The Mighty Deep 



of kelp are there, and floating fucus-islands, with 

 leaves or fronds seven or eight feet from base to 

 tip, covered with living animals, and having air- 

 vessels several inches long. 



In the matter of colour no great variety exists. 

 Sea-weeds are generally either grass-green, olive- 

 brown, or red. The green are usually close to 

 land, and they never grow beyond touch with direct 

 sun-light. The olive-brown are the more abun- 

 dant ; and the red belong, perhaps, more often to 

 deep water. 



A large majority grow attached either to 

 stones or to the shallow sea-bottom, but some 

 kinds float unattached. To this last class belong 

 the masses of weed in the Sargasso Sea the 

 centre of the North Atlantic currents. 



Round that huge collection of weeds and drift, 

 which reaches over something like two hundred 

 and sixty thousand square miles, the entire North 

 Atlantic slowly revolves. And of these weeds 

 called "Sargassum" none are attached to rock 

 or ground, but all float loosely in mid-ocean. 

 They seem to flourish thus, though the fact that 

 fructification is not found upon them points to a 

 somewhat unusual condition of things. 



Sea-weeds more often multiply by means of 

 spores, which is a form of vegetable-growth in- 



160 



