02 BTHOP8I8 OF BRITI<ir IZAWEBD8. 



order of branching more or less dichotomous. while die 

 ramuli are Less dense, and more sqnarrose and, so tar ai I 



know, always barren. 



133. venusta {The beautiful Dasya) ; frond pyramidal, < : 

 poundly pinnate; t lie branches clothed with exceedingly 



slender, flaccid, many times dichotomous, attenuated ra- 

 muli: artieulations five or six times longer than broad; 

 stichidia pedicellate, ovoid, much acuminate; ceramidia 

 ovate-urceolate, with a protruding mouth, JIarv. Phy. Brit, 

 pi. 225. (Atlas, PL XXV. Fig. 107.) 

 Hob. Jersey. Cast on shore. Annual. Summer and autumn. 

 Very rare. 

 In the byssoid fineness of its ramuli this species ap- 

 proaches D. eleyans, but differs in habit and in the form 

 of its stichidia and ceramidia. Its habit is indeed rather 

 that of Pol. byssoides or of Seirosp>ora Griffiths'} ana than 

 of any Dasya known to rue, and may be said to be in- 

 termediate in aspect between those two beautiful plants. 

 The conical outline is very characteristic; but it is on 

 the extreme slenderness and repeated division of the 

 ramuli, and the shape of the stichidia, that I chiefly rely 

 for its diagnosis. 



Order 8. LA URENCIA CEM. 



XLIL BOXXEMAISOXIA. 



134. asparagoides {The asparagus-like Bonnemaisonia) ; frond 

 compressed or sub-terete ; capsules stalked, opposite the 

 cilia, Ay. Sp. Alg. v. 1. p. 197. (Atlas, PL XXX. Fig. 133.) 



Plocamium asparagoides, Lam. Ceramium asparagoides, Both. 



Fucus asparagoides, Woodiv. 

 Hab. On submarine rocks, near low-water mark, and at a greater 



depth. Annual. June to September. 

 A highly beautiful species, and so unlike any other 

 British Alga that it must be recognized at a glance. The 

 delicate cilia which border every part of the frond, and 

 which are arranged with strict regularity, being always 

 perfectly distichous, and placed alternate to each other and 

 opposite either to a capsule or to a branch, taken in con- 

 nection with the cellular frond and brilliant colour, afford 

 marks that cannot be mistaken. 



XLIII. LAUREXCIA. 



135. pinnatifida (The pi an at if ul Laureacia) ; frond compressed 



