Fig. 248. SEIROSPORA GRIFFITHSIANA. 



Colour. Beautifully rosy. 

 Substance. Delicately soft. 



Character of Frond. Tliread-like {filamentous); jointed; solitary^ or tufted; 

 excessively branclied. Stem as thick as a liog^s bristle below; be- 

 coming gradually finer upwards ; undivided (generally) ; furnished with 

 alternate^ slender^ undivided^ longish^ almost horizontally set branches. 

 Branches becoming finer upwards; clothed throughout with short, 

 soft, hair -like, many-times-forked branchlets; spreading to every side. 

 Last divisions cobwebby. 



Joints. Obscure in the stem and branches, which are opaque and veiny; 

 visible; (when examined through the microscope) in the branchlets. 



Measurement. From 2 to 6 inches long. 



Fructification. Only one kind known. Tetrasj^ores in bead-like cells strung 

 together; formed in a few divisions of the last branchlets ; looking 

 like ruby drops. 



Habitat. A few places on the south and west coasts. On rocks, &c. in 

 very deep water. Very rare. 



Dr. Harvey now includes this plant among the GalUtliamnions. It is the 

 Callithtminion seirospermu7n of his "Nereis BoreaU- Americana." A much slen- 

 derer form with the so-called seirosyorian fruit has been found at Douglas. 

 Possibly, therefore, this mode of fructification is only -what gardeners call 

 a sport. 



Fig. 249. WRANGELIA MULTIFIDA. 



Colour. A fine, transparent rose-red; soon fading. 

 Substance. Soft; elastic. 



CUaracter of Frond. Thread-like [filamentous) ; jointed; stem and branches. 

 Stem the thickness of a hog's bristle, and undivided throughout; 

 furnished on each side with long^^ simple, alternate, almost horizon- 

 tally-set branches. These re-branched with another series which are 

 occasionally forked or re-branched. Each joint of stem, branches, 

 and branchlets beset, either in. opposite pairs or all round {wJiorled), 

 by numerous, short, slender, forked, jointed branchletee9^5 {ramelU). 



Measurement. From 4 to 6 inches long. 



FructificcUion. Of two kinds. 1. Clusters of spores in globose, stalked 

 capsides; enfolded by special, slender loranchleteens (ramelli). 

 2. Tetraspores minute, oval, external; sessile on the brancletee?^s. 



Habitat. South of England. West of Ireland and Scotland. On the per- 

 pendicular sides of rocks in pools near low-water mark, under the 

 shade of other sea- weeds. Rare. 



34 



