C O N F E R V A fibvata*
Fibrous-branclied Conferva.
CRYPTOGAM!A Algce.
G e n . C h a r . See'ds 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 . Purple, much and alternately branched.
Branches capillary; the ultimate ones crowded, very
slender, pellucid, white. Joints as broad as long,
compound.
Syn. Conferva fibrata. Dillui. Syn. n. 159. t. G.
FO U N D by our often-mentioned friend Mr. Brodie, growing
on various submarine plants near Forres. It consists of dense
purple tufts, about 2 inches high, much branched in an alter*
nate order, the main stems and branches proving, when magnified,
to be formed of compound joints, like those of C. bys~soides, t., nigrescens, t., 547 1717and polymorpha, t.,
1764and the fructification, as figured and described in Mr. Dill-
wyn’s work, but which we have not seen, appears exactly
analogous to that of those species, as far as it is hitherto ascertained
; consisting of lateral, solitary, sessile, oval masses
of seeds, possibly enclosed in a fibrous involucrum j and we
are not without hopes that further observations may authorize
the establishment of a separate genus of this most natural and
numerous tribe with compound or aggregate joints. The
present species is remarkable for the terminations of many of
the main branches being pellucid and colourless, as are all the
ultimate fine pencil-like divisions, which are crowded about
the upper parts of the former.