DELESSERIA. 299 



consisting of a thick, firm mid-rib, with regular ner- 

 vures spreading on each side, on which is stretched a 

 delicately membranous leaf of the richest transparent 

 crimson, finer than the finest cambric, most elegantly 

 frilled or puckered ah 1 along the edges. This very 

 fine species is not uncommon ah 1 along the coast here- 

 abouts, but is never seen except at the lowest level of 

 the tide, where it grows often in considerable quantity, 

 large leafy tufts springing out of the basal angles of 

 the perpendicular masses of rock, or in persistent 

 tide-pools hollowed in the rock itself. It will not 

 bear exposure to the air with impunity, as many of 

 our sea-weeds will ; for if left uncovered but a short 

 period, a quarter of an hour or even less, the delicate 

 rose-crimson membrane becomes defiled with large 

 blotches of a dull orange-colour, which shew that its 

 texture is irrecoverably injured, decomposition having 

 already set in. The disease inevitably spreads, and 

 in spite of all care the orange spots decay, and soon 

 slough away, leaving only the mid-rib, which gradu- 

 ally decays in like manner. 



I tenderly lift the drooping fronds of the Khody- 

 menia, and the first thing I see is a huge Five-finger, 

 clinging to the rock with four of its thick fleshy arms, 

 while the fifth is raised into the free water, its tip re- 

 curved, and its scores of pellucid sucker-feet stretching 

 and slowly waving in all directions, as if exploring 

 for some new resting-place, or searching around for 

 some object of appetite. It is much too big to be 

 carried home as an aquarium-pet, but as there seems 



