SEA-WEEDS. 63 



tufts, with the leaves clean and glossy, and of a dark- 

 purple hue ; but what gives it its peculiar beauty is, 

 that every segment of its many-cleft leaves reflects 

 the most refulgent hues of azure and steel-blue. 

 These tints, however, depend entirely on the submer- 

 sion of the plant ; remove it from the water, and 

 every trace of them has vanished ; replace it, and they 

 as instantly reappear. 



Another curious seaweed was Codium tomentosum. 

 It forms thick cylindrical stems, much branched, and 

 of a dark-green colour. Its appearance is downy, 

 and, when touched, it has a soft spongy feel, and is 

 enveloped in a slimy jelly. This curious plant was 

 growing numerously here, imparting a somewhat sin- 

 gular aspect to the shallow pools, from the green 

 velvet patches of its expanded bases, as well as from 

 the stems. 



The great tangles and oar-weeds were abundant, as 

 were the sea-thongs already mentioned ; and among 

 them grew a much less common species, at least on 

 the English shores, the henware, (Alaria esculenta), 

 a large plant, much resembling the oar-weed, but of 

 paler colour, and distinguished from it by having a 

 stout midrib running through the whole length of the 

 leaf. This midrib is eaten by the poor of our northern 

 coasts, and of other parts of Europe. 



Of marine animals I did not see many. The com- 

 monest species of sea-anemone (Actinia mesembry- 

 anthemum) was speckling the rocks in its many 

 varieties, for it is a very variable species, sometimes 



