Fig. 197. GIGARTINA PISTILLATA. 



Colour. A dull purple^ becoming darker in drying. 

 Substance. Gristly when fresh; horny when dry. 



Character of Frond. Compressed, simple, narrow-wedge-shaped stems, 

 spreading into branches right and left above, in a repeatedly forked 

 manner {dichotomously) ; forming a broadly fan-shaped outline. Angles 

 of branching (axils) wide and rounded; tips acute. Branches naked, 

 or clothed with short horizontal, simple or forked branchlets, on which 

 the capsular fruit is borne. Fruiting in winter. 



Measurement. From 3 to 6 inches long. 



Fructification. Of two kinds. 1. A mass of spores in large spherical capsules, 

 depressed in the centre; no darker than the frond; external; sessile 

 on the branchlets, either singly or in pairs. 2. Tetraspores in groups 

 [sori) immersed in the branches; distorting them. 



Habitat. Coast of Cornwall. Jersey. On rocks near low-water mark. Very 

 rare. 



For another Gigartina, see next Plate. 



Fig. 198. GRACILARIA CONFERVOIDES. 



Colour. A pale or deep red; becoming paler in decay. 

 Substance. Rigid; gristly; not adhering to paper. 



Character of Frond. Long; thread-shaped {filiform) ; solid; irregularly (often 

 very slightly) branched. Branches long and simple, or here and there 

 forked; either naked, or furnished with a few short branchlets. 

 Branchlets tapering to each end. 



Measurement. From 3 to 20 inches long. 



Fructification. Of two kinds. 1. A mass of spores in globose capsules; 

 external; sessile on the branches; abundant. 2. Tetraspores ; minute; 

 imbedded in the same. 



Habitat. Our shores generally. On rocks and stones in the sea near low- 

 water mark. Not uncommon. 



Varying very much in length and the amount of branching. Var. /3. procerrima 

 has its branches "very long, generally simple, and almost naked." Yar. y. albida 

 is compressed instead of thread- shaped, and several times forked, with awl-shaped 

 branchlets. Yar. 5. geniculata is distorted and bent, as if broken, where the 

 capsules occur. 



