Piuh CLA’P
d r i l ;
Ser. Ehodospebmeæ. Pam. Oloiocladieoe.
P l a t e CLXI.
NEMALEON? PURPUREUxM, Chauv.
Gen. C hae. Fronds cylindrical, gelatinoso-oartñaginous, elastic, solid ; axis
columnar, dense, composed of closely-packed, longitudinal, interlaced
filaments; the periphery of elongated, horizontal, dichotomous filaments,
whose ultimate ramuli are moniliform and coloured. Fructification-,
globular masses of spores {favellidia), attached to the filaments of the
periphery. Nemaleon {Tozzetti),—from tpga, a thread, and a
crop : crop o f threads.
Nemaleonpnrpmeum-, stem undivided, attenuated at base and apex, set with
numerous, irregularly inserted, elongated, simple, tapering branches,
which are either naked, or furnished with a second series of snmlar
branches.
N emaleon purpureum, Cham. mem. p. 57.
Mesogloia purpurea, S arv . in Hook. Br. M. vol. ii. p. 386. Harv. Man.
p. 48. Wyatt, Alg. Banm. no. 47.
D umontia Calvadosii, Lamour. Bict. B ’Hist. Nat. vol. v. p. 643. Oaill. Bict.
Sc. Nat. vol. 53. p. 364. Buhy, Bot. Gall. p. 941.
H a b . In sandy places, among Zostera, near low-water mark. Annual.
Summer. Rare. Sidmouth and Torquay, Mrs. Oriffiths and M iss
Cutler. Whitsand Bay, Rev. W. 8. Hore. KRkee and Miltown
Malbay, W. H . H . Balbriggan, M iss Cower.
Geo g e . D is t r . Atlantic coasts of France.
D e s c r . Root, a minute, conical disc. Frond from eight inches to two feet or
more in length, slender at the base, gradually widening to a diameter of
two to three lines in the middle, and thence gradually tapering upwards
into a long, slender point, mostly undivided, or sometimes forked or trifúrcate
at the extremity, set throughout its length with alternate or opposite
irregularly inserted lateral branches. Branches closely placed, patent, constricted
at base, flexuous, very long, drawn out into a long, slender point,
generally quite naked, or, in large specimens, furnished with a second
series of smaller and more slender branches. All the apices much attenuated
and acute. The axis is composed of rather laxly interwoven, colourless,
branching, longitudinal threads, which throw out on all sides to the ch--
cumference, horizontal, dichotomous, coloured, moniliform filaments, with
elliptical or pyriform joints. Under the microscope, the branches appear
as if thickly studded with convex, coloured cells, (the apices of the filaments
of the periphery,) separated by pellucid spaces. Colour varying from a fine
deep purple red to a dull pink, rapidly given out in fresh water, and
becoming browner in drying. Substance tender, gelatinous, and slippery,
but not very elastic. Fructification (imperfectly known), consisting of
masses of spores, seated among the filaments of the periphery.
M. Chauvin of Caen, in his excellent “ Recherches,” * gives a
* R e c h e r c h e s sur I’orgaiiization, la fructification, et la classification de
plusieurs genres d’Algues, avec la description de quelques espèces inédites ou
peu connues.— Caen, 1842.