LaminariecB.'] laminaria. 119 



In its native state it is well entitled to rank, in Europe 

 at least, among the giants of tlie marine forest. When a 

 full-grown plant has by stress of weather been torn from its 

 moorings, and stranded on the shore never more to wave in 

 the deep, it is a kind of treasure-trove, a well-stored cabinet 

 of the naturalist. If he is a conchologist, he is almost 

 sure to find the beautiful Patella pellucida on the slimy 

 frond ; and at the very centre of the stout fibrous roots he is 

 still more sure of Patella ccBTulea, snugly ensconced in a 

 cave which it has dug out for itself, where it is quite safe 

 from everything but an uprooting storm. When the Tangle 

 has come from deep water, it frequently brings with it some 

 rare Nudibranchs, — those elegant little creatures so well 

 figured and described in that admirable monograph with 

 which my friend Mr. Alder and Mr. Hancock are happily 

 engaged. The stem is often adorned with Sea-hair [Sertu- 

 laria ojoerculata) -, and various kinds of corallines may be 

 found on the roots. After the young naturalist has collected 

 all that can be seen, let him put the tangled root into a 

 basin of sea- water, and in the course of an hour or so he 

 will be astonished to see the Protean tribes of little crabs, 

 annelides, and other strange creeping things that issue 

 forth to reconnoitre their new Kmited locality. But it is 



