AFTER A STOEM. 123 



branches bear short spine-like ramuli. Colour yel- 

 lowish. The old plants do not adhere well to paper. 

 This is found in lower-tide pools ; but as it prefers 

 five fathom water, is most often washed ashore after 

 a gale of wind. Frequent everywhere. 



Des^taeestia Vieidis (Green Desmarestia). — It 

 is scarcely possible to preserve the delicate filaments 

 which edge the frond of a young plant. Beautiful as 

 the plant is in the water, it spoils on paper unless 

 very carefully laid out. It is best to raise it gently, 

 and dry it without any pressure. 



In the water it appears of a rich orange, tinted with 

 brown ; but, as in others of the tribe, a few minutes' 

 exposure to the air suffices to turn it to a light verdi- 

 gris green. 



This also may be found in tide-pools as well as on 

 the shore. 



ABTHOCLADIA. 



(Name meaning "a joint " and " a branch," in allusion to the nodose or 

 joint-like knobs of the frond.) 



This slender elegant plant grows on submarine 

 plants and in Zostera beds. 



Generic character. — Frond thread-like, cellular, with 

 a jointed hollow stem, knobbed, and at each knob pro- 

 ducing whorls of delicate jointed filaments. 



Fructification. — Beautiful under the microscope. It 

 consists of minute lanceolate pods (stichidia) which 

 resemble strings of green glass beads : each apparent 



