MELANOSPERME. Od 
the tips. The receptacles are filiform or string-like, and are produced 
at some distance beyond the air bladders; the branches being all set with 
one or two series of slender ramuli; those which clothe the tips being 
long and bristle-like. Specimens thrown up from deep water on the South 
Coast of Devon are often above 3ft. in length. C. granulata, which 
is not so common as the two foregoing species, may be known by 
the branches, which are long and very slender, having a hard bulb-like 
knob situated at the base of each of them. In the species C. fweni- 
culacea these knobs are absent, and the branches are long and very 
slender, and towards the base are generally bare of ramuli, but in the 
upper parts are clearly set with numerous bushy, much divided, secondary 
branches. All the species are natives of the southern coasts; they are 
perennial, and are in perfection during the summer months. C. barbata 
is' a very doubtful native of these shores. It is usually included 
in the British lists, but I have never 
seen or heard of a specimen having been 
taken in a growing state on any part of 
the coast of England. It grows abun- 
dantly in the Channel Islands, and is 
sometimes found cast ashore in a frag- 
mentary state near Brighton. All the 
Cystoseira are difficult to display satis- 
factorily on paper; they require much 
judicious pruning of the branches, and 
should be soaked in fresh water until 
the salt is well melted out of them, and 
the stems and branches have become 
limp and manageable. The specimen 
should then be dried between towels or 
several folds of strong linen, and after- 
wards pressed. If they do not adhere 
to paper after some days of pressing, 
the under side of the plants may be gummed, or a mixture for the purpose 
may be made by dissolving isinglass in spirits of wine and applied with a 
brush. 
Himanthalia lorea (Fig. 42), commonly called ‘ sea-thongs, sea- 
strap,” or “‘sea-branch,” is a plant concerning the duration of which 
botanists have been at variance, some asserting that the whole plant is 
annual, others describing it as biennial. I am of the same opinion 
respecting it as Dr. Harvey, because, like that eminent algologist, I 
have proved from actual observation that this singular alga does not 
produce its long forked strap-like fruit-bearing receptacles until the com- 
mencement of the second year, which then rapidly attain their ordinary 
size, perfect their fruit, and soon after decay and fall off. Wherever 
this curious plant vegetates, it is generally gregarious, groups of the 
little cones or top-like fronds growing amongst others which have 
Fie, 42. Himanthalia lorea. 
22 66 
