THE PTILOTA. " 189 



Harvey, than whom no higher authority can he cited 

 on the subject of marine botany, says that this species 

 "has been observed to be occasionally iridescent." 

 But he has surely not seen it around Ilfracombe ; 

 for, with the exception of the stunted fronds that grow 

 near high-water, I have never seen it otherwise, and 

 I have seen roods upon roods of the plant. This 

 iridescence is common to it also around Torquay ; 

 it is not lost nor even diminished when the plant is 

 kept in an aquarium, for I have specimens that have 

 been growing for many weeks in my pans and glass 

 vases, and which are as brilliant as when they were 

 first procured. 



THE BRANCHING CORYNE. 



Peeping about among the pools that lie clear and 

 calm in the hollows of the rocks below the Torrs, my 

 eye was attracted by a tuft of that feathery sea-weed, 

 Ptilota sericea. It is not uncommon, fringing the 

 perpendicular sides of the ragged ledges and out- 

 cropping strata, near the lowest tide-mark, wherever 

 the form of the succeeding ledge allows the water to 

 lie in a long, narrow and sharp-bottomed pool. The 

 colour of this sea-weed is not particularly attractive, 

 for it is of a dull brownish red, and the fronds have 

 frequently a ragged appearance ; but if it be carefully 

 spread out in a saucer of sea-water and examined, 

 there will always be some branches to be found of a 

 livelier hue than the rest, and these w^ill best show 

 the exquisite plumose structure. Each branchlet 

 resembles a tiny feather regularly pinnated ; and if 



