Marine Plants on the N. E. United States, 25 



species of a confervoid plant and a very small Diatom. These I 

 "was not able to examine in their fresh state under a high power 

 of the microscope, and in the dry state I find the confervoid plant 

 altogether broken up and without form. 

 III. The Fucus Zone. 



This third zone I would divide into three distinct sub-zones : 



(1) The nodosus. 



(2) The vesiculosus. 



(3) The furcatus. 



(1 ) The first or uppermostof these is almost exclusively occupied 

 with Fucus nodosus. This plant grows to great perfection on the 

 Atlantic coast of America. It has a range as far south as New 

 York Bay. Every where it is found within this region fringing 

 the shores and the rocks near high water mark. For its proper 

 growth it requires evidently a measure of dryness, a good deal of 

 light, and showers of rain. It is the hardiest of all the Fuci, and 

 may be found in a depauperised state high up in fresh water 

 creeks, or in rivulets. It is a hard dark olive and ribless plant» 

 easily known by its slightly petioled and club-shaped branchlets, 

 and by the large bladder-like air vessels formed by the inflation 

 of its fronds, with which it is crowded. On this coast it covers a 

 belt of shore of from one to three yards in breadth. It is fre- 

 quently covered with Ceramium ruhrum. In manyplaces so densely 

 does this parasite grow upon it, that it gives quite a feature to 

 the plant. 



(2) In the next sub-zone Fucus vesiculosus grows in great 

 profusion. It seems to retain more water among its fronds than 

 the previous more leathery plant. It is easily known by its 

 broader ribbed frond, its air vessels, occurring frequently in paii-s, 

 and by the viscid character of its terminal receptacles. This 

 plant is also.infested with Ceramium^ rubrum\\\%OY)iQ of its many 

 varieties, with C.fastigiatum and sometimes also with the parasitic 

 plants Elachista fucicola and Ectocarpus siliculosus. It occupies a 

 space on the shore of from one to three yards in breadth, com- 

 pletely covering with its wet and slimy fronds, the rocks upon 

 which it grows. 



(3) Fucus furcatus. — Occupies the chief place in this sub-zone, 

 and is unquestionably the most beautiful and graceful of the three. 

 Harvey remarks in his Nereis Borealis, that he is unacquainted 

 with this species. We wonder at this, as it is a very abundant 

 and remarkable plant on the coast of Maine. He describes it on 



