186 THE SEA-SHORE. 



tinged of a red colour, but they have been ob- 

 served of other colours, viz. yellow, blue, and 

 green. In some of these cases the phenomenon 

 is produced by varieties of the same plant, differ- 

 ing only in their tint; in others there is also a 

 slight difference in structure. In all, the sub- 

 stance of the plant consists of cells filled with a 

 fluid which colours the whole. 



These are a few among the many interesting 

 objects which a sea-side ramble presents to our 

 notice, and they are only a few. A close examina- 

 tion of a small extent of sea-shore, where sea-weed 

 is plentiful, will prove to you that the " great 

 deep " abounds in vegetables as various in form 

 and colour, as in size; and the microscope will 

 reveal to you wonders as great as the land can 

 afford. Simple thread-like tubes jointed fila- 

 ments, the particles of which cohere by inconceiv- 

 ably minute points tangled tufts, consisting of 

 countless feathery stems exquisitely veined leaves, 

 all abounding with fructification as various as the 

 plants themselves, wave to and fro in the little 

 pools left among the rocks by the receding tide. 

 And as to colour, you can scarcely name a tint 

 which is not here to be met with, as brilliant and 

 delicate as in the opening rose, or the full-blown 

 cactus. Time will not serve me to particularize 

 them ; and indeed, I should find it very difficult to 

 describe the minute kinds in such a way as to 

 enable you to fix on the species which I had in 

 view: but a cursory glance will be sufficient to 

 teach you the same lesson which throughout all our 

 rambles it has been my principal object to incul- 

 cate : that the meanest work in the Creation is 

 well worthy of our deepest research and admira- 



