RHODOMELACEifc. 117 



Dasya Cattlowise. Cattlow's Dasya. 



Frond about four inches high, with an irregular, rounded 

 outline, flaccid ; main stem robust, flat when dry, running 

 distinctly through the frond, and furnished with branches 

 quite down to its base ; branches irregularly pinnate, oppo- 

 site or alternate, long, slender, rounded at the tip, clothed 

 with very long, delicate, many-times forked, jointed branch- 

 lets, which commence with a single fibre, but by repeated 

 forkings become tufted. Fructification unknown. 



This species was first found floating in St. Aubin's 

 Bay, Jersey, by Miss Mary Cattlow, in 1858. The spe- 

 cimen was submitted to Dr. Harvey, who believed it to 

 be distinct, and named it after the discoverer. He has 

 not, that I am aware, published any description of it, 

 and the only notices of the plant that I can find are a 

 reference to it as " a form not yet described," in the 

 appendix to Mrs. Gatty's l British Sea-weeds/ and a 

 brief description at the end of Dr. Gray's ' Handbook of 

 "Water- weeds/ I am indebted to Mrs. William Mauger 

 for the loan of two fine specimens, collected in Jersey 

 by Miss Dyke-Poore, and from these the above descrip- 

 tion is taken. They are, unfortunately, both barren, 

 and as this was also the case with the first specimen 

 found, it is impossible to decide with certainty whether 

 the form be entitled to specific rank. In external ap- 

 pearance it is more distinct from all the allied British 

 species than some of these always are from each other. 

 The lax mode of growth, the rounded, irregular 

 outline of the frond, and the very long, and compara- 

 tively robust branchlets, are the most striking cha- 

 racters. 



