very narrow, coloured bag, and they are clothed externally with a pile of 
short, dichotomous, moniliform coloured filaments, which form the coat of 
the frond. Fructification; spherical masses of closely compacted, minute 
spores, abundantly scattered among the filaments of the periphery. Colour 
a fine, clear, rosy-crimson. Substance tender, slippery and gelatinous, very 
closely adhering to paper in drying. 
A highly beautiful plant, nearly related in affinity to the genus 
Dudresnaia, but, according to the views of the late Captain 
‘Carmichael of Appin, forming the type of a separate genus, which 
differs from Dudresnaia chiefly in having a tubular axis. The 
structure, as seen by the microscope, is very beautiful, and such 
that it is impossible to do it justice in drawing, the extreme 
lubricity and transparency of the parts being lost in a lithograph. 
‘The whole plant is very tender, and invested with a gelatinous 
pellicle, and each filament of which it is composed stands sepa- 
rated from its neighbour by a similar coating. These characters 
are lost in our plate, which is, mm other respects, a faithful portrait. 
Gloiosiphonia capillaris is one of those species which is rather 
uncertain in its appearance, being found in some seasons in con- 
siderable plenty, and not occurring again, sometimes, for several 
years. ‘The causes of such temporary disappearances of certain 
sea plants are very obscure, and will probably long remain so. 
The most probable seem to be changes which may take place m 
the bottom of the sea by the shifting of sand or gravel, an over- 
flowing of which would smother the vegetation, and would not 
afford sufficient stability for the roots of a new crop. In many 
instances this cause no doubt prevails. In some others, the 
difference of temperature, small as this is, of different seasons, 
appears to be the chief, or the only, cause of failure. ; 
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Fig. 1. GLOoIosIPHONIA CAPILLARIS :—vwatural size. 2. A small branchlet. 
3. Transverse section of the tubular frond. 4. A segment of the same, 
enlarged. 5. A longitudinal section of the frond :—al/ more or less highly 
magnified. 
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