550 CRYPTOGAMIA ALG^. 



The color is red. The fubflance membranace- 

 ous, but tough, and fomev/hat cartilaginous, 

 without rib or nerve, thoudi thicker in the 

 middle than at the edges. The whole length 

 * of the plant is about four or five inches, the 



breadth of each leaf about a quarter of an 

 ! .. \ inch. 



The growth of this Fucus, when examin'd with 

 attention, appears to be extremely fingular and 

 wonderful. 



It takes its. origin either from a fimple, iniire> 

 narrow, elliptic leaf, about an inch and a half 

 long ; or from a dilated forked one, of the 

 fame length. Near the extremity of the ellip- 

 tic leaf, or the poiiits of the forked one (but 

 out of the furface, and not the edge) arifes 

 one or more elliptic or forked leaf, which 

 produces other iimilarones, in the lame manner, 

 near the fummits, and fo on continually one or 

 more leaves from near the ends of each other, 

 in a proliferous and dichotomous order, to the 

 top of the plant ; which in the manner of its 

 growth rcfembles in a good meafure the CAC- 

 TUS cpuntia Lin. or Flat-leav'd Indian Fig. 



Sometimes two or three leaves or more grow out 

 of the middle of the difc of another leaf, but 

 this is not the common order of their growth. 



The frudifications are red, fpherical, rough warts, 



(. .- 



