CHAPTER XVI. 



SEAWEEDS. 



" Mark well yon sea-weed rooted on the rock, 

 The maddened surge assails its fragile form, 

 And yet it moves not, clinging with small hands. 

 An emblem flower, methinks, of steadfast ones, 

 Who dwell in peace amid earth's wild turmoils." 



j|X our second ramble along the shore at Oban, we 

 came to some charming rock pools, which the 

 retreating tide had just left open to observa- 

 tion. One of these was full of a thread-shaped olive 

 weed ; the fronds were above a foot long, branched, and 

 beset with tiny shoots. It was rooted to the rock by a 

 little flat substance. The continual crossings of the 

 branches procure for the family the name of Netted 

 Tube (Dictyosiphon), and this our one British species is 

 called the Fennel-like (Fseniculaceus, Plate II., Jig. 2). 

 Thrown up upon flat rocks, we found a weed of the 

 flat forked form of the Fuci, but slender and thin, and of 

 a golden olive colour. Under a magnifier, its fronds 

 have a netted appearance on the surface, hence it is 

 called Dictyota; its specific name, Dichotoma (Plate II., 

 Jig. 3), is on account of the forked fronds. Both these 

 weeds belong to an extensive order called after them 

 Dictyotacese. 



