RHODOMELACE^E. 113 



display their beauties, and adhering to it closely when 

 dry. 



Dasya coccinea. Scarlet Dasya. 



Root a small disc. Fronds from, a few inches to nearly 

 a foot high, growing singly, or in bunches ; stem thick, 

 clothed with short, hair-like fibres, unequally divided; 

 branches alternate, feather-like ; branchlets short, slender, 

 much divided; articulations visible only in the smaller 

 branches, very short. Spores in egg-shaped conceptacles ; 

 tetraspores in oblong, pointed, stalked stichidia. 



This is a very abundant, well marked species, not at 

 all liable to be confounded with any other British Sea- 

 weed. It grows on rocks, at and beyond low-water 

 mark, and is most commonly found floating, or cast on 

 shore by the tide, the finest specimens being obtainable 

 at the end of summer, or in the early autumn. There 

 is a small, depauperated variety, which grows on sand in 

 deep water : it is without hair-like fibres, its branches 

 are few and irregular, and its branchlets squarrose. 



Dasya ocellata. The ocellate Dasya. 



Eoot a small disc. Fronds from one to three inches high, 

 growing in tufts ; stems simple, or more or less forkedly 

 divided, thickly covered throughout their length with long, 

 slender, forked branchlets ; articulations much longer than 

 broad. Spores not hitherto observed in British specimens ; 

 tetraspores in lanceolate, short-stalked stichidia borne on 

 the branchlets. 



This species is annual, and grows during summer on 

 mud-covered rocks, which are not exposed at low water, 

 and are not, therefore, easy of access. This fact, and 



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