Fig. 197. GIGARTINA PISTILLATA. 
Colour. A dull purple, becoming darker in drying. 
Substance. Gristly when fresh ; horny when dry. 
Character of Frond. Compressed, simple, narrow-wedge-shaped stems, spreading into branches 
right and left above, in a repeatedly forked manner {dichotomously) ; forming a 
broadly fan-shaped outline. Angles of branching {axils) wide and rounded 5 tips 
acute. Branches naked, or clothed with short horizontal, simple or forked branch- 
lets, on which the capsular fruit is borne. Fruiting in winter. 
Measurement. From 3 to 6 inches long. 
Fructification. Of two kinds. 1 . A mass of spores in large spherical capsules^ depressed in the 
centre ; no darker than the frond ; external ; sessile on the branchlets, either singly 
or in pairs. 2. Tetraspores in groups {sori) immersed in the branches ; distorting 
them. 
Habitat. Coast of Cornwall. Jersey. On rocks near low-water mark. Very rare. 
For another Gigartina, see next Plate. 
Fig. 198. GRACILARIA CONFERVOIDES. 
Colour. A pale or deep red ; becoming paler in decay. 
Substance. Rigid ; gristly ; not adhering to paper. 
Character of Frond. Long ; thread-shaped {filiform) ; solid ; irregularly (often very slightly) 
branched. Branches long and simple, or here and there forked ; either naked, or 
furnished with a few short branchlets. Branchlets tapering to each end. 
Measurement. From 3 to 20 inches long. 
Fructification. Of two kinds. 1 . A mass of spores in globose capsides; external ; sessile 
on the branches ; abundant. 2. Tetraspores ; minute ; imbedded in the same. 
Habitat. Our shores generally. On rocks and stones in the sea near low-water mark. Not 
uncommon. 
Varying very much in length and the amount of branching. Var. j8. procerrima has its 
branches “ very long, generally simple, and almost naked.” Var. y. alhida is compressed 
instead of thread-shaped, and several times forked, with awl-shaped branchlets. Var. 
genicidata is distorted and bent, as if broken, where the capsules occur. 
86 
