MR. 0. S. BEADY OX BOSTBYCHIA SC0RPI0IDES. 203 



XXII. — On the Occurrence of Bostrychia scorpioides on the North 

 umlerland Coast. By George S. Beady. 



Some few years ago, when I paid more attention to the Alga? 

 than I have recently done, I searched frequently, in such locali- 

 ties as seemed suitable, for the curious plant which forms the 

 subject of the present notice. The search was always unsucces- 

 ful. But in September last, 1865, while examining some brackish 

 pools at Alnmouth, for the sake of Crustacea rather than Alga?, 

 I unexpectedly came upon a few tufts of Bostrychia scorpioides. 

 And though I pounced upon it at once as a treasure long looked 

 for, never found, I began to feel some doubts, on examining 

 it with a pocket lens, as to whether the thing was really an 

 Alga at all. It had so much the appearance and colour of some 

 wretched, stunted variety of that variable plant, Ranunculus 

 aquatilis, that I could not satisfy myself of its identity until I 

 got it under the microscope at home. The few tufts which I 

 found were all in one small pool, and lying detached on the 

 bottom. Neither could I find any trace of their having origi- 

 nally grown either on the muddy margin of the pool, or on the 

 stems of aquatic plants (plants, indeed, there were none for it to 

 grow upon) ; but the filaments were tangled together in a kind of 

 loosely-matted ball, such as we not unfrequently see in the case 

 of fresh- water Alga? which grow unattached. Altogether my im- 

 pression is, that in this case the Bostrychia was growing freely 

 without having had any attachment. Though dull green in col- 

 our, it belongs to the Rhodospermece or Red Alga?, and is nearly 

 allied to some of the commonest marine forms {Rhodomelce). It is 

 remarkable that though these red species are mostly very impa- 

 tient of fresh or impure water, flourishing chiefly in deep, shaded 

 rock pools, or in deep sea beyond low- water mark, the Bostrychia 

 is found only in salt marshes or near the mouths of rivers. It 

 has not previously been found on the eastern shores of England 

 or Scotland, the only recorded instances of its occurrence in our 

 islands being Ireland and the south-west of England. Its limi- 

 tation to one pool out of many in the same locality, all apparently 

 equally well suited to its growth, is curious ; but perhaps further 



