CONFERVA albida.
Whitish Cottony Conferva.
CRYPTOGAMIA Alga.
Gen. Char. Seeds produced within the substance of
the capillary or jointed frond, or in closed tubercles
united with it.
Spec. Char. Greenish white, opaque. Filaments in
dense tufts, much branched, capillary; branches
clustered, about four together; their divisions
opposite, zigzag; ultimate ones somewhat parallel.
Joints even, four times as long as broad.
Syn. Conferva albida. Hiids. 5 9 5 . With. v. 4. 131.
Hull. 331. Dillw. Syn. 32 and 6 6 . n. 104. t. E .
C. marina tomentosa, teuerior et albicans. Dill.in
Raii Syn. 59. Muse. 19. t. 3. f . 12.
J ) Y a specimen from tlie Dillenian herbarium, Mr. Dillwyn
has verified the synonyms of this species, and we are enabled,
by the favour of Mr. W . Borrer, to exhibit it more completely
than it has ever yet been, as well as to subjoin the elongated
and less spreading variety, found by himself on the Sussex
coast; see Dillw. Syn. 6 6 .
This is probably not a rare species. Miss Hutchins observed
it in June and July, in Bantry bay, as Mr. Borrer did at
Brighthelmston. Its cotton-like opacity, or freedom from all
gloss, is remarkable, and the dense tufted habit, caused by the
copious spreadingsubdivisions, which are interwoven into close
masses, strengthens the resemblance to that substance, as does
the white colour it soon assumes, though greenish in a young
and healthy state. Our specimens well answer to the characters
given in the valuable work on British Conferva, as well
as in Hudson’s Flora.