160 A CONTEIBUTION TO, ETC. 



of one of these stony vegetables in acid, till the lime it contains 

 is dissolved, will find he has a structure of a totally different 

 nature from that of any zoophyte, while it is perfectly analogous 

 to that of many algae." In the natural family of Rhodornelese, 

 there are some interesting and beautiful sea-weeds, such as Poly- 

 siphonia, Dasya, and Martensia, which are most appropriate objects 

 for the miscroscope. P. for/ex, though not likely to arrest the 

 attention of the casual observer, is elegantly figured by Harvey, 

 and is well worthy of examination under the microscope. Persons 

 toot accustomed to such investigations, will gaze with astonish- 

 ment at the regularity and beauty of these insigniiicant plants, 

 and they may be led to conclude with the Psalmist that " the 

 works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have 

 pleasure therein." Of Polyphacum I have received a specimen 

 from Victoria, and I have also in my collection Lenormandia, and 

 a fragment of Jeannerettia, but I do not know where they were 

 procured. The last genus is named in honour of Dr. Jeanerett, 

 an investigator of the botany of Tasmania, and well known to 

 many persons in this colony. There are many more plants of the 

 red series which remain to be considered on some future occasion, 

 and I confess that I should esteem it a high honour if, in the 

 course of my investigation, I could discover any traces of the 

 singularly curious species, Claudea Bennettiana (named in com- 

 pliment to Dr. Bennett, the accomplished naturalist) of which, to 

 the present time, only one specimen has been found, and that in 

 the Parramatta River, near Spectacle Island. In a pretty album 

 called " Treasures of the Deep," containing fifty' specimens of 

 of Scottish Algse, there are some elegant lines applicable in an 

 especial degree to the red series of sea-weeds. With these, 

 therefore, I shall conclude my brief review of our Australian 

 Rhodosperms : 



" Call us not weeds, we are flowers of the sea, 

 For lovely, and bright, and gay tinted are we ; 

 And quite independent of culture or showers, 

 Then call us not weeds we are ocean's gay flowers." 



Of the third series, or the ChlorospermeaD, one of the most 

 common, and at the same time most interesting, is Microdictyon 

 Ayardhianum. This derives its generic name "a small net," from 

 the filmy network of the frond. It is abundant throughout Port 

 Jackson, and in the Parramatta River, and I have collected a 



