26 
gularly branched; purplish red, and occasionally of a greenish hue; tetraspores round, imbedded , generally 
dries black. 
No. 105. G. (icicularis. Wolf. Cylindrical filiform irregularly branched, be¬ 
tween pinnated and dichotomous, branches divaricating, curved, ramuli scattered, 
obtuse or spread, often secund, tubercles spherical on the branches. 
Autumn and winter abundant on rocky shores at and below low water mark; Jersey City, Kavon 
Point, &c. 
No. 108. G. TeediL Turn, Membranaceous, flaccid, horny when dry, linear, 
acuminate, repeatedly pinnated with slender horizontal distichous, subulate ramuli, 
capsules globose on the ramuli.— Grev, 
On rocks and stones from half tide to low water mark, Staten Island, Red Hook, Kavon Point, Jeisey 
City, and other places; perennial, abundant in autumn, very irregularly branched, purple to pale and dull 
red; tetraspores round imbedded, branches frequently much flattened. This plant generally turns black in 
drying; when speedily dried in the sun it retains some red, and is occasionally bleached yellow with the sun 
and moisture. 
NolBT. G. Baileyi. Cylindrical, filiform, stout, cartilaginous, horny when 
dry, dark red, distichous, somewhat quadrifarious, branches long, erect, attenuated 
at each end ; fructification, tetraspores round, attached to the epidermis internal, and 
also tubercles not prominent, only visible when a longitudinal slice is placed under 
the microscope. 
At all seasons, abundant on rocky shores at low water mark ; it dries black, and does not adhere to pa¬ 
per ; it is occasionally found bleached nearly white, and is then more suitable for the herbarium, as it sticks 
to paper in incipient stages of decomposition. Professor Harvey, I learn, has proposed to place this plant 
under the generic name of Rhabdonia; hut I see no necessity for separating it from Gigartina, where its fruit 
and structure naturally place it. The central substance is of exti emely lax, horizontal, apparently jointed 
anastomosing filaments, and the interstices or cells are filled with watery gelatine, which causes it to flatten, 
very much in drying. The finest specimens of this plant are found at Kavon Point, three miles south of 
Jersey City. 
Genus,' CHONDRUS. L. 
Cartilaginous, nerveless, compressed or fiat, flabelliform, dichotomously cleft. 
Fructification, prominent tubercles, also tetraspores collected into sori, immersed. 
No. 110. C. crispus, L. Thick cartilaginous, dichotomous, flat or curled, 
spread, sori concave on one side.— Grev . 
Rarely found floating in our harbor, though it is extremely abundant a few miles to the eastward, in the 
Sound ; dark olive, fading on exposure to dull yellow. 
No. 111. C. crispus . L. 
This variety of the same species is from the Irish coast. I obtained it at the druggists, who sell quan¬ 
tities of it under the name of “ Irish Moss.” This specimen is subjoined, to show the similarity in varieties 
of the two countries. This plant is incrusted near the base witii carbonate of lime by a Zoophyte, who builds 
Us house of that material; the circumstance should lead to some care in the use of Chondrus crispus. Though 
not familiar with the science of Allopathy, I suppose the gelatinous moss may cure some diseases that would 
be highly aggravated by carbonate of lime. There is very little imported at the present time, the trade be¬ 
ing mostly in “ lankee Irish Moss,” as it is called by druggists, from whom I learn that the Chondrus cris¬ 
pus of Massachusetts coast, is far superior to the imported article, and readily sells at more than double the 
