THE MARINE BOTANIST. 131 



LAURENCIA CCESPITOSA.— TUFTED 

 LAURENCIA. 



The characters of this species, which was formerly 

 considered only a variety of the former kind, I 

 copy fi^om the description g-iven in Harvey's 

 "Manual of the British Algse/' p. 98. "On 

 stones, &c., within tide-marks. Annual. Summer. 

 Common. Fronds two to eight inches hig'h, as 

 thick as small twine, cylindrical, or the main 

 divisions slightly compressed, somewhat bare below, 

 much branched above with a pyramidal outline. 

 Branches once or twice pinnate, erect or erecto- 

 patent, irregularly set. Hamuli very irregular, 

 often much crowded, simple or multifid, terete, 

 tapering to the base, and truncate. Colour either 

 a very dark lurid purple, or (under the effects of 

 sunlight) greenish yellow. Almost intermediate 

 between the preceding and following : more cylin- 

 drical and narrower than L. pinnatifida ; and verj^ 

 different in general habit from L. obtusa." 



