Mr. C. W. Peach on Nature Printing of Sea-weeds. 51 



and the burnished and spotted portions of the Dipterus, Diplo- 

 pterus, Osteolepis, &c. &c, and then the large nail-bone of the 

 gigantic Asterolepis, — all unmistakeable " footprints of the 

 Creator," — these, with the scaly Lepidodendron and other land- 

 plants, all causing me to look back on past ages. Willing 

 as I might be to muse and ask myself questions, I was not long 

 able to do so ; for in my movements I came upon rocks of a 

 different character and hue, on which were portrayed pictures 

 of recent plants, well known to me. I might have drawn on 

 my imagination, and fancied that some one, well skilled in 

 drawing, and willing not to be idle, having found a stretch of 

 flattened rocks prepared for the purpose, had traced, with no 

 " prentice han'," some of the Algse of our shores, with a light 

 yellowish colour on the dark ground, and had succeeded so well, 

 that at once I was able to name the genera and species, quite as 

 readily as if the plant itself had been displayed on paper and 

 presented to me for examination by one of the lady-algolo- 

 gists who reside in Pomona, and who, by their persevering and 

 laudable industry, have earned the best wishes of all naturalists, 

 by adding so largely to their knowledge of the beautiful " sea- 

 flowers " which had so long blushed unseen on these rich and 

 interesting shores, — now, happily, many no longer unseen ; of 

 this I had ample evidence in the splendid collections so kindly 

 shown to me by several of the lady collectors. I greatly regretted 

 that my legitimate work, the looking after the fossil land-plants, 

 would not permit me to examine them so carefully as I could 

 have desired; for amongst them I saw many species which 

 hitherto I had only seen on the southern shores of England. 



I found that these pictures occupied large spaces ; some of 

 the slabs were covered with them, two or three feet in length by 

 half as much or more in breadth ; the best are from one-third to 

 one-half between the tide-marks. Desmarestia ligulata is the 

 predominant form, with Desmarestia (Dichloria) viridis, &c. I 

 saw that D. ligulata was very plentiful ; a great quantity of it 

 was lying on the rocks, in various stages of decay, — no doubt 

 making more pictures where it rested. The form on the slab 

 herewith sent, compared with the specimen spread on paper, 

 will show that there is no mistaking the die used for the medal. 

 If the slab is examined at the paper point, Dichloria viridis will 

 be found pretty well defined. After I had detached this slab 

 and one or two smaller pieces, my time was up, and I could 

 examine no farther. 



The stone I send (such is the case with many of the printed 

 slabs) is coated by Ralfsia verrucosa, a leather-like Alga common 

 on our shores ; this coating may be likened to the chemical pre- 

 paration in photography, the Ralfsia being the sensitive part to 



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