RED ALG^^. 236 



July to October, and in Providence River, in August. 

 Miss Booth found it not uncommon at Peconic Bay, 

 and other points about the east end of Long Island. 

 It is also reported by Harvey, at various places in 

 our southern waters, as far as Key West. 



The frond is fiHform, not usually thicker than a 

 bristle, from three to six inches or more high, gen- 

 erally much and irregularly branched, the branches 

 spreading widely, and being themselves divided and 

 sub-divided into a wealth of lesser ramifications. 

 The branchlets, when young, are visibly articulate; 

 and all of the smaller branches, and often all the 

 branches, are clothed throughout with a light growth 

 of very delicate, hair-like filaments, not much over 

 one-tenth of an inch long. These are plainly visible 

 to the naked eye, and give the name, and charac- 

 teristic mark, of the species. The color is a purplish 

 red, but the hue may change by fading through all 

 shades to a pale green or yellow. It grows below 

 tide marks, a fathom or two, and so must be looked 

 for, among the floating burden of the sea. It ad- 

 heres fairly to paper, and with its fine and grace- 

 fully disposed branches, and its soft haze of fairy 

 filaments, bordering all, it makes a very pretty spec- 

 imen. 



