THE HALF-TIDE POOL. 63 



stem undivided, but sending forth stout branches 

 alternately clothed with lesser branches or ramuli 

 twice or thrice divided, and often bearing cup-like 

 bodies at the tips filled with yellow filaments. 



The Fructification is of two kinds : ceramidia like 

 Polysiplwnia, but more opaque, and full of pear-shaped 

 spores ; tetraspores irregularly dotted in the ramuli. 

 This Laurencia has often a hot, biting taste, and was 

 formerly eaten in Scotland under the name of pepper 

 dulse. It is found in equal plenty along the coasts 

 of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Tropical Seas, and 

 as far south as Cape Horn. 



Laeee^cia C^spitosa (Tufted Laurentia). — A 

 variety of Laurencia JPinnatifida, smaller, more deli- 

 cate, much branched, and variegated in colour from 

 yellowish green to purple. 



LAEEE^ciADASYPHYLLA(Sedum-leavedLaurentia.) 

 — Tins is a fine plant for the album, and if gathered 

 in a deep shady pool, as near low-water mark as pos- 

 sible, the specimen will be nearly twelve inches long ; 

 the colour varying again from yellowish-purple to pale 

 pink, or even dark purple, and sometimes a mixture of 

 all three, which greatly help the young collector in 

 naming it. Much more slender than the former spe- 

 cies, the main stem throws out long lateral branches, 

 all having numerous linear club-shaped ramuli, one or 

 two lines in length, and very much attenuated at the 

 base, resembling leaves of a Sedzwi or stonecrop. 



The stem under a lens appears to be striated or 

 striped, because this species nearly approaches By- 



