 



