a state of decay, and after having been exposed to the atmosphere, the
shades of red pink and brown it often acquires are very beautiful.
In some respects this species is exceedingly changeable, and therefore
the unpractised botanist will do well to attend principally to the
fructification, in which there is no ambiguity, and if that be not present,
to the channelled frond, which is a constant character, especially
towards the base. The varieties depend upon the width and form of
the segments and the appearance of the fructification. In some specimens
the segments of the frond divide at short intervals, are half an
inch wide at the extremity, and broadly wedge-shaped. In others, to
take an opposite extreme, the whole plant is linear, hardly two lines
wide, divided at long intervals, and channelled throughout its entire
length. Every state intermediate between these extremes may be
found. The extremity of the segments is sometimes simply rounded,
but is often notched, and not unfrequently terminates in several sharp,
or even lanceolate, or subulate points. The capsules are often so
numerous as to cover the surface, and give the frond a very peculiar
appearance; they are very variable in their peduncles, which, in common
cases, are about a line in length : but in some narrow varieties of
the frond, are much longer, twisted and curved, and, when situated at
the apices of the segments, have much the appearance of tendrils.
The frond of this species is highly proliferous, and occasionally
throws out little flat processes, less than a line in, width, and several
lines in length from the margin. Similar processes sometimes take
the place of the capsules on the disk of the frond, and in that case become
the supporters of the fructification. I possess a specimen,
communicated hy Mrs Grifliths, with sterile processes on the disk
half an inch long, a quarter of a line wide, and so much branched
as to look like complete plants in miniature; and, what is more curious,
the segments of the frond terminate in similar productions. I have
also specimens in which the proliferous disposition is so strongly marked,
that the whole frond on the disk and margin is covered with oblong-
elliptical flat frondlets.
The most remai-kable varieties that have come under my obsei'va-
tion, are those collected by Mrs Grifliths in Devonshire, a country
singularly rich in marine productions.
2. C h o n d r u s c r is p u s . Tab. XV.
Frond plane dichotomous the segments linear-wedge-shaped, capsules
subhemispherical, imbedded in the disk of the frond.
Chondrus crispus, L y n g b . H y d ro p h . D a n . p . 15. t. 4.
Chondrus polymorphus, L am o u r . E s s a ij p . 3i).
Sphoerococcus crispus, Ag . S p . Alg. v . I . p . 256* S y s t. A lg . p . 219. G r e v . F I . E d in . p . 294.
S p r e n g . S p . P I. v . 4. p . 335.
Fucus crispus, L in n . S y s t. N a t . v . 2. p . 718. T u m . S y n . F u c . p . 226. H is t. F u c . t . 216-217.
S m . E n g . B o t. t . 2285. S t a c k h . N e r . B r i t . p . 6 3 . 1 . 12.
Fucus polymorphus, L am o u r . D is s e r t , p . 1., e x c lu d in g th e f o u r t h s e r ie s , t . I - I 7. f . 1-33.
a n d 3 5 , 36.
Fucus ceranoides, G m e l. H is t. F u c . p . 115. t. 7* f* L H u d s . F I. A n g l. p . 582. in p a r t .
Fucus stellatus, S t a c k h . N e r . B r i t . p . 53. t . 12.
Fucuslacerus, S t a c k h . N e r . B r i t . p . 50. t . 11.
Fucus filiformis, H u d s . F I . A n g l. p . 685.
Fucus patens, G o o d e n , a n d W o o dw . in L in n . T r a n s , v. 3. p . 173.
H a b . On rocks and stones in the sea. Perennial ? Spring. Very
common on every part of the British coast, where rocks are present.
Root a disk, throwing up tufts of many fronds. Fronds two to
twelve inches high, very narrow and subcylindrical at the base, but immediately
becoming flat, generally dilating from the base till it becomes
three or four lines wide, and then dividing repeatedly and dichoto-
mously, each division spreading, becoming narrower than tbe preceding
one, and taking place at shorter and shorter intervals : the summits
are bifid, the segments varying greatly in length, rounded or acute,
straight or curved, and often twisted in such a manner as to give the
curled appearance denoted by the specific name. Fructification roundish
or roundish-oval subhemispherical capsules, imbedded in the disk of
the frond, prominent on one side, and producing a concavity on the
other, containing a mass of minute roundish red seeds. Substance
cartilaginous, in some varieties approaching to horny, flexible and
tough. Colour a deep purple-brown, often tinged with purplish-red,
paler at the summit, becoming greenish, and at length white in decay.
When dry it is considerably darker, almost horny, and adheres imperfectly
to paper.
This is the Proteus of marine Algoe. The varieties are innumerable,
and pass into one another so insensibly, that it is almost impossible
to define them. As in the preceding species, so in the present
one there is a great range in regard to the width of the frond : some
specimens throughout their whole length are scarcely more than a line,
while others are fully an inch in the widest part. Sometimes the frond
divides at very short intervals, sometimes at remote ones ; sometimes