164 BRITISH SEA-WEEDS. 



2. Roundish or oolong tetraspores, variously parted, either 

 dispersed among the surface cells, or collected in definite 

 clusters, or in proper leaflets. 



" This Order," writes Dr. Harvey, " has recently 

 been proposed by Professor J. G. Agardh, to include 

 a few genera which, on account of the very different 

 structure of their conceptacular fruit, he has rejected 

 from the Sphcerococcoidea, — a measure rendered neces- 

 sary by the new principles of arrangement developed by 

 that author. These plants, however, so closely resemble 

 the genuine Spharococcoidece in external habit, and even 

 in the internal structure of the stem and leaves, that re- 

 course must sometimes be had to an accurate micro- 

 scopic analysis of the contents of the conceptacle, before 

 the student can ascertain the proper place in the system 

 of the plant under examination." 



Genus LXX. MAUG-ERIA. 



Fronds bright crimson, flat, leaf-like, membranaceous, 

 transversely veined, traversed by a strong midrib. Spores 

 egg-shaped, contained in spherical conceptacles, which are 

 borne on short stalks, mostly on one side of the midrib ; 

 tetraspores numerous, produced in winter in pod-like leaf- 

 lets, which grow on the midribs of fronds which have lost 

 their membrane. 



The beautiful plant, which is at present the only re- 

 presentative of this genus, is an old favourite, appearing 

 under a new name. It is nearly the largest, and by far 

 the most striking and brilliant British sea- weed of the 

 Red series, and is familiar to every collector as Deles- 

 seria sanyuinea. Unfortunately this name could not be 

 retained, for under the classification of Agardh, which 

 is now generally adopted, it was necessary to remove the 



