Plate XXXVIII. 



Fiffs. 173 & 174. NITOPHYLLUM PUNCTATUM. 



Colour. Bright pink. 



SuhstancG. Delicately membranaceous. 



Character of Frond. A tliin_, flat^ ribless expansion; unstalked {sessile); 

 irregular in outline, but always inclined to wedge- sliaped; variously slit 

 and divided. Sometimes nearly simple, with a few forked [dicliotomous) 

 divisions (laciniw) above; or fringing the margins also. Sometimes 

 narrow, and repeatedly forked from the base. (See Fig. 174; upper 

 form.) Glossy when dried. Unmarked by veiny lines. 



Measurement. From 4 to 12 inches long, and about as broad. At Cushendall, 

 N. Ireland, 5 feet long by 3 wide. 



Fructification. Of two kinds. 1. Clustered spores in small, globose, capsules; 

 immersed in, and thickly scattered over, the surface. 2. Tetraspores 

 in large more or less oval groups [sori), scattered, or confined to a 

 central portion. 



Habitat. Several stations on our coasts. West of Scotland. Finest in 

 Ireland. Attached to algee in pools at low-water mark, and in deeper 

 water. 



Dr. Harvey has here collected under one name several plants which have been 

 accounted species, but which he has satisfied himself agree in certain important 

 distinctive characters. Amateurs may be guided by the bright, light, pink colour, 

 extremely thin substance, glossiness when dry, and entire absence of veiny lines, 

 to a recognition of this plant under its many forms. 



