90 BKITISH SEA-WEEDS. 



This species resembles C. dasyphylla in general ap- 

 pearance ; but may be readily distinguished by its more 

 slender habit, long, simple branches, and bristle-like, 

 acute branchlets. Both these species were formerly in- 

 cluded in the germs Laurencia, and are so placed in Dr. 

 Harvey's ■ Phycologia ; ' but in his later works he has 

 removed them to the position which they occupy here. 

 In St. Clement's Bay, Jersey, I have seen acres of this 

 pretty little plant growing in the shallow, sandy pools 

 near high-water mark ; but all so discoloured that not a 

 single purple or even pink specimen was obtainable. In- 

 deed, had I not been well acquainted with the habit of 

 the plant, I should have said it could not be a Red weed 

 at all; but must belong to the class of Olives. 



Genus XXXVIII. EHODOMELA. 



Frond cartilaginous, composed of numerous, densely 

 packed cells, cylindrical or slightly flattened, without joints, 

 irregularly branched ; branchlets slender. Spores pear- 

 shaped, arranged in tufts in ovate coneeptacles with or with- 

 out stalks ; tetraspores tripartite or cruciate, in single rows, 

 imbedded in the tips of the branchlets. — Rhodomela, from 

 the Greek rhodeos, red, and melas, black. 



The species which compose this genus are distributed 

 over the colder regions of both the north and south 

 temperate zones. They are closely allied to the genera 

 Rytiphlcea and Polysiphonia ; but differ from them in 

 being of a more dense substance and in the absence of 

 all appearance of joints. 



Rhodomela lycopodioides. Lycopodium Rho- 

 domeia. 



Fronds cylindrical, tapering upwards, from six inches to 



