157 



naeus's specific name ; this fucus must therefore be called Saf- 

 gassum natans, although it was subsequently found sessile as 

 well as floating. 



M. Miquel treats of the question respecting the origin of this 

 floating fucus, and thinks that if we admit that it has been torn 

 from its place of growth and only remains afterwards living for 

 some time, we should not depart much from analogy. Here- 

 upon various doubts are raised against views advanced by me, 

 who have observed that the small floating specimens show 

 quite distinctly that they have never been sessile, that conse- 

 quently we have not to look for the ground upon which they 

 may have originated, but that the surface of the water on which 

 they float must be regarded as such. The doubts which M. 

 Miquel advances against my actual observations are however 

 very easily obviated ; in every case where he suspects that 

 my observation (I did not advance a mere opinion on this 

 subject, but actual observation. Rep.) is without analogy I 

 have enumerated actual analogous cases, and subsequent ob- 

 servations have increased my knowledge on this point. All 

 the specimens of this floating fucus which M. Miquel has ob- 

 tained from the Sargazzo sea have a short foot-stalk, which ap- 

 pears to me very intelligible, for this fucus floats in masses of 

 greater or less size, some individuals even attaining to a length 

 of 2, 3, 5, and more feet, and each one has hundreds, nay thou- 

 sands, of stalks, branches and shoots *. But it is the large 

 specimens which the sailors fish up to bring home for their 

 friends, and especially those with stalks and branches. I was 

 very soon convinced that the examination of the large speci- 

 mens could lead to no result ; I therefore fished for the small- 

 est, which very soon solved the enigma, and the specimens 

 brought home by me confirm my statements. I did not ob- 

 serve dying or dead specimens in the Sargazzo sea, conse- 

 quently they can only be very rare. 



Since the question of the floating gulph-weed is now an- 

 nually repeated, and very frequently spoken of in the Aca- 

 demic des Sciences of Paris, I forwarded a specimen of this 



* It must not be overlooked that all these parts are only foliaceous for- 

 mations, and that a Fucus has neither stem nor root in the sense of the higher 

 plants ; on which account these are no reasons at all in favour of M. Miquel's 

 view, that this fucus cannot have been developed in a floating state, but must 

 have grown erect. 



