122 SEAWEEDS 



respects Cauhrpa is the most singular type in the 

 vegetable kingdom, since it attains a variety of habit 

 rarely to be found within the limits of a very large 

 order, though the plants are invariably composed of 

 the branchings of a single cell. This cell obtains 



Fia. 30. Caulerpa phyllaphlaston one-half natural size. (Ex. Fhyc.Mcm.) 



the mechanical support, elsewhere given by cross- 

 walls, from a system of trabeculae or narrow beams, 

 branching and traversing the cell from wall to wall 

 in all directions. No reproductive organs are known, 

 and the only method of propagation that has been 

 discovered is by the separation of proliferous shoots. 



