J f
Cojif. gelatinosa Dilhv. Brit. Conf. Bat. ludihundiim {var.
confusxim) Bory, in Annales du Museum, vol. xiv. p. 320.
pi. 29. fig. 3. no. 63.; Gir. Chantrans. Mycros. p .il75.
pi. 25.
ilab. Lea Avell, Devonsliire: W. H. Harvey. In a
small brook in Clive Wood, Swansea: Dillw.
Under the name of Batraclwspermiim Indibundum Bory describes
seven different varieties of Batrachospermum: many of
these are indigenous to Great Britain, and several of them
doubtless, arc distinct species, in which light the plant under
consideration ought to be regarded.
“ This variety is not ra r e ; it grows in the closed basins of
very pure and cold fountains. I t there appears to choose
shady places. I t is found in the holes of rivers, whose waters
carry no mud. I have observed it in France, in Spain, in
Germany, in Poland, and in Ducal Prussia.
“ Of all Batrachosperms, this acquires the greatest dimensions
: its length is sometimes four inches and a half, its diameter
equal often to tha t of the culm of grasses. Its branches
appear also to be less obtuse than in the following varieties.
The globules or whorls arc so approximated and so large
that they are often confounded together in such a manner,
as to be with difficulty distinguished in certain specimens
which have the aspect of Batrachosperma helmintosa. The
colour of the plant is of a mouse grey, agreeable by its transparency.
The large stems approach a little upon yellow.
These tints become of a beautiful violet by putrefaction.
“ I t is upon individuals of the variety which now engages
US tha t I made, for the first time, twelve years ago, an experiment
which ought to be known; after having many times carried
from one locality to another stones bearing Individuals of
this species, which continued to prosper in spite of the change
of habitation, I steeped many of them in lukewarm water,
afterwards in boiling, and no part of the hatrachosperm appeared,
under the microscope, to have undergone the slightest
disorganization by these immersions, and certain sprigs replaced
in their native place continued to vegetate after these experiments.
I do not think tha t there exist other vegetables which
boiling water does not immediately disorganize; there are not
others that can resist temperatures so opposite.” — Bory.
This species differs from Batrachospermum helmintosum by
its stems, which arc never denuded below, but always verticillate,
and by its branches, Avhlch are more obtuse, less thick at
their insertion, and furnished with many secondary branchlcts.
I am not certain however tha t the B . helmintosum is anything
more than a variety, which the following may be also.
4. B atrachospermum stagnale Hass.
Char. Frond yellowish green. Filaments thick, branched.
Whorls, distinct, slightly compressed, in the trunk confused.
Batrachospermum ludibundum {stagnate) Bory, Annales du
Museum, vol. xii. p. 325. pi. 30. fig. 5. Conferva fo n tana,
nodosa; spermatis ranarum instar lubrica minor et
viridis. Dill. Muse. vol. xvii. f. 44. Conf. stagnalis,
globulis viridis, centibus mucosis. Chara batrachosperma
Weiss, Plant. Crypt.
Hah. Cheshunt, H e r ts : A. H. H.
“ Roth (Cat. Bot. i. 126. No. 11. 187.) referred this last
synonyme of Dillenius to a variety (/3) of Batrachospermum mo-
niliforme; he has since regarded this variety (Cat. Bot. Iii. 161.)
as appertaining to his Conferva mutabilis, which is one of our
Draparnaldice; but certainly the figure cited by Dillenius and
his phrase applies perfectly to the Batrachosperm which is
here under consideration, and cannot be applied to any other
plant. The rounded and very distinct globules, which the
English author represents, have no kind of resemblance to the
scattered tufts of the Conferva mutabilis of the German naturalist.
As to the figure 43. of the ‘ Historia Muscorum,’ there
is no doubt that it represents the same plant as the figure 44.
There Is absolutely no difference but in the length of the
branches, which proceeds from the age of the specimens represented.
The stagnant variety of Batrachospermum ludi-
hundum has great resemblance in form and diameter to