127 



This, compared with the last is a -stout species. It is 

 abundantly found towards autumn among the matted roots 

 of the larger fuci ; in these situations it grows in great pro- 

 fusion so as to fill up every crevice. It is calcareous, while, 

 and sometimes tinged with red, and rarely exceeds one inch 

 in height, being more inclined to spread than rise. As it 

 thus trails along, many of the branches come in contact with 

 the substance on which it grows, from these points long 

 slender tendrils arise, which firmly clasp the fuci and secure 

 the polvpidom in its situation. The cells are in the brandies 

 and do not stand prominently out as in the last species; they 

 are alternate, and open by oval oblique apertures which have 

 a stout blunt spine on the upper and outer rim. The aper- 

 tures all face on one plane, and the lower portion of one 

 orifice is immediately above the upper margin of another. 



CREEPING CORALLINE. C. Reptans. Calcareous, 

 creeping, dichotomously branched ; cells semi-alternate, 

 with oblique apertures, armed with four or five spines at 

 their outer rims. PI. xxiii., fig. 3. 



Creeping Coralline, Ellis' Coral., p. 3", pi. 20, fig. b B. 

 Sertularia reptans, Turton's Lin., vol. 4, p. 685. Stewart's 

 Elem., vol. 2, p. 448. Cellularia reptans, Fleming's Brit. 

 An., p. 540. Johnston's Brit. Zooph., p. 291, pi. 38, figs. 3 

 and 4. Bellamy's South Devon, p. 270. Crisia reptans, 

 Templeton in Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 9, p. 4G9. Lamouioux's 

 Cor. Flex., p. 140. 



Hab. On the roots of the larger fuci, every where 

 common. 



This species is very similar to the last in its habits and 

 spreading character. It is calcareous, spreading and grows 

 to the height of about three quarters of an inch. It is 

 dichotomously branched ; and the branches are linear and 

 diverging. The cells are biserial, alternate, and very 

 loosely arranged ; the apertures are oval, oblique, divergent, 

 and have at their superior and external rim several long 

 tubular spines. These spines, however are much shorter 

 than those of C ciliata, rarely exceeding in length the dia- 

 meter of the cell. The number of these appendages varies 

 in different specimens; Ellis has figured it as having only 

 two, a number I have also seen, but they most commonly 

 amount to three or four and very rarely indeed to five ; but 

 whether two, three or four, the same number generally per- 

 vades the whole specimen. At the joints, where they come 

 in contact with the substance on which the polypidom 

 grows, a few slender tendrils arise, wiih hooks, by which 

 the animal is firmly rooted. 



