SEAWEEDS. 14 7 



{Plate II, Fig. 1), both the generic and specific name of 

 which signifies toothed. 



There, too, were plants of the Carrageen moss, grow- 

 ing in the low water pools, and crowned with long tufts 

 of an elegantly branched red weed, shading to brown. 

 The thread-like form of the branches, dark in the approach 

 of winter, and which became darker in drying, proved it 

 to be the Ehodoriiela subfusca (Plate II, fi(j. 2). The 

 generic name signifies red-black, and is adopted as the 

 family name of the first great order of red seaweeds, or 

 Ehodospermeae, not because of the importance of this 

 Ehodoriiela and its brother, but because red-black is a 

 characteristic of plants in the whole order. The E. 

 lycopodioides has long branches, with clusters of fine 

 branchlets here and there, which are much divided. We 

 found it both here and at Ardrossan. 



The Bostrichea Scorpioides, the one British member of 

 the next family, is a dark weed, with prostrate divided 

 branches, clothed with alternate threads, each of which 

 curls round. Its name sionifies a curl of hair. 



The Eytiphlseas are so named because of their wrinkled 

 surface ; they are branched slender weeds, pinnate, and 

 of a brown red colour. We did not find any specimens. 



In the larger tide pools, and in wet places on the beach, 

 attached merely to rolled stones, a bright crimson weed 

 waved its long thread shaped branches, or reposed them 

 on the wet pebbles, looking like a ruby stain. Some of 

 the stems were as thick as a cord, and nearly a foot long ; 

 it was difficult to get them to stick to the paper in dry- 

 ing. This was one of the handsomest and most frequent 

 of the large family of the Polysiphonia, a name derived . 



