Chondria piisilla has been seen by few individuals, and
must be considered an interesting as well as a rare plant. Mr
S t a c k h o u s e , who was its discoverer, figured it in liis Nereis
Britannica. Mr T u r n e r gave it a place in his truly admirable
and elaborate work, the Historia Fucorum; and these,
with the recent insertion of it in Dr H o o k e r ’s Flora Scotica,
are the only notices of it that I am able to trace. I have quoted
the Flora Danica doubtfully, as Mr T u r n e r bas also
done, on account of the green color there attributed to it.
That figure is also rendered more dubious, from the fact, that
L y n g b y e , in bis Tentamen Hydrophytologice Danicce,
considers it as a Vaucheria, and the same as Y.clavata,
{Fctosperma clavata of V a u c h e r ) . T h e tubercular fiTic-
tification I could never detect on my specimens, and have
therefore borrowed tbe representation given by Mr T u r n e r ,
who observes, that the appearance might possibly be produced
by extraneous bodies adhering to the frond.
Chondria pusilla most resembles Chondria Opuntia, but
wants the internal fibrous structure, and tbe more frequent and
regular contractions; it is also of a more rigid substance, and
redder colour.
Fig. 1. Chondria pusilla, nat. size. Fig. 2. A portion o f a frond magnified.
Fig. 3. One o f the ramuli with naked immersed sporules. Figs. 4. & 5. The
tubercularfruciificatim; the general appearance borrowed from Mr Turner’s
plate.