116 BRITISH SEA-WEEDS. 



weeds found in the Channel Islands which are not also 

 natives of our own shores, and of the northern coasts 

 of France. The difference is, that plants which are very 

 rare with us, and are exclusively confined to certain 

 favoured southern or western localities, are more abun- 

 dant and luxuriant in the milder climate and congenial 

 habitats to be found among the rocky bays of Jersey 

 and her sister islands. D. venusta is annual, and is cast 

 up from deep water during summer and autumn. It is 

 one of the least difficult sea-weeds to lay out, and is 

 perhaps the most exquisitely beautiful, at least of our 

 native species, when laid out. 



Dasya punicea. The purplish Basya. 



Fronds irregularly pinnately-branched, coated throughout 

 with bark cells; the stem and lower branches naked, the 

 upper clothed with very short, delicate, jointed branchlets. 

 Spore-conceptacles broadly ovate, short-necked, stalkless ; 

 tetraspores in lanceolate, pointed stichidia. 



The knowledge we possess of this species is derived 

 from a very limited number of specimens collected in 

 the Adriatic Sea, and in one or two localities on our 

 southern shores. It was first discovered in this country 

 by that indefatigable and accomplished algologist Mrs. 

 Gray, of the British Museum, who found it at Bognor, 

 in October, 1855. It has been subsequently picked 

 up at Brighton by Mrs. Merrifield. I am not aware 

 that any other British habitats have been recorded. I 

 have had the advantage of examining Mrs. Gray's spe- 

 cimens. 



