THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



the number of specimens in the Botanic Museum must have 

 been wonderfully increased, as I was able to identify no less 

 than sixteen separate species. These were nearly all found by 

 me amongst drift at Ocean Grove, on the morning after a severe 

 storm. On the rocky sides and bottom of the pool brown fan- 

 shaped seaweeds, Zoonaria, may be observed ; they are very 

 beautiful, and vary greatly in habit, Z. nigricans forming an 

 entire thin leaf fastened almost sessile to the rock, and marked 

 with zones of different shades. In other species of Zoonaria the 

 frond becomes more and more divided until in one, Z. 

 canaliculate*, it forms a mass of branching threads, putting one in 

 mind, except from its brown hue, of Cladophora. I was 

 fortunate enough, to discover nine species of this genus. They are 

 very easily identified in consequence of their woolly roots and 

 zone-like markings. Their only mode of reproduction seems to 

 be by spores, which grow on separate spots on the frond, each lot 

 making a kind of sorus formed of spores and specialized hairs 

 called paranemata. From the outside rocks one may gaze down 

 into the deep water formed by the rush of the tide between 

 neighbouring rocks. This is the home of the Laminariaceae. 

 One can see them forced backwards and forwards with the swift 

 current, now floating gracefully with the stream, then a furious 

 returning eddy takes them suddenly up, and, lifting their huge 

 fronds to the surface, dashes them against the rocks. 



Nothing but these extraordinary plants could stand the 

 violence of the waves. They are fastened so strongly to the 

 solid rock that only the destruction of the rock itself can remove 

 them, while their long thin stems are stronger than the stoutest 

 rope. We have only two genera, neither of which is found in 

 Europe — Macroci/stis pyrifera and Ecklonia radiata. Darwin, 

 in his "Journal of a Voyage Round the World," speaking 

 of Terra del Fuego, mentions Macrocystis thus: — "The plant 

 grows on every rock from low water mark to a great depth, both 

 on the outer coast and within the channels. I believe, during 

 the voyage of the Beagle, not one rock near the surface was 

 discovered which was not buoyed by this floating weed. The 

 good service it thus affords to vessels navigating near this stormy 

 land is evident ; and it certainly has saved many a one from 

 being wrecked. I know few things more surprising than to see 

 this plant growing and flourishing amidst those great breakers, 

 which no mass of rock, let it be ever so hard, can long resist. 

 The stem is round, slimy, and smooth, and seldom has a 

 diameter of so much as an inch. A few taken together are 

 sufficiently strong to support the weight of the large loose stones 

 to which, in the inland channels, they grow attached ; and yet 

 some of these stones were so heavy that, when drawn to the 

 surface, they could scarcely be lifted into a boat by one person." 



