nucule was present; though I examined hundreds of specimens
in various parts of the lake, where it sometimes
covered the bottom to the extent of many square perches;
and what is singular enough, all the other species in the opaque
division occurred abundantly in the same lake, and were all
In fruit, each preserving its respective character.” —D. Moore,
ixi “ Journal o f Botany f p. 43.
The application of the specific name latifolia seems to he
peculiarly inappropriate to a plant which, strictly spealdng,
has no leaves at all.
“ God is said to be Maximus in minimis. We Men esteem it a more difficult
Matter, and of greater Art and Curiosity, to frame a small Watch than
a large Clock : And no Man blames him who spent his whole Time in the
Consideration of the Nature and Works of a Bee, or thinks his Subject
was too narrow. Let us not then esteem anything contemptible, or inconsiderable,
or below our notice taking; for this is to derogate from
the Wisdom and Art of the Creator, and to confess ourselves unworthy
of those Endowments of Knowledge and Understanding which he hath
bestowed on us. Do we praise Dcedalus, and Archytas, and Hero, and
Callicrates, and Albertus Magnus, and many others which I might mention,
for their Cunning in inventing, and Dexterity in framing and composing
a few dead Engines, or Movements, and shall we not admire and magnifie
the Great Ariftiovpyog Koapov, Former o f the World, who hath made so
many, yea, I may say, innumerable, rare Pieces, and those too not dead
ones, such as cease presently to move so soon as the spring is down; but
all living, and themselves performing tbeir own Motions, and those so intricate
and various, and requiring such a Multitude of Parts and subordinate
Machines, that It is incomprehensible what Art, and Skill, and
Industry, must be employed in the framing of one of them?”— Ray.
F a m . V I . BATRACHOSPERMEÆ.
Char. Algæ gelatinous, moniliform, ramose, articulated,
verticillate, filaments o f the verticilli dense, dichotomous,
and leaded, the inferior ones simple, descending, and
forming a sheath around the primary cells. Eeproduction
consisting o f glomerules scattered throughout the verticilli,
to which they are attached by a single filament or thread.
7. B A T EA C H O S P E EM UM .
Char. Same as those o f the family.
Derivation.^ From flarpaxos, a frog, and aTrspga, seed;
the species resembling frog-spawn.
Dillenius discriminated many species or varieties of this
genus In his “ Historia Muscorum,” under the name of Algæ
lubrices. Linnæus, however, after him, united them all into
one species, under the name of Conferva gelatinosa, in which
example he was followed by succeeding botanists.
Weiss first removed the Conferva fontana, nodosa, spermatis
ranarum instar, lubrica et viridis, of Dillenius from the genus
Conferva, perceiving th a t it possessed a structure much
more complicated than tha t of the greater number of the
species of that genus, which are for the most part exceedingly
simple, and placed it amongst the Characeæ, under the
name of Chara hatrachosperma-, the term hatrachosperma
implying the resemblance which Weiss noticed between the
Conferva which he examined, and the series of gelatinous
globules in lyhich are enclosed the eggs of the greater part
of the Amphibia of the family of frogs.
I f it was requisite th a t this species should he removed
from the genus Conferva, it soon became apparent that it
could not be permitted to remain with the Characeæ, and
the propriety of instituting a new genus for its reception
quickly became apparent.
“ In the year 3,” says Bory, “ I established this genus
in my collection. I communicated it to my learned friend
H 3