310 EXPLORATORY NOTICES FOR JULY. 



is a most interesting and exciting occupation, and 

 many a wet day may be thus profitably past in their 

 examination, which might otherwise have moved on 

 leaden wings, exciting only mournful emotions or 

 wearysome sensations. Patience is, of course, abun- 

 dantly necessary in the careful laying out of the 

 pectinated Fiorina tribe after gathering, and finally 

 fixing them upon their papers, and it must be borne 

 in mind, that every specimen except the most fragile 

 are to be carefully rinced in fresh water posterior to 

 their collection on the shore. After this process, they 

 in general preserve exceedingly well in the herbarium. 

 The sea is in no climate free from algoM produc- 

 tions, though they abound on some shores much more 

 than others. Many species as the well-known com- 

 mon inflated Enteromorpha intestinalis, abound in 

 fresh water, and in mineral springs the sulphureous 

 streams of Italy as well as the boiling springs of 

 Iceland, having their peculiar forms. Very few exist 

 out of water or not exposed to its drippings, but they 

 often luxuriate upon damp walls. Thus extensively 

 scattered throughout the globe the species are exceed- 

 ingly numerous, and present a greater variety in form 

 and size than is observable in any other tribe of 

 plants whose structure is so similar. Some are so 

 exceedingly minute as to be invisible except in masses 

 to the naked eye, and require the highest powers of 

 the microscope to ascertain their structures ; while 

 others revel in the depths of the ocean with stems 

 exceeding in length the trunks of the tallest forest 

 trees, some having leaves almost rivalling in expansion 

 those of the palm. "We must refer the student to 

 HARYEY'S excellent Manual of the British Marine 



