BOTRYDUM. 305 



44. BOTRYDUM Wall. 



Char. " Plant a spherical vesicular receptacle, filled with a 

 watery fluid, dehiscent at the apex, terminating below in 

 radiating tufts of fibres." Grev. 



Derivation. From ftorpvs, a bunch of grapes, which the 

 clustered fronds somewhat resemble. 



1. BOTRYDUM GRANULATUM Grev. 

 Plate LXXVII. Fig. 5. 



Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 196. t. 19. ; Hooker's Brit. Flor. 321. 

 Tremella granulata, E. B. t. 234. Conf. multicapsularis 

 Dillw. t. 71.? Gongoseira clavata? Kiitzing, Phy. Gen. 

 p. 281. 



Hab. On damp clayey ground, dried up ponds, &c. 

 Common. 



" Fronds minute, densely clustered on the surface of the 

 ground, spreading in patches. Vesicle containing a watery 

 fluid, in which a few granules are sometimes found. In dry 

 weather the upper part of the vesicle collapses, when they 

 become cup-shaped." Harv. 



Kiitzing I believe has not included in his " Phycologia Ge- 

 neralis " the genus Botrydium : he has constituted, however, 

 a new genus for the Conf. multicapsularis of Dillw., under 

 the name of Gongoseira. This genus he places amongst the 

 ProtonemecB, which is probably the position which this curious 

 production ought to occupy. 



" Thus natural history blends with primitive tradition and record, 

 affording to our faith a basis of previous probability, with evidence on 

 every side, in our paths, our fields, our gardens, our woods ; in cultiva- 

 tion and in the desert ; in every fibre, root, stem, leaf, flower, or fruit, 

 demonstrating the omnipotent all-sustaining omnipresent God." J. S. 

 Duncan's Botanical Theology. 



