I
bands across the cells, and essentially in its reproduction. I ’lie
only real difference between the genera consists in the filaments
of the one being simple and those of the other branched. In
an arrangement, therefore, in which affinities arc studied,
these two genera should be placed near to each other.
1. D raparnaldia glomerata Ag.
PI. X I I I . Fig. 1.
Char. Stem round, branched. Ramuli in tufts, ivhich are
frequently alternate and alioays ciliated. Tufts divergent.
Ilab. Fverywhere common in slow streams and ditches,
adhering to stones, sticks, &c.
Draparnaldia {mutabilis) gelatinosa; flamentis crassiusculis;
ramis subjiinnatis, obtusiusculis; fasciculis breviusculis,
complicatis, Bory, in Annales du Museum, pi. 35. fig. 1.
Conferva mutabilis Roth, Cat. Bot. i. 197. Flor. Germ,
iii. 518. C. mutabilis Roth, Cat. Bot. iii. 282. C. fa s -
ciculata Thore, Chlor. 444. Batrachosperme en houpe,
Vauch. Conf. 114. pi. xii. fig. 4. et 5 .; Cand. Flor!
F r. 11. 59. Batrachospermumglomeratum Cand. Syn. 144.
C. mutabilis, Fng. Bot. t. 1470. D. glomerata Harvey,
in Hook. Brit. Fl. p. 388.; in Manual, p. 121.
This species differs in appearance greatly according to its
age and place of growth. The younger specimens Tre of a
herbaceous and delicate green, abundantly branched, and the
older ones often nearly denuded of branches and almost colourless,
becoming so by the escape of the zoospores. When dried
on paper the differences between certain specimens of this
plant presented to the eye are so considerable that many
would regard them as varieties, and almost as species. A
microscopic examination would, however, at once remove
this supposition.
When first removed from the water, it presents the appearance
of a mass of coloured jelly without form or organization :
on immersion, however, its branches soon expand. Its frao-ility
IS so excessive, that frerxuently its own weight ivhen fresh is
sufficient to break it, and it is often a matter of considerable
difficulty to remove a specimen entire from the water for
preservation, each frond breaking as soon as the hand is placed
beneath it, and its own gravity Is felt, and dividing into
many separate pieces, which are slowly carried away by the
gentle stream in which the species is usually found. I t adheres
closely to paper, and does not undergo any considerable
change of colour in drying, it also recovers like the Batra-
chospermeoe much of Its freshness on being moistened. These
last remarks apply to all the species of the genera Draparnaldia
and Choetophora.
2. D raparnaldia plumosa Ag.
Plate X I I . Fig. 1.
Char. Frond suhgelatinous. Filaments gracile, elongated.
Branches suhpinnate. Tufts elongated, scattered, approximate
to the branches, ciliated,
Batrachosperme en plume, Vauch. Conf. 113. pi. xi. fio-.
2. and 4. ; Cand. Fl. F r. ii. 59. Batrachospermum plu-
mosum, truncis elongatis; ramulis cauli approximatis,
Cand. Syn. 143. Draparnaldia hypnosa Bory, in Annales
du Museum, 405. pi. 35. fig. 2. D. plumosa H arvey,
in Hook. Br. Fl. ; in Manual, 121. Conf. lubrica,
F . B. t. 2087.
Hab. Galway: MEolla. Aberdeen: D r. ZVc/mc. Mcd-
hurst and Eastbourn : Mr. Jenner. Stream near Hod-
desdon : A . H. H.
This species is more slender, less gelatinous, and attains
a much greater length than Draparnaldia glomerata. I t
lives also in purer and deeper water, is usually of a brighter
and more beautiful green, and, from being less gelatinous,
it is also less fragile. The mode of branching is different in
the two species ; the tufts in th a t which is here described
are longer, more scattered, approximated to the branches, and
not as in the previous species divergent. I t is an elegant
species. The cells of the stems are usually shorter, and rarely
so inflated or oval as those of D. glomerata.