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Show Tbe Hijlory of P L A N T S. inch in diameter in any part. They float about in the water, and make a very beautiful appearance. Their colour is naturally a pale bluifh green, but occafiona11y it be(; Ornes reddilh or w.hi.tiili. - Their- texture is fomewhat more tough than that of the others, an·d 'the ·root fienderer in proportion to its length. This is not a native of England, but it is frequent in the American feas. Sir Hans Sloane has defcribed it under the name of Alga marina graminea anguftiffimo folio. We meet with accounts in authors bf dther fpecies of Alga, but they feem to be founded upon error. The diftinCl:ions of thefe three are but very flight, but they are certain, regular and_ permanent, and therefore cannot but be owned as proofs of different fpecies. W}lat we meet ith befide thefe, under thF name of different Algre, are either one or ·o~her of tRefe in a fmaller ftate, or fome other accidental variatio.Q, miftaken for 'different fpecies ; or they are :..plants of other genefa, called by this name. Tournefort takes in the fmooth confervre of Dillenius into this genus of the Algre, but improperly ; and we meet with other inftances of a like kind in others. Ray, in his Synopfis of Britilh plants1 gives an account of feed-veifels with perfect feed in them, growing to the fides of young leaves of the Alga's. I have not met with what he defcribes, and therefore cannot ,fpeak with any certainty about it. H PUNGL |