162 SEA MOSSES. 



to the warmer regions, and grow south of Cape 

 Cod, but grow there in great abundance. Though 

 not a very striking or beautiful genus, it is yet far 

 from being uninteresting. It is characterized by two 

 marks which make it extremely easy of recognition, 

 viz. : The uniform light or dull brown color when 

 fresh ; and the fact that the stems and branches 

 are pretty thickly covered with short club or spindle- 

 shaped ramuli. These ramuli, which are from one- 

 eighth to one- half of an inch long, are very much 

 constricted at the base, often seeming to be attached 

 by the finest thread, or hair, to the plant. In three 

 of the species they taper to a fine point at the 

 extremity, and in the other, C. dasyphylla, they are 

 very blunt at the end, shaped not unlike a boy's 

 top. The plants should not be put in fresh water, 

 and should be dried under comparatively light 



pressure. 



Chondriopsis tenuissima, Ag. 



This, as its name implies, is the slenderest of 

 the several species. It grows from four to six 

 inches high, with an undivided stem once or twice 

 as thick as a bristle, with long, spreading, mostly 

 alternate branches, sometimes simple, sometimes them- 

 selves branched in the same way, and furnished 

 throughout, more or less, abundantly with the charac- 



