LS 
and throw out at the dissepiments a second set of lesser ramuli. In all 
the main stem is solid, and densely cellular; the ramuli hollow, filled with 
a watery fluid. Ceramidia spherical, with a wide pellucid border, sessile on 
the sides of the ramuli. Tetraspores tripartite, scattered through the sur- 
face cells of the ramuli, on distinct plants. Swdstance cartilaginous in the 
stem; membranaceous and soft in the ramuli. Colowr, when in vigour, a 
deep brownish full-red, afterwards becoming pale, then pink, and finally 
whitish or greenish in old age. The colour is given out by steeping in 
fresh water, and the plant adheres closely to paper, when dried with pressure. 
There is some difference in habit betwen this plant and the 
other members of the genus Chylocladia, but so close an affinity 
in the more important points of its structure, that it appears 
very undesirable to separate it from them, as has been proposed 
by Prof. Kiitzmg. Except in having a solid, cellular stem and 
branches, the hollow and jomted portions being confined to the 
ramuli, there is nothing to separate it from C. haliformis, the 
type of the genus. Indeed, as Dr. Greville well remarks, the 
relationship between C. ovalis and C. haliformis is very close, 
especially in that variety of the former, in which the ramuli are 
lengthened, and bear several joints, sometimes furnished with 
the commencement of new whorls. Both are remarkable for 
the wide, pellucid epidermis, which covers the whole plant, and 
for a peculiar modification of the ceramidium, which in these 
species resembles, in form, the fruit called coccidinm, though 
the arrangement and shape of the spores are essentially the 
same as in more usual states of the organ. 
Chylocladia ovalis, is in greater perfection in the months of 
April and May, at which season, on the west coast of Ireland, it 
forms a conspicuous feature in the marine flora, its densely tufted 
succulent fronds being then of a dark red colour, and produced 
in the greatest abundance. ‘Two months later, its aspect 1s com- 
pletely changed; great multitudes of the fronds have perished, 
and those that remain are faded in colour, with attenuated and 
more compound ramuli. By the end of August the plant has 
almost entirely disappeared. 
Fig. 1. Cuytocnapta ovaLis :—of the natural size. 2. A ramulus with tetra- 
spores. 8. Portion of ihe surface, with tetraspores imbedded. 4. Ra- 
mulus with ceramidia. 5. Longitudinal section of the stem. 6. Transverse 
semi-section of the same. 7. Longitudinal section of a ramulus, showing 
the diaphragms :—all magnified. 
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