CONFERVA reticulata.
N e tted Conferva.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algae.
Gen. Char. Seeds produced within the substance of
the capillary or jointed frond, or in closed tubercles
united with it.
Spec. Char. Filaments united into the form of a tubular
net.
Syn. Conferva reticulata. Linn. Sp. P i. 1635. Huds.
596. With.v. 4. 132. Hull. 331. Relh. 485.
Abbot. 275. Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 14. 25. Raii
Syn. 59. Dill. Muse. 20. t. 4. ƒ. 14.
Hydrodictyum pentagonum. Vaucher Conf. 88. t. 9.
W e were long ago favoured by the Rev. Mr. Relhan with
specimens of this curious plant from Cambridge. In the pond
of the Physic-garden there it abounds from June to September.
Mr. Borrer has also sent the same from ditches at New Hall
in the parish of Henfield, Sussex, and the late Mr. Pitchford
found it at Heigham, near Norwich. It grows loosely floating
in still fresh water, but is not a very general species.
Nothing can be more remarkable than its form, which is
that of a green, tubular, very delicate net, open at both ends.
The threads are cylindrical, tolerably even j the meshes have
4, 5 or 6 sides, but 5 is the most common number. No one
has observed the mode of its propagation except M. Vaucher,
who found the old plants in a statipnary condition during
winter, but in spring the joints swelled, and gave out simple
cylindrical masses of green matter. Each mass soon became
a reticulated tube, which in 2 or 3 months’ time grew to the
full size of the parent plant. This species is therefore annual.
Perhaps Dr. Roth and M. Vaucher are justified in making a
new genus of it, but no one is yet enough acquainted with its
family to decide absolutely on this point. We only attempt
for the present a correction of the generic character of Conferva,