198 Three Young Crusoe s 



Seaweeds 



The seaweeds were green, brown, red, and var- 

 ious intermediate shades of color; while the different 

 shapes were too numerous to mention. Some were 

 delicate and feathery, such as gracilaria and the 

 feather-like caulerpa; some were tough or leathery, 

 such as the fan-like udotea, the goblet udotea, the 

 three-toothed halimeda, and the honey-comb hal- 

 imeda: and others were stony and looked like coral. 



Most of the corallines had rather coarse branches, 

 but one form, the fragile amphiroa, had thousands 

 of needle-shaped branches arranged very close to- 

 gether like a bed of moss. IMuch of the land which 

 was formerly supposed to be built up by coral 

 polyps is really the work of these coral-like seaweeds. 



Then there were other forms still more interest- 

 ing on account of their peculiar shapes. The mer- 

 man's shaving-brush and the sea-broom could not 

 have been better named; while the mermaids should 

 certainly be proud of the dainty little stalked cups, 

 less than an inch across, that are known as mermaid's 

 wine-glasses. 



Fishes 



Fishes were abundant, probably numbering six 

 hundred kinds, and many of them of great beauty. 



