Ser. RuoposPpERME. Fam. Corallinee. 
Pratt CCXCI. 
MELOBESIA CALCAREA, 27. et Soi. 
Gun. Cuar. Frond attached, or free, either flattened, orbicular, sinuated, 
or irregularly lobed, or cylindrical and branched (never articulated), 
coated with a calcareous deposit. Lructification, conical, sessile cap- 
sules (ceramidia), scattered over the surface of the frond, and con- 
taining a tuft of transversely parted, oblong ¢etraspores. MLoBusta 
(Lamour.),—from one of the sea-nymphs of Hesiod. 
Metosesta ca/carea ; frond unattached, stony, shrub-like, much branched ; 
branches slender, spreading in all directions, cylindrical, anastomosing 
below, free above, and tapering to a blunt point; ramuli either 
simple or forked. 
Nuuipora calcarea, Johnst. Brit. Lith. p. 240. t. 24. f.4, 5. 
Nuturrora fragilis, M‘Calla. 
SPonaires calearea, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 699. 
Mitiepora calcarea, Ell. et Sol. Zooph. p. 129. t. 23. f.13. Lam. An. s. 
Vert. ed. 2. vol. ii. p. 312. 
Has. On shingly or sandy shores, in 5-15 fathom water. Perennial.— 
Coasts of South of England, and West of Scotland and Ireland, 
abundant in many places. 
GroGr. Distr. Probably widely dispersed; I have specimens from New Zealand 
(Dr. J. D. Hooker), and the Galapagos Group (Mr. Darwin). 
Descr. Fronds lying at the bottom of the sea without any attachment, heaped 
together in large masses, on widely spreading strata, the surface individuals 
of which only are alive. ach plant is from one to three or four inches in 
diameter, forming a roundish shrub-like mass of stony branches, which 
spring from a thickened centre, and extend in all directions, being more or 
less confluent in their lower part, but quite free above. These branches 
are flexuous, irregularly divided, either dichotomous or fingered, terete, 
gradually tapering towards the extremity, and ending in a blunt point. Sud- 
stance stony, very brittle. Colour, when quite fresh, a deep blood-red, soon 
passing, on the death of the plant, to that of brick-dust, and, after bleaching 
in the sun, to a snowy whiteness. ‘The tissues throughout the whole frond 
are filled with carbonate of lime, which must be removed by acid before the 
cells can be seen :—the latter are then found to be very minute, arranged 
in slender, closely-packed series or threads. 
PAPAL PDI LPS SSL LLL PDP DDD 
This is one of the commonest of the British deep-water species of 
Melobesia, being found in many parts of the coast, and generally 
