placed opposite to the cili, are ovate, supported on a short stalk, and con- 
tain a tuft of pear-shaped spores; they are formed from metamorphosed 
branches, not from ciliz ; a fact proved by their position being the same as 
that of normal branches, and illustrated by specimens gathered by Mrs. 
Wyatt, m which they are partly converted into ramuliferous branchlets. 
Colour, a fine, pellucid crimson. Substance soft, flaccid, and adhering to 
paper in drying. Var. 8 differs from the common form in being cylindrical, 
with ramuli twice as long as usual. 
OO Oe 
A highly beautiful species, and so unlike any other British 
Alga that it must be recognized at a glance. The delicate cilize 
which border every part of the frond, and which are arranged 
with strict regularity, bemg always perfectly distichous, and 
placed alternate to each other, and opposite either to a capsule 
or to a branch, taken in connection with the cellular frond and 
brilliant colour, afford marks that cannot be mistaken. 
Bonnemaisonia asparagoides was discovered by Mr. Wigg, 
whose name is so often mentioned in connection with our rarer 
Algee, and first described by Mr. Woodward, in the second volume 
of the ‘ Linnzean Transactions’. It has since been found on many 
of the European shores, but not yet, that I am aware of, out of 
Europe. 
The pear-shaped spores which the capsules contain, are said, 
by authors, to be compound, that is, composed of several separate 
sporules, like those of Fucus serratus, or Cutleria multifida. This 
character, though I have repeatedly looked for, I have never been 
able to observe; to me they appear to be filled with a homo- 
geneous, granular matter, im all respects similar to what occurs 
in the other Chondriese. Zetraspores have not yet been found 
on this Alga; to judge by analogy, they ought to exist, if formed 
at all, in the cilize, and in specimens where capsules were wholly 
suppressed. Capsules are abundantly produced, and on the very 
numerous specimens which have come under my notice, though 
they have varied greatly in number upon each, I never saw any 
specimen from which they were wholly absent. 
Fig. 1. BoNNEMAISONIA ASPARAGOIDES :—vatural size. 2. Apex of a branch 
showing capsules in different stages of growth. 3. Transverse section of a 
branch, 4. A capsule. 5. Spores :—all more or less highly magnified. 
