I. 



AMONGST THE SEA WEEDS. 



' Thou sea, who wast to me a prophet deep 

 Through all thy restless waves and wasting shores, 

 Of silent labour, and eternal change ; 

 First teacher of the dense immensity 

 Of ever-stirring life, in thy strange forms 

 Of fish, and shell, and worm, and oozy weed : 

 To me alike thy frenzy. and thy sleep 

 Have been a deep and breathless joy." 



KlNGSLEY. 



jHERE are very few of my readers, pro- 

 bably, who have not found some degree 

 of pleasure in collecting seaweeds during 

 their holidays, even though there has 

 been no sort of scientific interest in the occupation. 

 Yet it is quite as entertaining, and assuredly more 

 profitable, to turn these familiar things to account 

 in the way of increasing our knowledge of Nature. 

 To those for whom anything like a practical study 

 of any branch of natural history is impossible save 

 during the week or two which, once a year or so, 

 is snatched from a busy life, a few notes on the 

 subject of seaweeds, suggested by my own observa- 

 tions and wants, may be of some value. Although 



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