OSCILLATORIA a l a t a .
Winged Oscillatoria.
C l a s s a n d O r d e k CRYPTOGAMIA ALG.E, Linn— N a t . O h d . ALGrE, Juss.
GEN ERIC CHARACTER.
Fila muco communi matricali involuta, rigida, elastica, oscillantia, striis paral-
Idis transversis secta.—A g a rd h.
Filaments invested by a common mucous matrix, rigid, elastic, oscillating,
divided by parallel transverse stria*
S P E C IF IC c h a r a c t e r .
O sc il lAto r ia ? a la ta; stratum ritfo-fuscum, filis brunneis, minutis, late alatis,
alis albidis, Jllamenta versus lutescentibus.
O. ? stratum reddish-brown, filaments brown, minute, broadly winged,
wings whitish, becoming yellow towards the filament.
O scil la to ria alata, Carm. MSS.
H ab. Appin, on rocks exposed to the trickling o f water. Captain Ca rm ich
a e l , 1825.
Plant covering moist rocks, in the form of a thin brown stratum, by itself,
or mixed with a minute Nosloc. Filaments minute, a few lines only in
length, winged, obtuse, with numerous s tria ; when taken in conjunction
with the wings or membranous expansions, they are linear, and plane.
Each wing is about thrice the breadth of the proper filament, of a white
colour, somewhat transparent, of a bright yellow next the filament, and
exhibiting, under a favourable light of the microscope, a numerous series
of transverse lines or rugae.
Along with Bangia calophylla, represented in the last
Number, I had also the pleasure of receiving this singular production
from my friend Captain C a r m i c h a e l . It is one o f
those marvellous, ambiguous objects, that serve to confound the
Naturalist,— Philosopher,— call him what we will,—and to
humble him, would he only acknowledge it, in his own estimation,
Many of these perplexing bodies are beautiful, and beyond
the power of the artist to delineate faithfully, their hues
are so various, and so delicately blended.
YOL. IV.