shall find it in single rows at the tips of the ramuli or short branches. Again, we observe only two siphons visible in the stem, for it contains but four, whereas in other species there may be as many as twenty. Of course all this is only seen with a microscope, but one of moderate power will exhibit these beauties; whereas, simply dried on paper, this Polysiphonia is black, and hardly to be distinguished from tufted Polysiphonia.

CERAMIUM.

(Name from a Greek word signifying "little pitcher," in allusion to the shape of the fruit-which never does resemble it.)

:

CERAMIUM RUBRUM (common Red Ceramium).—This is a most puzzling plant sometimes delicate rosy red, a very prize for the album; sometimes so coarse as to be flung aside as a worthless weed. Nevertheless, do not throw any away, because on large coarse tufts we often find very pretty parasitic plants.

The tips of the filaments are forked, but do not curve inward-rather curve outward; and the fruit is a berry, surrounded by four short branches, or a number of tetraspores (little red dots, each containing four tiny seeds), which circle a swollen branchlet, and give the plant a beautiful bright red appearance. It is common everywhere, and in all tide-pools.

CERAMIUM DIAPHANUM.-This is very lovely, and found parasitic on other plants, or in shallow pools resting on the sandy bottom; it is about 3 inches long, and the tuft feels soft and silky. When floated on the paper, we see its beautiful texture of transparent white, stem with rosy red joints, and if in perfection, with deeper red seeds in a swollen joint, three in each cell; or with three bright berries supported in a cradle of short branchlets, near the tips of the filaments.

Habitat.-On rocks and seaweeds. Winter and summer.

MESOGLOIA VIRESCENS.

The soft shiny fronds of this plant will help to recognize it. It is of a light pretty green, the stem much branched, and it adheres well to paper, making an excellent specimen. If examined with a microscope, the texture is truly beautiful: the filaments are composed of little cells, strung like beads in tufts, and joined to a main row of cells; at the base of the tuft spores are visible, dark olive dots with a pellucid border.

CHYLOCLADIA.

(Name from Greek words signifying "juice" and "branch.")

CHYLOCLADIA KALYFORMIS (Salt-wort Chylocladia.).—This is a beautiful specimen for the album. It dries well on paper, though staining it a bright red from the rupture of its tubular branches. The colour is often greenish and yellowish in the stem, and when growing in shallow tide-pools, exposed to a bright sun, it is quite yellow. It grows at various depths and in different situations, on rocks or on sand, as may be. The fronds are frequently 12, or even 20 inches long, with spreading branches and bead-like joints. The fruit is a round berry without obvious pore, and with a wide trans

parent margin, containing many crimson pear-shaped spores: this alone would decide the species. Tetraspores are scattered thickly in the joints of the ramuli or lesser branches. It is found from June to August, all round our

coasts.

CHYLOCLADIA OVALIS (Oval-leafed Chylocladia).—This is a very pretty specimen, but to have it in perfection, seek it in the months of April and May, on rocks and stones within tide-marks. There is a difference in its structure that will help the collector in naming it. The stem is not jointed, but solid; from 2 to 10 inches high, and edged with oblong leaf-like little branches: some of these appear to be single cells, some are compound and set on little stems, like leaves; if divided lengthwise, these joints are seen to be hollow chambers partitioned off by one or two membranes, and filled with fluid.

PTILOTA SERICEA. (SILKY PTILOTA.)
(Ptilota from a Greek work signifying "pinnated.")

In company with Chylocladia under the hanging rock is this beautiful feathery seaweed: its sister plant Ptilota plumosa, more rare and lovely, is found at lowest-water mark, or cast up after a storm.

The texture of this seaweed is worthy of microscopic examination. The frond is not jointed, but the branches which divide and subdivide are composed of minute cells filled with pink fluid, and with transparent divisions: the fruit is often abundant. Favallæ, or large cells having a dense mass of spores within them, are found at the tips of the branches, generally only two of them, partially sheltered by short branches. Tetraspores are found in rows upon the ramuli, little dots of white cells inclosing red spores.

GRIFFITHSIA.

