Figs. 189 & 190. EHODYMENIA PALMATA. 



Colour. A dull purplish^ or brownisli-red. 



Substance. When joimg, membranaceous; afterwards leathery. 



Character of Frond. A flat;, ribless, broadly wedge-shaped expansion_, much 

 and irregularly divided into numerous^ jagged_, branching divisions; 

 or else repeatedly branched in a forked manner {cUchotomousIy) . 

 Margins smooth (entire) ^ or fringed with leaf -like formations. Eoot 

 a disc. 



Measurement. From 2 to 20 inches long. 



Fructification. Only one kind known. Tetraspores forming cloud-like patches; 

 dispersed over the surface. 



Habitat. Our coasts everywhere. On rocks and the stems of Lam. digitata, 

 &c. Very common. 



Fig. 189 represents the commonest form. In Fig. 190 we have, in the nar- 

 rower specimen, Var. (i. Sarniensis ; in the broader, Yar. y. soholifera. And 

 many intermediate varieties occur. Dr. Harvey assures us, that once seen and 

 tasted, no one can fail to recognise R. jpalmata again. It is the Dulse of the 

 Scotch; the Billislc of the Irish; and is eaten either raw or cooked, in many 

 places, by the country people. At Miltown Malbay (W. Ireland), and elsewhere, 

 they boil or stew it Avith a little dripping or butter, and pepper, into a savoury 

 mess, like stewed cabbage. 



8 



