Plate XXXV. 



Fig. 157. MELOBESIA POLYMORPHA. 



Colour. A dull purple; fading to red, yellow, greenish, or ash-coloured. 

 Substance, Hard, stony, limy, solid. 



Character of Frond. Irregular lumps, attached to rocks by a narrow base. Of various 

 shapes and sizes; sometimes furrowed like the kernel of a walnut; sometimes 

 rising into short, clumsy, imperfectly developed branches. When fresh from 

 the sea, covered with slime. 



Measurement. From 1 to 3 inches high. 



Fructification. Only one kind known. Clustered strings of spores in minute, round, 

 but rather depressed capsules, seated on (sessile), and scattered over, the frond; 

 numerous. 



Habitat. South coasts of England, and west of Scotland and Ireland. On rocks, 

 stones, and shells between tide-marks. Common. 



Eig. 158. MELOBESIA FASCICULATA. 



Colour. A dark lurid purple; soon fading in the air. 

 Substance, Hard, limy, solid; less stony than M. pohjmorplia. 



Character of Frond. Loose irregular lumps; roundish; furrowed; branched. Branches 



thick, short, clumsy, with broad, blunt, forked ends, somewhat hollowed out. 

 Measurement. From 1 to 3 inches across; about 2 high. 



Fructification. Only one kind known. Clustered strings of spores in round, some- 

 what depressed capsules; seated on (sessile), and scattered over, the frond. 



Mabitat. Several places on our coasts. Chiefly south and west. Lying at the sandy 

 bottom of the sea in from four to five iathoms' water. 



Fig. 159. MELOBESIA AGARICIFOEMIS. 



Colour. Pale flesh-colour when fresh; fading to white. 

 Substance. Hard, limy, solid; but thin and brittle. 



Character of Frond. A loose globular mass, composed of thin, leafy, semicircular 

 expansions (like those of an old-fashioned cap-frill), twisted and curled into 

 close folds; as the foliations spread, the central portion rots away, so that 

 the mass is hollow. 



Measurement. From 4 to 8 inches. The lump sometimes as large as a man's fist, 

 or larger. 



Fructification. Only one kind known. Clustered strings of spores in conical capsules; 

 sessile^' on the frond. 



Habitat. Roundstone Bay, Connemara. Lying on the sandy bottom of quiet bays in 

 from two to three fathoms' water. Very rare. 



* Sessile — unstalked — seated upon — as " every tub on its own bottom." It 

 is surely needless to persist longer in tra7islating so simple a word.P 



It is to be remarked that a spherical {i. e. globose, i. e. round-as-a-ball) capsule, 

 when so seated, sometimes becomes liemi-spherical ; and this is the case with 

 the globose capsules of the Meloheslas, which are also often depressed on the 

 surface. 



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