feeds: fince they might pofTibly be afcribed to the decayed and putrefcent ftate o f thofe granulated
bodies. And yet in favour of the former opinion, it may not appear improper to obferve, that the
powder proceeding from the L y c o p e r d o n bovifta, and which exceeds all calculation, is, according to
the late ingenious Mr. Lightfoot, confidered as the feeds o f that plant. I f then thefe minute grains,
which in fome fpecies o f marine plants are but few in number, fhould prove at laft not to be the actual
feeds, but only pericarps containing the feminal atoms; we may be enabled more readily to account
for the promifcuous growth of thofe plants on the fineft edges of each other, as well as on the
fmootheft furfaces o f hard extraneous bodies.---------The central nerve feems indued with an aflive vital
principle, from whence, upon any frafture, new leaves ihoot forth. There are feveral varieties of
this fpecies. One o f them is reprefented in the figure, to which the C o n f e r v a fucicola is attached.
They have been confidered by fome as diftin£l fpecies, under the trivia! names— F. divaricatus, F. in-
flatus, &c. Gmelin very properly brings them back to one fpecific charafter.
Colour varies from an olive to a muddy fordid green.
F U C U S ferratus.
FUCUS. fronde plana dichotoma coftata ferrato-dentata, tuberculis feminiferis ad,
apices terminata.
FUCUS. fronde plana dichotoma coftata ferrato-dentata, veficulis terminalibus
tuberculofis. Linn. Syfi. Nat. Edit. Gmel. p. 1380.
Alga latifolia major dentata. Morif. Hiji. p. 648. S. 15. 1 . c). h. !.■— Gmd. Hifi.
Fucor. p. 57.— -FI. Scot. p. 902.
Hic fucus frondis margine ferrata facilè dignofcatur. Origine fuâ et crefcendi ratione non multùm
à F. veficulofo diftat. Nervus mediam frondem percurrens, ab eâdem caufâ cauliformis fit, verùm
haud iifdem vitæ viribus, cùm foliaceæ ejus partes abrumpantur, inftru£tus. Apices folidi funt et tenaces,
nec ullo modo inflati, ut in F. veficulofo ; et lanatis iftis reticulatifque filamentis carent. Pericarpia,
(tubercula fc') ferè ovata funt, et interiori apicis fuperficiei vix adhærent ;* maturefcenti tamen planta
corum nonnulla minutis pcrforationibus arclè fuffixa inveniantur. Hæcce callofa elfe videntur, et grana
aliqua continere globofa, numero pauciora, et minus opaca quàm ifta quæ fuprà fuerunt defcrip-
ta. In omnibus, hujufce fuci et veficulofi, quæ examini noftro fubjiciebantur, fpeciminibus, médius
nervus femper in iftâ parte terminabatur, ubi tubercula emergere obfervata funt ; ramorum verò infoe-
cundorum ad fummas extremitates protendebatur. Color primùni oiivaceo-fiavefcens fæpe fubfufcatur.
Cùm hæutræque plantæ ad magnitudinem crefcanthaud exiguam, fatiùs fit ramorum fuorum partcm
tantummodò, quàm diminutam utriufque figuram integre referre : cùm tabulæ noftræ præcipua fit intendo,
propagationis hujufce generis modum in quam plurimis obtinentem, illuftrare.
Gmelinus, (in Hift. Fucor.) de F uco ferrato ita loquitur. “ Veficulas aeriferas nullas habet, nulio
unquam tempore..............Tubercula feminalia nunc crebrius ad frondium extremitates congregata
funt; n u n c per o m n e m earum fuperficiem nidulantia fubinde obfervantur, utraque nuda, abfquevefi-
adis, lanarepletis.” Fucus ceranoides eft ineodem ferè ftatu : hos tamen cum vejiculofis confociatos
vidimus.---------Fucorum denique ordo Veficulofos continens, definitione ludit ancipiti, quæ modo
ííá.tubercxdaipfa, ut in Fuco ferrato; moà.ò ztà apices túmidos et bipartitos, ut in F. canaliculato :
modò ad vcficulas propriè fic diflas, ut in F. veficulofo, frondem inflantes, attinet.