186 SEA MOSSES. 



the eastern coast are small, not more than an inch, 

 or an inch and a half high. Those growing in 

 California are three or four inches high, the lower 

 branches long and naked below, gradually shortening 

 toward the top of the plant. They are two or 

 three times pinnated, that is, the branches bear 

 branches, and these branchlets, arranged on the same 

 pinnate plan throughout ; the ultimate ramuli are 

 usually club-shaped, and swollen with the spore 

 masses, which they contain. Color, a purplish red, 

 but by exposure on the beach, it fades through all 

 shades to dirty white. It grows in tide pools on 

 rocks and other Algae, near low- water mark. It is 

 extremely common on the Pacific coast at all sea- 

 sons. A section of the fruit-bearing branchlet makes 

 a very interesting microscopical object, with its club- 

 shaped spores, growing from a central partition, 

 which divides the inner cavity of the conceptacle 

 into two equal chambers. 



Gelidium cartilagineum, Grev. 



The fronds often attain a height of twelve inches, 

 are flattened, two-edged, one-tenth of an inch in 

 diameter, flatter upwards, three or four times pin- 

 nated. The root is a mass of much-branched, rigid 

 fibres. Stem and long primary branches naked be- 



