72 Puget Sound Marine Sta. Pub. Vol. 1, No. 9 



is about twelve meters below this surface. The vertical distance can 

 well be measured by the average length of the stipe of Nereocystis luet- 

 keana minus the four meters between high and low tide. Where the 

 shore slants gradually and the water is shallow, the Nereocystis beds may 

 be several hundred meters from the shore ; while in the places where the 

 water is very deep near the shore, the beds are very narrow and quite close 

 to the shore line. 



Nereocystis luetkearia is the predominant species of this association, 

 not only because of its large size and numbers, but because it is more 

 easily seen than the other submerged species. Nereocystis is nearly 

 always found in exposed places where the water is moving very rapidly 

 {Plate 11). It must have something solid, rock or stones, for attach- 

 ment. Specimens were found growing on limestone rocks near the 

 lime kiln on the west coast where water flows over lime near the limestone 

 quarry and then into the bay. This makes the salt water in which 

 Nereocystis grows almost as white as milk. Nevertheless these plants 

 seemed to be very large and healthy. It was noticed that the wooden 

 piles in this vicinity are also covered with Nereocystis, Alaria sp. and 

 Costaria costata. Evidently Nereocystis holdfasts may attach themselves 

 to almost any hard substances. At Pile Point, west of Kanaka Bay, 

 the writer had an opportunity to observe, at low tide, the vegetation 

 growing on the wreckage of the old sailing vessel "America," which 

 ran ashore on the rocks in September, 1914. It was interesting to note 

 that in less than nine months after the vessel had been wrecked it was 

 covered with full grown plants of Nereocystis luetkeana, Costaria costata, 

 Alaria species, and Laminaria bullata, besides innumerable smaller algae 

 of all descriptions. The kelps were attached to the woodwork, iron and 

 copper linings of the old vessel. 



Among the primary species which composed the vegetation of the 

 Laminariaceae association, Alaria sp. and Cystophyllum geminatum grow 

 highest or just below the Ulva association. A little further down Lamin- 

 aria bullata is very abundant and Costaria costata, Agarum fimbriatum 

 and Cymathere triplicata come in here, extending to and among the 

 Nereocystis plants. At Pile Point, Kanaka Bay, and Eagle Point, 

 Egregia menziesii grows locally abundant near the low tide line. 



In the shallow quieter water Laminaria saccharina is often very 

 abundant. Iridaea laminarioides and Sarcophyllis californica are found 

 near the upper limit of this association. Near the lower limit Rhodymenia 

 pertusa is sometimes dredged up, but its region of greatest abundance 

 comes beyond the Nereocystis beds. 



Along the rocky, wave-beaten shores Laminaria bullata subsimplex 

 is fairly common and occasionally L. andersonii is also found. Anti- 



