178 ALGM MELANOSPERMEjE. [Padina. 



Very rare. Bantry bay ; Miss Hutchins. Ballycotton ; Miss 

 Ball. A single specimen found at Kilkee, County of Clare ; W. H. 

 Harvey. Frond 2 12 inches high, broadly flabelliform, cut, often 

 nearly to the base, into many cuneate segments, which are again many 

 times divided ; the apices furnished with delicate confervoid fibres. 

 Miss Cutler, who has favoured me with many beautiful specimens, re- 

 marks, in a letter, that, when fresh, "it is a stiff, rather thick, slightly 

 curled plant, somewhat transparent, of a pale amber colour ; so ex- 

 tremely brittle that the larger plants may be said to break with their 

 own weight; on exposure to the air it becomes flaccid and turns 

 brownish in fresh water it changes to a greenish hue. As it is not 

 very gelatinous it dries quickly under pressure, and leaves its impres- 

 sion, in a permanent brown colour, on the rags used to assist in drying 

 it ; a property common to many Algae. Of the fructification I have 

 nothing to add to the remarks of Dr. Greville, except that on one or 

 two specimens I observe the fructification is placed in wavy transverse 

 lines, as in D. atomaria. I find the delicate conferva-like fibres not 

 only fringe the edge in clusters, but clothe the fronds of the young 

 plants generally. May not these, by their elasticity, form a protection 

 to so brittle a plant ?" Miss Cutler in litt. 



18. PADINA. Adans. Padina. 



Frond flat, highly reticulated, subcoriaceous, flabelliform, mostly 

 undivided, marked with concentric lines. Root a mass of 

 woolly filaments. Fruct. : ovate, blackish seeds, fixed by their 

 base, bursting through the epidermis in compact, concentric 

 lines (rarely spots) mostly on one surface of the frond. Grev. 

 Name of uncertain origin. P. Pavonia, one of the most 

 remarkable of British Algse, has not yet been found on our 

 shores ; but it may be expected to occur on the southern 

 coasts of Cork or Waterford. 



1. P. parvula, Grev. Small Padina. Frond resupinate, 

 extensively creeping, suborbicular, lobed, membranaceous; lobes 

 rounded, scarcely marked with concentric lines. Grev. Crypt. 

 Fl. t. 360. Hook. Br. Fl v. ii. p. 282. 



Rocks in the sea, rare. Miltown Malbay ; W. H. Harvey. Fronds 

 olivaceous, depressed, creeping over the rock, to which they are at- 

 tached by white fibres from the under surface. I have compared my 

 specimens with English ones communicated by Miss Cutler, and find 

 them to agree exactly. 



2. P. (? ?) deusta, Grev. Dark-brown Padina. Fronds co- 

 riaceous, thick, brown, opaque, reniform or orbicular, with con- 

 centric lines, not reticulated, attached by the whole under sur- 

 face. Zonaria deusta, Ag. Sp. Alg. p. 132. Fucus deusta, 

 Fl. Dan. t. 420. P. deusta, Hook. Br. Fl. v. ii. p. 281. 



Marine rocks. Miltown Malbay ; W. H. Harvey. Fronds an 

 inch or two in diameter, closely adhering to the rock on which they 

 ?row, of a rich brown colour and thick" fleshy cellular substance, not 

 reticulated. I have no idea to what tribe of Algse this most properly 



