RHODOSPERME. 117 
a similar structure to the fibres which are found on the tips of many of 
the Polysiphonie, but while in that genus these fibres are nearly always 
colourless, and perish as the plants advance towards maturity, and are not 
jn any way connected with the fructification of the plants, in the Dasye 
they are brilliantly coloured, and are as enduring as the plants themselves ; 
the stichidia, or vessels which bear the tetraspores, being a transformation 
of portions of these tufted ramuli. The ceramidium, or spore-vessel, is 
also a metamorphosis of some of these ramuli, and is an interesting and 
beautiful object for the microscope, a number of crimson pear-shaped 
spores being distinctly visible through the semi-transparent walls of the 
Fie. 108. Dasya Coccinea. 
fruit-vessel. The stichidia are oblong lanceolate pods, suddenly pointed 
at the tips, and contain the tetraspores, which are arranged in a series of 
transverse bands. D. coccinea is a summer annual. Small stunted forms 
are met with growing in pools between tide marks, but luxuriant specimens 
are only obtainable in sheltered situations at extreme low-water mark, 
though occasionally they are cast ashore from deep water. The most 
favourable situations for this species, known to me, are the bays around 
Bovisand near Plymouth, and the shores west of Ventnor, in the Isle of 
Wight. D. ocellata, so named from a fancied resemblance which the tips 
