BATRACHOSPERMEZ. 289 
“The extreme elegance of form and of colour renders this Batracho- 
spermum remarkable ; its stems are rather more branched than those of 
the variety confusum, and less than those of B, moniliforme, are from 2 
to 33 inches long, slender, and of an intermediate diameter. The globules 
are perfectly spherical, distant upon the stems from each other the 
length of a ray, more approximate, flattened, but always distinct in the 
branches. Its colour is a clear grey, approaching to a most agreeable 
violet; this last tint becomes dominant in drying, and passes sometimes 
to red.” -Hassall, 
Plate CXXT, fig. a, portion of filament x 30; fig. 0, smaller portion 
x 200. 
var, proliferum. Kutz. 
Stem and primary branches densely set with short accessory 
branchlets. 
Size, Cellules 018 x ‘01 mm. diam. 
Rabh. Alg. Eur, iii., 406. 
Batrachospermum proliferum, Hass. Alg. 112, t. 68, f. 1. 
B. moniliforme, 8 proliferum, Carm. MSS. 
“ Frond solitary, or in small clusters, 1 or 2 inches long, irregularly 
branched, branches divaricate, curved, or flexuous, opaque, and very 
dark coloured, beset with short ramuli, which issue out from the joints 
among the whorls, of eccentric filaments, and are themselves beset with 
whorls, Colour grey.—Carmichael. 
Plate CXXII, Portion of filament x 200 diam., from original speci- 
men. 
var. confusum. Hass, Alg. 105, ¢. 15, f. 1. 
For the most part bright violet, 2-3-4 inches long, and simi- 
larly expanded, densely involved in a gelatinous mucous, whorls 
approximate, with numerous interstitial ramuli irregularly dis- 
osed. 
: Size. Cellules 02-:022 x -01 mm. 
Rabh. Alg. iii., 405. Kirchn. Alg. Schles, 45. 
Batrachospermum confusum, Hass Alg. 105. 
Batrachospermum giganteum, Kutz. Tab. Phye. iii., t. 23. 
Batrachosperma ludibunda confusa, Bory. Ann. des Mus, xx., 
t. 29, f. 3. 
“Of all Batrachosperms this acquires the greatest dimensions. Its 
length is sometimes four inches and a half, its diameter equal often to 
that of the culms of grasses. Its branches appear also to be less obtuse 
than in the other varieties. The globules, or whorls, are so approximated 
and so large that they are often confounded together in such a manner 
as to be with difficulty distinguished in certain specimens which have the 
aspect of B. helmintosum. The colour of the plant is of a mouse-grey, 
agreeable by its transparency, The large stems approach a little upon 
yellow. These tints become of a beautiful violet by putrefaction. It ig 
upon individuals of this variety that I made for the first time, twelve 
years ago, an experiment which ought to be known ; after having many 
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