(Named in honour of Mrs. Griffiths, of Torquay, Devon, whose many discoveries in and intimate knowledge of seaweeds are well known in the scientific world.)

A most valuable family of seaweeds for the collector's album. There are seven species.

Generic character.-Frond rose-red, thread-like, jointed slightly, branched, sometimes whorled, and the joints transparent.

Fructification.-1. Roundish gelatinous receptacles or favellæ containing minute spores. 2. Tetraspores, affixed to whorled ramuli or lesser branches. GRIFFITHSIA SETACEA (Bristle-like Griffithsia).-Hanging from the shadowy side of a rock or in a mid-tide pool, in tufts from 3 to 6 inches long, colour deep crimson, and slightly branched, or rather forked. On immersing it in fresh water, the membrane bursts with a crackling noise, and the colouring is lost: like several others of the genus, it stains paper of a bright carmine, which remains unaltered for years. This seaweed requires mounting as soon as possible, for it soon changes colour, and becomes yellowish. Keep it in sea-water, dark and cool.

The fructification is a beautiful microscopic object. With quite a low power we see the tuft of little ramuli at the end of a branch, within which are tetraspores, cells full of crimson spores, or else we find on naked ramuli two larger cells or favellæ full of minute red spores. There is a third kind

of fructification sometimes found in the tufts which bear the tetraspores, called antheridia-minute oval bodies, composed of dense whorls of glossy threads, not perfectly understood. This plant, delicate as it is, may be kept in sea-water, for many months preserving its colour and fruit. A glass bottle sealed up will not require changing for a year, and gives an interesting object as a sea-side remembrance.

GRIFFITHSIA CORALLINE.-We only find this in deep pools, usually on the shady side or under other seaweed near low-water mark. It is jointed like a Coralline, but of a rich crimson, and may be known by its strong disagreeable smell, especially when brought home and immersed in fresh water; it then discharges its colour, so it must be mounted quickly. The joints in this plant are pear-shaped, and the fruit is clustered round them, protected by very short branches. The tetraspores are densely crowded quite round the joint, the favellæ are on one side only, and occupy the place of a suppressed branch. The tufts are usually 6 or 8 inches high. Common on all our coasts.

LAURENCIA.

LAURENCIA DASYPHYLLA (Sedum-leaved Laurentia.)-This is a fine plant for the album, and if gathered in a deep shady pool, as near low-water mark as possible, the specimen will be nearly 12 inches long; the colour varying again from yellowish-purple to pale pink, or even dark purple, and sometimes a mixture of all three, which greatly helps the young collector in naming it. Very slender, the main stem throws out long lateral branches, all having numerous linear club-shaped ramuli, one or two lines in length, and very much attenuated at the base, resembling leaves of a Sedum or stonecrop.

The stem under a lens appears to be striated or striped, because this species nearly approaches Rytiphle, in having a jointed axis, composed of four or five large cells, round a central cavity, and the length of these cells makes the stripes, which are most visible in the youngest branches.

Tetraspores are seen in the club-shaped ramuli. Ceramidia, ovate capsules, transparent, pink, and containing each a cluster of pear-shaped spores.

This is common on the shores of Great Britain and the Channel Islands. LAURENCIA TENUISSIMA (Slender Laurentia).-This is a very pretty seaweed carefully handled, as it is tender and somewhat gelatinous. Pale purple or pinkish red, becoming yellowish, and in fronds of from 6 to 8 inches long, it is found parasitic on coarser weed in mid-tide pools, but it is by no means common. Seek for it in sunny shallow pools. It is a straggler from its native shores of the Mediterranean Sea, where it grows in perfection. Here it needs all the warmth our colder climate can give it, and is therefore more "at home" in Guernsey and Jersey, where the hot Gulf Stream from Mexico passes through our channel and influences our tide-pools as well as our land vegetation.

The fruit, often dotted thickly on its branches, small urns containing pearlike spores, or tetraspores imbedded in the leaf-like ramuli. Weymouth, Isle of Wight, Channel Islands, Torbay, Irish coast, are its localities.