NOTES ON THB MARINE BOTANY OF THE COAST OP NORFOLK. 75 



tKe common Poulpe, {Octopus vulgaris,) and the Argonaut, whose beautiful 

 shell is so often seen as the ornament of the marble chiffonier or lady's 

 boudoir, are the best known. These are supplied with eyes, and tentacula 

 or feet which are furnished with powerful suckers. The sepia of artists is 

 a product of these creatures, and the white, hard, spongy substance which is 

 also so familiar in the same branch of the arts. The Nautilus differs in 

 having a shell and being a harmless creature, but all the Cephalopoda, or 

 those furnished with head and feet, are of so much higher an order of 

 organization, and will require so much more elaboration to describe, that I 

 must defer them to my next paper. 



(To be continued.) 



NOTES ON THE MARINE BOTANY OF THE 

 COAST OF NORFOLK. 



BY C. H. DASHWOOD, ESQ. 

 {Concluded from page 14.) 



In my last paper I noticed the various species of the class Melanospermece 

 found on this coast, and shall now proceed to make a few notes on the 

 Ehodospermew, the second, and by far the most extensive, class of Algae. 

 The Rhodosperms are all of some tint of red or purple, though these colours 

 are by no means permanent, generally turning black or fading very much in 

 the process of drying; the growing plants also in many instances lose their 

 colours when exposed to much light, and those species which grow habitually 

 in shallow pools, almost always assume either the brown tints of the Fuci or 

 the green and yellow of the Confervce. and Ulvce. Amongst the more common 

 species of the first order, Rhodomelacece, found on this coast, may be mentioned 

 Rytiphltea thuyoides and fructiculosa, both of which are abundant on most 

 parts of the coast. R. pinastroides is rather a rare species. Of the extensive 

 genus Poli/siphonia the following are common: — P. urceolata, formosa, pulvinata, 

 violacea, elonffata, fibrillosa, Brodioei, nigrescens, and hyssoides. P. fihrata and 

 elongella seem rather local; the former occurs in tolerable abundance at 

 Cromer, and the latter at Weyburn. P. fastigiata and atro-rnbescens are in 

 some seasons plentiful on many parts of the coast. P. parasitica is rather 

 rare. Bostrichia scorpioides occurs not unfrequently in the salt-water ditches 

 near Blakeney and Morston. The only species of Dasya that occurs on this 

 coast is D. coccima, which is found not unfrequently on the rocks at Cromer 

 in the summer months. All the foregoing species belong to the first order, 

 Rhodomelacece. 



Bonnemaisonia asparagoides is found on the beach at Yarmouth, where it 

 was first discovered by Mr. Wigg; it also occurs at Cromer and other places, 

 though seldom in abundance. Laarencia pinna.iifida and L. caspitosa are common 



