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C O N F E R V A thuioides.
Arb or-vita Conferva.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algae.
G e n . C h a r . Seeds produced within the substance of
the capillary or jointed frond, or in closed tubercles
united with it.
S p e c . C h a r . Rose-coloured, repeatedly branched, very
slender and tufted. Joints cylindrical, with pellucid
partitions. Branches zigzag; their lateral shoots
alternate, compound, with very short joints.
M r . W . BORRER, to whom we are obliged for this Conferva,
has found it on Yarmouth beach, several different years,
in September and October.—Mr. Turner is of opinion that it
was comprehended by Mr. Dill wvn under his idea of parasitica,
in his Synopsis, p. 87, from which being very distinct, it is
consequently a nondescript in that valuable catalogue.
It differs essentially from parasitica, t. 1 4 2 9 , in not belonging
to the tribe we have so often noticed with compound or
aggregate joints, but on the contrary it has the simply tubular
structure of rosea, t. 966, to which last the present species is
most allied. The joints of the stem and main branches however,
though variable, are usually longer, and the subdivisions
are far different from those of rosea. Along the main branches,
which are zigzag, run several beautiful alternate ones, in two
ranks, all about equal in length, twice or thrice compound,
consisting of regular, short, bead-like joints, each of which
is about as long as broad. We know nothing of the fructification.