214 BRITISH CORALLINES. 



may, perhaps, be now disposed to do so, seeing tliat Link^ 

 unhesitatingly arranges them amongst the algse. (They are 

 not, however, included in Mr Harvey's recently published 

 *' Manual of the British Alga." Lond. 1841.) Of the pro- 

 ductions formerly referred to the corallines Link makes two 

 families — the Halimedece and Corallinece. Of the former 

 we have only one doubtful native (H. opuntia), and Link's 

 examination of it agrees in general with that of Schweigger, 

 and leaves no doubt of its vegetability, as well as of the 

 whole genera allied to it. Of the Corallineas, he says, he 

 has found on many individuals very distinct grains or seeds. 

 " When ^ye put the Corallina officinalis in diluted hydro- 

 chloric acid, and leave it there until its lime has been dis- 

 solved, we obtain a preparation preserving the original form 

 of the coralline, but it has become of a gelatinous consist- 

 ence, and the articulations of the body are very decided. 

 With a moderate magnifier we observe some transverse 

 stripe of a reddish colour, composed, asjt appears, of a gra- 

 nulous mass. If the magnifier is very powerful we see the 

 granules distinctly, as wxll as a great number of longitudi- 

 nal and parallel tubes, of a different size, which are either 

 empty or filled vv'ith granules. These granules separate rea- 

 dily on a slight pressure. All that substance is composed 

 of short, straight cells, placed end to end and immersed in 

 a gelatinous matter. The same structure is found in Cor. 

 rubens, which, in general, differs from Cor. officinalis only 

 in colour, and because it remains always softer. In the 

 Cor. rosarium the structure is somewhat different. There 

 the calcareous matter is greenish ; the coral's form is not al- 

 tered by being steeped in the acid, but it becomes white 



spected Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh. Third Re_ 

 port of the Botanical Society, p. 52. Edin. ] 840. 



