?4 HANDBOOK OF SEA- WEEDS. 



beautiful Algoe, is widely diffused. Of Melanosperms the 

 Laminarioe affect the higher northern latitudes, Sargassa abound 

 in the warmer seas, while Durvillaea, Lessonia, and Macrocystis 

 characterize the marine flora of the Southern Ocean. The 

 Fucacese are most abundant towards the poles, whera they 

 attain their greatest size. The marine meadows of Sargassum, 

 conceived by some naturalists to mark the site of the lost 

 Atlantis, and which give its name to the Sargasso Sea, extend- 

 ing between 20 and 25 north latitude, in 40 west longitude, 



Fig. 13. The Gulf-weed (Sargassum bacciforum). 



occupy now the same position as when the early navigators, 

 with considerable trepidation, forced through their masses on 

 the way to the New World. Sargassum is drifted into this tract 

 of ocean by currents, the plants being all detached ; and they do 

 not produce fruit in that state, being propagated by buds, which 

 originate new branches and leaves. (Fig. 13.) 



Owing to their soft, cellular structure, Algae are not likely to 

 be preserved in a fossil state ; but what have been considered 



