Fig. 269. CALLFFHAMNION BYSSOIDEUM. 
Colour. A beautiful rose-red. 
Substance. Gelatinous ; exceedingly soft and delicate ; rather glossy when dry. 
Character of Frond. Dense tufts of excessively fine, jointed threads {filaments) very much 
branched. Stems very slender, much divided from the base, either into several 
principal branches, bearing a great number of lesser ones ; or wholly composed of 
almost cobweb-like branches, inextricably entangled together. Branches forming a 
lanceolate outline ; clothed with long, slender alternate branchlets, plumed like a 
feather, with a second lesser set, and these with branchletee/is ; all alternate. 
Joints. Distinct throughout. 
Measurement. From 1 to 3 inches long. 
Fructification. Of two kinds. 1. Minute spores in large, oval, twice-or-thrice-divided capsules ; 
near the ends of the branches. 2. Oval tetraspores ; mostly solitary ; sessile near the 
base of the branchletee?2S. 
Habitat. Our coasts in several places. Parasitic on other algas ; on Codium tomentosum 
especially. Near low-water mark. Not uncommon. 
Like C. roseum., but much more cobwebby. 
Fig. 270. CALLITHAMNION POLYSPERMUM. 
Colour. Dull rose-red, or purplish. 
Sul) stance. Soft. 
Character of Frond. Dense round tufts of slender, jointed threads ; loosely, very 
much branched. Stems irregularly divided ; somewhat naked below ; furnished with 
spreading branches above. Branches several times divided ; set with lesser branches ; 
the larger ones bearing short, spine-like, alternate branchlets ; some quite simple, 
others re-branchleted, forming feather-like plumes ; the plumes long and narrow ; the 
upper ones occasionally more compound than those below. Branchlets spreading, 
occasionally even turned back. 
Joints. Visible throughout. 
Measurement. From 1 to 3 inches in diameter. 
Fructification. Of two kinds. 1. Minute spores in large round capsules ; sessile on the branch- 
lets. 2. Tetraspores set along the inner sides of the plumes of the branchlets ; 
very abundant. 
Habitat. Our coasts generally. On algce between tide-marks. Common. 
Fig. 271. CALLITHAMNION FASCICULATUM. 
Colour. A fine purple-red. 
Substance. Soft. 
Character of Frond. Tufts of very slender, jointed threads {filaments) much and bushily 
branched. Stems naked at the base, crowded above with long, wavy, very upright 
branches ; their upper half closely plumed like a feather with branchlets. Lowermost 
branchlets (or plumes) short and simple ; upper, long and spreading ; re-branchleted 
once and again near the tips ; producing a blunt outline. 
Joints. Obscure in the nearly-opaque main stems. Visible in the branches. Partition-lines 
{dissepiments) contracted. 
Measurement. Two or 3 inches long. 
Fructification. Only one kind observed. Oval tetraspores at the base of the plumes of the 
branchlets. 
Habitat. Yarmouth, Mr. Borrer. 
Surely only a “ sport” of C. Borreri, 
116 
