Plate XXIV. 
Fig. 103. RHODOMELA SUBFUSCA. 
Colour. Dark brownish-red ; becoming nearly black in drying. 
Substance. Kigid. 
Character of Frond. Thread-like {filamentous') ; tufted ; bushy ; much branched ; in summer 
everywhere clothed with minute branchlets. Filaments opaque ; becoming finer up- 
wards. 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 capsides; external. 2. Tetra- 
spores 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 algm between tide-marks. Common. 
For the other Rhodomela, see Plate XXIII. Fig. 100. In characteristic specimens the two 
species are unlike enough ; hut intermediate varieties sometimes occur. B. lycopodioides 
is, however, a strictly north-country plant. There is a great resemblance between this genus 
and the next two {Rytiphlcea and Rolysiphoma), in some general points, but the microscope 
shows the structures of the three to be widely different. 
Fig. 104. RYTIPHLCEA PHSTASTROIDES. 
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. Filaments 
opaque ; closely marked with lines across {transversely striate). Branching irregular. 
Stem nearly simple at base ; much divided above ; set everywhere with very short 
thorn-like branchlets. Branches long, simple, spreading often, slightly 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 ; 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 he 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 Rytiphlceas see Plates XXIII. and XXV. The char- 
acteristic lines across {transverse stria;), are obvious in the younger branches, if examined 
through a pocket lens. 
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