HARDWICKE'S SC lENCE-GOSSIP. 



243 



lying rocks off Hope's Nose, but ou the 1st of May, 

 the day being particularly favourable for the purpose, 

 I took a boat from Babbicombe and rowed round to 

 Hope's Nose, landing first on the Flat Rock (which, 

 by the way, 1 found anything but flat, and as rough 

 a place to walk on as ever I attempted) . The greater 

 parts of the south and west sides of this rock are 

 clothed with a dense growth of various species of 

 Fucus and Lawimria, besides many common species 

 of red weeds ; and here and there, under the shelter 

 of the larger plants, I found some very beautiful 

 specimens of Polysiphonia urceolata (so called from 

 the pitcher or urn-shaped form of its spore-vessel), 

 and its variety, P. patens, or the spreading Polysi- 

 phonia, the ramuli or ultimate branchlets having the 

 curious habit of spreading or sometimes curving 

 over in a reflexed manner. This variety I have 

 never taken in shallow water, but generally it is cast 

 ashore; and in drying, it usually turns black, whereas 

 the plants which I took from the Plat Rock have 

 all retained the fine brown-red tint of the grow- 

 ing Folysiphonia. Leaving the Flat Rock, I rowed 

 round the Great Rock, which lies out, I am told, a 

 mile from the shore. This splendid rock, rising 

 .almost precipitously out of the sea, reminded me 

 somewhat, though on a smaller scale, of the famed 

 Ailsa Craig, off the mouth of the Clyde. As the 

 sun was shining and the water wonderfully clear, it 

 was a fine sight to look down into the deep water 

 on the outer side of the rock, and watch the great 

 fronds of the Oarweeds waving to and fro with tlie 

 motion of the water. 1 greatly wished to land there, 

 for I have been told there are a few curious plants 

 growing on the summit of the rock ; but the boat 

 was somewhat fragile, and I feared, being a mile 

 from land, that the heave of the wave might run the 

 boat against the rock unpleasantly, and so I merely 

 took note of what I intended to examine on a future 

 occasion. Returning from the rock and finding the 

 tide favourable for landing on the outer reefs to the 

 west of Hope's Nose, I had a good examination of 

 the pools in that direction, and was rewarded with 

 a fine specimen of the rare CladopJiora pelhicida, and 

 two or three forms of that Proteus among seaweeds, 

 Gelldium corneum. Of the green plant, CladopJiora 

 pellucida, I made two good specimens, for I felt 

 pretty sure of not finding tJiat species again very 

 soon. This was the first time 1 had met with it in 

 this part of Devon. It was growing in a pool full 

 of red weeds of different kinds, but without the 

 companionship of a single green plant ; and although 

 I searched about in all directions, 1 did not find 

 another specimen of this beautiful Chlorosperm. As 

 regards the red plant, Gelidiiim corneum, nearly 

 every pool teemed with one or other of its varieties, 

 the most attractive being the broad-fronded variety, 

 latifolia; the others were chiefly the common variety 

 pinnatum. This species, and its varieties mentioned 

 above, must have fruited abundantly last season, for 



although I found it growing pretty freely in some 

 of the rock -pools, the quantity this season exceeds 

 anything I ever remember in this way. Every step 

 I took, from low-water to within a few feet of the 

 rough pathway that leads up to the field, I saw this 

 seaweed attached to the rocky sides of the pools, 

 and growing in tufts on the limpets, some of which 

 Mrere slowly moving over the surface of the rocks 

 with this miniature plantation on their shells. This 

 reminded me of a singular sight I once witnessed 

 in a rock -pool near Tynemouth, in Northumberland. 

 I was examining the contents of a most prolific rock- 

 pool, when I was suddenly startled by seeing a bunch 

 of plants of various kinds, which appeared to be 

 growing at the bottom of the pool, give a jerk and 

 then wriggle across to the side away from me. A 

 poke or two with my stick soon solved the mystery. 

 It was a good-sized crab, which was literally covered 

 with a growth of Confervecp. and other small species 

 of green plants. The carapace of the poor crustacean 

 was as large as my fist, and M-hile the creature was 

 quiescent, not a particle of its shell was visible, so 

 completely covered was it with vegetable growth 

 which must indeed have been rapid, as crabs cast 

 their shelly covering several times before they attain 

 the normal size of their species. 



I have rarely visited the rock-pools about Hope's 

 Nose without finding some rare and interesting 

 algse, but this spring, although I found several 

 species quite unexpectedly, I have hitherto sought 

 in vain for that favourite plant known as Delesseria 

 sanguinea. Last season, I took some beautiful 

 specimens in that locality, which were growing in 

 two widely sepai'ated pools, but taking care not to 

 injure or disturb the roots, for as this species is per- 

 ennial, or at least biennial, I hoped to find fresh 

 leaflets this spring ; but nothing of the kind had 

 made its appearance in that direction. I took one 

 good specimen of this lovely plant iu a pool near 

 Paignton ; and numbers of wave-beaten fragments 

 which were cast ashore near Meadfoot Rocks, proving 

 the existence of this species at no great depth in 

 that direction ; but unless one has recourse to the 

 dredge, there is little chance of securing uninjured 

 specimens. As regards some species of green plants, 

 and especially the genus Enteromorpha, among which 

 there are two or three graceful and somewhat rare 

 species, I have been fortunate during the two last 

 seasons in meeting with several, and among them 

 some remarkably beautiful specimens of two varieties 

 of Ftiteromorpha dathrata. One is known as Entero- 

 morpha Linkiana, the other E. erecta. These plants 

 are excessively and very delicately branched, and 

 are so unlike the ordinary well-known forms, E. 

 intestinalis and E. compressa, that inexperienced 

 collectors have often applied to me for assistance in 

 naming specimens of Cladophora, as they supposed 

 these plants to be, owing to their numerous branches 

 and extremely attenuated rarauli. Indeed, some of 



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