180 LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE. 



well protected from cold and tempest, live through the 

 dreary winter season. Or they are hid by the water in 

 which they live, and then frequently reach an almost in- 

 credible length. Some marine algae have been found 

 more than fifteen hundred feet long; they branch off as 

 they approach the surface, until they form a floating mass 

 of foliage, hundreds of yards square. These stems re- 

 semble cords in every variety of form and twist, and are 

 used by the natives of the north-west coast, where they 

 are most frequently found, as fishing lines while others 

 of the same kind are dried to serve as siphons, or are 

 formed by the natives into trumpets, with which they 

 collect their roving cattle at nightfall. The most remark- 

 able stem, however, of all more common plants, is prob- 

 ably that of the valisneria, an aquatic plant which grows 

 at the bottom of rivers. It consists of long, elastic cords, 

 twisted like a corkscrew, and sends some branches up to 

 the surface, while others remain below and are completely 

 submerged. When the flowering season approaches, the 

 plant shows an instinct so closely approaching conscious 

 action as to startle the careful observer. Some of the 

 flowers are produced below, where they cannot exhibit the 

 beauty of their frail blossoms ; these begin to stretch and 

 to twist, as if they longed for the bright sunshine above, 

 and at last they succeed in breaking loose from their dark, 

 gloomy home. In an instant, they rise to the surface, 

 being lighter than water, expand there under the benign 

 influence of light and air, and mingle their dust with other 

 flowers, which are already floating there. This "high" 

 life continues until the seeds are beginning to ripen, when 



