550 



Harvey's name, Mr. Van Voorst's getting up, and its own intrinsic 

 scientific merits will ensure that : and we earnestly intreat the amiable 

 and distinguished author to write the second in a different style, and 

 adapt it for those to whom it seems more especially addressed ; to 

 leave out the philosophical and almost Newtonian introductory chap- 

 ter, and fancying himself strolling on a sandy beach with friends of 

 the gentler sex, and active, light-minded youngsters, write as he would 

 talk to them of the infinite wonders of the deep. It would be in ac- 

 cordance with the usual plans of critics to prove our allegation by 

 quoting the passages which more especially call forth our remarks ; 

 we might aptly cite his views of " The enunciation of inductive phi- 

 losophy," of " scientific classification," of the " alternations of genera- 

 tion," or any of the more abstruse portions of the little volume before 

 us ; but we prefer selecting a passage in his lightest style, and on a 

 subject — sea- weeds — which he has made peculiarly his own. 



" Sea-weeds are usually classed by botanists in three great groups, 

 each of which contains several families, which are again divided into 

 genera ; and these, in their turn, are composed of one or many spe- 

 cies. The number of species as yet detected on the British coasts is 

 about 370, and they are grouped into 105 genera. I cannot, in this 

 place, enter into the niceties of classification to which botanists resort 

 in working out the history of these plants, but must confine myself to 

 the general features of the great groups, and their distribution. 

 Taken in the order in which they present themselves to us on the 

 shore, and limiting each by its most obvious character, that of colour, 

 we may observe : — that the group of green sea-weeds {Chlorospermete) 

 abound near high-water mark, and in shallow tide-pools within the 

 tidal limit ; — that the olive-coloured {Melanospermece) cover all ex- 

 posed rocks, feebly commencing at the margin of high- water, and in- 

 creasing in luxuriance with increasing depth, through the whole belt 

 of exposed rock ; — but that the majority of them cease to grow soon 

 after they reach a depth which is never laid bare to the influence of 

 the atmosphere : — and that the red sea-weeds (Rhodospermece) gradu- 

 ally increase in numbers, and in purity of colour, as they recede from 

 high-water mark, or grow in places where they enjoy a perfect shade, 

 or nearly total absence of light, and are never exposed to the air, or 

 subjected to a violent change of temperature. 



" The green sea-weeds are the simplest in structure, and the least 

 varied in species, on different coasts, and consequently the least in- 

 teresting to the collector of specimens. With the exception of the 

 beautiful genus Cladophora, which contains about twenty species, our 



