seeds. The habit and outline of tlie frond bear a near resemblance to
Dictyota atomaria, at least in the dry state.
I have dedicated this genus to Miss Cutler of Sidmouth, a lady well
deserving of such commemoration, for her zealous devotion to marine
botany. It is to Miss Cutler that we owe the discovery of Gratelou-
pia filicina in this country.
1. C u T L E R lA MULTIFIDA. Tab. X.
ZoHixria multijida, A g . S p . A lg . v. 1. p. 135. S y s t. A lg . p . 267.
Sporoch7ius niultijidus, S p r e n g . S p . P I . v . 4. p, 32i).
Ulva multijida, Sm . E n g . B o t. t . 1913.
Dictyota penicellata, L am o u r . E s s a i, p . 58-
H a b . In the sea. Annual. August. Very rare. Yarmouth beach,
Turner, and Mr Wigg.
Root a mass of woolly filaments. Frond between fiat and compressed,
four to eight inches long, the general outline more or less flabelliform,
the width often exceeding the length ; cleft nearly to the very
base into tliree or four main divisions, each division cleft into many
segments, which in their turn divide into another series : all the divisions,
from the largest to the smallest, are dilated upwards. Fructification
scattered over the whole frond, in the form of innumerable minute
reddish-brown dots, so prominent as to give a roughness to the margin,
even under the naked eye: dots composed of numerous erect oblong
yellowish capsules, supported on long slender pedicels, containing
a number of distinct granules. Substance between cartilaginous and
membranaceous, reticulated, adhering to paper in drying. Colour
reddish-olive.
The capsule of this plant has a remarkable similarity to the little
black fungus, so common on the leaves of rose-bushes in gardens,—
the Phragmidium mucronatum of Link, figured in the Cryptogamic
Flora, t. 15. It is a beautiful object under the microscope.
The Dictyota penicellata of Lamouroux, is nothing more than our
plant, with the ultimate segments almost filiform. Having never seen
a recent specimen, I cannot describe the substance from my own observation
: in “ Fnglish Botany” it is said to be somewhat cartilaginous.
Agardh says it is membranaceous, but, I believe, had only dried
specimens to judge from. By Poiret it was once named Viva cornea,
but it certainly is not of a horny consistence.
What character in this plant could induce Sprengel to place it amon:?
the Sporochni F !
Ge n u s XX. PADINA, Adans. Tab. X.
G e n . C h a r . Frond flat, highly reticulated, subcoriaceous,
flabelliform, mostly undivided, marked with concentric
lines. Root a mass of woolly filaments. Fructification,
ovate blackish seeds, fixed by tlieir base, bursting through
tbe epidermis in compact concentric lines (rarely spots),
mostly on one surface of tbe frond.
O bs. Some few exotic species of this genus are provided with a divided
frond, the lower part and stem being covered with woolly filaments :
each branch or segment, however, resembles on a smaller scale, the entire
frond of the other species, being curved at the lateral angles into a
flabelliform or reniform outline. The concentrical lines in the frond
appear to be the result of an accumulation of the vegetable matter in
the cellules, which, at certain inteiwals, assumes a wedge-shaped form,
a dense consistence, and dark opake colour. It is probable that this
repeated and abrupt condensation of the vegetable matter, is an attempt
towards the development of the fructification, for it is in one or more
of these lines that the capsules are generally produced.
It is not improbable that when we know more of these plants, Pu-
¿¿iwwill be divided into at least three genera, of which the types may
he p . Pavonia, P. interrupta, and P. squamaria. P. collaris, rosea,
adspersa, and deusta, require careful examination, and are probably not
true Padince. Of the fructification of some species we know nothing,
while of others our information is extremely imperfect. In regard to
the most common of the European species, P. Pavonia, Agardh describes
the concentric lines of fructification as containing alternately
seeds and apiculi, or short curved linear bodies, half the size of the
seeds. I have never been able to detect these, although I have examined
specimens with six or seven lines. May not these apiculi be
young or abortive seeds ?
The species were referred to the genera Fucus and Viva, prior to
the time of Lamouroux, by all, except Adanson, who is the author of
the name adopted in the present work.
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