SEAWEEDS. 167 



We sought in vain for the Biyopsis on the shores of 

 Scotland. The feathery species is found at Portobello, 

 but we were too late for it, it beino* a summer weed. 

 Subsequently, however, I had occasion to spend a day at 

 Hastings, and secured an hour or two for the rocks be- 

 tween that place and St. Leonard's. The sun was shin- 

 ing brightly, and the marine gardens in the rock pools 

 wore their most attractive colouring. Heavy masses of 

 the Eock Cladophora clothed the upper part of the rock 

 basins ; but beneath their sturdy foliage I noted transparent 

 green branches, waving to and fro as some minute crab or 

 fish disturbed the waters. Securing some of these, I found 

 I had gained possession of the much desired Feathery 

 Bryopsis (B. plumosa, Cut 1., Jig. 3). The fronds were 

 three or four inches in length, branches issuino- from each 

 side the stem at regular intervals, and beset, in their 

 turn, by little branchlets. The weed was yellow green, 

 and transparent, and looked quite glossy when dried. 

 Professor Harvey states that if the point of one of 

 the branchlets be wounded, the colouring matter of the 

 whole frond may be pressed out at the aperture, thus 

 proving, by a simple method, that the whole frond is 

 formed of one tube. I found this experiment succeed 

 entirely. There is a Hypnum-like Bryopsis, but we have 

 not found it. It is more slender, more compound in its 

 branches, and smaller, a more moss-like weed. 



Vaucher s seaweeds come next (Vaucheria) ; their 

 fronds are thread-shaped, and tubular, and they have 

 spores attached outside the frond. There is a marine 

 species with forked fronds, two or three inches high, 

 found at Weymouth ; and a submarine one with longer 



