Plate XXXV. 
Fig. 157. MELOBESIA POLYMOKPHA. 
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. 
Fig. 158. MELOBESIA FASCICULATA. 
Colour. A dark lurid* purple ; soon fading in the air. 
Substance. Hard, limy, solid ; less stony than M. poly morpha. 
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, somewhat 
depressed capsules; seated on {sessile)^ and scattered over, the frond. 
Habitat. Several places on our coasts. Chiefly south and west. Lying at the sandy bottom 
of the sea in from four to five fathoms’ water. 
Fig. 159. MELOBESIA AGAKICIFORMIS. 
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 translating so simple a word? 
It is to be remarked that a spherical {i. e. globose, i. e. round-as-a-ball) capsule, when so 
seated, sometimes becomes hemispherical; and this is the case with the globose capsules of 
the Melohesias, which are also often depressed on the surface. 
