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Show The Hijlory of P L A ~ .. T . ~~ larger iipedmens; but, in many, it does not exceed )lalf an inch. It alw~y_s fpreads h · b . dth or more than it does in length and the ext rem tlles of all out as muc 111 tea , ' ' · fil ~ the branches and {hoots terminate in a fort of broad _ai~d daltcate amento e ex-nnfions : in fome of thefe the filaments are perfeCtly dlfl:tntl"; and wonde rfu lly fine; fn others they coalefce and form a thin and feemingly membraneous fubflance; but thefe latter I have ofte~ ob(erved, after a time, to open into the 11:ate of th~ form~r, the fibres feparating themfelves, as they grow drier. The br_ancbes fometlmes nfe naked from the matter they grow to~ fometime~s they ~ave a ku,1d of bafe of the fame fubflimce with their own, out of which they anf~. ~t s branches do not iland erect, as the filaments of the other Byffi in general do, but exten_d themfelves upon the fub-fiance they grow on, adhering every-where very firmly to It. . . . It grows {ometimes on old fiumps of trees, oftener on rotten wo~d 111 celbt s, anJ, fometimes, on the decayed leaves ofylants ~nd. trees, and a great vanety of ? ther Cubfrances. When it has fufficient modl:ure, It IS u(ually of .a p~re .fnow-whtte .colo~r; where it has lefs, it is yellowi{h, or livid, and_fmaller. lt ts prmctpally.found m wmter. I have met with very fine fpecimens of it on decayed oak-leaves,. 111 Cane-.wood, near Highgate, in December. Dill.eniu.s has de~cribed and figured It, both 111 the third edition of Ray's Synopfis, and m h1s own Htfiory of Mo.ffes, under the name of Byffus tenerrime villofa et elega?tiffim~ ra:nulofa. . . . Of thefe three fingular fpecies of By!h, the two latte( have ~carce any others lt~~ them, the generality of the others being compofed of fimple, firatt fil ament', ~nd differing principally in their length and colour. They are, 1. A iliort, green kt.nd. 2. A complicated, purple kind, found ?n t~e bay-.tree. 3· A flaky, fnow- whtte one, found in cellars, 4· A iliort, yellowi{h kmd, With a membranaceous ba(e. S· The black, filky Byffus of Micheli. 6. A yellowi{h ki~d, looking like coar fe cloth. 7· A fine green one, lying on the ground, and refembhng vel~et: 8 .. A yellow, globu, lar kind, growing on board~. 9· An orange~colo~red, hair-like kmd. 1 o. A black hair-like kind. 1 I. A iliort, fetaceous, wh1te lund: and, I z. A tough, complex kind, of a duiky, blacki01-green colour, found in great plenty on our wine-caiks. To thefe which are all the kinds of genuine Byffus defcribed by au thors, we are to add the 'two new fpecies of our own. The firfi of thefe is a fmall grey one, with round branches, more divaricated than any of thefe kinds: the other, a bearded one, like the fecond fpecies defcribed here, but Jhorter, thicker, and divided into fewer filaments at the extremities : both thefe I found on Mendip-hills, growing near the oottom of the !lumps of old trees. Our wine-coopers have a cufiom of ufing the twelfth fpecies to fiop the bleeding of fre01 wounds, which purpofe it anfwers very well: excepting this, we do not find that the Byffi have been put to any ufe in medicine. M 0 SSE S. Clqfs the Fir.ft Genus the Second. CONFER VA. C 0 N FER VA is a genus of Mofl'es, confilling of oblong, capillary fil aments, not uniform and equal throughout tl,leir whole length, but divided into joints of a cyl~ndric or globular figure. The Confervre all of them grow in water;· we have nothing whofe place of growth is out of the water, that is at all like them. Their filaments are fometimes fimple, fometimes branched, and are often extended to a great length ; but no part of ft uB:ification has ever yet been difcovered in any of them. It has been a common error of botanical writers to confound the cyli ndric and tubular ulvre of the ilenderer kinds with the Confervre, but the difiinetion is obvious: length and ilenderne[s are not the generical charaCters of the Conferva, but it's geniculated or nodofe ftrutl:ure; every plant which wants this charaCter is to be removed from the clafs of Confervre, and. confeqhently all thofe plants, called by Dilleniu:, Ray, and oth:rs, Confervre fimphces et equabilli :filo protenfre, are to be excluded this dafs ; they w1ll be f~und among the cylindric ulvre. Boccone The Hijlory of P L A N T S& 77 Boccone delivers it as h~s opinion, that the Confervre have in reality no fruCtification