106 CORALLINA. 



1. C. officinalis, Liun.; decompound-pinnate; lower arti- 

 culations cylindrical, twice as long as broad ; upper slightly 

 obconical, round-edged, their upper angles blunt ; ultimate 

 ramuli cylindrical, obtuse. Johnst. Brit. Lith. p. 216; 

 Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. ccxxii. 



On rocks, &c. between tide-marks, extending from the limits of high, 

 to the extremity of low-water mark. Perennial. Winter and spring. 

 Very abundant on the British shores. Root a widely-expanded, red crust. 

 Fronds 2 6 inches high, tufted, much branched, bi-tripinnate ; but vary- 

 ing greatly in luxuriance according to the depth at which it grows. The 

 fructification varies in different specimens ; normally the ceramidia are 

 urn-shaped, formed by the transformation of the terminal articulation of 

 the ramuli ; but sometimes the other articulations produce lateral ovate 

 capsules, sometimes two, sometimes more springing from the same articu- 

 lation, and occasionally the whole frond becomes densely warted with this 

 irregular fruit. 



2. C. elongata, Ell. and Sol. ; " the lateral shoots of the 

 branches slender and subulate, with long, cylindrical articu- 

 lations." Johnst. Lith. p. 221. 



Coast of Cornwall, Ellis. Jersey, Mr. Hassall. " Coralline attached 

 by a crustaceous base, rising to the height of 3 or 4 inches, very bushy, 

 distinctly jointed, slender, the ultimate branchlets almost hair-like : arti- 

 culations of the stem not much longer than their own diameter, somewhat 

 compressed and wedge-shaped, the shoulders often produced into a spinule ; 

 articulations of the setiform pinnules cylindrical, from two to six times 

 their diameter in length, often terminated with a graniferous tubercle, 

 which frequently becomes axillary from little setaceous branches shooting 

 up from each side." Johnst. 1. c. I am not acquainted with this species. 



3. C. squamata, Park.; decompound pinnate; lower arti- 

 culations cylindrical, scarcely longer than their breadth ; 

 upper obconical or obcordate, compressed, two-edged, their 

 upper angles sharp and prominent ; ultimate ramuli very 

 slender, acute. Johnst. Brit. Lith. p. 222; Harv. Phyc. 

 Brit. t. cci. 



On rocks, near low-water mark. Perennial. Summer. South of Eng- 

 land, Jersey, and South and West of Ireland. This has the habit of C. 

 qfficinalis, but differs in the form of the upper articulations, which are here 

 much compressed, with the angles sharp and prominent. Two abnormal 

 states of fruit are figured in Phyc. Brit., one of which resembles the normal 

 fructification of Jania (section Haliptilon) ; the other that of Amphiroa. 

 Such irregularities show how little dependance can be placed on characters 

 derived from fructification in this family of plants : and I fear characters 

 of ramification are equally treacherous. 



