188 BRITISH MARINE ALGZ. 
until some recognised algological authority thinks proper to alter the 
name, and the botanical world acknowledges it, we must be content to 
retain what, in my humble opinion, is a misnomer for the Order, a 
description of which I am now entering upon. 
Fig. 174, a, represents a complete plant, the natural size, of the rare and 
very pretty deep-water summer annual Microcladia glandulosa. This 
species was discovered by Mrs. Griffiths in Torbay in the early part of the 
present century, and has been found in several situations on the south 
coast of Devon, and on the east coast of Ireland. The plant from which 
our illustration was taken, was cast ashore near Plymouth, where I have 
taken it occasionally after storms, generally attached to the fibrous roots 
of some of the deep water algex. The pretty little tufts of this plant are 
rarely more than 2ir. high, and are generally of a roundish form, the tips — 
of the branches always fastigiate, and either pointed or terminating in a 
little fork, the tips of which incline inwards, somewhat like the forcipate 
branches of Ceramium rubrum (Fig. 176),a species which is not unfrequently 
mistaken for this rare little rhodosperm. The fructification of this species 
forms an extremely interesting microscopic study. ‘Two magnified 
branches are represented in Fig. 174; } is a terminal branch, on the 
margin of the central division of which is seated a favella, supported 
by two or three little finger-like ramuli, c is a branchlet which contains 
a series of tetraspores imbedded in the cells near the tip of the central 
fork. The fruit is rare, but is producedin autumn. Thecolour is a pale 
rose-red, and the plant adheres very well to paper. Very nearly related 
to this species, and also to some broad forms of Ceramiwm rubrum, is 
the plant which is represented by a branch at Fig. 175, an extremely rare 
and interesting species which I took many years ago, but have never 
met with since. The history of its discovery is as follows: In the summer 
of 1858, I was gathering seaweeds in company with the late Dr. Cocks, of 
Plymouth, when we found attached to the roots of a specimen of 
Plocamium a remarkable form of what I thought at the time was 
Microcladia glandulosa; but Dr. Cocks, not being satisfied with either 
his own or my opinion concerning it, forwarded the specimen to Dr. Harvey, 
who, after a careful examination of its structure, returned the plant, 
saying that “it was undoubtedly new, and must be regarded as inter- 
mediate between Microcladia and Ceramium rubrum, and that he proposed 
naming it Ceramium microcladia Cocksvi.’’ Favelle were faintly apparent 
in some of the forked tips, a situation quite different from that in which 
they occur in either Microcladia or Ceramium rubrum. This particular 
plant is still in my possession. I have never met with another specimen of 
it, neither have I heard of any plant at all answering to its description 
having been taken until this season (1873), when a species of ceramium 
was sent to me from Plymouth, which certainly very closely resembles 
my former novelty, but, as it is not in fruit, I fear, after all, it 
must be referred to one of the broader forms of the protean Ceramiwm 
rubrum. 
