3O T/te Bramhall Valley. 



comes a gauzy sphere, similar in architecture to the 

 white orb of the dandelion, but thrice as 

 large, and, like that of the dandelion, 

 composed of winged seeds that might 

 serve as models for parachutes; while, 

 so light and airy is the whole fabric, that 

 the eye pierces to its innermost heart, 

 F Gof tlbf "a f and the first zephyr wafts all away into 



the aerial sea. 



The necklace-weed, found in the stream near Bram- 

 hall House, belongs to the very pleasing race of plants 

 that in fresh water represents sea-weeds. One of the 

 most curious and beautiful facts in nature is the echo of 

 certain types of structure, under certain modifications, 

 in habitats bearing a general likeness, but still with im- 

 portant differences. While thfc. sea-bathed rocks give us 

 rosy tissues that, laid on paper and pressed flat, seem 

 water-colour drawings and sprays, delicate as the web 

 of a spider, the little stones in clear streams, and that 

 make miniature cascades on the flanks of the water- 

 fall, are no less profusely clothed with life ; and of their 

 occupants the necklace-weed is one of the prettiest. 

 Invisible at first, except to an enterprising and probing 

 eye, the general figure, as it lies in the water, is that 

 of a long, slender, green, and much-branched stem, no 

 thicker than a thread, and densely knotted in every 

 part with spherical beads. Moderately magnified, these 

 beads prove to be clusters of branches still more deli- 



