Batrachospermum confusum ; it is nevertheless shorter, but as
thick. Its Avhorls are round and d istin c t; they are more approximated
the one to the other in the large stems, about
Avhich they are sometimes even confused. Their colour is a
greenish yelloAV, pale, and livid.
“ This plant is found in ditches and in the most tranquil
fountains. I have even seen it in marshes fixed against
scirpes and stakes.”
5. B atrachospermum moniliforme Hass.
Char. Frond blackish brown. Whorls o f the stems, distinct,
spherical, in the branches confused.
Batrachospermum ludibundum (momliforme) Bory, in loc.
cit. xii. p. 322. pi. 30. fig. 1. Conf. fontana, nodosa, spermatis
ranarum instar lubrica major et fusca. Dill. Muse,
p. 36. t. vii. fig. 42. Chara {gelatinosa frondibus gela-
tinosis filamentosis: filamentis capillaribus tenuissimis.
Verticillis approximatis moniliformibus. Both. Cat. i. 125.
Batrachospermum {moniliforme)filis ramosis; ramis al-
ternis poilentibus, §-c.. Both. Cat. Bot. iii. 160. Batrachospermum
moniliforme Vauch. Conf. 112. t. 1. fig. 5.
et tab. ix. fig. 4.
Hab. Plassey, near L imerick: W. H. Harvey. Upland
mountainous district 14 miles west of Aberdeen: Dr.
Dickie. Galway: M ‘Colla. Hill of F a re : Dr. Dickie.
“ This variety is the commonest of all. I t is frequently
met with In fountains, in rapid rivers, and even in waters
almost stagnant ; it is sufficient that they are pure. I t
has some resemblance to the variety B . confusum; but it
IS more slender, and its hearing is more elegant. I ts stems
are very much divided, and from one to three inches long;
the globules which cover them are round, distinct, and appear
to hold each other only by their poles. They are, however,
confused in the last branches, which resemble little worms.
“ The colour of the B . moniliforme is deeper than that of
B . confusum; It is also more solid, and changes less in dying :
it takes nevertheless sometimes a tin t of pale violet or a
livid yellow.”
6. B atrachospermum pulcherrimum Hass.
Plate X IV . Fig. 1.
Char. Frond violet grey. Whorls spherical, distant, distinct
in the stems and branches.
Bory, in Annales du Museum, xii. 323. PI. 30. fig. 2.
Hab. Stream near Cheshunt: A. H. H. Near Tunbrlgde
W e lls : Mr. Jenner.
“‘'T h e extreme elegance of form and of colour renders
this Batrachosperm remarkable; its stems are rather more
branched than those of the variety (a) B confusum, and less
than those of (7) B . moniliforme, are from two to three inches
and a half long, slender, and of an intermediate diameter.
The globules are perfectly spherical, distant upon the stems
from each other the length of a ray, more approximate, flattened,
but always distinct in the branches.
“ Its colour is a clear grey, approaching to a most agreeable
violet. This last tin t becomes dominant in drying, and
passes sometimes to red.”
This description applies closely to the plant, which I have
twice met with, in all respects save colour, my specimens
when recent being of a pleasant green, which in drying became
blackish — a tin t which the specimens which I received
from Mr. Jenner likewise presented, and yet I can scarcely
consider them other than the Batrachospermum ludibundum
{var. pulcherrimum) of Bory.
7. B atrachospermum vagum Ag.
Plate L X I I I . Fig. 2.
Char. Filaments subdichotomous, much branched, everywhere
covered. Whorls horizontal, compressed, indistinctly confused.