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Show So The Hi}Jory of P L A N T s.. Ray and Morifon both defcribe it under the names of Fucus lichenis facie marin us. The Scotch who eat it call it Slake. Tabernamontanus feems to m.ean thi.s ~peci.es by the LaCtuca marina, which he figures as the common one ; . but. his defcnptwn IS too lhort to form any certain judgment from it. Imperatus defcnbes It unde.r the name of Umbilicus marinus, and Morifon and Ray, under thofe of Fucus marmus umbilicatus, and Fucus, umbilicus marinus diCI:us. The other five fpecies are, 1. The common oyfier-green, or laver. 2. The fmall Phyllona of our frelh water. 3. The oblong, verrucated Phyllona. 4· The oblong, fmooth Phyllona; and 5· The linze, or fafciated Phyllona. All thefe are of the fame tender texture with the common oifter-green, and all are inhabitants of the fea, except the fecond :. they ufually grow by a finall bafe to ftones, and other folid bodies, near the :lhores. M 0 s s E s. Clafs the Second. Genus the Second. tJ D V ·A. U ~VA is a genus. of. Moffes, confifting of a merely fol~aceous matter, formed mto oblong, cylmdnc tubes. Thefe tubes are fomeumes plain fometimes wrinkled. They ufually grow to a great length, and are of various di~meters but no pa~t of fruCI:ific~ti?n has ever yet been difcovered in any of them. ' This genus, as It mcludes what are called the tubular tremellce, and with them all the fmooth confervre of authors, is confiderably abundant in the number of it's fpeci es.They have all, however, fo general an exrernallikenefs, that, after giving defcriptions of two or three of them, we may very fafely leave the reft to be diftinguiihed by their feveral names. I. Ulva long a, tenuis, Jimplex. Long, fine, undivided U/va. This plant confiO:s merely of long, cylindric, capillary filaments; there grow feveral of them from t~e fame bafe, fifty, a hundred, or more, fram whence they extend themfelves to fix, eight, or ten fee~; they are of an equal thicknefs, or very nearly fo, all the way, and are hollow, bemg .cornpofed of a thin tubular membrane, eafily broken, of a deep green colour, and ?f a .glolfy fu:face. Thefe filaments are a ways fimple, never fo much as a fingle ~·amtficatwn .growmg from them ; they generally adhere at t~e .bafe to a fione, f?mettmes to a ptece of board. Their common place of growt~ IS m .the clearer runmng waters, where they follow the courfe of the fiream) exten~mg theu; filam~nts to a furpriGng length. Th1s plant IS defcnbed by all the botanical writers but under various names · the gen.erality have called it Conferva .vulgaris, and fuppofed it the conferva of Pliny, whtch, he fays, grows upon ~ones m the brooks on mountains, and is hair-like, and hollow. There are not wantmg authors who deny a hollownefs to this and the other con.fe:vce, as they call ~hen,1, of thefe Jimple and equable kinds; but it is owing to their unp~rfe0= obfervatwn of them; eith.er they have not ufed the proper affill:ances in the exammat10n, or elfe they have exammed them at an improper time. When out of the ~ater,. the fides of the tube are apt to collapfe and form a flat, folid body, and at certam per.IOds ?f growth the cavity alfo fills up by nature, or at leaft grows too fmall.to be difcermble; bu~ whoever will examine the confervce, with the help of a glafs 111 ~ater, w!len. at thetr full growth, and in their mofi perfect fiate, will find a very mamfefi cavity ~n all ?f them : moft he will find mere, thin, membraneous tubes. L.obel has figured this fpectes under the name of Conferva Plinii · and Gerard Parkmfon, Chabr.