101 



FAM. VI. BATRACHOSPERME.E. 



Char. Algae gelatinous, moniliform, ramose, articulated, 

 verticillate, filaments of the verticilli dense, dichotomous, 

 and beaded, the inferior ones simple, descending, and 

 forming a sheath around the primary cells. Reproduction 

 consisting of glomerules scattered throughout the verticilli, 

 to which they are attached by a single filament or thread. 



7. BATRACHOSPERMUM. 

 Char. Same as those of the family. 



Derivation. From ^arpa^ps, a frog, and (nrsp^a, seed; 

 the species resembling frog-spawn. 



Dillenius discriminated many species or varieties of this 

 genus in his " Historia Muscorum," under the name of Alga 

 lubrices. Linnaeus, however, after him, united them all into 

 one species, under the name of Conferva gelatinosa, in which 

 example he was followed by succeeding botanists. 



Weiss first removed the Conferva fontana, nodosa, spermatis 

 ranarum instar, lubrica et viridis, of Dillenius from the genus 

 Conferva, perceiving that it possessed a structure much 

 more complicated than that of the greater number of the 

 species of that genus, which are for the most part exceed- 

 ingly simple, and placed it amongst the Characece, under the 

 name of Chara batrachosperma ; the term batrachosperma 

 implying the resemblance which Weiss noticed between the 

 Conferva which he examined, and the series of gelatinous 

 globules in which are enclosed the eggs of the greater part 

 of the Amphibia of the family of frogs. 



If it was requisite that this species should be removed 

 from the genus Conferva, it soon became apparent that it 

 could not be permitted to remain with the Characece, and 

 the propriety of instituting a new genus for its reception 

 quickly became apparent. 



" In the year 3," says Bory, " I established this genus 

 in my collection. I communicated it to my learned friend 



H 3 



