90 POLYSIPHONIA. 



and bushy above ; branches alternate, repeatedly divided in 

 a pinnate manner ; ramuli distant, elongated, awl-shaped, al- 

 ternate, the upper ones sometimes having a few processes 

 near the tips ; lower articulations short ; upper rather longer 

 than broad ; siphons about twenty ; capsules ovate, sessile. 

 Harv. in Hook. Br. Fl. ii. p. 332 ; Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. 

 cclxxvii. ; Wyatt, Alg. Damn. No. 135. Conf. fucoides and 

 Conf. nigrescens, E. Bot. t. 1743 and 1717. P. atro-purpu- 

 rea, Moore. 



On rocks, &c. in the sea. Common. Perennial. Summer. Fronds 

 tufted, 6 8 inches high. Stems below rigid, subsimple, and either naked 

 or rough with the remains of broken branches ; above more or less soft and 

 flaccid, much branched and bushy, the branches short or long, erect or 

 spreading, repeatedly divided in a somewhat pinnate manner, the different 

 series of ramuli gradually more slender ; ramuli alternate, 2 or 3 lines long, 

 erecto-patent, distant, the uppermost occasionally crowded, subulate, mostly 

 simple. Capsules ovate, with a narrow aperture ; granules ternate in the 

 ultimate ramuli. Colour a dull brown, becoming darker in drying. Mrs. 

 Griffiths finds an extraordinary plant at Larderham, Torbay, which, for 

 the present, I consider a variety of this species. It is distichously branch- 

 ed, about triply pinnate, with the pinnae and pinnulae extremely patent, al- 

 most horizontal. The colour, when fresh, was "a pale straw,'' but becomes 

 brownish when dried; the substance "stiff, and when recent resembled that 

 of a Sertularia; the branches compressed." Mrs. Griffiths. P. nigrescens 

 varies considerably in size, and in the comparative rigidity and greater or 

 less division of the branchlets. I cannot distinguish P. atropurpurea from 

 one of its common states. 



20. P. affinis, Moore ; filaments robust, elongated, cartila- 

 ginous below, flaccid above, irregularly divided ; branches 

 patent, naked at base, nmltifid and with an ovate outline 

 above; ramuli very erect, simple or divided, acute; articula- 

 tions multi-striate, the lower 2 or 3 times longer, the upper 

 as long as broad ; siphons about sixteen ; ceramidia ovate, 

 stalked. Moore, in Ord. Surv. Londonderry, with a plate. 



On rocks, &c. in the sea. Carnlough, near Glenarm, Dr. Drummond. 

 Cushendall, Mr, Moore. Fronds 4 8 inches high, as thick as bristles, ei- 

 ther divided in an irregular or subdichotomous manner, into a few principal 

 branches, or alternately branched; branches patent, naked at base, multifid 

 and with a fan-like outline above, the lesser branchlets all naked at base, 

 furnished above with a few alternate or secund ramuli, very erect, the low- 

 est longest, the apices somewhat fastigiate or corymbose, contracted at base, 

 acute. Substance of the stem cartilaginous, adhering to paper ; of the ra- 

 muli flaccid. Articulations of the stem 2 or 3 times longer ; of ramuli as 

 long as broad : those of the stem sometimes obscure. Capsules ovate or 

 subglobose, stalked ; granules large, in the ultimate ramuli. Described 

 from Mr. Moore's specimens. 



21. P. subulifera, Ag. ; stems flexuous, cartilaginous, flac- 

 cid, irregularly branched ; branches divaricating, furnished 



