Plate XXIV. 



Fig. 103. RHODOMELA SUBFUSCA. 



Colour. Dark brownish-red; becoming nearly black in drying. 

 Substance. Higid. 



Character of Frond. Thread-like {filameiifous) \ tufted; bushy; much branched; in 

 summer everywhere clothed with minute branchlets. Filaments opaque; be- 

 coming finer upwards. Stems simple or divided; branches long, straight, 

 simple; set with simple or re-branched branchlets, which are alternate and often 

 crowded together above; sometimes feathery from subdivision. In winter the 

 finer branchlets die partially down, leaving the stems irregularly clothed with 

 stunted remains. In the following spring a fresh set arise, and on these the 

 fructification is often produced. 



Measurement. From 4 to 10 inches long. 



Fructification. Of two kinds. 1. Clustered spores in ovate capsules; external. 

 2. Tetraspores immersed in the ends of swollen branchlets; solitary or in 

 pairs. The black tubercles which are sometimes found on this plant are a 

 diseased growth — not fructification. 



Habitat. All round our coasts. On rocks and alga? between tide-marks. Common. 



For the other Bhodomela, see Plate XXIII. Fig. 100. In characteristic speci- 

 mens the two species are unlike enough; but intermediate varieties sometimes 

 occur. S. lycopodioides is, however, a strictly north-country plant. There is a 

 great resemblance between this genus and the next two {Bytijdilcea and Poly- 

 sipJionia), in some general points, but the microscope shows the structures of 

 the three to be widely different. 



Fig. 104. RYTIPHLCEA PINASTROIDES. 



Colour. Dull red; clear when young; dark, when old; becoming black in drying. 

 Substance. Very firm; elastic. 



Character of Frond. Thread-like {filamentous); very bushy; much branched. Fila- 

 ments opaque; closely marked with lines across {transverseli/ striate). Branching 

 irregular. Stem nearlj^ simple at base; much divided above; set everywhere 

 with very short thorn-like branchlets. Branches long, simple, spreading often, 

 slii^htly incurved; either alternate or on one side the stem only {secund); 

 re-branched; the lesser branches set with short, straight, or slightly incurved 

 branchlets; all turned to one side {secund therefore); making the branches 

 look like so many small combs (see figure); tips often hooked in; general 

 outline spreading and fan-shaped. 



Measurement. From 4 to 8 inches long. 



Fructification. Of two kinds. 1. Clustered {spores) in ovate capsules; external, on 



the branches. 2. Tetraspores imbedded in the ends of swollen branchlets. 

 Habitat. South coast of England. Isle of Wight, &c. Common. 



A species of such peculiar growth that it is scarcely possible to confound it 

 with any other. If a specimen be picked up from the shore and well shaken 

 so as to disperse the water, the bushy branches will bristle out in all directions, 

 instead of clinging together as they are apt to do in so many tufted plants. 

 For other Bytiphlaxis see Plates XXIII. and XXY. The characteristic lines 

 across {transvevse strion), are obvious in the younger branches, if examined 

 through a pocket lens. 



47 



