378 
Miscellanea . 
a work in a separate form. It would be written in the English 
language, with detailed descriptions, and figures to illustrate the 
genera ; and I should especially bear it in mind to make descrip¬ 
tions intelligible to the amateur botanist, whose knowledge of 
botany is picked up on a visit to the sea-sliore in the summer 
time. 
W. H. H. 
Trinity College, Dublin , June 24 , 1844 . 
No. 1.— Description of Alg.& gathered at George Town , Van 
Diemen’s Land , and communicated to Sir W. J. Hooker, by 
Ronald C. Gunn, Esq. 
Series 1.—RHODOSPERME.ZE or FLORIDEJE. 
Tribe 1 .— Riiodomeleje, J . Ag, 
1. Claudea elegans , Lam.—George Town, R . Gunn , Esq.> n. 
1261. 
Of all the marine Algce there is none to which a greater interest 
attaches than to the Claudea elegans of Lamouroux ( Fucus 
Claudei , Turn. Hist. Fuc. t. 243). Its extreme rarity, the great 
length of time which has elapsed since the only specimens hitherto 
seen in Europe were gathered by the unfortunate Peron, and the 
uncertainty so long attached to its exact habitat —(“ on the coast 
of New Holland/* being rather a vague direction) :—these cir¬ 
cumstances, combined with its beauty and extraordinary struc¬ 
ture, have long made it to Sir William J. Hooker and myself the 
Algological treasure that we most wished to possess. Our de¬ 
light may then be imagined when in a parcel which has just 
reached Sir William from Ronald Gunn, Esq., we find three fine 
specimens of Claudea elegans , two of them bearing an abundance 
of capsular fruit (or keramidia ). One of these specimens, Sir 
William has, with his usual kindness, presented to me, and as the 
capsular fruit of Claudea has never before been seen by botanists, 
a short description of it, with an accompanying figure, may be 
interesting. 
The three specimens now received from Mr. Gunn, were ga¬ 
thered by him in January, 1843, on the coast near George Town, 
Van Diemen’s Land. Besides these, I only know that two others 
