143 
CRYPTOGAMIA. ALGAL Byssus, 
They are filled with granules, and are hispid with bristle-shaped tubes 
pointing upwards. See PI. 18. f. 5. b. a single tip magnified. We may 
either suppose the tip to be a capsule, the granules it contains the seeds, 
and the bristle-shaped tubes the pistils; or that the granules are germens, 
and each of the tubes a case of anthers. 
This plant, whose perfect state of growth seems to lead to a discovery of 
the fructification of the genus, was observed by the Lady Elizabeth 
Noel, growing upon an old elm chair which received the drippings 
from a water cistern; and I am indebted to her Ladyship for fine 
specimens in the highest state of perfection. 
B. barbata when fully grown resembles this species in colour and in height, 
but that is marked by transverse lines showing the growth of each year, 
similar to what we see in the tubes of the perennial Boleti; and the stems 
moreover split at the ends into a number of capillary fibres. 
(Tawny Feathered Byssus. B. barbata. E. Bot. B. fulva. Lightf. 
Dematium strigosum. Pers. Hook. E.) Moist decaying wood, and tubs 
used to catch rain water. A. July—Aug. 
B. barba'ta. Threads tawny, nearly upright, and of the same length; 
the ends branched. 
Bill. 1. 19— Mich. 90.1. 
When young yellow, short, densely compacted, spreading wide, resembling 
a fleece of wool. When older it attains the height of two inches, grows 
upright, but closely crowded together, the top of each filament dividing 
into numerous very fine fibres so as to appear downy. It is then tawny 
or saffron coloured. The growth of each year is marked by a transverse 
line. Hill. 
(Saffron Bearded Byssus. E.) Rotten wood and decaying trunks of 
trees. A. Jan.—Dec. 
B. can'dida. Threads very much branched: little branches fasciculated, 
whitish. 
(Sowerby 387. 1. E.) — Dill. 1. 15— R. Syn. 23. at p. 477. 
Substance tender, woolly, closely pressed to the surface on which it grows: 
white, or livid, or yellowish. From a broadish woolly and mucilaginous 
base arise many slender branches, spreading more in width than in 
height; elegantly divided and subdivided, the extremities ending in 
capillary fibres or an expanded surface. Dill. 
(Whitish Fasciculated Byssus. Fibrillaria stellata. Sowerby. Hi¬ 
nt anti a Candida. Pers. Hook. E.) On leaves, wood, and leather, in a 
decaying state. A. Sept.—-April. 
B. sep'tica. Hair-like, very soft, parallel, very brittle, pale. Linn. 
Threads very long, fine, and entangled. 
Bill, 1. 9— Mich. 89. 9. 
Threads like cotton, finer than those of a cobweb, grey white, not viscid; 
the plant burns like touchwood. Linn. So tender and light that the breath 
will disperse it, pure white, like very fine wool, threads not branched: 
when handled they seem to dissolve into water from an innate moisture. 
Though so very tender, it remains long in its native situation. Dill. It 
grows most luxuriantly on bins and wooden shelves in cellars where wine 
has been spilt, hanging down in form of a jelly-bag, or of a cylinder with 
a globe at the end, to the length of a foot or more. It is easily crushed. 
