LOCALITIES, ETC. OF THE ALG^T. 127 



all sizes and varieties. Other subaqueous regions 

 produce other kinds of vegetation differing from 

 the gigantic sea-weeds now mentioned, as the 

 grass of the prairies differs from the trees of the 

 forest. The bottom of the sea in many of the 

 inlets on the Indian coasts is covered with algae 

 and fuci, as a rich meadow is clothed with grass, 

 and there, at a depth of three or four fathoms, 

 dugongs in immense herds browse like cattle in 

 a meadow. But between the comparatively short 

 marine herbage on which those huge herbivorous 

 animals feed, and the enormous sea-weeds of 

 the southern ocean, there exists a vast number 

 and variety of species, many of those pertaining 

 to tropical seas wholly unknown to the marine 

 botanist. 



But it is not our purpose to go in search of 

 marine plants to remote seas and foreign shores. 

 Our own coasts afford many sea-plants ; in many 

 instances of much beauty, in some of very con- 

 siderable value and importance, and in all cases 

 of much interest to the intelligent observer. Be- 

 fore, however, taking notice of a few of these, some 

 general observations may not be out of place. 



The growth of marine plants on our shores is, 

 according to the most eminent botanists, limited 

 to certain localities on the coast, and to certain 

 depths of water. Thus some of our sea-weeds 

 have their northern limit on the 'southern coasts 

 of England ; others belong peculiarly to the 

 Scottish coasts and the northern shores of Eng- 

 land and Ireland ; some, again, have a wider 



