Fucecd.^ HALIDllYS. 105 



pod-like^ and hence the specific name ; perennial. In fruit 

 ia summer; colour olive; the root is an expanded disc, 

 which attaches itself so firmly to the rocks that it requires 

 a man^s strength to pull it off ; and when torn off by the 

 strong billowsj it frequently brings a scurf of the rock 

 along with it. The disc at the base is often considerably 

 more than an inch in diameter ; the stem above this disc is 

 half an inch and upwards. The branches are often four 

 feet in length, and they are numerous and bushy. 



Habitat. In pools among the rocks between low and 

 high-water marks. Common on all our shores. Found also 

 in the North Sea and the Northern Atlantic. Something 

 like it must have existed in the ancient world, for in a lime- 

 stone quarry at Ardrossan I found dark impressions on the 

 rock very like a bushy Ilalidrys. 



JIalidrys siliquosa is a very common, but is also a very 

 handsome plant. It will be regarded with greater interest by 

 my young friends, when they learn that it is often instrumental 

 in bringing within our reach beautiful zoophytes, which are 

 even more attractive, as we have said, than Sea- weeds, because 

 they are living creatures. They form calcareous habitations, 

 which in many cases resemble little shrubs, and hence the 

 name Zoo])hijiej wliich is derived from two Greek words, the 



