FLOWERLESS PLANTS 439 



Dr. Brooks has shown, they supply, directly or indirectly, 

 the food for all animal life of the ocean. Oysters feed upon 

 little else, and their quality is influenced by the kinds of 

 algae that grow in the water over their beds. Algae may 

 be classified according to color : ( i) the blue greens, found 

 as slimy patches on damp wood or stones, or in shallow fresh 

 water ; (2) the green algae, found in fresh water chiefly ; 

 (3) brown algae, kelps, rockweeds, etc., found on the coast, 

 chiefly marine ; and (4) red algae, the "seaweeds," or "sea 

 mosses," also mostly marine. Ask the children who go to 

 the seashore to bring back a few handfuls of such as they 

 can find. They may be dried as they come from the salt 

 water and at any time floated in fresh water upon cards or 

 white paper. To come to know them as objects of beauty 

 is deemed sufficient. There are at present described and 

 named 14,854 species of algae. How many kinds have the 

 class been able to discover ? 



Fungi. — In descending the scale of plant life, from trees, 

 wild flowers, and garden plants, we left flowers and seeds 

 behind when we came to the ferns. In passing now from 

 the algae to the fungi we leave the green coloring mat- 

 ter, the chlorophyll, by which these higher plants use the 

 sunshine to help them build wood, leaves, and fruit from 

 water, soil, and air.^ 



The fungi form an enormous group of most interesting 

 and important plants. Numbering the 970 species of 



1 To illustrate this important relation between green plants and the sun- 

 shine ask a few of the class to sprout a number of plants — potatoes, beans, 

 corn, squash, and peas — and keep them for a week in the dark. Then let 

 the class watch them from day to day to see them develop the green color 

 and begin to grow as they are exposed to the light. A few may be kept in the 

 dark by inclosing them in tubes of black paper for still further comparison. 



