Ser. RHODOSPERMEA. Fam. Rhodomelee. 
Pirate CCXXV. 
DASYA VENUSTA, Zarv. (x. sp.) 
Gen. Cuan. Frond filamentous; the stem and branches mostly opake, 
irregularly cellular (rarely pellucid, longitudinally tubed), composed 
internally of numerous parallel tubes surrounding a central cavity ; 
the ramuli jointed, single tubed. Hructification two-fold, on distinct 
plants; 1, ovate capsules (ceramidia) furnished with a terminal pore, 
and containing a tuft of pear-shaped spores ; 2, lanceolate pods (stichi- 
dia) containing ¢e¢raspores ranged in transverse bands. Dasya (4y.), 
—from Sacvs, hairy. 
Dasya venusta; frond pyramidal, decompoundly pinnate; the branches 
clothed with exceedingly slender, flaccid, many times dichotomous, 
attenuated ramuli; articulations five or six times longer than broad ; 
stichidia pedicellate, ovoid, much acuminate; ceramidia ovate-ur- 
ceolate, with a protruding mouth. 
Dasya venusta, Harv. in Herb. T. C. D. 
Haz. Cast on shore. Annual. Summer and Autumn. Very rare. 
Discovered on the shores of Jersey, by Miss White and Miss Turner. 
Groep. Distr. ? 
Descr. Root, a small disc. Stem three or four inches long, as thick as hog’s 
bristles, undivided, but furnished throughout with numerous alternate, 
lateral branches, the lowest of which are longest, the rest gradually shorter 
towards the apex. Branches undivided like the stem, and like it furnished 
with a second series of lesser branches which likewise diminish in length 
towards the extremities ; these again, in large specimens, bear a third series ; 
each set being smaller and more slender than the preceding. The main 
stem is generally bare of ramuli; but all the branches and their divisions 
are clothed with very slender and flaccid, jointed ramuli, one or two lines 
in length, and very many times dichotomous: these rapidly diminish in 
diameter at each successive forking, and at length are reduced to cob-web 
thinness at the extremities. 4vils acute. Articulations cylindrical, five or 
six times as long as broad. Ceramidia borne on short, inarticulate peduncles, 
surrounded by a few jointed ramuli, ovate-urceolate, gradually tapering into 
a conical neck, containing a dense, globose mass of small spores. Stichidia 
borne on the ramuli, pedicellate, ovate, much acuminate, with a long acute 
point, containing three or four rows of roundish tetraspores. Substance 
very tender and flaccid, strongly adhering to paper in drying. Colour, a 
fine crimson-lake. In fresh-water it gives out a crimson powder.—Some- 
times the ramuli are tipped with linear-lanceolate, pod-like bodies, full of 
minute granules ; apparently axtheridia (fig. 4). 
In the year 1846 I received from Miss White a small specimen 
of this plant, which at that time I laid aside, as a variety of D. ar- 