-cus, and ~ great ma~1y others, who have given figu;es of it, ha:e evid~ n.tly only borro~ed thts of ~~bel s. Aldrovand has indeed given a figure of his own 0 1 It,l and has capt~~ a delcnptton from Pliny: it is pretty clear, that he never faw t le pant; ~o that tis eafy to g~efs what information is to be had from him. Micheli has give.n a. new figure of It, and refers it to the ByD1, whither alfo we {hould have referred It, tf, as authors, in general, have related, it's filaments were folid, and not Tbe Hiflory of P L A N T S.. St ti6t tubuiar." Authors defcribe feveral confervre, as they call them, which grow on )and and confill: of folid filaments; all thefe we refer to the Byffi i but the tubular ones: which are all of them inhabitants of the water only, are to be referred to this genus, though at prefe.n.t divide~ by auth_ors; am~ng many others, Tournefort ~ails this fpecies Alga fluviauhs, grammea, long1ffimo foho. Boerhaave, Mufcus aqnatlcus conferva dietus; and Bromdius, Fucus capillaceo folio. We meet with it alfo in the very heft authors. who have written largely on thefe fubjeets, defcribed many times over, in it's different fiates, under various names, with conferva at the head of them;· It is only in running waters that it can extend itfelf, as defcribed here : thefe are it's proper place of growth, but it is often met with al(o in fianding waters, and fometimes in foul puddles: in large and clear ponds it diffufes itfelf every way, and feldqm extends to a greater length than ten or twelve inches, in foul and !hallow pud• dies; it often does not grow to more than two or three inches, and il:ands erect. In both thefe and many other appearances of the fame kind the plant is wholly the fame, though it is not under exaCtly the fame form. 2. Ulva ramofa, fubrigida, brevis. Shori, rigid, branched Ulva. Thi5 is a plant of con.G.derable beauty in it's diviGorls, and while in the water, with it's ramifications all extended, makes a very pleafing figure. It grows to three or four inches in length, fometimes it is much lefs, rarely more. It rifes from a fmall flat bafe, :fixed on [orne pebble, br other folid fubfl:ance, and from a fingle ftem divaricates into a multitude of parts, each of which fends off a number of lateral branches, all dividing into ftill fmaller, till, at the extremities, they become almofl: imperceptible. Sometimes only one main fiem ari(es from the bafe; fometimes two, three, or four, iri which cafe it is lefs difiincr, but extends farther. It's colour is a dufky green ; it's larger branches have a cavity in them pretty large, in the fmaller it is lefs perceptible: it is of a finer firucture than moil of the other Ulvre, and le(s flexile. It grows in ri.:. vulets, brooks, and other running waters, and is frequent ehough in many parts of England. Several of the botanical writers have mentioned it, under the name of Con-: ferva fluviatilis fibrillofa. 3· Ulva jinuofa jimpiex. Simple, Jinuous Ulva. This is an extreamly fingular fpecies, and is fo different in it's figure and fize, according to it's time of growth, and the water it is in, that it might eafily lead people into an opinion of it's being, under thefe feveral fiates, feveral different plants. It is ufually fimple, but fometimes it divides into a few ramifications. When full grown, it is of the thicknefs of a fheep's gut, and of three, four, or .five feet in length. It is at this time a mere membranaceous tube; the membrane itfelf is not thicker than a fine paper, and it's cavity fuch as will admit a man's finger: the cavity of the fmaller fpecies may be better underfiood by that of this large one, than by any examination of themfelves ; for they appear to be all alike in this refpect, it is continued through the whole plant, and has no valves, or any thing to intercept it. The furface of the tube is full of wrinkles and finuofities, very deep, and very irregular ; tbe membrane it confifts of is very tender, and is at firfi of a yellowi!h colour, afterwards greener, and fometimes brownilh: while young, it is lefs finuous; and, as it grows, if it have plenty of water, and that of a proper degree of faltnefs, it will run into a multitude of luxuriant figures. It is common in falt water ditches, and about the fea-ihore in fome places. We have it in great plenty in the ditches about Greenwich and Woolwich, where it grows to a vaft length. It is naturally affixed at the bafe to a fione, or to fome other folid body; but it frequently breaks off, and the greatefi quantities of it are found floating loofe on the furface of the Water. It is moil: frequent in fait waters, and then grows mofl: luxuriant; but it is not wanting in our frelh ones. Mr Brown met with it in Shrop!hire, and I h:tVe feen it in the ponds in Wilt!hire, in many places. y It |