RED -ALGsE. 241 



bristle in the larger parts, often, indeed, as stout as 

 wrapping-twine, and always has a coarse appearance. 



It branches mostly by forking, the lower divisions 

 distant, the upper ones nearer and nearer together, 

 sometimes narrow, and sometimes widely spreading. 

 The segments attenuate as they divide. The apices 

 are either slightly incurved or quite hooked. The 

 variegated bands are less plainly marked in this, than 

 in either of the other species to be described, and 

 rarely appear as other than light, or dark shades, of 

 the prevailing red. 



The microscopist will find the plant covered 

 throughout with a coating or "bark" of small cells. 

 In the other species to be described, this coating is 

 not continuous, but extends only as rings, of a red 

 or dark color, about the nodes or joints of the 

 frond. This is a sure guide to it in all the many 

 forms which the species will assume. 



To the collector, who depends upon his eyes and 

 his pocket lens, the deep, full red color, which, in- 

 deed, may be faded out by exposure, the general 

 appearance of coarseness, combined with the incurved 

 or hooked apices, will be a sufficiently safe ground 

 for saying that his plant, as he pulls it from the 

 water, is C. rib rum. 



x6 



