COLLECTING SEA-WEEDS. 297 



be obtained in an available state. The gTass-like 

 Enteromorphce have the same qualities and habits, 

 but their lena'th and narrowness make them less ele- 

 gant. The Gladopliorce^ however, are desirable ; they 

 are plants of very simple structure, consisting of 

 jointed threads, which grow in dense brushes or tufts 

 of various tints of green. Some of them are very 

 brilliant ; the commonest kind is G. rwpestris^ which 

 is of a dark bluish-green ; it is abundant in most 

 localities. 



These are a few of the sorts of sea-plants which 

 are met with in the situations I have described. In 

 order to transfer them to an Aquarium, a portion of 

 the rock on which they are growing must be removed. 

 These plants have no proper roots, and therefore 

 cannot be dug up and replanted like an orchis or a 

 violet, but adhere by a minute disk to the surface of 

 the rock, and, if forcibly detached, die. I therefore 

 bring the hammer and chisel into requisition, and 

 split off a considerable fragment of the solid stone, 

 which then, with the plant adhering to it, is placed 

 in the Aquarium. This is often a difficult, always a 

 delicate, operation ; the rock is frequently so hard as 

 to resist the action of the chisel, or breaks at the 

 wrong place ; sometimes, on the other hand, it is so 

 soft and friable as to crumble away under the imple- 

 ment, leaving only the isolated plant deprived of its 

 attachment ; and sometimes, at the first blow, the 

 sea-weed flies off with the vibration of the shock. 

 Often we have to work under water, where the force 

 of the blows is weakened and almost rendered power- 

 less by the density of the medium, and where it is 



