S.«V. 4.Ni-r.ol..-iL
P l a t e CCCLVI.
CLADOPHORA BALLIANA, Harv.,^^^.
G e n . Ch a r . Mlaments g r e en , a tta ch ed , u nifo rm , b ran ch ed , com p o sed o f
a s in g le series o f c e lls or a r ticu la tio n s. Fruit, a g g r e g a ted g ra n u le s
or zo o sp o r e s, c o n ta in ed in th e a r ticu la tion s, h a v in g , a t som e pe r iod,
a p roper cü ia ry m o tio n . Cladoph or a [Kütz.],—from xXaSos, a branch,
an d <j)op€a, t o bear.
Cla d oph or a B allia n a ; filaments elongate, extremely slender, soft, grass-
green, much branched ; the branches excessively divided, the penultimate
ones virgate, and set with slender, secund, one- or two-jointed
ramuh ; articulations of the branches eight or ten times as long as
broad, of the ramuli six to eight times, ah filled with dense, granular
endochrome ; dissepiments broad and hyaline.
H a b . Sea-shores. At Clontarf, Miss B a ll (May 1 6 ,1 8 4 3 ) .
Geogr. D is t k . --------- ?
D e so b . Filaments finer than human hair, from six to eight or ten inches long,
tufted and much branched, the branching repeatedly alternate, but irregular
and difficult to trace ; with a more or less evident leading stem. Lesser
branches one or two inches long, somewhat virgate, undivided, set with
other minor branches, which again bear numerous short, pectinate ramuli,
generally along their inner faces. These ramuli are much more slender
than the joint from which they spring, and usually consist of but two cells,
but occasionally lengthen out into several. The branches and lesser divisions
taper, at the extremity, into a slender point, The endochrome filling
the ceUs is remarkably dense, granular, and in great measure recovers its
form on remoistening after the plant has been dried ; and is of a full grass-
green. The length of the cells in the principal divisions is from eight to
ten times their diameter, or perhaps more ; in the ramuli the cells are
shorter. The border of the tube and the dissepiments are both very wide
in proportion to the part occupied by endochrome. The substance is soft
and tender, and the plant closely adheres to paper in drying.
I am glad, in closing the ‘ Phycologia,’ to have an opportunity
of paying a grateful tribute to the fair discoverer of the present
beautiful species, from whom I have, during the course of this
publication, received much assistance—in supplies of specimens,
&c.—^and to whose acute eye the Irish Plora is indebted for the
addition of many interesting species. Cladophora Balliana, not
the least beautiful of these, is readily known from all its British