LOW-WATER MAEK. 101 



GLOIOSIPHONIA CAPILLAEIS. 



(Name from two Greek words signifying " viscid " and " tube.'! 1 ) 



At extreme low-water mark, but more frequently 

 thrown up after a storm, we find this beautiful plant ; 

 the colour is a fine rosy crimson, and valuable for our 

 album. We shall know it by the 



Generic character. — Frond tubular, from three to 

 twelve inches long, filled with watery gelatine : several 

 fronds arise from the same base, all of them undi- 

 vided, but much branched with extremely fine lesser 

 branches. 



This plant is one of those which require a micro- 

 scope to enable us fully to appreciate its beauty ; for 

 the clear, transparent texture then shows delicate 

 filaments radiating from the centre, with crimson 

 spores imbedded in them. The walls of the frond are 

 composed of closely interwoven longitudinal fibres, 

 through whose joints run a narrow coloured bag, all 

 of which is lost in the dried specimen, as, from the 

 gelatinous nature of the plant, it adheres very closely 

 to the paper. 



This is found all the summer, on the coasts of 

 Devonshire, Cornwall, Sheerness, Falmouth, Ireland, 

 Scarborough, and the Channel Islands. 



SPYBIDIA FILAMENTOSA. 



(Name from a Greek word signifying " a basket.") 



This is a very local plant, more abundant in the 

 Channel Islands and along the French coast than in 



