70 SYNOPSIS OF BRITISH BSAWBBD8. 



cimen having been collected just as they wore patting 



forth. It is obvious that they arc metamorphosed ramuli, 

 occupying exactly the position of ranmli. They are pro- 

 fusely scattered over all the branches of the specimen. 



111. Richardsoni (Hi chard son's Polysiphonia) ; stems carti- 

 laginous, setaceous ; branches alternate, elongated, divari- 

 cate, beset in the upper part with very patent, straight, sub- 

 diehotomous ramuli ; articulations of the stem and branches 

 two or three times longer than broad, irregularly veined ; of 

 the ramuli shorter ; capsules sessile, globose, Hook. JBr. PL 

 r. 2. p. 33. (Atlas, PL XXVI. Fig. 115.) 



Sab. Colvend, Dumfries. Very rare. 



What little is known of this species, if it be entitled to 

 that rank, is taken from a specimen gathered by Sir J. 

 Richardson many years ago, before the Arctic Expedition 

 which he accompanied, and preserved in Sir W. J. Hooker's 

 rich Herbarium. Though it closely borders in its micro- 

 scopic characters on several species, its habit does not pre- 

 cisely agree with any with which I am acquainted. The 

 nearest in affinity is perhaps P.fibrillosa, and it is possible 

 that it may be only an anomalous form of that very vari- 

 able species, from the normal state of which its clearly ar- 

 ticulate stem affords a ready distinctive character. The 

 habit of branching strikingly reminds us of P. elongella. 

 but in no other character does it agree with that species. 

 There is also an affinity with P. violacea and P.Jibrafa, 

 and especially with P. Griffithsiana ; but from all these it 

 differs in more or less degree, and with none, except the 

 last, has it a very strong relation. 



112. Griffithsiana (Mrs. Griffiths's Polysiphonia) ; stem rigid, 

 attenuated, alternately branched ; branches long, patent, sub- 

 simple, furnished with numerous subdichotomous or alter- 

 nately divided, slender, patent, flaccid ranmli ; articulations 

 of the stem, branches, and ramuli about once and a half or 

 rarely twice as long as broad, with straight tubes ; siphons 

 in the stem four, with four alternate secondary ones ; cap- 

 sules broadlv ovate, sessile, Harv. Man. p. 91. (Atlas, 

 PL XXYI. Fig. 116.) 



Hob. South coast of England. On the smaller Algae between 



tide-marks. Annual. September. 



An elegant plant, with a good deal the habit of small 



specimens of P. violacea. but known at once from that 



species by the distinctly jointed stem marked by straight 