at all : that they do not anfe fi·om feeds as other plants, but are formed of an untl:uous matter, feparated from the water by mere juxtapofition of parts. Dillenius favours the fame opinion, and argues, that, as they are plants of a lower clafs than others, and approach more than any to the nature of foffils, they may probably be formed as they are. There needs no farther anfwer to fo unwarrantable a fuppofition as this, than to obferve that it's original author Boccone extends it to the Fungi as well as the Con ... ferv<-e. We have already difcovered flowers and feeds in thefe lafi, and may probably at fome future time, in the former. , Dillenius, in his Hifiory of the Moffes, has defcribed no lefs than forty-eight fpecies of Conferva; one half of that number, however, is firuck off at once, by obferving that the firft twenty-four are of that kind called Simplices et non geniculatre, and therefore are properly ulvre. A:s to t~e. remaining half, after defcd~ti_ons at large of three of the more fingular fpecies, a JOmted fimple one, a ramofe JOmted one, and a globular branched one, it will be fuflicient to difiinguiili the refi of them by their names. I. Conferva geniculata jimplex. Simple, geniculated Conjerva. This is a very fingular plan_t, a?d is eafily difiingui{hable at fight. It confifis only of a :lingle fila_ment of a cylmdnc figure, and of the thicknefs of a large horfe-hair of an ~qual b1gnefs t~r~ughout the whole length, but divided by annular marks into ~ mulum.de of iliort JOIDts., o~ tl~e. figure of fegments of cylinders. It has no root, nor does 1t adhere to .any thmg 111 It s ufual manner of growth, but floats loofe in the water ufually, at a middle depth, between the furface and the bottom. It's colour is a faint yellow, with an admixture of green, while in the water but when dried it becomes whitiili. Several of the filaments are ufually found tog;ther, 'variouily ent~ngled and ~~king loofe knots; if carefully explicated, however, they are found to be of ~ furpnzmg length : I have meafured fome of five feet and a half and the(e not entire neither; they are tender, and eafily broken. It grows not oniy in fait but in frefh v:vater. I have met with it abundantly in the ditches below Greenwich; and in the ~·tv.er Nen bel~w Peterborough there is no angling without frequently taking it out~ It IS u fual~y. thicker, and_ fome":hat _fironger,. in fall water, but in fre!h rivers it grows to a furpnzmg len~th : m the nver JUfi menuoned, when the water is clear, it is common to fee complicated congeries of it of half a yard in diameter, from which fingle fi laments of a vafi length may be explicated, while the whole is in the water· but if taken out, it collapfes, and the feparate filaments cannot be pulled out to a~y g;eat length. Scarce any of .the botanic~! writers have miffed this obvious plant. In:pera~us calls 1~ , Lmum ~quat1cum ; and Chabrreus, Fucus capillaria diCl:us. Ray calls tt, Filum mannum Anghcum, five Conferva paluflris ; and Tournefort, in his Elements, Alga fublutea capillaceo folio. Micheli calls it, Corallina marina fetacea n~d?fa, viridi~ ; an~ Dillen ius in his Hifiory, Conferva filamentis longis, genicul~tis, fim~ pl~c1~us. It ts obvxous, from the different generical names under which we meet with this m the greateft authors, how much a regular difiribution of thefe plants into genera has been wanted. 2. Conferva geniculata, ramofa, plumea. The branched and feathered ge?'Jiculated Conjerva. This is a C?nferva of the_fmalle~ kind, but it is an extreamly elegant one. It grows to two, fomet1mes. to three mches 1~ ~ength, and is ufually affixed to fame fmall pebble, or other the hke fubfian_ce, _at Its bafe. Four, five, or more ftalks ufually rife fi·~m the fame .bafe, and, wh1le 111 the water, they fpread them(elves fo as to make a· kmd of roun~t.lh .tuft of a very pretty appearance. Every fialk is a geniculated :fila~ ent of a cyhndnc figure to':ard the bafe, but growing fmaller near the top ; almoft Imme?Jately from the root, It fends out lateral branches, which grow to an inch or two 10. l~ngt?, and thefe, as well as the main ftalk, which toward the top is fcarce dxfimgutfhable fro~ them, are terminated b:y cluflcrs of fmall and elegant filaments, t~enty or _more m each clufter, all of the fame colour with the main branch, and all gcmculated m the fame manner. From the fides of the main fialk, and of the X branches |