188 THE MARINE BOTANIST. 



purplish, nearly black when dry. Var. /? cirrhosay 

 " irregularly branched and variously distorted * here 

 and there swollen ; the tips lengthened into tendrils, 

 which coil round the stems of neighbouring plants." 

 This variety shows an approach in habit to the 

 foreign species of the genus, most of which produce 

 similar tendrils. The tubercles form roundish 

 swellings in the ramuli, commonly produced and 

 discernible by the naked eye. Tetraspores dis- 

 persed through the branchlets. Grows on rocks, 

 atones, and algae, within tide-marks. Very common 

 on all the British shores. Annual. Summer. 



CRYPTONEMIACE^.— CRYPTONEMIA 

 TRIBE. 



Sea-weeds of a purple or rose-red colour, with 

 filiform, rarely flat fronds ; in texture gelatinous or 

 cartilaginous 5 composed wholly or in part of cylin- 

 drical cells connected together into fibres. The 

 centre of the frond is composed of fibres placed 

 lengthways, the outer surface of radiating fibres. 



