THE OCEAN AND ITS LIFE. 103 



present you with forms as whimsical as luxuriant. They 

 are, in truth, nothing more than shapeless masses of jelly, 

 covered with a leathery surface, and mostly dividing into 

 irregular branches, which occasionally end in scanty bunches 

 of real leaves. The first stem is thin and dry ; it dies 

 soon, but the plant continues to grow, apparently without 

 limit. A few are eatable. Off Ireland grows the Carraghen- 

 moss, with gracefully shaped and curled leaves, which phy- 

 sicians prescribe for pectoral diseases. Another kind of 

 sea-fucus furnishes the swallows of the Indian Sea with the 

 material for their world-famous edible nests. The sugar- 

 fucus of the Northern Sea is broad as the hand, thin as 

 a line, but miles long ; well prepared, it gives the so-called 

 Marma-sugar. 



The Antarctic is the home of the most gigantic of all 

 plants of this kind. The bladder-fucus grows to a length 

 of a thousand feet in the very waters that are con- 

 stantly congealing, and its long variegated foliage shines in 

 bright crimson, or brilliant purple. The middle ribs of 

 its magnificent leaves are supported underneath by huge 

 bladders, which enable them to swim on the surface of 

 the ocean. Off the Falkland Islands a fucus is found 

 which resembles an apple-tree ; it has an upright trunk, 

 with forked branches, grass-like leaves, and an abundance 

 of fruit. The roots and stem cling by means of clasping 

 fibres to rocks above high-water mark, from them branches 

 shoot upwards, and its long pendent leaves hang, like the 

 willow's, dreamy and wo-begone, in the restless waters. 



Besides the countless varieties of fucus. the bottom of 

 the sea is overgrown with the curled, deep purple leaves 



